MUCH has been made of the ongoing problems West Ham are having with their fans at the London Stadium.

Fights broke out during Saturday’s 4-2 defeat to Watford and it wasn’t the first time this season that there have been ugly scenes among supporters.

Pretty much every game played there so far, at least the three competitive games, has seen reports of confrontations between fans and stewards and among each other.

It seems to have escalated on Saturday and made headlines since.

On Sky’s Sunday Supplement, the four journalists put it down to teething problems of moving into a new stadium and that it is bizarre that Arsenal and Manchester City didn’t have these same problems when they moved from Higbury and Maine Road and into Ashburton Grove and Eastlands respectively.

However, it is more than just teething problems. Fans are arguing and fighting with stewards over the right to stand up. This may seem strange as technically fans should not be standing during football matches.

However, some sections of supporters in stadiums do stand for 90 minutes without any problems.

Manchester United fans in the Stretford End are able to stand. Liverpool fans in the Kop. And West Ham fans who were seated in the Bobby Moore lower tier of the stand at the Boleyn Ground stood.

These same fans are now at the London Stadium and are being told to sit down which is causing problems.

A new stadium means new stewards. The previous ones would have formed relationships with the fans. They would have known that they weren’t there to cause problems and would have had no problems with them standing.

However, those employed at the stadium in Stratford have clearly been told that under no circumstances are fans allowed to stand throughout the game.

And for those that have spent the last few decades standing and cheering West Ham, there were always going to be a problem.

However, it is not just the stewards telling certain fans to sit down. Arguments are breaking out among fans over whether they should be allowed to stand or not.

New season ticket holders or casual fans won’t be happy with someone standing up and blocking their view. But to the person standing, they are doing what they have been for most of their time as a paying fan.

And I feel there is where the trouble starts.

I do not condone the fighting as there are other ways at settling this issue.

There needs to be a conversation between fans and the owners at the club about how to proceed.

If the club hadn’t scattered fans all around the new stadium, it would have been easier to have a section of the ground where they would be allowed to stand.

It would have been amazing if, like Celtic, a designated standing area was built into the ground.

But safe standing is still years away from becoming a thing in the Premier League.

Until then, the situation can be resolved and you only have to look at the way away fans are policed around the country to find a solution.

I have been to plenty of games where the away fans have stood and sang for the duration of the game and it adds to the atmosphere.

If David Gold and David Sullivan really had the fans’ interests at heart, they would allow spectators in the new Bobby Moore section to stand, like they were able to in the old ground.

However, I suspect that the club want to bring in a more docile crowd, one that are happy to pay £7 for a burger and will sit down for 90 minutes, occasionally sing Bubbles and then go home, not before spending more pounds in the club shop.

I hope this isn’t the case because it would be further evidence of working-class fans being shunted out of football, replaced by a more casual fan who will put more money into the pockets of the owners.