West Ham Vice-Chairman Karren Brady was asked by Sky News why West Ham were underperforming despite being ranked 18th in the Deloitte World’s richest clubs for 2020.
Brady told Sky News’s Ian King that that is a question that haunts the West Ham board almost every day.
She said that the board had invested over £200m in the team and bought in a winning manager at a very expensive cost but things had not worked out.
Brady said that is part and parcel of a running a business, having that resilience to work out what has gone wrong and have the skills in place to put it right. She added that having the money and being in the money league was one thing but delivering expectations, hopes and dreams of supporters is very different.
Asked whether the move to the former Olympic stadium was a mistake Brady said ‘Absolutely not, one of the reasons we are in that league is the opportunities the Olympic Stadium has bought to us, we have capacity of 60,000, we have put in a planning application to go 62,500, we have 54,000 season ticket holders, 50,000 people on a waiting list to buy a season ticket, 35,000 families and we have the cheapest season ticket in the Premier League. £99 for a child to come to Premier League football all season so no we don’t think it was a mistake!’
Quite frankly Ms Brady, your under performance haunts me. It really does. And at this moment I am not talking about the performances on the pitch, although I will shortly.
The recently published financial performances by Deloittes are not great for you. Excluding the increase in tv income (outside your control) our revenues have increased by £20m pa since leaving UP in 2016. So this is the massive increase in revenue that will take us to the next level is it? It won’t buy a decent striker nor attacking midfielder. Not even a decent defensive midfielder on the basis the oft quoted value of the unfinished product of Declan is £75m. It might buy us a decent young up and coming centre half, or full back but that is about it. An extra 25k fans for every game brings an extra £20m a year. Oh wow!
£800pa per extra attendee for all the additional tickets, shirts, scarves and bobble hats……oh, and all the extra shirts sold overseas because we have London on our badge now. Hardly a life changing figure. It may just about give us more certainty of avoiding relegation each year as it should improve the quality of the squad a little……but only just. Hardly a ringing endorsement of the change in stadium or more importantly your ability to leverage off it.
All of above would be forgotten and I suspect if the on the pitch performance was improving. If we used the last season at UP as the benchmark, it is unlikely the present Board will ever see the club reach that level again. The atmosphere was incredible at the first game of that season and improved as each games passed. Many players had their best season of their careers, the supporters playing their part here. There was the Payet factor of course…….and even Carrol stayed fit longer than most seasons he has been with us.
If we use 2010 as the benchmark, when Messrs Sullivan and Gold dug us out of a hole (and a big thank you is required there) then I would argue that the first team is much better (although how much better would we be with Scott Parker in the team now). But the whole Premier League is better than then. Our league performances have under whelmed more often than not in the last 10 yrs and certainly every year since moving to the Olympic Stadium and our present league position is little different.
On the field there appears to be a complete lack of continuity in what we are trying to achieve, how we play and where we want to go. As many managers in 10 years than the previous 50 yrs. All sacked either literally or contracts not renewed as the manager was not considered good enough.
There has even been an external report indicating the structure within the business was not of Premier League quality which in reality reflects the lack of strategy from the Board and the frequent change in the first team manager.
As I said, Ms Brady, your under performance as CEO haunts me. The club lurches from pillar to post (or goal post to goal post!), as the Board repeatedly state how they learn from their mistakes with little evidence that any important decisions are made correctly.
If you are to deliver on the promises and action plans given on take over I want as a minimum a stable club, improving year on year more often than not. This can be provided by a significant uplift in financial performance from the stadium move (as promised), resulting in a significant NET investment in the first team squad and the youth development.
Focus on your job Ms Brady and do it well and I will stop being haunted.
PS. I’m not holding my breath!
Great analysis, Martin. 😉
In any “normal” club she would have been replaced a long time ago.
She just isn’t worth the time …what a load of absolute dross…
Reasons?
How about incompetence? Being 18th in the European revenue league means West Ham should be playing in the Europa League on a regular basis. All other clubs on that top 20 list manage to play in the Europa League or the Champions. Why can’t West Ham?
Making decisions like signing players such as Roberto and Jack Wilshere tells you all you need to know. Without a high end Director of Football (the “brains” of the club) for the last few years you end up fighting in the relegation zone more often than not.