West Ham news: Hammers implement new crowd control measures to stop London Stadium violence

The Hammers moved from Upton Park to the 60,000-capacity former Olympic Stadium in Stratford

West Ham (Getty)

West Ham United have implemented a raft of improved crowd control measures for tonight’ EFL Cup match against Accrington Stanley after violence marred their move to the London Stadium in recent weeks.

The east London club moved from Upton Park to the 60,000-capacity former Olympic Stadium in Stratford this summer but tensions bubbled over in the home areas during their 4-2 defeat by Watford under a fortnight ago.

David Sullivan and David Gold, the co-owners of West Ham, have confirmed in the match-day programme for tonight’s fixture that changes have been made to the stewarding arrangements in the wake of the ugly scenes of late.

“It is clear there are three key areas of frustration off the pitch — the quality of the stewarding, the segregation between home and away supporters and the need for likeminded supporters to be more appropriately grouped,” wrote Sullivan and Gold.

“However, finding the perfect place for 57,000 supporters first time is not easy and the board accept there has been a need to relocate some supporters to the areas where they can have the best experience for the good of everyone in the ground.

“We want all stewarding to be of the highest standard and have assurances from [stadium owners] E20 and [operators] LS185, who control the safety and security at London Stadium, that they will significantly improve stewarding.

"That will be by providing better training, contracting additional stewarding companies with more relevant football experience and by deploying stewards to man the same areas for every game to help build some familiarity between the Stadium staff and our fans.

“LS185 have agreed to implement an improved and increased segregation line between home and away supporters. This will be implemented from tonight and you should be able to clearly see a difference.”