Few stadium moves in English football have provoked as much debate as West Ham United's departure from the Boleyn Ground to the London Stadium in 2016. Nearly a decade on, former Hammers defender Tony Gale argues that the relocation did real damage to the club — and that the scars are still visible.

An optical illusion on the pitch

Gale, who made more than 300 appearances for West Ham between 1984 and 1994, points to a conversation with then-manager Slaven Bilic as the clearest evidence that something fundamental changed when the club left Upton Park.

"Slaven Bilic took us out of Upton Park and I enjoyed that period," Gale told FourFourTwo. "Dimitri Payet, Manuel Lanzini, players that crowds wanted to watch."

Bilic, Gale recalls, identified a peculiar spatial problem at the new ground. "He said the pitch is roughly the same size as Upton Park, but because of the vast expanse of the surroundings, there's an optical illusion around the place — and he said that reflected in the players. He found it hard to keep the team compact when they played at home."

That defensive fragility, Gale believes, was not purely a matter of personnel or tactics. The stadium itself was a contributing factor.

Nostalgia, but not blind to the facts

Gale is careful not to romanticise Upton Park beyond what the ground deserves. He acknowledges that the old stadium had its own shortcomings. "We must also remember that Upton Park didn't always have a great atmosphere," he admits. "You look at the start of our really good season in 1985-86, our crowds were down to 15,000."

By contrast, the London Stadium now draws 62,000 supporters per match, and Gale concedes that the acoustics have produced memorable occasions — particularly during European nights. "Don't tell me we haven't had great nights with the European games there," he says. "The ground has changed but the crowd hasn't. They'll respond to 100 per cent effort and good football."

Missing the smell of football

Where Gale's criticism sharpens is in the matchday experience outside the stadium. The 20-to-25-minute walk from Stratford station through open, undeveloped surroundings strips away the sense of occasion that narrow streets and packed pavements once provided near Upton Park.

"There should be more things around the stadium," he says. "You should feel like you're coming up to a football ground, because it really doesn't feel like that at present. A lot of Premier League grounds suffer from that, but I miss the old programme sellers and old-fashioned hot dog stalls where you could smell the onions from the next post code. The London Stadium doesn't 'smell' of football."

With West Ham now preparing for life in the Championship after relegation from the Premier League, the debate over whether the move to the London Stadium accelerated the club's decline is unlikely to fade any time soon.