Ascend the negative
- Tuesday, 28th July 2026
- Steve Barlow
The online reaction to a goalless draw in a friendly has driven me to despair.
No West Ham, no World Cup
- Thursday, 16th July 2026
- Steve Barlow
60 years of hurt. The wait for England to win a major tournament continues. And in all too familiar style.
A new hope
- Monday, 22nd June 2026
- Steve Barlow
The demise of David Sullivan’s control over West Ham United has had a remarkable rejuvenating effect on east London.
And the circus leaves town
- Monday, 8th June 2026
- Steve Barlow
It wasn’t meant to be like this. Just three years after winning a European trophy, relegated - and rightfully so.
Let’s smash the system
- Tuesday, 26th May 2026
- Steve Barlow
London to Prague is approximately 650 miles. The time since Jarrod Bowen scored the winning goal in the 2023 Europa Conference final is less than three years. As we stand today, we are light years away from both that magical night and where we should be as a club.
Edwin Starr was right
- Wednesday, 13th May 2026
- Steve Barlow
VAR: What is it good for? Absolutely nothing.
Going underground
- Tuesday, 5th May 2026
- Steve Barlow
Paul Weller was a fibber. ‘The public gets, what the public wants’ he once wrote. Well the majority of the public wants to see Tottenham Hotspur relegated. It’s increasingly looking like it’ll be us dropping down a division.
To the bitter end
- Wednesday, 22nd April 2026
- Steve Barlow
Leaving Selhurst Park is one of football's great pleasures. Though it may have been with just one point instead of all three, getting away from possibly the worst away end/s in top flight football around Europe, unscathed, is in itself a cause for celebration.
One Step Beyond
- Tuesday, 7th April 2026
- Steve Barlow
I blame myself. No I blame my mates. No my kids. No the whole, damn lot of us.
Where I Belong
- Friday, 13th March 2026
- Steve Barlow
Three years ago, my life changed beyond belief. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2014, I had had no major symptoms. Then it truly struck and here I am now - dependent on a wheelchair and walking aids.
The nine lives of West Ham United
- Friday, 6th March 2026
- Steve Barlow
West Ham United have nine league games remaining to retain our top-flight status but also some semblance of fiscal fluidity following the news last Friday that the club are in the financial mire.
The post-Cardiff, FA Cup Diaries
- Monday, 16th February 2026
- Steve Barlow
13 May will mark 20 years since West Ham United last reached the FA Cup Final. That gloriously sunny day in Cardiff, where we produced a superb display but ultimately failed to get the better of Liverpool.
A glass half full
- Monday, 2nd February 2026
- Steve Barlow
2026 has for me on a personal level has started in a pretty poor way. To put that into context, even in our current state, West Ham have offered a beacon of light.
The relegation diaries
- Monday, 5th January 2026
- Steve Barlow
As we meander our way to a seemingly inevitable relegation, I thought I’d cast an eye on our previous relegation seasons. Not pleasant, not pretty, at times almost unbelievable - yet each tells a story, and at times history repeats itself.
Angry again
- Wednesday, 31st December 2025
- Steve Barlow
And the debacle rolls on, as West Ham continue to meander their way to relegation.
Time
- Tuesday, 16th December 2025
- Steve Barlow
There are few more haunting sounds than that of a clock ticking in an otherwise silent room.
William Arthur Bonds MBE
- Sunday, 30th November 2025
- Steve Barlow
KUMB.com is blessed with some fantastic wordsmiths; Paul Walker, Allen Cummings and others with professional, journalistic expertise and experience. And then there's Gnome with his wealth of knowledge and linguistic nous.
For forever
- Monday, 17th November 2025
- Steve Barlow
What is it about this club, in a tumultuous season?
New? No.
- Friday, 24th October 2025
- Steve Barlow
Our fourth manager in less than two years. A failed attempt to evolve. Millions spent on trying to play a certain way. And here we are. At our lowest ebb as a club for a long time.
Seven key questions: commercial & stadium strategy
- Monday, 29th September 2025
- Steve Barlow
Here at KUMB.com, the Editor is a hard taskmaster, dishing out assignments like confetti asking various contributors to knock up a few words on whatever the current hot topics of the week are in the West Ham United universe.
The masters of farce
- Saturday, 27th September 2025
- Steve Barlow
And so the farce continues. The reign of Graham Potter has ended. Not at the start of a week, but two days before our next game.
Angry chair
- Tuesday, 23rd September 2025
- Steve Barlow
Losing is not the only issue here. West Ham United supporters have had enough examples of that to last a lifetime. It is the manner of our already seemingly destined relegation that is hurting.
Soul destruction
- Monday, 15th September 2025
- Steve Barlow
The most damming indictment of Saturday’s calamity against Tottenham was the crowd reaction inside the London Stadium.
Modern football is rubbish
- Friday, 12th September 2025
- Steve Barlow
Back in the original incarnation of TV’s Fantasy Football League, which was hosted by comedians David Baddiel and Frank Skinner, they had a segment called 'Old Football Was Rubbish'.
Bring me sunshine...
- Monday, 18th August 2025
- Steve Barlow
Here we go again. An opening day disaster has brought any hint of optimism disappearing into the Wearside ether. But before we delve into the disaster, let’s focus on the few positives that arose from Saturday's defeat.
Wilson. Pick it?
- Sunday, 3rd August 2025
- Steve Barlow
Callum Wilson. A player who has haunted and taunted us throughout his career. Like Kevin Davies, Leon Osman, Romelu Lukaku before him.
Mo money, mo problems
- Friday, 11th July 2025
- Steve Barlow
And so the latest phase of capitulation, after being on the cusp of something special, is in full effect.
When two worlds collide
- Wednesday, 2nd July 2025
- Steve Barlow
It was the consummate performance. As a unit the team was superb: tight, cohesive, delivering the killer blows at the crucial moments. Leaving the home crowd in raptures.
A Few Old Memories
- Saturday, 21st June 2025
- Steve Barlow
Every year I went back. Just to make sure, you know that it was still there. It gave me a sense of peace, or reassurance, it gave me equilibrium. Balance. The place I used to travel past weekly as a boy. The place that seemed surreal. Magical. It pulled people together.
Season's End
- Tuesday, 27th May 2025
- Steve Barlow
Well that’s all over for another few months. A more than pleasant way to end the campaign. The sun was shining, the opposition battered, bruised and weary after their return to the top flight. We were professional enough, proactive enough and good value for our 3-1 victory.
Stop. Think. Immerse.
- Monday, 12th May 2025
- Steve Barlow
Football eh! Once again, as soon as our line-up at Old Trafford was announced, you would have thought the end of days had been brought forward by three months.
This is a low
- Tuesday, 6th May 2025
- Steve Barlow
It’s been one of those seasons, and the visit of Tottenham Hotspur encompassed everything about it.
There’s Something About St. Mary’s
- Wednesday, 23rd April 2025
- Steve Barlow
...And all who sail in it. Southampton, is a bit of an enigma. As a place, as cultural hub, as a football club. My first ever West Ham game, was at home to Southampton on Boxing Day 1983. We lost 1-0. Enough for me to bare a grudge that’s lasted until this day.
Pep Will Eat Itself
- Wednesday, 9th April 2025
- Steve Barlow
Pep Guardiola has a lot to answer for. Not just to the fans of Manchester City for their worst season since they became cash rich, but for aesthetic reasons.
The memory remains
- Monday, 24th March 2025
- Steve Barlow
And so the last weekend before this season's 742nd international break, saw our final ever visit to Goodson Park. Traditionally until recent years, never a happy hunting ground for us, but a ground synonymous with football heritage.
Below the belt
- Thursday, 20th February 2025
- Steve Barlow
Vice-Chairman Karren Brady’s latest sideswipe at our support has left yet another bitter taste in the mouth.
Broken Hearts & 45s
- Sunday, 2nd February 2025
- Steve Barlow
Football. A universal language. A openly abusive relationship that you find hard to escape morally based purely on geographical grounds.
Crass and clueless
- Wednesday, 8th January 2025
- Steve Barlow
Rest assured, dear reader. This isn’t an in-depth look at the Essex-based punk band or the 90s Alicia Silverstone classic movie, which is still to this day a guilty pleasure of mine.
Happy new year
- Tuesday, 7th January 2025
- Steve Barlow
Even by West Ham’s standards, 2024 was one hell of a rollercoaster.
United States of Apathy
- Monday, 30th December 2024
- Steve Barlow
The latest in a set of lacklustre, uninspiring and apathetic performances has surely seen the end of the short reign of Julien Lopetegui. No other top flight club in the country would be content with the turgid, disjointed and soulless displays produced by our team this season.
Rio’s Christmas List
- Monday, 23rd December 2024
- Steve Barlow
'Tis the season of festivities, joy and goodwill to all men and women. So as I’m no longer able to exercise and put the timber, on I’ve decided to don the Father Christmas outfit and hand out some gifts to mark the season.
Geordie heat
- Tuesday, 26th November 2024
- Steve Barlow
The Monday night trip to St. James Park, brought not only a welcome and much needed three points, but an audible sigh of relief as it appeared that for the first time this season we actually saw a sense of identity, style and work ethic firmly in place.
Lo-go zone
- Monday, 4th November 2024
- Steve Barlow
It was only a couple of weeks ago that I wrote assessing the start of Julian Lopetegui's regime, acknowledging the need for patience. I also noted the basic errors that had been a worrying part of the new era.
Pretty hate machine
- Friday, 18th October 2024
- Steve Barlow
With the international break comes a time to reflect, panic and mentally prepare for the next task at hand. For us, it comes with a visit to our foes from N17.
The Lopetegui breakdown
- Thursday, 17th October 2024
- Steve Barlow
The summer of 2024 saw major upheaval in the artist formally known as E13. The departure of Divisive Moyes, a plethora of new signings, some departures and the beginning of the Julen Lopetuigi regime. Given the seismic shifts in the West Ham world, it would have been incredibly harsh to make judgements and critique so early.
On the road again
- Monday, 30th September 2024
- Steve Barlow
15 December 2021 was when I was last part of West Ham's travelling army. A miserable 2-0 defeat at the Emirates, accentuated by the fact that my body gave the first clear indication that Multiple Sclerosis was truly beginning to affect me, eight years after being diagnosed.
May the restless find peace
- Monday, 16th September 2024
- Steve Barlow
Since I can remember, football has touched my life. The earliest recollection of watching it came on FA Cup Final day 1977.
Somewhere in time
- Wednesday, 4th September 2024
- Steve Barlow
9 May 1987 will always be etched in my memory. It was the final day of the season, the first season I had been a regular at the Boleyn Ground. 14 years old, full of awe, belief and with the first feelings of disappointment, as we failed to capitalise on the previous season's third-place finish.
Patience
- Monday, 12th August 2024
- Steve Barlow
I compose the bulk of this piece in strange circumstances. Instead of being in the Stratford sunshine, enjoying/tolerating our friendly against Spaniards Celts Vigo. I’m instead sitting at home watching us on YouTube.
Not creative enough, not positive enough
- Monday, 15th July 2024
- Steve Barlow
It’s a mantra about the English national team throughout this Euro 2024 tournament. But its roots lie a lot deeper.
Whining. It’s What We Do!
- Friday, 28th June 2024
- Steve Barlow
To paraphrase David Moyes... But it’s evidently clear that as a nation we’re an unhappy bunch.
This is how it goes
- Monday, 10th June 2024
- Steve Barlow
It always felt like a season of transition. No sooner had the corks opened in Prague than it was announced our talismanic captain was soon to be departing. Despite the euphoria, the seeds of discontent had been sown through a string of underwhelming league performances.
Sighs matter
- Tuesday, 21st May 2024
- Steve Barlow
And there ends another chapter in West Ham’s history. Season end, managerial reign finished and for now forays into Europe are on hold.
A bumpy road ahead
- Tuesday, 7th May 2024
- Steve Barlow
Sometimes it’s hard to be objective in the aftermath of a result and performance. Particularly one of the ones witnessed at Stamford Bridge.
Passion, pride and appreciation
- Tuesday, 16th April 2024
- Steve Barlow
(Please note this piece was written prior to Sunday’s game. Any optimism was at the discretion of the author and fuelled by blind loyalty and claret and blue vision.)
Parallel lines
- Monday, 25th March 2024
- Steve Barlow
The international break is once more upon us. For many, it’s approached with a sense of apathy.