Saturday’s violence against Watford showed the dangers of a blanket ban on standing at football stadiums.

As Watford came from 2-0 down to take a 3-2 lead at the London Stadium on Saturday, suddenly most of the away end turned to see a fight, with West Ham fans seemingly (apologies if I’m wrong and it was actually Watford fans behind the trouble) attempting to pile through non-existent segregation and into the Watford fans just because they were losing.

‘Same old West Ham, new stadium but some things never change,’ most would have thought.

I was more shocked however to get the train home and find that sporadic fighting had broken out all around the stadium between pockets of West Ham fans.

The reason, some wanted to stand and some wanted to sit.

Now this might seem pretty trivial to anyone who isn’t a dedicated football fan. But believe me, from two Watford trips to the new Wembley I can confirm this can be a major flashpoint in a large unfamiliar stadium, and easily enough to ruin the day for both those who want to leap up and vocally support their team and those who just want a nice family day out.

While most stadiums flout government legislation on a fortnightly basis with areas where it is understood fans are prone to standing and security personnel are trained to turn a blind eye, West Ham co-chairman David Gold says this isn’t an option at the London Stadium if the club ever want to receive a license to raise capacity from 59,000 to 66,000.

In response, West Ham fans used to standing behind the goal at Upton Park ask why they should care whether 7000 extra johnny-come-latelys are able to attend, especially since, with stadium rent of just £2.5m per year and Premier League prize money of over £100m, the club don’t exactly need the extra cash.

The owners need to understand that while the move to the Olympic Stadium may have been necessary for the club to progress and made perfect business sense, it’s just not quite West Ham and it may never be.

Wherever you go in the world there are certain clubs, Atletico Madrid or Boca Juniors for example, who belong in an intimidating ground on the wrong side of town with the stands close to the pitch, and West Ham are very much part of the group.

Now however, they will never play in a ground like Upton Park again, or at least not for another 99 years.

As long as the team performs, the London Stadium will be able to get the tourists in and create an experience that rivals Arsenal and Chelsea. But what if things go wrong and West Ham end up battling relegation? They will need the kind of fans who pine for Upton Park and won’t just sit there on their phones for 90 minutes.

The first thing the club need to do is set up a section where it is acknowledged that standing is likely to take place, just like pretty much every other club in the country. And if that means a reduced capacity, well frankly there are already enough problems with violence and segregation in the stadium to ensure that no council in its right mind would hand them a safety certificate for 7000 extra seats any time soon.

But in the long term there is more the club can do to make the London Stadium feel like home.

Although it hasn’t been legalised yet, the battle for safe standing is all but won. The Scottish government’s decision to take matters into its own hands and allow Celtic to construct a section of rail seats at Parkhead is a game changer.

Provided there are no accidents at Celtic, it’s impossible to see the government not acting to remove the ban on terracing in English football’s top five divisions some time in the next five years.

When that happens, where better than West Ham to pilot the idea? The stadium already has temporary stands behind each goal over the athletics track, so the club wouldn’t have to remove any seats or upset season ticket holders to introduce a section of rail seats.

As the area I’m suggesting corresponds directly to the Lower Bobby Moore Stand, where fans stood all game at Upton Park, it would be the perfect gesture to fans to make the stadium feel at least a bit like home.

Surprisingly, when the fans are standing up to sing I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles at the beginning of every same, or after a goal, the acoustics are better than at any modern ground I’ve been to, so the atmosphere at the stadium can’t be written off after just two games.

However, if the club decides to keep the blanket ban on standing, they better hope they’re in the top half of the Premier League every season for the next 99 years to keep the crowds coming.