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Thursday was definitely the worst day of West Ham’s season so far.
Not only were they on the wrong end of a 2-1 scoreline against a Slovenian team nobody had ever heard of before, they were also taking more flak over their new stadium.
West Ham had played their football at The Boleyn Ground (also known as Upton Park) from around the time of the Norman conquest, but at the back end of last season they upped sticks and made the move to London’s Olympic Stadium.
The deal taking them to their new home was a controversial one, with many rival fans cheesed off at the deal West Ham’s owners struck in order to make the move. According to reports that emerged towards the end of last season, the club will have to fork out a mere £2.5m a year (1/40th of a Paul Pogba) to play their football at the 60,000-seater stadium – not bad going when you hear about the money some have spent on new stadium constructions in recent years.
With the Premier League season a couple of weeks away, it’s now emerged that the stadium could be on the cusp of a name change with reports suggesting that it could be rebranded ‘The Tesco Stadium’ in a deal that would see West Ham bank £1m…
The prospect didn’t go down too well with the club’s supporters…
https://twitter.com/WestHamSource_/status/758421009942867968
https://twitter.com/westham_views/status/758596198060130304
The Olympic stadium could be called "The Tesco Stadium" [MAIL] pic.twitter.com/9JwWYF7s5z
— West Ham Transfers (@westhamtransfer) July 27, 2016
But at least they had a sense of humour about it…
Club statement: Sir Trevor Brooking Stand to be renamed the '£3 Meal Deal Stand' as Tesco earn naming rights to Olympic Stadium.
— West Ham (C)entral 🏆 (@WestHam_Central) July 27, 2016
Elsewhere, the news prompted all the supermarket puns you’d expect…
https://twitter.com/DFCJosh/status/758435372657352704
West Ham are getting their stadium named after Tesco?
Hm, weird. I thought they were more of a Lidl club.
— 🇱🇹 Paulius 🇺🇦 (@Kolology) July 27, 2016
"Spurs score two get one free after 3-0 win over West Ham at Tesco Stadium"
— N’Mate (@Bevlar90) July 27, 2016
And having lost their match in Slovenia, rival fans were only ever going to say one thing about the fact they’d bagged an away goal…
https://twitter.com/JamesODono/status/758766287640231936
https://twitter.com/Billie_T/status/758752389511860224
At least West Ham scored a goal take into the second leg, every little helps I suppose
— Josh Green (@Greeeeeny) July 28, 2016