ClaretandHugh is delighted to welcome Mike Manera of ‘Mike on Monday’ fame as our latest exclusive blogger. Mike is claret and blue to his backbone and in his first piece for us, addresses the burning issues facing the club. Welcome aboard Michael!
Boo! Hiss! Naughty people our board. They are very far from prefect…. But have they destroyed / ruined our club? Do they really deserve the vitriol being lashed down on them from the away end at Watford? And does booing and jeering Andy Carroll achieve anything positive, other than making you feel better for doing it ( that is quite a positive).
Personally, I don’t believe the board have ruined our club. They are far from perfect though. But before I have a closer look at what I think they have got wrong and right, let me explain where I am coming from. I am a season ticket holder in the cheap seats, three rows from God in Block 228.
I have never met any member of the board, or been anywhere near an executive box. I’m just a supporter, who happens to have been a stand-up comedian for many years and does an “entertaining” Vlog show called Mike On Monday. What I’m saying is I’m no board mouthpiece. I’m a mad keen Hammers supporter with no axe to grind, other than wanting the best for our club.
So with that in mind, here is where I think the board have got it wrong…
· They Oversold the Stadium Move:
Personally, I like the new stadium. Yes, it has its flaws, but the move essentially means more West Ham fans get to watch their team play. Mind you, with some of the football we’ve had to watch that is more of a curse than a blessing. Still, the idea is a good one.
But… “World class football in a world class stadium”, “Next level”, “Champions league in five years” etc etc etc. It doesn’t matter that they never “promised” those things. They actually said they would work towards it. It doesn’t even matter that those quotes aren’t strictly correct. Those quotes are what I heard because as a fan, that’s what I wanted to hear.
People always take a rough approximation of what is actually said, and apply what they want to hear. It happens all the time. That is the only reason that The Conservative Party win elections. The board know this. They are clever people and have their own advisers who also know this. And they were happy to let us think it because it suited them at the time.
· David Sullivan:
Oi, David. A word of advice… Dude, you are doing way too much. You can’t be the owner, director of football, chairman, CEO, a scout, PR bloke, senior tweeter, contract negotiator and Lord knows’ what else all at the same time. I can’t think of another club with such a hands-on owner. Even if you don’t do all of those things, it seems to us that you do. You come across as a control freak. As owners go you are not actually that bad, but you need some senior executives and a bit of distance mate.
· PR:
Karen Brady’s factually incorrect spouting in a newspaper, numerous tweets and media quotes from DS. I fully expect the West Ham PR manager to die early or at least to be seriously burned from all the fires he has to put out. Please think before you tweet/write/open your big mouth. The collateral damage from constantly shooting yourself in the foot is killing you.
The problem with the verbose outpourings is they hide what the club DOES manage to do. Lady Brady’s piece on transfer spending was factually wrong, which means that us fans don’t believe it. But if you use the same calculations that are used to disprove her, then you will see that we HAVE spent a lot of money over the past three years. Just not as much as she said we have. But that point has been lost due to our Lady’s bombast.
We have a half decent team on paper (though sadly, not on the pitch), the board are trying (unlike the team), they just lack direction. Yes, they need a much better dialogue with us supporters. They need to back chuckling David Moyes with some serious dough in January. But ask yourself this… Do you really want a change of owner?
Name another Premier League club where the owners have a genuine connection with the club? Or a genuine connection with the area? Have you seen what’s happened at Nottingham Forest? At Leeds? Or even at Birmingham since our two sold up? They were big clubs once. And let’s face it, the same thing has already happened to us with the Icelandic bankers. Fortunately, we were saved from that fate by… Oh, you know.
SACK THE BOARD?
I won’t be singing sack the board on Friday. It’s an empty gesture. The owners are the board, they will never sack themselves. All you are doing by singing that is a) making yourself feel better and look good in front of your mates, and b) digging an opinion trench. And as everyone knows, if one side digs a trench, the other side digs a trench as well. And then there will be no hope of dialogue or movement. We need dialogue, we need movement.
Do we need change? Yes, we really do. I know “Employ a sporting director” hasn’t got the same ring to it, but that’s what needs to happen. For us as a team and a club to move forward we need we need some serious football professionals on that board, and helping to run the club along with the Davids. We need direction.
We need to apply pressure in an organised way. Try joining the West Ham Independent Supporters Association (enquiries@whuisa.org) or any other supporters group and apply pressure that way. If enough of us do, they will listen. Just don’t start protesting at games. Instead, support the team, they need us.
The views expressed here are solely those of the blogger and are not necessarily shared by ClaretandHugh
I agree most of that.
Yes some supporters do scream abuse and sing get out anyone and everyone, just to make themselves feel better. I suppose after watching the last year and a half they have a need to feel better. I am lucky; I live too far away to go any further than my PC.
During my 49 years of watching West ham it’s been one big struggle, with the odd highlight to celebrate. That hardens the skin to adversity. It seems now that if we are not Man City or Chelsea within 1.76 years, then heads must role ( especially the players ).
What are people thinking of, when they scream sick abuse at players, owners just about anyone at the club. not the club; that’s for sure. Call me old fashioned, but I’ll just remain a loyal supporter. Being a moron never fixed anything.
Oh I don’t abuse anyone. I just compare what they do on the pitch compared to what they are supposse to do. I never complain about Sahko on the pitch because I rate him highly, but off the pitch he has bad attitude. Given that I still don’t abuse him. As for Masuako anyone can see he can’t defend, and I have supported him as an attacking player. The recent record of Obiang and Ogbonna has highlighted their slack defending. Again I don’t abuse any of them. I don’t even abuse you, even if you deserve it at times.
So no you are completely wrong.
+1 good article imho.
COYI
Moving out of Upton Park was a massive mistake . Leaving Bilic in charge was a massive mistake . Blaming a few players is a massive mistake . ( especially, Carroll) what he has done wrong for West Ham to be where they are is a mystery to me . How many people are employed at West Ham ????? .
For crying out loud ; the Board wanted and yearned for success but , no matter how they tried the fans were always on Thier backs .
I still believe West Ham United will surmount this Crisis and be Great again … problem is it doesn’t seem too obvious to lots of fans . Nothing wrong with ambition if you keep a level head . We are too good to be Relegated , I hear you all cry ; as that fat pundit , Merson says be careful of what you say …. I say Phuckim . He knows nothing about West Ham .
Bet you anything he loved that result against Watford ; if only to prove himself right .
Effing pundits . The Board haven’t got it wrong , they just went about it badly .
it is true that it’s the way of the world that supporters always expect more, but this season has been a shambles. For a team to consistently perform less well than the sum of its parts is so frustrating. We do not have a squad that is too good to go down as I’ve heard some folk say.
I know that Rome wasn’t built in a day and that any new manager needs time, but I didn’t see a single thing on Sunday to give me much hope.
Lanzini must be wondering what is going on…and if he leaves….
I’m less interested in blame than I am improvement. If you can bring that Mr Moyes, I’d be grateful.
Spot on. and if Lanzini is p^ssed of enough to leave then that is the biggest danger.
Yeh ok everyone . It has to be said that the whole team was awful in reality . But , it does seem to me that today’s players are like puff-cakes . Relying on the soft rules to win a ball .
You are not allowed to be a tough centre forward anymore … a game for poooofs .
The board should never have made all the promises 3\4 years ago like champions league football and the stadium stuff well the time is now and we are on our way to getting relegated they should of kept there mouth shut and shouldn’t of got all the fans excited with all the Promise’s cuz now it’s all going to **** ..I used to get so angry when we lost or went through a bad spell now I just expect it ..to me the souls gone from the club and its sad …
Thank God for your voice of sanity! We are SO lucky to have life long West Ham supporters as owners who are decent people that DO put their money where their collective mouths are. A lot of what they say is fair and reasonable, but occasionally they drop a verbal clanger. Don’t we all? And they aren’t money grabbing – they haven’t made any money from owning our club, and it’s clear that Sullivan wants to leave the club to his sons rather than sell it for a profit – and they love West Ham like we do! Oh – and I’m a life-long 65 year old supporter who thinks the new ground is great, not least because as was said here – more of our fans can watch! However, I don’t think they oversold the move – a better manager would have got such a pool of talented players to put us into the top 5. Even Lady Brady, arrogant though she may be, is a brilliant business woman.
Heard it all? Prove anything I presented as a fact to be inaccurate. You can’t. A Sully in disguise? I’m not the one posting under a made up name, Mary. The name I posted is my real one. And can’t you criticise them without insults?
Excellent article in my opinion. I agree the board have not done everything wrong. I agree that we have to get behind the players on the pitch.
I have been a big supporter of the board, but my patience has worn thin in the last year. The reasons for that are pretty much the ones given in the article. But no, I don’t want faceless Americans, Chinese or Middle Eastern owners. I want the Daves to carry on, but I want them to change. I fear it may already be too late to save us from the humiliation of another relegation, but the situation could be turned round. I know spending in Jan is difficult but it CAN make a difference IF IT IS DONE WELL. Gold’s sniffy comments in that interview a couple of weeks back, saying we don’t really need to buy in Jan, show exactly why they are p****** supporters off by speaking before they think. I don’t think they have contempt for the fans, but some of their statements make the fans feel that way. They kept giving Bilic deadlines. I hereby appoint myself representative of the fans (no I am not serious) & say we give you a deadline. Put some of the things right that the article mentions & put in some serious research on players that we need & then go out & just get them in January with no leaks, rumours, updates, excuses! Then let’s see where we are on Feb 1st 2018. That’s YOUR deadline boys!!
I agree in principle that we need, for example, director of football. That doesn’t overcome the basic problem particularly with Sullivan namely:
He thinks he knows best.
His desire for attention.
The fact he would never delegate/empower anyone…
Lack of class in transfer dealings.
Briefing against/ undermining managers.
Some of our football decisions have been scandalous :
Length of contract offered to Reid.
Loaning Joe Hart.
Lack of focus on what team needs bar the striker which was sorted this time around.
I remain angry about carvalho and that for me was the final straw
Agree with you on Loan of Hart. I think Adrian should be #1 & the money it cost for his wages we could pay 3 good players. CB CM & young GK to be Adrian’s #2 with money left over for wages.
Reid should have never gotten 5 year deal & neither should Arnie. I think if 28 or over a 3 year deal should be max. To risky Reid always Injured & Marko who knows but making £100k till 33 I’m sure is fine with him.
I like Carvalho but isn’t all we need does he have the Pace or creativity we need in Mid. He def would help & situation was ridiculous but why weren’t we going for DM CB Creativity until start of season too
Agree good article. I director of football would be great but some ‘top’ mgrs don’t like directors they to pick. But for the club all around I think it would be good keep players coming even in transition. Players don’t go to BVB bc manager.
Agree with Sean on podcast maybe let Brady go Political & bring in someone new.