I’ll be honest, this season has been exhausting. Not in the dramatic, meltdown way, but in that slow, draining, “how have we managed to do this to ourselves?” kind of way. I’m disappointed, properly disappointed, and yet here we are, staring at the table like it’s some kind of bad joke. As Kris said on YouTube “We have been the architects of our own down fall”
What hurts most is that it didn’t have to be like this. We’ve got a nucleus of good players, yet no squad depth. We’ve had good moments. We had on paper, the foundations of a solid, mid‑table season. But instead of building on that, the club somehow managed to tie its own shoelaces together and trip over every avoidable obstacle.
Graham Potter came in with ideas last season – loads of them – but it felt like watching someone try to assemble IKEA furniture without the instructions. Possession football, rotations, patterns… all great in theory, but the squad looked like they were learning a new language every week. No rhythm, no identity, just confusion.
Potter soon revealed his true nature after landing the West Ham job
In short I thought the guy was a “fraud” dining out on his managerial success at Swedish side, Ostersund.
Then Nuno arrived, and for a moment you think, “Alright, here we go, bit of structure, bit of grit.” But even he couldn’t resist tinkering, for example Ollie Scarles at right back. He ultimately took too long to find his best team. Different shapes, different roles, players shuffled around like magnets on a fridge. Some games looked promising, others looked like we were trying to reinvent the wheel while rolling downhill.
In fairness he struggled to bring in his own backroom staff, and while it was great to see so many of the academy backroom team get promoted, this wasn’t an ideal situation.
It isn’t chaos, just constant uncertainty. And in the Premier League, uncertainty gets punished.
This is where the frustration really kicks in. With three managers since the departure of David Moyes, signings didn’t fit the managers. Gaps that never got filled. Money spent without a clear plan. Players arriving who looked like they’d been bought for a completely different style of football.
It’s not that the squad is bad. It’s that it’s mismatched, unbalanced, and lacking the kind of depth that turns tight games into points. And when you’re fighting for survival, those margins matter.
And then there’s the financial side, the quiet weight hanging over everything.
The club isn’t falling apart, but the debt shapes decisions more than anyone wants to admit. It means caution when we need boldness. This was apparent during the January transfer window where basically only the Paqueta and Guilherme money was spent. The finances means patching holes instead of fixing the roof. Debt doesn’t lose you matches, but it stops you from solving the problems that do.
And as a fan, that’s the part that stings. Because we’ve seen previously what this club can do. A world class team in a world class stadium, I recall someone previously saying!?
We’ve seen the nights, the runs, the belief. We know what West Ham should look like. This season hasn’t been that.
Still… it’s West Ham. And maybe that’s why we’re still here, still watching, still hoping. Because even in a season like this, you can’t switch it off. You can’t walk away. You just carry the disappointment, the frustration, the “how did we end up here?” feeling and you wait for the moment it turns. Because it always does, eventually.
Whether that happens against Arsenal on Sunday remains to be seen…. “Then like my dreams, they fade and die!” Eh!?
Perhaps we need to drop out of Premier League to regroup as it seems we are just stumbling from one year to another.
Our best year in Premier was when no fans present due to covid just about sums it up. As a club going back to early 60s our league record is average at best. Even when we came 3rd in 1983 there was a strike by clubs not allowing TV in so not really celebrated. As a bonus no VAR which has destroyed atmosphere at times!
To be fair to Potter he goes straight to Sweden after West Ham, turns things round and Sweden qualify for the World Cup – Potter a Swedish hero! Perhaps the problem is that Chelsea and the Hammers are currently both unmanageable by anybody?
Great article you’ve hit the nail on the head, all the season ticket holders I sit with have exactly the same opinion as I do?
If we do go down then you wont see us in the top flight of football again for many many years.
We could even do Leicester, the squad will be decimated, relying on youngsters who will get kicked from pillar to post by seasoned Championship players in the toughest league in the world.
It all could have been avoided but our lil pygmy chairman went cheap on the one thing that needed to be right,the Manager.
Lopetegui was wrong from the start then the fraudster Potter was the main culprit in putting us where we are today.
We didn’t really turn up as a team untill the Forest defeat back in January so its no surprise to see us where we are now.
If we still had Upton Park we could of made a fight of it in the Championship with our proper fans still strong as it is playing in that shocking stadium in front of 20,000 tourists will be the stuff of nitemares and the away teams best dreams as we will be the big fish in the small pond and everybody’s Cup final every week…
Its going to be the end of us
Stupid comments, mate. All of them….except for the criticisms of the previous two managers, which are about right.
Good summary Matt. I would totally agree regarding Potter and the boards running of the club. Nuno walked into a complete s@@tshow and has done a lot of decent things to rectify the previous issues but has also been responsible for a reasonable amount of the current position. Whilst people bring up, the game when this happened or that game when he did this. I think the killer was the six easy-ish games around Christmas and new year where we only notched up 1 point. That was the slump, that points wise has led to this. It ain’t over yet but I can hear the fat lady warming up ……..
Could not agree more with comments on Potter, even by end of pre-season you could start to have doubts. Later, hearing his gobbledy speak and watching him on the sidelines chin in hand, I was genuinely concerned for his mental health – no kidding, I thought we were witnessing somebody coming apart and I was worried for his well being. Anyhow, he landed on his feet.
If there is to be a shared chairmanship, it would be nice to have other changes, which would include a declaration of intent and honesty/clarity. Informing everyone what is the 5-year plan to fix club’s finances, will there be a yard sale of all valuable players or club will keep core players who remain on contract chosen by a manager.
I would have thought that once it was clear whether NES + Jimez will stay or not, then plans such as these can be laid out as a guideline. I feel certain that if Kretinsky comes in as joint chairman, the least to expect is that the club business be well run, including with respect to a massive fan base.
If you have a valid plan over 5 years and a real intent to pursue it by sorting out unexpected problems on the way, you can afford to be up front about it. Getting any information of how the club will handle everything, feels like trying to get blood out of a stone, to a level it has become absurd
As a fan, I am much more interested in knowing how the club will look after its finances, any stadium plans (if any are feasible) than a DOF for example, because no matter how boring it all is, without that, we will keep spluttering along going nowhere in particular, unable to keep good players or bring in the right ones, nor plan ahead effectively.
Sullivan & Brady’s Incompetence has finally come home to roost.
Was only a matter of time, yet we’ve still got a bloke nearly 80 calling the shots resembling a 1970’s pub team.
Great article Matt.Sums up our club perfectly
Good piece matt , what concerns me is where you find the money if we are relegated to assemble a squad capable of getting automatically promoted. Hope we don’t go into freerall like leicester. People will say player sales will enable us to buy players but the debt has to be paid back which will leave a small amount for transfers so you got to have a manager capable enough to buy cheap to achieve promotion . You never know what’s to come but you can be missing 10 players and still get a result unless your us with an opportunity to push on and usually fail to take advantage
Nicely judged article Matt. The fact is always that 90% (maybe more) of us didn’t choose to support West Ham. It’s because of family inheritance (thanks) where we were born or where we grew up, often all three. So like a wayward family member we carry on supporting the club through thick and thin, but you know, these particularly thin times make the few thick times worth all the heartache, don’t they?
After next seasons points deduction for overspending we’ll be in a similar position to Leicester. Just hope I’m wrong.