Written by : @George__Curley

It’s that time of the year again when season ticket holders are sent a letter from their football club asking them to renew for the following season – so will you be renewing yours?

I will personally be renewing my Season Ticket for next season – although there are many different factors that go for and against my choice, I am ultimately happy with the decision I have made.

I have been brought up in and around West Ham and football in general, mainly because of my family, so it’s always been a big part of my life. When I first started to get into football and started going to matches it was always so exciting as I got to go to the best stadium in the world… Upton Park.

Whenever I got tickets to go there it was always an extremely momentous occasion. My first game at Upton Park was against Swansea and I’ve loved going ever since. While it wasn’t the golden age of football for West Ham, it was the fans that really brought home my love for football.

I’ve seen many great goals scored at Upton Park and when the opportunity arose to get a Season Ticket for the first season at the new stadium, I jumped at it. At the time we were sold a dream of world-class players accompanied by a world-class stadium, with the also unlikely promise of Champions League football within five years at the stadium.

The first season at the new London Stadium seemed lethargic and bemusing. From getting knocked out of the Europa League qualifying stages to battling for survival, let’s just say when you talk about the previous season – it was a comparatively poorer campaign.

For the last 3 years now I’ve had a Season Ticket and I’ve loved every second of it (except for THAT Burnley game). Words can’t do the feelings toward my club justice – going to see West Ham every other week is an absolute dream. Even when we lose, it’s still amazing just to be in this privileged position.

Taking the good factors of having a Season Ticket into account, I also have to take into consideration the negatives. The price of the Season Tickets for this coming season have increased by a small percentage. Another rather large circumstance that played a huge part in my judgment to renew was the dream that many fans were sold by the club, in particular the owners.

This year has been an easy year to decide as West Ham have had a somewhat relegation-free campaign compared to other seasons where we were almost doomed for the drop. Nonetheless, the promises sold to us when we first moved sounded unbelievable – an ‘unbelievable atmosphere’ they said, ‘the pitch is closer than the Emirates!’ – all too good to be true.

It later transpired that this was false information, and trouble on and off of the pitch contributed to our overall performance for these past two seasons.

But while all of this was happening, I remembered how lucky I was to have a Season Ticket in the first place and how I should cherish it now because if for some reason I don’t renew then I’ll always have those memories. West Ham are my club and I’ll support them through thick and thin. I’ll continue to go to matches next season, and hopefully we can build and continue to move forward on this expedition.

But for now I’m off to renew!