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.