By Sean Whetstone
So the ‘GSB Out’ wanted a new investor, they wanted a new head of recruitment, they wanted Sullivan to have less control in the window and for Moyes to have full control.
Well, they got Daniel Kretinsky who invested £150m for 27% of the shares and David Sullivan reducing his majority stake to become a minority shareholder.
Rob Newman came in as head of recruitment with Sullivan taking a back seat in transfers with the manager fully in charge without interference.
So the new board made funds available to Newman and Moyes but they have not been able to sign anyone this January for the first time since Gold and Sullivan took over or indeed at their previous club Birmingham City 30 years back.
Up to six bids went in this winter and were rejected as Moyes was determined to only bring in players who in his opinion were better than his current squad.
Some call him ‘Dithering Dave’ the ditherer and others call him ‘Due Diligence Dave’ but the man is more complex than a simple nickname.
The manager makes the final decision and in Moyes we trust until he crashes and burns. He knows the reality of football which is that you are only as good as your last season in charge so we should back his decision not to sign the players that were available to him.
I hope the GSB OUT and Twitterati brigade don’t use this stick to beat the board or as an excuse to re-ignite fan-led protests but it may become inevitable given their track record
I predict Moyes will come out after the transfer window closes in his first interview and take full responsibility for the lack of activity because that is the kind of person he is!
He may be stubborn but let’s judge him at the end of the season and not mid-season while we remain in fifth place.
And let’s also remember that if and when the protests start they will be aimed at a new board KGSB – not GSB – because bet your life, had Sullivan been able to, he would almost certainly have forced a player or two through the door as he has for the previous 29 years of ownership!
Be careful what you wish for!
He’s killed our season, get rid now !!!!!!!
A truly stupid comment
You can trust in moyes if you like -i dont any longer. He has just taken this club backwards.And ensured rice will go. Why on earth wouldnt he ? Disgusted thrown away best chance to achieve in years, .
David Moyes has taken this club backwards? Did you honestly just write that and press send?
Maybe you have short term memory loss but i remember where we were when he came back to us. I looked at the table at the end of last season and i look at the table now. Seems to me, and everyone else who has an ounce of sense, that he has taken us in exactly the opposite direction as backwards.
This knee jerk reaction stuff from all of those dissenters who say nothing throughout the season, saving they’re ire for transfer windows, just goes to show how far we have still got to go as a club to rid ourselves of those who need no excuse to moan about whoever they feel is at fault for whatever issues they have this week.
David Moyes has taken us backwards??? Get a bloody grip for goodness sakes
Well said Saul, it had to be said and it’s good to know that the madness hasn’t descended upon us all.
Agree totally Saul.
Im not a fan of the owners but I agree with you here 100% Saul
I meant by not strengthening the squad from here on in i dont think we will achieve the stated aims top four or six.i hope im wrong.but you cant just keep relying on the same players all the time. Injuries may occur and fatigue some of which weve already seen.So ive got a bloody grip. As from now we will see. I dont knock moyes at all up to this point .
Never been a gbs hater always thanked them for saving our club .
Newman has been here since October and has achieved fk all what chance we got of winning anything now? Really disappointing
Did you actually just say that? really…..
There is know doubt Moyes has screwed us up here, and this mistake could cost us top six, so he 100% does deserve to be criticised. After all we have all praised him, and he deserved all the praise too. But when you do something wrong like this you deserve to the to be criticised for it.
However this being said, he still hasn’t taken us backwards, he got us to this position in the first place.
Unfortunately though I fear waiting this opportunity, has now cost us a chance to finish top six, and will mean we loose rice in the summer.
I disagree Sean the board whoever is there and joined are still in charge . Seriously it’s the same rubbish we yried and failed . Do you think we should believe we were going for Phillips or Raphina as the board know those bids would never be accepted. This is a joke they think were stupid . This is a failed opportunity to get a chance at top 4 . Where is the ambition yeh let’s all blame Moyes cos he owns the club right & makes every decision!
But it wasn’t the board who chose them was it – they backed Moyes choices
Behave.
Can’t speak for others I am certainly not a GSB out or twiterati **** or whatever, I trust Moyes as a manager, I don’t trust Sullivan and am glad we are not making a panic buy but what isn’t acceptable is how under GSB and now KGSB and Moyes the pattern continues of big bids for players who don’t want to come and are never likely too, they are good headline grabbers of course but we regularly miss out often with negative press, that doesn’t happen constantly at other clubs so we should ask for some scrutiny about why because it could cost us our best players, we have experienced this many times over the years with great players leaving because of the lack of ambition of our board. It feels like we are on the cusp of something but for whatever reason Moyes and the board have shot them self in the foot and unless we win something this could take us some years to recover from.
I’m really struggling to understand the assertion that owner signing players manager isn’t keen on is a good thing.
I for one never wished for the manager to run the transfer activity exclusively.
I wished for a PROPER director of football ( neither David Sullivan, nor a bloke whom was picked by his subordinate – bizarre), to oversea recruitment over the long term.
If it goes on to show that moyes has cocked this season up in this window, then that is exactly the model the owners should install . Finally !
Seems like flawed logic to suggest that having funds available this window means that a Gold and Sullivan-employed manager will be the first in 30 years to.have failed to spend any of that money, and that, in and of itself, is a failure. Would love to see a list of the players they’ve bought in those earlier 29 January transfers. I wonder how many of them went on to be value adding, rather than, at best, sticking plaster, short-term solutions. Moyes is the first decent manager by a mile that has agreed to work for them. So, It’ll be no surprise to me if he’s the first to hold on to the budget they’ve sanctioned for a January window.
Hold on – The point being made was that to blame the board for no ambition in signing players hasn’t been the case previously. Nor was it termed failure Ok, we know some of them were rubbish but don’t blame them for not spending. If they get involved they are wrong, if they stay out they are wrong. What happens in the summer when we have about five out of contract, Noble retiring etc. Given what we’ve seen in the winter is Moyes capable of bringing six or seven? Declan may well move on as a result of this. I hope you are right and that we are in Europe again finish at least sixth but you maybe an eternal optimist LJD
That’s my point, Hugh: I’m not blaming anyone for not spending in this window. I’d congratulate Moyes and the Board, if I got the chance. I’m not sure we need to spend. We’re competing. At the right end of the table. In the Europa League. And the FA Cup. Why disrupt the harmony by bringing players in for the sake of it? If we’ve got 5 or 6 out of contract in the summer there’ll then be a need. I trust Moyes to spend some money in that scenario. Perhaps that makes me an optimist these days. Thank god. I’ve been a massive pessimist about all things West Ham-related for as long as I can remember!
ljd1980…
I’m with you on this and under Moyes, it is all about getting and being able to get the RIGHT players in, rather than bodies simply to appease the unappeasable.
Throwing money around in this window isn’t always the solution and transfer deadline day is a bit like a shark feeding frenzy with blood being thrown into the water at regular intervals.
We are currently sitting 5th in the Premiership, and where we now are (including the Europa League), as opposed to where we were… a visitor to this planet would be forgiven for thinking that we’re a club fighting a relegation battle.
The Board and Moyes have shown a complete lack of ambition which is hugely disappointing and I fear it will signal Rice’s departure in the summer.
“Be careful what you wish for”.
Have you seen where we are in the table? Sure, we might be a few spots lower by the end of the season, but save the Bilic season, I bet we finish higher than any season since the Redknapp 5th place. What was that, about 25 years ago.
Sickening.
Yeah that last comment from Sean ,is why I’m not a fan of his stuff.
Obviously not as a person, i don’t know him I’m sure he’s a nice person, im just not a fan of his articles..
This article is not worth a comment. None of us know what has or is going on behind the scenes. Speculation is damaging.
Totally agree. It’s this sort of negativity that drove Wenger out of Arsenal and Curbs out of Charlton. They haven’t exactly set the world alight since, have they?
Fact is if Moyes small squad can’t maintain the pace, and we end up out of Europe next season, Moyes is gone in the summer. The board will need to do something to appease Dec’s dad and probably Bowen’s as well. And even sacking Moyes might not be enough. I can see Kretinsky wanting someone new.
I’m happy with the team Moyes has put together over the last couple of seasons. Pleased we didn’t go out and buy rubbish players just for the sake of it like we used to. How many strikers have Sullivan and gold bought over the years to appease the fans that have turned out to be absolute rubbish?
Not so long ago people were saying Moyes has put together the best West Ham team weve seen for decades now because he signs no one this window they want to turn on the manager? I’m sure Moyes is as frustrated and disappointed as everyone else. No doubt he wanted to bring a couple of players in but I admire the fact he won’t bring anyone in if he doesnt think they’re an upgrade on what we’ve already got.
I find quite a few of the comments here ridiculous given how David,Moyes has dragged this club from the abyess three years ago.
I believe we are showing ambition because the players we have allegedly bid for would certainly bring great benefits to us. However in all cases they are prized by their clubs for the very reasons we want them . It takes two to tango and looking at the minimal transfer activity so far I cannot think of any of the players moving so far we would either need or want. People need to calm down or risk undermining the very real progress we have made!
Trouble is Hugh/Sean your still supporting this board.
Two ludicrous bids for Phillips and Raphinia.
Totally embarrassing once again.
A last second bid for Nunez who didn’t want to come.
You mean a new board don’t you Boleyn. I support the board yes and they did a good job in the end bringing back Moyes and a new investor. Some do some don’t and I’m not a bloke who says trouble is you don’t
I’ve got to admit to feeling frustrated that we haven’t been able to bring new talent in. It certainly can’t be argued that there wasn’t time to identify the ones wanted and negotiate the deals needed. if the lack of activity means that the youngsters that have been on the bench get more opportunities and playing time it’s all good.
COYI
Best manager we’ve had since John Lyall. We need a top six finish this year, which is achievable, then we will start to compete for the big players, if we need them. We’ve been average for 40 years,we aren’t going to turn that around by chucking money around in the January of year 2 of a proper revival; this will take 4-5 years if we want continued success. Stop panicking.
Spot on….. 100% Correct!
The point you have made cannot be doubted and you would think that most of our supporters would understand this fact!
Many supporters seem to have lost their minds and are beginning to sound like the supporters of the clubs we used to mock for their twisty knickers mindset!
Awful ……. I will get abuse as always from Hugh but Moyes and Sullivan couldn’t run a burger van outside the ground . We had the opportunity …league position , Europe etc etc and the circus clowns wasted it . Declan will undoubtedly leave and I wish him every success . He deserves more than this bunch of morons .
I have just heard the club claim that they almost had a deal done in the last hours … Do they ever stop taking the p…. There was no need to leave anything that late … was it a surprise ??? COYI
Don’t blame the board here they have done exactly what the moaners called for – a new investor, less control by DS and a head of recruitment with DM making the decisions on signings. That they have made no signings gives Moyes a second half of the season issue. Maybe now he will trust his U23’s on the bench? Lets see
He’s no real history in using U23’s in the PL sadly. Hopefully that will change
Moyes has completely transformed this team since taking over and we should all be incredibly grateful. However i think the club is simply out of their depth trying to push to that next level. The complete lack of planning heading into this transfer window was laid bare by the ridiculous bids that were never going to be accepted in a million years on the final day
Following the logic of David Moyes, who would have risked getting a Player from Nottingham Forrest ? Who seems quite good. Who would have risked bringing in one from Ipswich ? The attitude of Moyes would have kept out Antonio and Cresswell. Given that at the time we seemed to have more quality than these Championship Players. However, we had Managers of vision back then. We need to grab Ranerri whilst he is available. He took Leicester to the title and knows the way to take a Team further. Moyes has done all he can and has lost the plot. The actions yesterday were unforgivable. Why blame the Board, when we are plagued by the Managers’ stubborness and refusal to play young Players or face reality.
Moyes has done a terrific job but he has made a lot of mistakes too like the 2 games with Man Utd in the league cost us 2 points and a current standing of 4th place. In both cases he made horrendous footballing decisions that you would not see at youth level, Bringing on a player to take a penalty who had no involvement in the game and then deciding to bring on Fredericks for Coufal, a player who had everything under control in that game but for me he has now made the biggest mistake so far, in not giving the team the help they need to make Top 6 again this season. I agree u only buy players who will improve the team and this was 100% achievable in this window if the correct planning was put into place. So let nobody on here fool yourself and say we did not need players or we could not get the right players, that is not correct, the reason we did not get the right players was because we failed to plan properly for this window. I feel sorry for the fans and the players.
How long did it take for Sullivan to dictate that piece to you Sean? Do we just have to take your word that 6 bids were made? That Sullivan handed over control of transfers to Moyes? I don’t believe a word of it. Still GSBOUT.
I want you to know Hammerforlife I have absolutely no problem with your position as I don’t expect people to have with mine. However, any ideas that Sullivan tells us what and what not to write is simply fiction as it always has been. Nor do I tell porkies.
I’ve never suggested that you do Hugh, nor would I. I don’t doubt for one moment that you want West Ham to be successful every bit as much as I do.
Good man 🙂