Paul Brand, Author at Blowing Bubbles

Features

Record attendances prove we are still a massive football club

September 20, 2026 Paul Brand 0

Portsmouth’s last visit to Upton Park attracted 33,465. That was in September 2011 and represents a very healthy crowd for a Championship match. It is still, however, nearly 20,000 shy of the 53,369 who set

Features

This Championship season is the perfect time for youth to shine

August 17, 2026 Paul Brand 0

The Championship is a level below the Premier League. Facts. Premier League 2, more commonly known as the U21 Premier League and the top tier of the Professional Development League, is several levels below but

Why Karren Brady exiting a relegated West Ham demands a total revolution of our club identity

June 14, 2026 Paul Brand 0

Baroness Brady has left the building and her “world-class” team has fallen through the Premier League trapdoor. Following her is going to be a tough assignment for any new CEO, and that’s obviously not intended

The debate over early leavers and true West Ham fan loyalty

May 13, 2026 Paul Brand 0

At what point is it acceptable to concede defeat and walk away from a dire situation? In social, romantic and work situations, it’s widely framed as healthy to know when to cut your losses. But

Mavropanos and the weight of a shot: When heroism and comedy collide

April 15, 2026 Paul Brand 0

That image of Mavropanos’s face being flattened by an Erling Haaland shot carries more than the weight of the ball. In the context of a resolute performance that temporarily lifted us out of the relegation

West Ham goalkeeper dilemma deepens as Areola loses his starting spot

March 5, 2026 Paul Brand 0

In the past month Alphonse Areola has won the Premier League Save of the Month, kept his first clean sheet of the season and been dropped from the first team. Well, in the immortal words

Jarrod Bowen and the choice between Champions League nights or club legend status

February 9, 2026 Paul Brand 0

Whilst I’m not yet ready to treat relegation as nailed-on (at least not at the time of writing), in the perilous position that we find ourselves thoughts inevitably turn to the make-up of next season’s

The World-Class Myth: Have the London Stadium pledges been fulfilled?

January 22, 2026 Paul Brand 0

Baroness Brady’s “world-class stadium with a world-class team” quote is up there with all the political misinformation wilfully peddled over the last dozen years or so. Like the £350m per week the Brexit bus promised

An ode to Antonio: Why we still need our agent of chaos

November 27, 2025 Paul Brand 0

It was one year ago that Michail Antonio diced with death when his Ferrari hit a tree in thunderous conditions, and it was nigh on ten years ago that he bundled in his first goal

The Czech Sphinx: Analysing four years of Daniel Křetínský’s enigmatic West Ham stake

October 26, 2025 Paul Brand 0

The Last of the Barrow Boys vs. The Modern Moneyperson Our current majority shareholder is, for better or worse, the last of the barrow boys: one of those working-class geezers who did so good that

Articles by Paul Brand