I have never wandered away from the Hammers in any of my blogs previously but as we come towards the end of a horrible week in football I feel I must put my feelings out there.
One of the most honourable men in football – Claudio Ranieri has been sacked tonight (Thurs) – just months after lifting the unlikeliest Premier League title ever.
So wrong…so disgusting … it beggars belief and does more to throw this game into disrepute than any pie eaten by a 45 year old reserve goalkeeper at Sutton.
If some had had their way Slaven Bilic would have gone the same way as the former Leicester City boss a couple of months ago – thank God our board weren’t listening whilst no doubt holding their breath.
Only last night Leicester City via Jamie Vardy grabbed a precious away goal in Sevilla which gave them every chance of reaching the quarter finals of the Champions Cup.
Ranieri claimed this was the season’s turning point – today he is history at a time when he could have started steering the Foxes away from the trouble they find themselves in near the bottom of the PL.
The fans are furious and sick – as sick as most of us would be had the same fate befallen Slaven. What has happened tonight sickens me to the pit of my guts.
Meanwhile down in Surrey Wayne Shaw – a man prone to depression – felt he had to resign after eating a pie following Sun Bet launching their new operation by offering a novelty bid that he would do just that. They got their publicity didn’t they?
The FA become involved and the result is he resigns from the club he’s loved all his life after being at the centre of a massive inquest
FA rules on betting are in place to avoid match fixing NOT BLOODY PIE EATING and if anyone is guilty of anything it’s Sun Bet for creating the issue in the first place.
Here’s the thing. I love the Hammers with all my heart and soul but were that not the case I could fall out of love with football entirely.
It is run by fools looking for a clue and at the end of this awful week you can do nothing but despair for the game at large.
Agree it’s ridiculous that both incidents happened the cause of both relates to finance, let’s be honest the sun bet thing nobody lost out and most people found it funny… As for Ranieri I wouldn’t blame the club I would blame his players, it’s them that have let him down, I hope they do go down now because they deserve to for the way they have played and acted.
I wouldn’t say the fans are furious and sick at Leicester. I know a few who go to games regularly and were sort of glad, it’s happened. He lied to players, he made odd selections. I am sure he will always be in their memory, he is of course a club legend. However he had totally lost the dressing room. It’s sad but necessary. Don’t think it’s remotely comparable to Slaven at any point. They have been performing terribly and flying down the table for some time now.
I agree 100% about Shaw. Case of football losing its sense of humour. Linaker called it right in my view.
I disagree about Leicester. It’s funny how, all joking aside, views differ on this, I read elsewhere that everyone is “utterly disgusted” (is this the new “in” phrase?) but Ranneri has been given until nearly March, he was given funds in the transfer window and since then they’ve lost 5 on the trot. At the moment the new manager can probably save them from relegation and at only 2-1 down in the Champs Leaugue he might be able to salvage that at home. Could Ranneri have turned it round? I doubt it. So Leicester had to act to save their season. Sad but necessary imo.
The guy who said he’d take winning the Prem one season and then spending the rest of West Ham’s days in the Championship the next season onwards blows my mind as he really meant that.
That’s football guys. Ranneri will never be out of work after last season so he won’t starve.
Finally think how many wanted Slaven out 2 months ago? Those same people are “gusgusted” that Ranneri has been kicked out. Fickle or what?
Totally agree Hugh. I thought I’d seen it all.
Ranieri had performed absolute miracles with a very thin squad to win the league. It was obvious that the Leicester board had to invest very heavily if they were to do well this season. I predicted no higher than mid-table this season, but with a good champions league run, if they added a couple of players, but to keep up there momentum they would have had to spend big.
Who knows what Ranieri asked of the board, but I’m sure he would have asked for a big budget.
As for the pies, you would think the FA could clamp down more on cheating on the field, rather than such a trivial thing.
This article rom Hugh is so true.
Having retired as a referee 5 years ago l went back to watching my team and assessing referees. Over the last couple of years l have lost my deep love of football. The industry at the top, the governance of the game. The attitude to referees, especially at grassroots. Though l accept the referees at the top sometimes have not helped. It’s amazing that when a referee is proved right after the match managers don’t go public and say ‘yes he got it right l’m sorry’. To counter this referees don’t come out and say ” l got that one wrong” either . The industry is dishonest with players diving, rolling around trying to get players sent off. Fans so tribal which causes hate, segregation and violence
But l’ m addicted to football. I’m out tomorrow assessing. Tomorrow night I will be deeply happy or sad after the Watford game. On Sunday l will send to the FA my report on the referee at my game. I need the fix of West Ham and my refereeing involvement. Football for neatly all my life has been part of my life and my wife knows that and understands. But sometimes I wish Football was not so important to me.
Forgetting sentiment for a moment, I can understand why Ranieri had to go. Clubs are held to ransom and have to spend the very high tv income on players and player wages. Clubs invest heavily and just cannot afford to be relegated. Go down and your best players leave for a lower fee than their actual worth and the tv money gradually dries up. Money dicates everything. Getting relegated can put you back years.
Exactly why the Leicester board should have taken full advantage of the fact they had won the Prem ( curtersy of Ranieri ), by spending sufficiantly to strengthen the squad, to set them up for the future.They are guilty of not doing that, and should therefore have fired themselves.
No sentiment intended.
They spent close to 70 million in the summer,hardly a small amount.Also they were never going to attract the big names.No disrespect to them but they are Leicester not City or Chelsea.
The truth is that they spent a net amount of £20 million,
losing Kante in the process. Even to stay in the prem that was probably not enough, but to play in the Champions league as well they needed to spend a net amount more like £70 million.
Agree with every word of that Hugh and i reckon you speak for the vast majority of fans no matter where their alengies are .
Keep up the good work , im off back to where i belong lol coyi .
Bang out of order,it proper stinks.Dilly Ding Dilly Dong will soon be back in work again though.Dont know if some fans can be so outraged by it though,they want managers out the door if they lose 2 matches in a row these days 😁
Agree with your comments Hugh. I have played/watched the game for 60 years. It has given me some of the best times in my life, but there are times you could weep for the game. Just another old git wittering on about the good old days. Well, maybe. A lot has improved out of all recognition, and there is a lot I would not want back. But I do get that uneasy feeling more & more that the game is losing its soul. I still say we are lucky to have owners who are proper football people & who have a real connection with the club. Long may that continue…
You will always have some supporters who think the grass is greener on the other side Hammer64.I take no notice of the fools who call them the porn twins,chuckle brothers or dumb and dumber.Lets give them the Venkys,Vincent Tan or Randy Lerner forr example and see how happy they are with a change of ownership then.
yep agreed Jim, we are lucky to have supporters of the club in charge and furthermore ones with thick enough skins that they can ignore the idiots. They are building us up gradually rather than trying to build Rome in a day which is probably why the dressing room is fairly harmonious, look at what happened with Fernandes at QPR and when we had the Icelandics involved, although both mean well unless you can continually pump huge amounts of cash in to get everyone at that elite level it will create a divide in the club.
All of that is true lads, there is no bigger supporter of the owners than me. Those so called fans that call them names DISGUST ME! Utterly disgusting behaviour!!
But I maintain that Leicester CFC and the owners are getting a bad press after they’ve given Ranneri till March and gave him money in January. He’s lost his last 5 and lost to Millwall in the cup. They had to make a call they couldn’t wait till there was just 4 matches left. Of course time will tell if they’ve made the right decision.
I wish West Ham had acted earlier in terms of Roeder and Avram I know that for sure. Both should’ve been relieved in January and think how different things might’ve been for West Ham had Sir Trev took over in the January?
Fair point John. slim Jim- could not agree more with your final sentence. I have read a few pieces about foreign owners. They claim to respect the fans & the traditions and always go on about being mad about football, but there is always a hidden agenda. It is often a tax dodge. Or there is a political motive- get a nice UK based investment & your country’s dictator will think twice before locking you up or nicking your wealth. It is well known that most of the PL is foreign owned, but the rot is spreading all the way down. We have had a taste ourselves of course. I am financial or political expert, but I have a feeling this is a house of cards that one day will crash down. Here I go again- doom & gloom.
Maybe we were lucky as most of the signings Leicester made we were in for those same players and they chose Leicester
Most of the squad doubled there wages in the summer but they have lost there fight this season,
The FA should either treat the betting thing as it is a none football item or speak to get the law changed with what regards as game tampering
I am sure there are clubs lining up to sign the keeper for pie eating not goal keeping,
To much money in our game fall stop
Leicester could get Hippo to jump ship