My Granddad explained it to me when I was very young. “West Ham” he said “are like a fine wine – they don’t travel well”. Now what exactly my Granddad – no stranger to a Capstan full strength and a few pints of Mackeson - knew about fine wine is difficult to gauge in retrospect, but whatever knowledge he had garnered cycling the East End during the war it was certainly more than I knew as an 8 year-old, so I was happy to believe what he told me.

I spent my formulative years following West Ham around the country and I think it’s fair to say I travelled more in hope than expectation. Three away wins a season – most of them in London - was about par for the course and it was really only during our forays into the lower division when I used to count on getting a regular three points away from Upton Park. Otherwise it was the usual thumping north of Watford with not much more to warm a cold winter’s day than a good sing-song and a sprint down some back streets.

Quite why this club find it so difficult to win away from the Boleyn is one of those frustrating questions that make supporting the Hammers the headache it can sometimes be. As a red wine drinker, I certainly know that, with modern bottling methods, even the most delicate of wines can now be shipped halfway round the world. West Ham though still get nose bleeds beyond Stratford.

Appearing on the West Ham Online forum site last week, was one of the perennial questions that surround this most frustrating of clubs – this time it was the ‘Why are our players always injured?’ favourite – the usual replies included the growing urban myth that the Rio Ferdinand Stand was cursed by Millwall supporters who worked on its construction back in 2001. Those who fall back on this excuse though miss the one glaring fact that seems to permeate all these questions. That is, although you may not personally remember it, most of these issues have followed West Ham long before the construction of the hotel and turrets. In fact, like the injury question and the ‘where did the money go?’ and ‘why do we buy so many poor players?’ issue, the curse of the away win pre-dates the opening of the West Stand by about 30 or 40 years. In fact, here’s a new theory – perhaps Millwall brickies were involved in the building of the East Stand in 1969!

Back in the day, the claret and blue used to be the very definition of the ‘southern softie’. No less a person than Lord Bob of Moore admitted as much in his autobiography, telling the tale of when Ron Greenwood sent his players out wearing gloves one cold day up at St James Park. “You can’t concentrate on your football if your hands are cold” Greenwood was reputed to have told his players. Of course, the Geordies – particularly the fans who, themselves feeling a chill in the air in the thick snow had elected to slip on a string vest over the bare torso – just saw this as a red rag to the proverbial bull and, roared on by a vociferous crowd who hated someone wearing gloves, commenced to kick lumps out of the soft lads from down south. Another 4-0 loss up north and another frustrating train journey for the fans. The ironic thing is 20 years later and it was players like John Barnes and Thierry Henry wearing gloves but somehow they didn’t seem to suffer the way West Ham did. Odd that.

In the top tier, only the magnificent 1986 side ever looked capable of going off down the motorway and coming back with three points but, even then, I recall a frustrating defeat up at Sheffield and even a loss at Highbury (when we were much the better side) without which we might have run Liverpool even closer than we eventually did. Apart from that though, the only decent successful away seasons have been Second division / Championship stuff with little to shout about beyond that. I’d love to see a statistic of away wins in the top flight since 1958. I suspect it would provide thoughtful reading.

Now I’d be the first to admit that the West Ham of 2010 is a different beast from the pretty, free-flowing football of Greenwood’s era – but that only makes the paucity of away wins all the more puzzling. We’ve had a fair few teams stuffed with – ahem! – seasoned professionals and second-rate scufflers over the past decade or two, so why can’t we even manage to get up a team to scramble or kick their way to away win? It’s a complete mystery and all I can do is offer a few observations.

I don’t think, barring the odd season here or there, I’ve ever seen a Hammers side look entirely comfortable defending a lead away from home. They always seem to drift back, playing deep and inviting the home side on, encouraging both players and fans to raise their game in the belief there is something to chase. There usually is too – how often have you seen the Hammers kill a game stone dead? But why this should be so, is still a puzzle. Of course, we’re supposed to be holding the mythical traditions of ‘The Academy’ and playing football ‘the right way’ but surely we’ve had different enough Managers, Owners, players and backroom staff to knock that nonsense out of everyone’s heads, haven’t we?

No, the truth is I have no idea why playing away from Upton Park is such a problem but I do know it is something that needs to be sorted out quickly this season if the club is to have any hope of staying up. Perhaps it’s time to get the gloves off?