The Board: David Sullivan, David Gold and Karren Brady A+
The board have once again put their money where their mouths are, they invested heavily in the summer and continue to address the legacy debt problems. They took a huge risk in appointing Slaven Bilic which has paid off handsomely. They are building towards our move to the Olympic Stadium while respecting the past of the Boleyn Ground.
The Manager: Slaven Bilic and his back room staff B+
Great start by the former Hammers player, he has achieved beyond most media and fan expectations so far. The fans and players are fully behind him and there is a different atmosphere at West Ham following the departure of Sam Allardyce last season. A dream start for the Croatian with wins against Arsenal, Liverpool, Man City and Chelsea. Only marked him slightly down on his choice of Jelavic for a permanent transfer, some of his substitutions and no win in seven games but can improve second half of the season.
The Players: B+
Payet, Sakho and Lanzini have been the stand out players this season before injuries and deserve an A+. Add to them solid B+ performances from Adrian, Cresswell, Reid, Ogbonna, Collins, Noble, Kouyate and Zarate. Carroll, Jenkinson, Moses and Song could do better and rate C for me. Too early to say on Antonnio but I will gibe him a B- with room to improve.
Entertainment Value: B+
We certainly got our hallowed ‘West Ham way’ back this season. West Ham have been a joy to watch when we were at full strength without injuries. Watching games is no longer a chore (mostly). Three nil-nil results in recent times and no win in seven games has taken the edge off the first half of the season and the previous entertainment value. The Swansea game was a perfect example of poor entertainment value but the whole very good and promising for the future.
The Results: A
To be in eighth position in the Premier League on Christmas day is a great achievement having been as high as third in the League at one point. Finishing in eighth position at the end of the season would be a great effort for Bilic’s first season in charge but we could push on for a top six finish with a bit of luck and no more injuries.
The Fans: A+
As always we have some of the best fans in the world, our away support and experience is amazing and every one of our home League games at the Boleyn Ground has been a complete sell out this season. Even our European games to virtually unknown teams were well attended and our FA Cup match against Wolves is due to sell out too.
No Sean, not completely A+ for the board, Mr Sullivan had his outburst about Charlie Austin, which made club look foolish, but then he seemed to have settled down, now Mr Gold sadly he has become a loose cannon with his tweets, making comments like we got you a £38 million pound striker, and his continued non stop support, he gets in debates too much with fans, he announces and makes statements that the clubs media department should be making, so the press report Mr Gold said on twitter, no time for him to pull back seriously!
The Co-Chairmen have done a superb job looking after the club, but they should retain that status and respect that Chairmen have.
Karen Brady, I am not sure what role she really has with all her other outside activities that she is involved with, not sure what he Lords attendance figure is like, who has their finger on the pulse daily at the club, and who takes responsibility if things go wrong at the club in any department, not sure it is Ms Brady.
Not certain how Carroll can earn any grading, it should be minus! he is a complete liability to the club and it is a joke how he can do no wrong! his non stop personal media campaign should have been halted by the club a long time ago, please tell us what you think his worth is on the market? no were near the £18 million quoted by the club, sorry co chairmen! I can’t see if getting £8 million, and someone should stand up one day and say we got it Wrong with Carroll, we knew his injury record, his lack of goals, and we should Never have offered and have him the salary we did, I doubt it though will ever happen! it has been a sad episode all round.
Agree with you over the rest, Fans amazing and always have been, just hope we do not lose the Heritage we have and which we are proud of when we move next season.
COYI
l believe Sully has already made the concession that you seek regarding AC. If my memory serves me well, he actually expressed regret that they signed AC, as per request by BFS, when the more prolific Bony was available for half the price.
Oh Sean
You sycophant
Please, The board A+, really
Sully may be, not sure with DG but Brady no way, not when they are fleecing fans on ticket prices using the last season at the Boleyn as a cash raising exercise and the way loyalty has been disregarded at the OS sales centre
How can Billic, entertainment and players be B but results A.
Surely by that scale we should be top of the table if results were A+.
The fans you are right on though.
A pretty fair scorecard,with one major exception.
Alex Song is still in the process of returning to full fitness, which may explain why he has been sluggish at times…
However, Alex Song is a very talented play-maker, and is an integral part of our squad.
Assigning him a grade of C is way off the mark. In fairness, look at him again in a months time, and I think a B+ would be closer to the mark!
When Payet and Lanzini return from their respective injuries, we will be blessed with having 3 genuine play-makers (counting in Song), of various types; what a blessing for West Ham!!
COYI,
Maxie