Yesterday’s post after the Newcastle United result invoked some strong fan reaction and comment on the Claret and Hugh reader forum: None more heartfelt than from lifelong Hammers Fan ‘FA’ , who echoes what the West Ham family is feeling right now.
Defeats we expect, relegation is nothing to be feared but there’s something deeper lurking this time around which causes dread and consternation amongst those who truly love the club – which “FA” clearly does.
His post is reproduced below.
Guest post by FA:
There is something uniquely painful about watching the club you love slowly lose its way.
Losing matches hurts, poor seasons happen, and every club goes through difficult periods. As West Ham fans, we are used to the ups and downs. We have lived through disappointment before. But what hurts most right now is not simply results or relegation, it is the feeling that there has been no clear direction for years.
Mistake after mistake has been made by the ownership and those running the club. Decisions constantly feel reactionary rather than part of a long-term vision. It always seems like we are responding to problems after they happen instead of planning ahead to avoid them in the first place.
No plan – chairman David Sullivan seems to knee jerk his way through owning a football club.
What makes it even more frustrating is seeing clubs around us show exactly what can be achieved with proper leadership and structure. Look at Crystal Palace, Brentford and Brighton. These are clubs that have built clear identities, recruited smartly and put proper plans in place for the future. They know who they are and where they are going.
Meanwhile, West Ham often feels like a club drifting from one decision to the next. At times it genuinely feels like we are being run more like a Sunday league club than a modern Premier League football club.
Winning the Europa Conference League gave us one of the greatest nights many of us will ever experience as supporters. Nobody can ever take that away from us. Seeing West Ham lift a European trophy after all those years was emotional and unforgettable. But if we are honest with ourselves, it also papered over cracks that had been appearing for some time.
The warning signs were there; we just did not want to see them.
On the pitch, the lack of leadership has become difficult to ignore. Jarrod Bowen is a player I love and someone who has given everything to this football club, but captaincy is about more than commitment and hard work. A captain should be dragging players through difficult moments, rallying the team when heads drop and demanding more from everyone around him.
I just have not really seen that this season.
Bowen lately has looked a shadow of the Prague hero
His performances have also looked below the standards we know he can reach. The energy, confidence and directness that made him such a dangerous player have not been there consistently. Too often he seems to be chasing shadows rather than influencing games. Whether that is fatigue, confidence, tactics or something else, I do not know, but something does not feel right.
Then there is the manager. The mistakes and the overly defensive approach have become increasingly frustrating to watch, especially in games where we need to be brave and take the initiative. Sitting back when points are desperately needed only piles on more pressure.
And that brings me to my biggest worry. I look at Leicester and I worry. Not because our situation is exactly the same, but because football constantly reminds us how quickly things can unravel when poor decisions build up over time. Leicester won the league, lifted the FA Cup and still ended up falling apart. Success only hides problems for so long if the foundations underneath are weak.
What makes all of this hurt even more is how much this football club means to me personally.
I have been supporting West Ham since I was a little kid. My first game was back in the early 80s when my primary school teacher took a few of us to a match at Upton Park. I still remember the excitement and the feeling of walking into that ground for the first time. The rest was history.
From that day on, West Ham became part of who I was.
Coming from an Asian background, my family used to worry about me going to games. They worried whether I would be safe, whether I would fit in and whether football culture would be welcoming. But I always loved this club and I always trusted my fellow West Ham fans. Through all the years, through the highs and the lows, I always felt like I belonged.
That is why seeing the club in decline hurts so much. We have accepted suffering before, we are West Ham fans after all.
But suffering is easier to accept when you believe there is a plan, a purpose and hope for what comes next.
Right now, that hope feels harder to find.
COYI
Many of the problems could be resolved by relieving Sullivan of the chairmanship and of any executive authority. The other shareholders have this in their gift if they choose to exercise it. If they don’t then as another lifelong supporter I fear that we could be starimg down at League 1 this time next year. The Championship is a top 10 league in the world and there is no place in it for a club run in a amateurish way by dinosaurs.
👏👏👏so true! 1976 for me, in Australia, i was 9. my heroes were Trev, Dev, Parkes & Bonzo. i didn’t get the experience of this young (😉) man but my dad took me to Socceroos matches and West Ham looked exactly like the local team where he took me to watch my first grown up matches…they’d copied the Hammers’ kit 😆 so i certainly empathise
Well said FA!! Fantastic piece!
That a board of directors of a Premier League team could be gifted a 60k stadium for a tiny rent and still manage to finance a squad poor enough to be relegated whilst being millions in debt is unbelievable. The only success in that time happened despite the owners not because of them and even then they were reluctant to employ Moyes and once he had proved himself they effectively sacked him by offering a contact they knew he would never agree to
I am still hoping that if Kretinsky is to become an equal shareholder, joint chairman, it is not out of love of the club of course, but it is nevertheless to turn things around as with all his businesses. Not a season’s turnaround, but a longer term plan as he knows about football clubs and how they work. Perhaps, this will bring around the fundamental changes the club needs?
In order to do that, it would necessitate creating a financial basis & recruitment model, as well as putting things right at a footballing level: a good manager, the right youngsters and so on. Surely, Kretinsky is not going to be more involved without any such intentions.
Might be completely wrong, in which case we have some good youngsters, but they’ll struggle in the Championship and it will need time. We absolutely must have a good coaching setup, to make the most of what there is and play good football.
Can we be honest about Prague? The premier league team that enters the europa conference should be winning it every season. Although at the top of European football there isn’t a huge difference between the finances of PSG, Man City, Real Madrid etc. there is a massive gulf in finances between the English team and the team that finishes 7th in Germany, Spain etc. West Ham played League 1 or Championship level teams to reach the final. West Ham even had a squad that cost almost 3 times more than their final opponents Fiorentina. I find it a ridiculous competition just to line UEFA’s pockets. It lacks integrity because you were never rewarded with European football in the past for finishing 7th. If it had existed before the Moyes era Harry Redknapp, Roeder and Bilic would have had a good shot at winning it.
I’ve been ‘an ammer’ since the late sixties. And I now fear I may never see them perform in the top tier ever again.
We’ve been here so many times before, but this time feels different. Previously weve had a ‘core’ of experienced pros that stuck with the club and were something to build a squad around, either in the old 2nd division or latterly the Championship.
I cant see that now, other than a few younger players, who that’s be honest, havnt really proved themselves in the Prem.
Plus we’re stuck with the albatross that is the London stadium, which is going to be like an echo chamber on match days!
I really really hope Im wrong, but it doesn’t bode well!
Sorry to say there are many better run clubs in the championship, I too have supported this club for over 60 years , but I don’t think there has ever been a less optimistic time, it is difficult to see us doing anymore than languish in the championship at best. It is only my opinion of course, but I can see this being the beginning of the end for a club that in reality has no assets aside of a few players who will probably be moved on to appease the insatiable (financial ) requirements of a deluded group of individuals who firmly believe nothing is wrong and burying your head is a good policy, I can only assume this must be the ” new level” that was promised, unfortunately I think the journey forward doesn’t look good…
Thank you for reposting this, Martin. I agree with every word AF says. (My first game, by the way, was December ’72 against Stoke).
Absolutely right and the Moyes lovers gloss over the two lousy league seasons while European success was happening we could have been relegated in both if there had been better teams to challenge us. Moyes stated several potential signings were ‘ not good enough’ but how much was Moyes and how much was Sullivan is anyone’s guess. We had the oldest team smallest squad and that’s a recipe for what we see now, first loopy loppy then potty potter have given us over paid underworked and crocked players no sane fan owner or manager would sign and my god did we sign them we have players you litterally can’t give away and it’s not one or two it’s almost a teams worth. Sullivan has played at West Ham like Nero and look at the money we have wasted, the business model is laughable and I can see us just disappearing into the championship or worse we need more than investment we need a total overhaul from top to bottom we do have a youth team that’s winning things so that for me is where to begin again pray for new owners with a plan who knows maybe and it’s a thin maybe we can pull a Man City and phoenix ourselves from the fire god knows our fans are the best and just want to see players give their all win or lose the current squad are shameless and don’t care in my opinion not really not like we do they will go to other teams and carry on like this year never happened
Spot on
Absolutely spot on. Speaking as another lifelong fan this feels different to there relegations. I actually believe that Sullivan wants the best for the club but he just doesn’t have the ability to provide it or put the right people in place to do so. It does always feel totally reactive as opposed to planned. It’s no way to run a football club in the 21st Century and it’s actually no way to run a business.Sadly, it’s probably unlikely he’ll bail out from the Championship. He’ll want the team to go back up before he sells but if he continues with the scattershot approach you have to fear how bad this can get.
👍FA has summed a big part of how we all feel. I enjoy reading comments on C&H.
I’m still advocating a fan organized street party at end of season. Unseen backroom staff, players & coaches all invited. We’re used to seeing bubbles fade & die and this one might double as a farewell party. A bit of a knees up is always a perfect way to see in the Summer, no matter what.
Such a terrible season and we are where we are becawe are so poor. Watching recent games we always seem 2nd to any ball and opposition players always pass to their players in space we don’t or can’t find space . Bowen is marked out of games fernandes plays to deep and tom , love the guy ,is to slow . Reading the bbc comments today a lot of be careful what you wish for regarding Moyes but I believe we were struggling after Europe success, small squad , old squad , several awful buys and some big hammerings. I think it was the right to change but the chairman got the wrong people again . I also fear it will be a long way back , now we do really need a saviour who can work with no money and what ever players we can get.
So sad I’ve been a West Ham fan for some 60 years for obvious reasons after England won the World Cup in 66
I pray some miracle will save “the drop”
But I fear the worst and a long way back
I
I couldn’t agree more. I know that Sam aladyce wasn’t everyone’s favourite,but he did say that modern teams need young,fast players and that proved to be right instead we ended up with the oldest team in the league.the sum total of it all =crisis management
Agree, very well put and spot on.
I fear for the future. They cant afford another
Season like this if we go down.
Well said Martin I think all of us think/feel the same!
I wish I’d gone to your school, we had nuns and they were awful ha ha. We suffer together we celebrate together, we’re Westham⚒️⚒️⚒️⚒️
Amen to that!