Which is why I am so dismayed by what is happening to the Cockney club which made such a significant contribution to England’s one and only World Cup victory in 1966 via Messrs Moore, Hurst and Peters.

Those halcyon days are long gone of course and the practical realities of the modern game now see them battling for Premiership survival rather than success.

But what has been occurring off the pitch this season is deeply troubling to all who hold affection for the club.

The move from Upton Park to the Olympic Stadium - virtually on a free transfer - has been less than joyful, poor home league form leaving them three points above the relegation zone. But far more disturbing is the crowd trouble at their illustrious new abode, culminating in last week’s Hammers horror show which resulted in the shocking scenes we thought football had buried in its unsavoury past.

After their deserved EFL Cup win over Chelsea seats were ripped up and hurled at rival supporters, bottles and coins cascaded down. One incident saw an eight-year-old girl pelted with small change and another left one fan with blood pouring from his head.

So far some 200 hooligans have been identified and West Ham are in the process of banning them all.

So, once again the face of the once beautiful game has been disfigured by the Neanderthal element.

Now questions are being asked as to whether the root cause of this - not the first incident of riotous behaviour there this season - is the Stadium itself.

Some argue it is not fit for football, and never will be; sterile, bleak and too difficult to properly police.

Not having attended a match there I cannot offer a personal view. But I know a man who can.

My good friend Colin Hart, the veteran Sun columnist, is a season ticket holder who has been a Hammers fan all his life.

Like many he was a reluctant Brexiteer from Upton Park, but admits the Stadium deal was too good to refuse.

Now he is by no means alone in saying he is beginning to hate going to what is now known as the London Stadium.

He says walking to the Stadium for the Chelsea match was like being in a war zone. "I have never seen as many riot police at any other sporting event. I couldn’t resist asking a police sergeant: ’Are we playing Isis or Chelsea?’”

Perhaps it is as well they no longer call it the Olympic Stadium for what has been happening there since football took over is a sorry reflection on the wondrous legacy of 2012.

Another journalistic colleague, Oliver Holt, of the Mail on Sunday, opines: "What really astonishes me about the whole debacle is how ill-prepared West Ham appear for Premier League football off the pitch. The whole thing is a shambles. In terms of policing and stewarding they are simply not ready."

The problem is, police cannot be stationed inside the Stadium - except as a crime scene - until next February owing to the absence of the Airwave  radio system that allows them to communicate safely.

Neither does the club have direct control of safety planning as that is in the hands of the Stadium operators.

It has been alleged that stewards appointed by the Stadium operators do not appear to be on the same wavelength as the police.

It is a mess, and as Colin Hart points out: "The London Stadium with its wide open spaces is a difficult arena in which to keep supporters segregated. As far as I am concerned it is an athletics arena where they now play football.

"In the 21st century in a state-of-the-art stadium you don’t expect to be fearful of having your head caved in by a flying seat.

"The West Ham management have got to find a solution quickly otherwise diehard fans like me - and others with kids - will be handing in our season tickets and blowing bubbles sitting in armchairs in front if the telly."

Whether the once proud Olympic Stadium is fit for the purpose of football is really the nub of the question.

In retrospect, was Lord Coe was right when he showed reluctance to declare from the off that it should be designed to converted for football after the Games?

Apparently some fans have been seen using binoculars because their seats are so far from the pitch.

Nor is it the easiest or safest Stadium to access, necessitating a long hike from tube stations at either Stratford or Pudding Mill Lane, the first negotiating the always crowded Westfield shopping centre. A recipe for trouble.

It is also hard to separate home and away fans when exiting the ground.

Any repetition of last week’s violence could result in the Football Association ordering West Ham to play home matches behind closed doors. What an insult to the Olympic Stadium. 

We even hear that organisers of next year’s International Association of Athletics Federations World Championships, when the retractable seating will rolled back, fear that persistent crowd trouble may have an impact on ticket sales.

This I doubt for the audiences are quite different. Athletics fans usually sit on their seats rather than ripping them up and throwing them.

At least West Ham seem to recognise they now have a massive PR problem which may one reason be why they have recruited UK Sport’s highly regarded communications chief Paul Cox to the new role of head of corporate communications.

Thanks to some shrewd negotiating by vice-chair Karren Brady with then London mayor Boris Johnson, West Ham got a benevolently cheap deal to become the Olympic Stadium’s principal tenants.

Unless things get sorted soon, it may prove they will have to pay a somewhat higher price than they anticipated.