The Hammers stars including Declan Rice, on what could well be his final home appearance for the club, were accompanied to the field by their children as mascots.
While many on social media enjoyed the heart-warming scenes, the outspoken Keane talking as a pundit on Sky Sports (01:26pm, 21 May) acted as a typical killjoy.
“How many mascots can you have? It’s actually annoying me, that,” he said.
“No, you draw the line. You have a game. How many kids do you want on the pitch?”
Feel-good factor back at the Hammers
It has not always been a season to celebrate this term for West Ham, who have largely battled against the threat of relegation throughout the 2022-23 campaign.
But there has definitely been an upturn in momentum towards the closing stages of the season, with the 1-0 over Manchester United on 7 May a result that effectively ensured they would remain a Premier League club next season.
The run to the final of the Conference League has also provided a welcome distraction from hit-and-miss results domestically and they have a showpiece fixture against Fiorentina in the Czech Republic to look forward to next month.
And the lovely gesture of allowing the players to bring their children onto the pitch for the home finale shows that there is a real positive vibe around the London Stadium.
It just might be more than fair to say a few of the players were nursing sore heads on Friday if the scenes of celebration after the Alkmaar game are anything to go by…
Leave a Reply