Hi, West Ham fan here. Really would recommend that you don't try to buy tickets in the home end, whether online or from a tout. One or a combination of three things will happen if you get into the ground. If you are pegged by a local as an away fan, the stewards will escort you from the stadium, after which you'll spend the whole game trying to get score updates on your phone. Poor return on £200+.
Secondly, there is quite a high likelihood that things will turn quite nasty if you are identified as an away fan, for two reasons. Firstly, West Ham is not a middle class kind of club. It's got a working class support base and they're not reluctant to put their rougher edges on display. And secondly, if the Lyon and other cup games this season are any indicator, there is a kind type of coked up part-time nutter fan that gets attracted to games like these, piggybacking on season ticket holders' additional tickets. They don't have season tickets to lose for bad behaviour, and some of them are up to their eyeballs on drink and drugs. If you are busted in their vicinity, it's not going to be pretty.
And so, thirdly, your only good outcome is if you sit very still for ninety minutes, blend in perfectly, convincingly cheer West Ham, pass off impeccably as a local, and reveal nada in the way of cheering on your team. That's not going to be as much fun as watching the game in a bar with fellow fans and feeling at liberty to express your feelings.
Conclusion: don't give the touts their payday, and don't elect to turn an occasion into an ordeal.
Secondly, there is quite a high likelihood that things will turn quite nasty if you are identified as an away fan, for two reasons. Firstly, West Ham is not a middle class kind of club. It's got a working class support base and they're not reluctant to put their rougher edges on display. And secondly, if the Lyon and other cup games this season are any indicator, there is a kind type of coked up part-time nutter fan that gets attracted to games like these, piggybacking on season ticket holders' additional tickets. They don't have season tickets to lose for bad behaviour, and some of them are up to their eyeballs on drink and drugs. If you are busted in their vicinity, it's not going to be pretty.
And so, thirdly, your only good outcome is if you sit very still for ninety minutes, blend in perfectly, convincingly cheer West Ham, pass off impeccably as a local, and reveal nada in the way of cheering on your team. That's not going to be as much fun as watching the game in a bar with fellow fans and feeling at liberty to express your feelings.
Conclusion: don't give the touts their payday, and don't elect to turn an occasion into an ordeal.