It is very easy to point the finger of blame up at the directors box after West Ham’s sequence of stumbling, shambolic seasons finally condemned the club to relegation from the Premier League.
Journalists and fans have lined up this morning -indeed as we wrote earlier – to blame Sullivan for his mismanagement and amateurish decision making. And of course, the buck stops with him.
However, former Hammers striker and still top scorer in the top tier Michail Antonio actually believes there’s another culprit from whose involvement West Ham never recovered.
Speaking to i-news.co.uk Antonio makes his own opinion on West Hams’ fall from the English elite very clear:
“I just feel like Graham Potter came in and tried to change too much,”
“As a manager, you’ve got to come in and understand the culture of the club. And I just don’t feel like he did. He came in, he got rid of all the senior pros: me, Lukasz Fabianski, Aaron Cresswell, Vladimir Coufal, Edson Alvarez – the captain of Mexico.
“Then within three, four weeks of getting rid of those players and the season starts, the first thing he says is, we have no leaders in the changing room. How can you say you’ve got no leaders in the changing rooms if you get rid of all the leaders?
Former West Ham boss Potter cut the heart out of West Ham’s dressing room according to Michail Antonio
So it was just, I feel like it was Graham Potter, who kind of put the team in bad stead.”
At the same time, the former Hammers no.9 admits he’s got the anger and bitterness for the way he was treated by West Ham’s ownership finally out of his system.
“But now I’ve got rid of all the frustration and anger, I actually feel bad for the boys. I actually want the club to do well now – before I was just angry at everything.”
Michael Antonio is now in a better place after the anger over his West Ham departure has subsided.
Maybe not just yet with old wounds too deep but you’d have to hope there is some future for Antonio at West Ham. In some capacity, he has much to offer the footballers of the future. Probably starting the day after Sullivan departs.
Potter it’s a name that turns my guts just like the brazilians name, whenever I hear it. That’s what brought on the final chapter in the carefull what you wish for saga. Mickey was there to see his Club implode and I’d like to hear his opinion of steiden another loser who got to far in the front door at Rush Green. No matter the confusion in the present I have NO doubt that the Irons will Be Back.
Personally as I said numerous times before. The owners should have backed Moyes. The proof is there to be seen at Everton. They didn’t turn up yesterday against Spurs and why would he want to help us out. The club sacked him bought a director of football in above him. He got labelled as dithering Dave . I believe Sullivan didn’t allow him a free rein. Lastly Moyes will now have the opportunity to sign the likes of Bowen,Summerville,Mavropanos,and Soucek who he rates a lot cheaper
Steveo………. Hard to take you seriously.. West Ham didn’t “sack” Moyes 🤷♂️.
Just made it uncomfortable.
Moyes had a terrible last 6 months tenure could have got into Europe made terrible mistakes.
That’s right!
Potter failed everywhere with his lack of creativity . At Brighton his teams played boring football and could only score 1 goal per match by dumb luck . He gutted Westham ( remember no strikers required ) almost as if to purposefully destroy the club and destroyed Westham are . Lopetegui was utterly hopeless and Nuno makes far too many mistakes for the Premier League . Nuno did well for Forest for 2/3 ‘s of a season but then collapsed once he was found out . He’s a coach on the wane and can’t be trusted with transfers .
You’ve got that wrong the real villain is Nuno betrayed WH as a club and it’s loyal fanbase for his & Mendes personal gain! Potter was just useless but did not act in this despicable way! Pablo & Tatys transfers should be fully investigated as to where the money went. Also playing Pablo relentlessly due probably due to the shady nature of his deal relegated us! West Ham & its loyal fans need to look at this to try stop it happening again & again Steidman etc
Roy, compare the team performance and points return before the Pablo & Tati transfers and after with them in the team. They, along with Disasi, made a real difference.
Yeah, maybe he could give the younger lads a few driving lessons.
ITS ALL SULLIVANS DO8NG STOP PASSING THE BUCK
we need to sop this guff.
whats done is done.what we need now is a tracksuit manager who is hungry and knows what he wants.get this wrong and we will follow the foxes and sheff wed into no mans land.those that dont fancy it in the championship get rid no matter who they are.bring in people who do.its not all down to sullivan but he makes the appointments.get it wrong once ok put it down to experience but one after another thats poor.he does need to call it a daywe are now a championship side the only thought in the directors/new manager and players head should be how do we become a premiership side.the past has gone.do we really want nuno in the championship spending the first twenty games experimenting?
think big expect big or close the place down.yes west ham will survive and continue.
the greatest fans in the world yes i mean it deserve so much more.lets start from there.
Ah, now we are starting to talk about the pre Sullivan and post Sullivan eras! Bring on the post Sully era!
How about some bionic bits?
Not waving the Potter flag but he was instructed to reduce age of team.
So many banging on about oldest team in the league with minimal speed.
Where was that age reduction coming from if not senior squad players.
Their was also cumulation of contracts coming to an end Antonio’s included.
Michael Antonio claims that Graham Potter is primarily responsible for West Ham’s relegation. I’m not so sure about that myself. After five matches, West Ham and Aston Villa were relatively close to each other in the table when the board decided to sack Graham Potter. Unai Emery was given more time at Aston Villa, with well-known results.
What should have convinced the West Ham board to show more patience was that it would have been reasonable to give Graham Potter more time to integrate the new players into his system. That takes time. I personally think Jarrod Bowen is a fantastic player. My firm opinion is that he suited Graham Potter’s style of play much better.
During the spring of 2025, Graham Potter still managed, with an ageing squad, to beat both Arsenal and Manchester United, which nevertheless showed some potential. It is also not easy to deal with big stars like Michael Antonio, who believe they should continue to receive new contracts despite very serious injuries and advancing age.