THEY say an accident is a result of many factors all coming together, all combining to create a unique set of conditions, any one of which could have been prevented on their own- but combined, the effect is catastrophic. Let’s keep perspective, this was ‘just’ a football match. Within that context, this wasn’t about one bad game of football.
This was about unwise investment in an ageing squad of players. Many of whom are paid too much to ever want to leave, mostly ineffective and now worthy of only a lower division. They’ve been up for sale all summer and – no takers: Which appears to be a surprise only to the owners.
It is not a new trend: Indeed it can be traced back over four managers plus. So it doesn’t all fall onto Graham Potter’s shoulders.
The kind of club that can pay £30 million for James Ward Prowse and £15 million for Danny Ings (to pick two examples) but then won’t pay perhaps £1 million a year to employ a professional director of football is definitely being run more like a small time 1980’s garden shed business that will never grow any bigger without professionals put in key positions, instead of a multi billion aspirational football club. With the 10th biggest attendance in the world.
Huge salaries for average players who then won’t leave and drain resources whist sitting on the bench but ‘massive’ under investment on training facilities. Unwise. To say the least.
The warning lights have been flashing for years.
Potter’s lack of ambition in playing style is probably through realisation of the limitations of all of his midfielders and most of his attackers. Did he do his homework before joining? Or was he promised the funds for root and branch reforms?
What is not excusable – and is down to Potter – is the promise to put youth at the heart of the team and then rocking up at the Stadium of Light without Scarles, Orford, Guilherme, Potts or any of the other promising crop anywhere near the bench.(Callum Marshall was suspended). And let’s be clear, it is Potter who chose to spend the limited funds on a left back and a goal keeper rather than busting a gut to bring in two new midfielders. So for that, the buck stops with him.
I don’t know whether Potter is a good manager or not. Certainly , his record for last season, & yesterday, points in the direction of ‘’not”. I don’t know if he has asked the Board to let him meaningfully pursue the players he wants, or not. I don’t know how much control & interference comes from the owners. I don’t know if Potter is frustrated with the Board not enabling to bring in the players he wants & is just trying to placate & support them in public, whilst being extremely careful as to what he actually says. But, I do know who beat us 3-0 yesterday, & the manner in which they did it. And, it is shameful & making West Ham into a laughing stock. And, it all has to end NOW ! How ? I don’t know that, either !
1 game in and West Ham look like bankers for the drop. A Clueless chairman and Manager, This aging squad is one of the worst the hammers have had for years and that’s saying something! The team needs rebuilding from top to bottom and here we are with 2 weeks left of the transfer window in a worse state than how we ended last season. Even if we brought in 5 or 6 players today the team would need 3 to 4 months to gel and find it’s feet. It would also need a manager that knows what his doing to get us out of this mess. Even the most positive West Ham fans have to admit that’s not going to happen.
We are up s@@@ creek without a paddle and its survival at best this season. The club has gone backwards since we left Upton Park, At least we had an identity and a home back then even if the football wasn’t great. Give it a week or so and the club will wheel out Carlton Cole and Mark Noble to try and win the fans back with all kinds of poor excuses for this mess.
Why have ‘smaller’ teams gone past us? Because most of them have had new owners in the past few years bringing new money in that have allowed them to ‘invest’. The death of David Gold, a major shareholder, with the Gold family lacking the cash to make any new investment hamstrings the club. Until the Gold share is sold West Ham will be stuck in financial limbo. Moral of the story? Having your club owned by families who’s major asset is the football club itself doesn’t work in the modern era.
Potts and Scarles were on the bench so dont know why you stated they were not
I keep writing the same point .
I don’t except that Potter is just a puppet for Sullivan .
Billic , Pelleegrini , Moyes and Lopitigo were all their own Men .
We had a director of football and he was the one who bought Rogrigious , Tobpido , ward prowse , Alvarez , Kudos , Guildneham to the club .
Leicester , Southampton and Ipswich all have directors of football too !
Potter’s completely out of his depth .
Sullivan , by all accounts , only wanted to give him a contract to the end of the season – if only !
Potter was bought in to play attractive football and get some youth into the team .
Preseason we still played the same sideways football .
The only time we played with a spark was for 20 minutes against Man U , when Fesron , Orford , Guildhsm and Potts were on the pitch . We played without fear .
We need that now .
I’m not saying all those young players should all be selected at once but there was no excuse yesterday for not starting Potts and having Guildnham and Orford on the bench . His first match against Villa we were 1-0 nil up at ht .
Summerville gets injured and he brings on Coufel to protect the lead . That said it all then !!
It summed up his philosophy…. Not replace a winger with another winger, but bring on a tight back !
The most important person, apart from the fans , at a football club is the manager.
He sets out the playing style , which ultimately determines the match atmosphere. Boring football , bored crowd .
Yes Sullivan employed Potter and he got it wrong .
Most of the clubs in the premier league have done that at one time or another .
We need a new manager chaps, simple as that !!
Let’s face it all the hope after a semi decent pre season was a complete waste of time.
Pre season games are just a way to develop match fitness. All these nice videos of a decent team spirit during training is all a PR operation. I knew once we have a bad result all that sham positivity will fall away. And today’s result and performance was diabolical.The board are a joke. But this manager actually thinks playing JWP and Rodriguez is a winning formula against Sunderland. As others have said he should have played Potts Fearon and Guilherme. We could have Messi and Ronaldo and Mbape in our starting line up and today’s result would have been the same because of the way the players are coached to play. He should have lost his job at the end of last season The sooner we get shot of this clueless joker the better
We needed a left back and a goalkeeper though Martin. It’s all well and good making points to suit your narrative but those points should surely have a basis in fact? If Potter had spent that money on a midfielder or two you’d be saying ‘Where are the 2 full backs and the goalkeeper we needed to replace after 3 left the club in the summer?’
Yes all true, it is the amalgamation of Sullivan, Moyes and Potter that has created a real mess.
If Potter was at least clearly driving a new approach it would be more hopeful but it’s hard to know what he’s trying to achieve.
Sullivan still making key decisions is a big problem and Potter just making the same mistakes over and over is not going to get the club at least on the way to recovery.
At the risk of saying the obvious, there is something VERY wrong at West Ham. And, it is not just this season. We have been treated to these sort of abysmal performances over many years , & still they continue without, apparently, anything being done about it. Yesterday was an embarrassment, exacerbated by who it was that we were thumped by. No disrespect to Sunderland – they saw their chance & took it, deservedly – but we were awful, & not for the first time !
This apparent messing about over transfers, managers, playing systems etc. has to end, & quickly. We are becoming not just an embarrassment to ourselves, but to the Premier League itself. Someone, please sort it out !
Martin you started to get it right at the beginning of the piece then transgress to putting it on Potter’s shoulders. I’m sure he will be gone before the end of the season but again you can’t change what has been done over several seasons and managers in a few months without a lot of money. I afraid unless Potter has a magic wand we will be playing Championship football soon for a long time and Sulivan is the problem. It’s Birmingham City all over again!
I actually think Potter has done some shrewd business this summer but for us to start the season with the same failed midfield is gross negligence by the club. We still have 2 weeks to sort it and such a poor start might be of benefit if it shocks the owners into action. They will know that the biggest risk to their investment is a stint in the Championship.
Jury is definitely out on Potter as a coach. Not playing Potts, really? Not including Luis on the bench instead of a bunch of slow midfielders, really? I would even say not including Dinos against a side with an aerial threat is questionable judgement. We play 3 at the back but with no dominant cb at the club we still look shaky as hell. He may need to revert to a 4, get some legs in midfield and use the unquestionable talents of Diouf and KWP in more advanced positions just to stabilise things but what do I know.
If we take Sullivan and lack of investment out of the equation for the time being, you would have to look at Potters selections for the game. No youth in the team who have far more pace and energy…..why not? We may have still lost but would be happy that we were working towards building a team, yesterday was same old guard who we know can’t cut it.
Pac should be sold as although he’s a good player he is too inconsistent and money invested in younger mid and attacker.
I hear “no investment in midfielders” so often.
Orford
Potts
Fearon
Earthy (OK injured but chances are he will not get game time when fit)
Scarles (OK primarily a left back but can play in midfield)
Marshall (OK an attacker and suspended)
We see them in pre-season, out on load and in the development side where they look great, but seemingly still miles aways from actually getting on the grass to any meaningful effect.
These youngsters are already being paid, they are already under contract and to a reasonable extent have proven themselves. Put the checkbook away and just make a decent selection of the first eleven or substitutions.
Guido Rodríguez in the starting eleven … do me a favour he had about five touches in the first half. Don’t get me started on Callum Wilson.
The buck stops very firmly with a chairman /DOF who has again failed to deliver. Although no surprise more cash has headed to Salthouse in return for another geriatric striker.
The Board might want to blame the manager, who appointed him ?
We are spiralling out of control, the Board deserve relegation, the fans dont
Couldn’t agree more.
First time I’ve read a West Ham site page since May. I refuse to engage in the nonsense of the close season ‘speculation’ from sources and ITKs which amounts to immense levels of clickbait on all sites and is utterly pointless, but good for business, I get that. Looks like the mood hasn’t changed in 3 months!
The nonsense of PSR and being potless seems to have persisted even with one of our better players (on his day) having left with Sullivan having being mugged yet again. There’s the problem in its nutshell, Sullivan. It’s the root cause of the current demise of our club, and will be until he’s gone. A 2 bob spiv in charge of a multimillion pound business, using it solely as a convenient cashcow with, shortsightedly, absolutely no interest in progression, development, investment and with a healthy disregard for its fanbase.
20th century business sense in a 21st century world. We’ve gone from genuine CL contenders to nailed on relegation candidates within a little over 2 years. During this time, we’ve fallen way behind the likes of Brighton, Forest, Bournemouth, Fulham, Brentford, Palace, Everton.
This is not the fault of any manager we’ve had during this timescale, it’s solely traceable to the board.
I had genuine hope of reform with Steidten being appointed. Look at us now. One regret of not looking at sites such as this in the interim is having missed the reaction to Callum Wilson’s gift to us all from the man himself…….I think I can guess how it was received😆.
Unless we receive the means for investment in 2 quality midfielders and a striker, imho we’re doomed. The last time I read anything on here, we needed midfielders and a CF. Today we need midfielders and a CF.
We can point fingers all we like at managers, but I fail to believe Potter would have chosen that 11 yesterday had he had recourse to any one of a multitude of upgrades which have been available in the transfer window.
My optimism has completely evaporated over the course of a long hot summer.
0 points after 4 games beckons, by which time the window will have gently closed. Catchup, or not, will be played. Desperation will kick in and the usual mitigation of ‘difficult to find players in the winter window trundled out, until we whimper into the Championship come May.
I hope I’m proved absolutely and completely wrong in my depressive summation, I genuinely do.
With our lame excuse of a Chairman in situ peddling last century’s mantras I sincerely doubt it.
We deserve better, much better.
Excellent comment and sums it up very well. One thing I do lay st Potters door though is this possession football with no output. If the players aren’t there to be able to keep the ball and get it in to the dangerous areas quickly, why employ it?
That’s a great post Whippethammer it sums up all what us Hammers supporters have been thinking for a long while.
Very good article, Whippethammer, and sums it up perfectly in a nutshell 👍
@Whippethammer. Thank you for your excellent comments which tell it like it is. And it’s refreshing to see correct grammar and spelling. No disrespect intended to any of the talented C&H professionals but you would surely be worthy of a co-writing job with them. Then again, you probably would not want the mean criticism that the C&H team have to put up with, especially during disappointing times like this!
.. whilst supporting the team and feeling the same as everyone else does. And still having to rock up and write at 0630 hrs lol.
But we love you for it, Martin! Same goes for Gonzo and the team as well. I’m sure you all sometimes wonder why you do it. We appreciate that you try to keep us all up to date anyway. Thank you.
sincerely, very much appreciated. especially in view of all the criticism from elsewhere. thank you.
I wonder if Potter selected the team and set the bench up like that, to make a point to the board. I simply can’t think of any other reason. Regardless of the fact we have left the screamingly urgent need for a midfield overhaul to the last couple of weeks of the window. That team and bench seemingly had nothing to do with pre-season. I just don’t get it.
Good article Martin. Potter didn’t get the funds but it doesn’t matter if he did, he is clueless.
He insisted his top priority was a good keeper who can play with his feet, he forgot to see what he is like with his hands. We had 2 reasonable keepers one of whom could have been kept on, on a lower wage. So we buy a keeper from a relegated team.
It’s obvious the top priority was some new blood in MF but it doesn’t matter if we get someone dynamic in, he doesn’t want or know how to play a progressive style of football. He actually thinks putting JWP and Rod in the starting line up is a master stroke that will bring us rewards, it will only bring relegation. The board are a disgrace but this guy is so out of his depth it is unreal
It’s all been very wrong for a long time but Potter has said what the main issue of the moment is as he has said that we need a number six and a number eight.
You don’t need to be Potter to know that, we’ve all known that we need more energetic midfielders for a long time. Those we have are too low energy.
So what have we done about it, sod all when it should have been the first priority. As you said yesterday the Sunderland result is one massive red flag, bring in an energetic number six and a number eight pronto or there will be a lot more days like yesterday.
Any of us would have made it our urgent priority, we were all singing from the same hymnbook on it most of last season. I despair.
Potter has no choice we have a lack of quality and pace in Midfield . No investment from the board rhe buck stops with Sullivan let’s get it right .
On the whole it does but Potter is to blame for the squad he took yesterday, as has been said where were Scarles, Orford, Potter, Fearn, Guilherme, all could have given us more energy than we showed yesterday. Potter seems a nice guy but he has allowed himself now to be used by Sullivan, he is his patsy and needs to grow a pair, go back to Sullivan and give him a list of 3-4 players he needs over next 2 weeks or he will walk. Be in no doubt we are nailed on relegation candidates if this doesn’t spark them in to urgent action.