Premier League team West Ham and Atlanta have a few things in common

“When you talk about English football, everyone talks about the Manchester Uniteds, the Manchester Cities, Chelsea’s, all the big clubs, Liverpool,” he said. “But if you want to get to the crux of what it is to be a football fan in England, you always take a look at the heritage, the history behind it.

“When you look at the history behind West Ham, you’ll look at Bobby Moore, you look at Sir Geoff Hurst, you look at Billy Bonds. This is the type of people that you consider proper football people, and they all played for West Ham. You want to go straight to the core of stuff, and then West Ham is not far from that core of English football.”

Though its history is long, and its all-time roster filled with greats, West Ham has won only five major trophies, the most recent the UEFA Europa Conference League in 2023. That lack of hardware is something the supporters of the Hawks and Falcons may be able to relate to.

It was founded as an amateur club for the working class shipbuilders on the Thames. Eastern London is no longer considered strictly working class. Like many areas of Atlanta, that part of England’s capital has undergone a renaissance and is now considered luxurious and trendy.

Like the Braves (twice), the Falcons (twice) and the Hawks have done, West Ham left its old home, Upton Park, where it started playing in 1904, for a new home, 62,000-seat London Stadium, in 2016.

“Lot of history in that stadium, a lot of memories that were built in that stadium, were left behind, and the new generation of fans started to evolve, and it was up to guys like me that played in the stadium, older guys, the people that understand the culture of the club, they’re the ones that are going to carry the name to the next generation, rather than the next generation seeing what it used to be like before,” Cole said. “So we have evolved.”

West Ham has ties to Atlanta that are more than just similar histories. Jonathan Spector, Atlanta United’s head of international player recruitment, played at West Ham from 2006-11, where he was Cole’s teammate. Atlanta United winger Xande Silva was a West Ham player from 2018-21.

Credit: West Ham

Credit: West Ham

Cole said he hopes that those who come to watch the matches in Mercedes-Benz Stadium will see the fervor that West Ham supporters have and will consider adopting it as their Premier League club.

“They’re going to see, they really shout, and they support their teams,” Cole said. “Our fans go across the world to support our boys. It’s a growing sport over here and the culture of the game has just become a little bit more respected over here. So that’s what we want to see over here. And hopefully the fans can see that too.”

Credit: West Ham

Credit: West Ham