37 Comments

Speculation and unrest threatens Moyes project.

 

Blind Hammer is amazed at our capacity to self destruct

 

Only at West Ham could the most promising team in a generation be threatened by continued fan unrest.


Only at West Ham could the positivity of last season be destroyed by fevered antagonistic takeover speculation.
Only at West Ham could a team which missed out on Champions League by a whisker be confronted by a protest march.

Moyes must be tearing his hair out.

Last season, before the partial return of crowds to the London Stadium, Moyes pleaded with the fans to reward his team with a new positive support.

He stressed the need to celebrate rather than complain about the fact that we had one of the largest grounds and support in the country. There was no future in mourning the long departed Boleyn Ground. He called for the creation of a fortress to support the team, a team that the supporters could be proud of.

He made this plea on behalf of a squad who had emerged from not just the trials and tribulation of a relegation haunted season, but through all the turmoil, chaos, and disruption of the Covid lockdown. This squad showed commitment to a cause to work incredibly hard through the most challenging of situations.

Yet several pundits reflected that a key component of West Ham’s success was the squad’s liberation from the toxicity of the hatred a section of the supporters felts for the West Ham Board.

Instinctually we feel like telling these pundits to stuff their opinions but too many made the claim to ignore.

Protesting supporters claimed this hatred did not extend to the team. However it was clear that this was only true if the team was winning.

It was evident in past seasons that any reverse in any game would spark off grumblings, booing and complaints rather than support through the tough times, most disgracefully demonstrated in the notorious Burnley fiasco when too many felt their egos were more important than the team.

Several times last year Pundits reflected on tough games at home, for example against Fulham and Brighton, where disgruntled fans could have negatively affected the team when they apparently underperformed.

The key to success last year was just as much pulling points out of the fire when the team did not play well, as much as points gained in the thrilling victories against teams like Villa and Wolves.

So I was staggered that despite this plea for a new positive start from Moyes that self obsessed so called supporters for whom their grudge against the board overrides any other priority are planning a Protest March. A protest after a season in which West Ham finally achieved to a level that many could only dream of in recent seasons.

In a similar vein I am appalled by the current antics of the characters involved in the PAI Consortium. The fact that billionaires can take over clubs is a fact of football life and it is a possibility that Gold and Sullivan might eventually sell up , though I personally doubt it.

What is utterly disgraceful is for any set of businessmen to set out to unsettle and disrupt a club’s preparation for one of the most important seasons in our history by deliberately attempting to foster discontent against the board.

If PAI really wanted to take over West Ham in a positive way, and had the best interests of the club at heart, the first we should have heard about it was after secret negotiations which results in a shared announcement by the current board departing and welcoming new owners.

Any other approach which deliberately threatens the Moyes’ positivity project should be kicked hard where it hurts.

Instead of positive support for the Moyes project we have the disgraceful spectacle of a media driven soap opera where PAI are doing their utmost to appeal to and strengthen malcontent board opponents with the single aim of creating such disruption and pressure that the current board feel compelled to depart.

We have no sense of history. A genuine club legend, as opposed to the pretended status of Rio Ferdinand, was our long serving captain and manager Billy Bonds.

Bonzo was convinced that fans protests against the 1980s Bond scheme completely unsettled the squad and directly contributed to a downward spiral in form which eventually delivered relegation.

Yet it is this atmosphere of discontent and protest that Ferdinand et al are trying to foster in order to facilitate a takeover.

Moyes must really be wondering why he signed an extension. I remain a Blind Hammer and cannot see any hair style, but I would be surprised if any of the coaching staff, let alone Moyes, have any hair left to pull out.

David Griffith.


Frankly they should be ashamed of this self indulgent pursuit of an increasingly irrelevant agenda based on a nostalgia for a ground long demolished.

 

About David Griffith

My Father, born in 1891 was brought up in the shadows of the Thames Ironworks Memorial Ground. I remember as a child jumping over the settee when Alan Sealy scored in our 1965 European Cup Winners triumph. My first game was against Leicester in 1968, when Martin Peters scored what was adjudged by ITV’s Big Match as the Goal of the Season. I became a season ticket holder in 1970. I was registered blind in 1986 and thought my West Ham supporting days were over. However in 2010 I learnt about the fantastic support West Ham offer to Blind and other Disabled Supporters. I now use the Insightful Irons in-stadium commentary service and West Ham provide space for my Guide Dog Nyle. I sit on the West Ham Disabled Supporters Board and the LLDC Built Environment Access Panel. David Griffith aka Blind Hammer

37 comments on “Speculation and unrest threatens Moyes project.

  1. Couldn’t agree with this more.

    There is a time and place for takeover talk. The court of public opinion ain’t it.

    Moysie and the team don’t need this nonsense.

  2. 👍🔃

  3. David, agree with your comments regarding PAI and their conduct. However cannot agree with your view about fans protesting against current owners. As I understand any protest is done outside the ground and West Ham are not unique in having sections of support that like a moan. With reference to bond scheme protests, what should fans have done ? Say nothing, keep quiet and suck it up ?
    If GSB wish to maintain a decent atmosphere then they need to back David Moyes in transfer market. I appreciate money is tight and that we have to reserve judgement until 1st September. But if the manager does not get backed after a season like the last one he never will and fans have every right to say to GSB that is not good enough.

  4. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and i can see what the writer is saying. Gold and Sullivan have been in football nearly 30 years and have achieved nothing bar 3 to 4 relegations. Their 10 point plan on moving to Olympic stadium is largely unfillfed. Time to move on

    • Totally agree. I do like the article and well written.
      What David says has a lot merit, GSB just Stumble from window or window, season too season. They have beaver had any real plan.
      They have no scouting network in place and no real plan for youth to come through.
      It’s been 11 years now and we are only talking about having a thorough network set up now?? How did Leicester and Wolves overtake us? We had 5 years on them in the PL. I will continue to support Westham to my grave (abiet from Aus) COYI Time for the club to step up just like the players have us ⚒

  5. Brilliantly put.

  6. Those protesting are just bored or jobless bored who have nothing better to do and thinks this moaning gives them a purpose, it is sad.
    However, I disagree it is just West Ham fans, it is idiots from all clubs, every team supporters has a section of fans who boo their players when they are not performing to their (usually unrealistic) expectations.
    The only clubs that are doing anything halfway decent transfer wise are the ones with mega rich owners (about 3 clubs).
    No other clubs spend that much or they sell and then spend a lot.
    The invention of YouTube and Twitter makes people think they are something special because they have a argumentative opinion these days, which adds to the moron problem.
    The board ignore the pathetic whiners and this just infuriates them more, their worst nightmare is being ignored lol

  7. Getting embarrasing now

  8. In my opinion what is threatening the Moyes project is the boards continued habit of either refusing too or cannot afford the going rate to recruit the quality players we need to move to the next level, excite Decca’s or even sustain last seasons position.
    Is it the case now that due to the pandemic the board has been hit very hard with major losses to their finances and have reached a point where they cannot advance last seasons successes even if they wanted too. If that is the case then surely if they truly love west ham, it would be better to pass on the baton to new ownership who can, rather than see us slide back down to mediocrity again.
    We finally have a manager who has proved himself capable of mixing it with the big boys we just need to back him with financial muscle.

    • Windows not closed yet
      Moyes takes his time and doesn’t waste money (unless eg Anderson, Haller etc).
      He is confident, as we all should be that the team to start the season is good enough to beat most teams in the league.
      There are often more bargains near the end of the window and there is no rush. Remember Moyes often takes a while to put players in anyway.
      The board have not missed any players yet, as far as I can tell, everyone needs to just have chill

  9. Fantastic post, well said sir, I’m in complete agreement

  10. Very good article BH, agree with everything you have written. These people may be called fans (fanatics) but I would ask whether they can be called supporters of the team if their actions lead to negative feelings towards the team and headlines that overshadow any achievements the team makes ? likewise PAI.

    I also wonder whether they consider how their actions impact the feelings of other supporters inside or outside of the ground and in the wider sphere of those watching on tv or reading it in headlines etc ?

  11. Agree with a lot of your points, David. The problem we have is that GSB divide opinion. The decisions they’ve made in the past have divided opinion. The OS move has by some distance been the most divisive decision ever made by a West Ham board. Their impact on the fans has been a bit like the impact on the UK of the EU referendum. Whether you support them or are against them, it’s really difficult for people in each camp to understand the views of those in the other camp. It could be argued that the division they’ve caused is the biggest influence they’ve had on the Club. For that reason, sadly, I find it difficult to see a situation where GSB remains in place and the negativity (which spans everything low level grumbling about lack of transfer market activity to organised protest outside the ground) goes away.

    I want them out. I’ve wanted them out since the retractable seats claim made by Brady in the now-infamous promo video turned out to be complete pie in the sky. I was also suspicious of the claims they made about the difficulty of getting planning permission for redevelopment of the East Stand. All ancient history now, of course.

    However, I don’t want them out at any cost. If we can’t attract investors who will back the best manager we’ve had since 1989, and deliver a sustainable, stable future in a stadium configured for football for us fans, I’d rather reluctantly stick to the ownership arrangement we have. GSB will sell up eventually. Their interest – a return on investment – is the same as any other investor, which is their right. As soon as someone offers them a reasonable return, they’ll go. In the meantime, I’ve got no faith that the negativity towards them – and it is them only, not the manager or the team – will go away.

    • Perfectly put ljd1980.

    • Don’t you think it might be a reasonable idea to stop complaining about what they did wrong and what can’t be changed and – given last season – simply move on. If it all goes tits up again ok. But this dwelling in the past becomes more than a little irritating. Change the things you can not continually moan about what you can’t seems a reasonable life philosophy

      • Hugh it’s been the same for 11 years excluding the miracle last year.

        Can you not see any merit in this view?

        • Yes of course but that is our long term history too. I fully understand their errors and if owners came along who had a big plan and wealth to match it fair enough but that’s not the case right now so I don’t see how the protests help that situation or the plans for a new season.

        • What about when they splashed out on Haller and Anderson, Diop everyone ignores this.
          Just because it did not work out (manager at fault, not the owners) it should not be seen as not backing.
          The owners don’t have as much as some chairman but more than a lot more.
          Name some clubs that we should be the same as (spending wise), right now.
          Who’s really doing that much better?
          This current fashion to whinge all the time (not you) is so boring, does nothing and only effects the team negatively.
          People protesting, giving up their time to moan is hilarious, get a life, and buoy that the teams doing really well and punching above its weight (Everton have so much more money and look where they ended up).

      • You talk as if the ownerships ‘wrongs’ are just in the past, and not an on going problem. In the eyes of many, it still is.

        if they’ simply moved on’ you would be one of the first to call them out on changing their tune because of a good season on the pitch.

      • Hugh, if you do what you often correctly suggest others do, and re-read what I’ve written, I make the point that the decisions that they’ve made are ancient history. As a result, I accept them and I’ve moved on. I tend not to dwell on the past. My main point is about the current, ongoing divisiveness that GSB have caused. Again, I’m not dwelling on the past. I’m focusing on how divided the fanbase is currently, which the hundreds of PAI-related comments on your articles attest to over recent days. I’m sorry this irritates you. I often find myself with a different opinion to you, Sean, and all the other writers and posters on C&H (still the best WHU site around by the way), but I’m never irritated by those different opinions and, hopefully, I’m always respectful of the right of others to have a different opinion. Suggesting that you’re irritated by particular comments and posts will be grist to the mill of those people – of which I’m not one – who have recently been accusing C&H of being a mouthpiece for GSB.

        • Ok I’m rebuked – knuckles rapped but what exactly have G and S done ( I don’t count Brady) to cause new divisions. That’s surely been created by PAI playing to the protestors gallery. Don’t get that at all. We have been accused of being a mouthpiece for years when the reality is we are supporters of the club and the board therefore that runs it. Our information comes from 100s of contacts – we have been journalists covering the club and many of the players and agents for years. We simply become the rage therapist for those who can’t get to the board and I refuse that role. If the board changes fine. It won’t affect what we do. I am not irritated so much as ready to kick out those who call me a liar, cheat, non season ticket holder and whose hatred is entirely ridiculous anyway. I think that I have the right to respond by expulsion as a result. Hating people because they hold a different point of view is childish, moronic and ignorant and that doesn’t include you mate

          • The fact that you’re always willing to be rebuked, Hugh, is one of the reasons why I love C&H and don’t look at other sites! We’ll cross swords again in the future no doubt, and I’m always up for the healthy debate and to hear your, Sean’s and others’ opinions.

      • If you enjoy the London Stadium then good for you Hugh, I have no problem with you if you do enjoy visiting for a match.
        l didn’t want to move and to be honest when I visit the Olympic Park on a match day the entire experience leaves me cold but you wont find me going on a march or complaining about not buying this player or that player as thats not for me.

        Selling Upton Park, in effect evicting the fans from their home, was always going to split the fanbase and as we’ve always had a pretty vocal fan base when it comes to giving it to the owners / chairman Im sure the current guardians of the club
        knew what they were going to get. and as we’ve seen Mr Sullivan is nonplussed by protests even when they are within a stones throw away.

        “Change the things you can not continually moan about what you can’t seems a reasonable life philosophy”
        Rightly or wrongly some people think they can change the ownership if they demonstrate loudly enough. I dont . . . but as I wouldn’t tell you to stop backing the board, I wont stop others from demonstrating.

  12. We need

    A striker / probably 2
    2X CB Daws is ageing Og injury prone
    A winger to replace Lingard
    A CM to eventually replace Nobes

    On top of this a good chunk of our squad is u23s, whilst it’s important to nurture homegrown talent we need squad depth

    Considering we have 4 competitions to compete in I think it’s an insult to Moyes. The only reason Moyes is ripping his hair out is because of GSB not showing ambition.

    If they don’t want West Ham to compete come out and say it. Own it. But don’t lie about it.

    If I told the stakeholders of my business I am going to invest to make my business more effective I would have to act on it.

    GSB aren’t just lying to themselves they are lying to their stakeholders.

  13. Whatever the GSB shortcomings are, and we all know them, this rabble rousing PAI lot are definitely not the solution.

    They are clearly only interested in the Stadium and it’s environs, and the money they can make from it and not the team; and they are prepared to engage in megaphone negotiations designed to heighten discontent, alarm and despondency, at a time calm is most needed. That’s wrong.

    And you cannot have the best interests of West Ham at heart and at the same time rope in that disrespectful ingrate who clearly regards himself a Manure man and has shamelessly tried to lure Rice there.

    GSB IN until proper football investors are found

    • Spot on and to the point, I agree with everything that you have said on this post.
      But what chimed with me and has irritated me since hearing this nonsense attempt by the bunch of faceless wonders, is that idiot Agent Rio, Mr Manure in on the act. He’s NOT a West Ham legend and doesn’t even think of himself as West Ham. For him to get involved in such nonsense, shows what he thinks of this club as he wouldn’t do the same if it was Manure?

  14. I doubt the fans who complain perpetually about the owners would pony up to get rid of them. All talk, have a protest that only hurts the club, and back to whining. Perhaps C&H can provide a link for fans to buy shares?
    I am looking forward to the entertainment that this season will bring and hope to get to the Olympic Stadium, with it’s great sight lines and facilities, have a pint at the WHU pub and forget real life for two hours.

    • With you on this Gary. My autistic son and I are really looking forward to first home game we can attend for over 18 months. Equally fed up with the Upton Park remoaners! Sad that they cannot see that PAI are using them to further their property ambitions and what looks suspiciously like money laundering!

  15. So if it goes wrong it’s the fans fault… honestly claret and Hugh can **** off!!! In a season where we have done so well, why are the 3 clowns letting us stagnate. The small squad and thin depth is what will **** us. Not the fans wanting the frauds out the club. The best thing about the day we do get taken over claret and Hugh are no more. No longer the mouth piece of a board that destroyed West Ham United in 2016.

    • You ****. So that’s how you treat Blind Hammer – your ignorant mouth is mind blowing. Your language typical of the protestors. Of course we will still be here. You don’t get it it at all – we have 100s of contacts you berk. You know nothing about our operation. Just jump on stupid ill informed bandwagons. So to quote you, F..k Off. Oh and try to be less predictable and use more imagination by not regularly quoting “mouthpiece” Doh. Muppet and puppet is overused too plus entirely untrue. Hatred because someone has a different point of view is moronic and the mindset of a 6 year old.

    • The “frauds” are those who got us to Europa.
      Go support Millwall. Stay away form the matches and leave your seats to real fans. You will not be missed.

  16. Word Perfect in Every Sense…
    David has left no room for backhanded comments, a basic digestion of what he has written should leave a few shaking their heads in shame……IF they are able to understand the importance of our squad mentality at the start of a new season.
    What supporter wants this club to be involved in a PUBLIC knockdown drag out fight just before the start of the most important season for years at this club???
    Enough to make you sick with anger at this nonsense.

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