I keep hearing the phrase “West Ham are sleepwalking into relegation.” It’s a good soundbite, but not really accurate, because the reality is far worse.
West Ham are wide awake and walking towards disaster, without the know-how to change course. The muddled shareholding and rented stadium mean the club lacks the flexibility to manoeuvre towards a brighter future. What has become abundantly clear is that neither Daniel Kretinsky nor Albert Tripp Smith will help in any meaningful way.
Furthermore, the fact that the Sullivans and Golds hold vastly different valuations of their shares, combined with the complex nature of West Ham’s ownership, only makes matters worse. Factor in the growing likelihood of Championship football and it becomes clear that the Hammers are not an attractive investment.
Kretinsky’s is unlikely put any money into West Ham under the current model
No Plan, No Rescue, No Direction
Chairman David Sullivan doesn’t know what he is doing and needs to relinquish control of the club. A bit like a child holding a box of matches, someone sensible needs to step in and remove the club from his grasp. But alas, I don’t think there is anyone.
Sullivan is reactive rather than forward-thinking. Even now, there is a panicked spend — something that should have happened in the summer — rather than a coherent strategy to bounce back from the Championship. I’ve given up believing anyone will take over the club. After all, why would they?
A rented stadium, next year’s season ticket money already borrowed against, and a ramshackle training ground mortgaged to the hilt, with the credit cards maxed out. All West Ham really have left are the fans — and I’m not confident help is on the way.
Agree with most of what you say Gonzo, Sullivan has presided over many years of buying high and selling low. Rumours has it Lazio valued Taty at about £13m and I think that is about right, would have been similar with Fullkrug bid £15m for either and likely would have got a deal yet we paid double for them.
Over the last few years according to motormouth Simon Jordan, we have outlaid £500m on transfers and brought in £300m that’s not sustainable. Sullivan has been bailed out by the Declan Rice sale, a few years in Europe and the PL prize money. His strategy seems to be made up on the hoof and even when it looks like he is going to stick with something he breaks it all apart the moment he is criticised.
What we need is a Tony Bloom character that will put the infrastructure in place for long term success allied with a strategy, and whether by accident or design when it comes to buying and developing young talent I have to in contradiction take my hat off to the club we have developed great talent and they have had great coaches for their level of football most of whom have now departed.
If we go down I hope Sullivan bites the bullet and sells us to someone with our long term success in mind and the know how to put those plans into action.
Put that way things look very bleak Gonzo. The first thing is to get it right on the pitch, is Nuno the man for that? Well we are about to find out and what I will say he has got the younger players in and sometimes they put up a reasonable show. My problem with Nuno is he’s been experimenting and that has to stop.He also needs to find a way to get the team fight as a team, maybe by letting Mark Noble have an input. I see a bit more of this against Forest with many players challenging the penalty decision. There must be more of this, pressure on the officials influence them, its human nature. So if an opponent commit a couple of fouls point it out to the ref. Will we stay up, 30% chance at this moment in time Gonzo
I agree us fans have to take some responsibility. We demanded the club had someone to manage recruitment and Board responded with Tim Steitden. Then we demanded Moyes out as football unexciting, Board responded with new manager(s)
There is a rump of fans who are Upton Park Remainers and will never forgive the Board for leaving. Put it all together and its a mess. Difficult to see a way forward as said by others who is going buy the club. The only hope I have is LDC will want to sell us the stadium as subsidy will go up once relegated
In a previous post I said that fans are the club, but we are not blameless in all this. The constant moan that there is no atmosphere at the London Stadium, is down to us. Yes it would help if there were bespoke standing/ singing areas but 60k West Ham fans should be able to make a noise anywhere. When we went from the Boleyn Ground to Wembley Stadium (even further from the pitch than the London Stadium) we didn’t refuse to sing because we were too far from the pitch, no we sang and it echoed all around creating an atmosphere to allow us to win cup finals. We make the atmosphere not some athletic stadium
Sites such as this are essential because they provide an opportunity for fans to air their thoughts and share their opinions, and the sites give access to information the fans would otherwise never get. The problem is when people take it all too seriously and assume they know what those other fans do in their spare time and how they conduct themselves beyond this site. You don’t, so just be thankful that you have somewhere to sound off when needed and most of all where you can find confirmation that you are not the only one that thinks the way you do. Apart from that, none of this matters.
couldn’t have put it better my self, Ray
Relegation may be the only thing that will both force a change of ownership and prompt many players on large salaries in a dysfunctional squad to leave.
I absolutely do NOT want us to go down. And it might be that we don’t return to the top flight for some time.
But in the end, we’ve got a large and dedicated core fanbase, and that might be what’s most needed to see us rise again.
A good article Gonzo.
For me the turning point in the clubs fortunes came in Jan 23 with the passing of David Gold. That left Sully to make all the decisions on his own. Nearly every decision since then has been a mistake. Relegation is now almost a certainty which is what we deserve. I can also see us going into administration as we have lots of players on highly paid long term contracts who won’t leave.
We can not wait for defenders to come in, in the coming weeks, we need them now
Also as much as I like Nuno we need to sack right now and see if we can get a manager of totally under performers to start playing for the club.
It can not be left unless Sullivan has decided we are down already
It looks really bad for West Ham now, doesn’t it. I can see us going into receivership within a couple of seasons after successive relegations. Glass half empty for me right now. My team feels more like the Scammers than the Hammers. Maybe it’s time for a new club song other than Forever Blowing Bubbles too, perhaps something a bit more uplifting. Though I don’t really want to lose our traditions. God, it’s all just so depressing!
Fans? They are happier to moan on social media than in even attend the games and support the players when they need support. Last night wasn’t a pleasant experience on the slightest but as a fan for over 40v years I’ve seen it all before and no doubt will see it again
This is spot on. The article ends with all thats left is the fans but anyone at last nights game can see the fans have given up! The club is a mess top to bottom and the fans are not blameless. We have been let down by a large proportion of so called fans that would rather moan and blame others than take some responsibility in helping us out of this mess by attending a game that except perhaps the conference final was the biggest game we have had since the last play off final.