As we approach the ten-year anniversary of the West Ham ownership of David Sullivan and David Gold Claret and Hugh has given their personal reviews on the ten-point pledge they made back in 2010 to see 
how they have done.
The pledge and how their have fared is subjective but we have attempted to give a balanced review.
1. Appoint the right manager
Our efforts are focused on recruiting a high-calibre manager with the necessary experience to deliver good football and, most importantly, results. A shortlist of candidates has been identified and the appointment will be made with enough time to prepare for pre-season.
Sean’s Verdict: They got off to bad start with Avram Grant but Sam Allardyce, while unpopular, did what was needed at the time and did the job that was asked of him. Slaven Bilic was a popular choice and they also showed ambition with Manuel Pellegrini despite it ultimately ending in failure. The jury is still out on David Moyes but we hope he comes good and proves a lot of people wrong. On balance they scrape a PASS on this pledge.
Hugh’s verdict: Grant was a disaster, Allardyce did what was required but played a totally unappetising brand of football and four changes in four years since is not really too great. FAIL
2. Sign new players
For too long, the focus has been on players leaving rather than arriving. We will strengthen in the right areas to ensure an exciting and balanced squad that is well placed to cope with the rigours of a Premier League season. Our main aim will be to bring in players hungry to do well who share our ambitions and aspirations.
Sean’s Verdict: In the last 10 years, they have invested £285m net spend on the playing squad. Since the move to London Stadium, there has been a net spend of £210.4m demonstrating how the move has allowed the Board to accelerate its investment in the squad. I am sure many people will argue that many of these players have failed to produce but when you accept the pledge was to sign new players I think he has to be a PASS.
Hugh’s verdict: One wonders what would have been the verdict had Dimitri Payet not suffered personal problems at a time when he was having an amazing fact. Some would argue that not enough has been spent but in Hammers terms the Pellegrini spend was pretty extraordinary so a PASS
3. More investment in the Academy
Tony Carr remains at the heart of the club and his work in developing future first-team players remains essential for the long-term success of this club. We will make sure homegrown talent nurtured in the ‘West Ham way’ will always be given the chance to complement established players brought in from elsewhere.
Sean’s Verdict: There has been an investment of over £10m investment across training facilities, £4m of which is on Chadwell Heath. The Board say they are absolutely committed to ensuring the Academy goes from strength to strength and that the Club continues to recruit and develop the best young players. Last season saw Declan Rice make his senior England debut and four Academy graduates made their first-team debuts. Many will argue that West Ham don’t spend enough and remain behind the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs but we don’t have their financial power so have to life within our means. As the pledge as more investment in the Academy and didn’t promise to compete with the top six it has to be a PASS too.
Hugh’s verdict: They have done a proper job. No doubt about that. Declan, Grady Diangana and the likes of Ben Johnson, Nathan Holland and Conor Coventry on the way through is great progress in a football era dominated by megabucks plus the upgrade at Chadwell. Definite PASS
4. Continue to clear the debt
We have a responsibility to ensure this club is never again placed in a perilous position. Great strides have been taken to get us on a sound financial footing but there is still a way to go. Difficult decisions have had to be made – and that will continue to be the case – but our bottom line on the bottom line is to ensure the club survives.
Sean’s Verdict: In 2010, the Club was £110m in debt and heading towards administration and in an awful financial state in hands of the Icelandic’s. Today, the Club is financially stable and sustainable, bank debt is paid down and they have attracted further investment to help make it sustainable. The only remaining debt is owed to shareholders which is deferred. £45m owed to Sullivan and Gold while £9.5m owed to Tripp Smith. Has to be a PASS
Hugh’s verdict: Ditto above PASS
5. Freeze season ticket prices for renewals
We are delighted we have been able to freeze season ticket prices, save for the VAT increase, but we will not stop there. We are looking at more ways of rewarding those fans who make such a long-term commitment and have excellent offers for younger supporters, who are the lifeblood of this club. Member benefits will also improve.
Sean’s Verdict: I am not sure this was ever supposed to be a commitment to freeze season ticket prices forever. They were frozen for many years and the price rises have been well below inflation when factored over the ten years. West Ham says they are extremely proud to be the home of affordable family football in London and the Premier League. West Ham welcomes around 10,000 children and young adults to London Stadium every week for just £5.21 per game on average with their £99 under 16s season ticket. The Club also comes out very favourably in terms of the average season ticket prices for under 21s and over 65s, with those supporters able to enjoy each match at London Stadium from as little as £8.42 as part of a season ticket – almost one-and-a-half times less than the average Premier League price of £21 per match. An adult-supporting Hammer can watch their team for just under half the average price across the league, which works out at just £16.84 per match if they purchase a £320 season ticket, which is the cheapest available season ticket in the Premier League.
Sean’s verdict Another PASS
Hugh’s verdict Pass
6. Build the status and image of the club
Our standing at home and abroad is rightly built on our proud history and our commitment to young talent. The values of the Academy of Football developed since the days of Bobby Moore define what we are all about. With the world’s spotlight set to shine on this part of London, the time is right to spread the word further.
Sean’s Verdict: This one is highly subjective but there is no doubt the West Ham brand has become more well-known worldwide in the last ten years although much of this could be said to be the proliferation and popularity of the Premier League. There is no arguing that 60,000 tickets are sold out each week for every League game with plans to raise this to 62,500. There are 54,000 season tickets. West Ham have the 7th highest total attendance in Europe. The Hammers have the 2nd highest attendance in the Premier League. The club has grown a digital audience of over 7.7m over the past ten years. In 2010, the Club had no place in top-ranking football clubs but today. West Ham have been ranked by Forbes as the 14th Most Valuable Football Team In The World – $754m. By Deloitte West Ham are ranked as the Top 17th Football Club in the world. By Brand Finance, West Ham have ranked the fastest growing brand in world football with a brand value of $274m. There have been some gaffes and own goals in the last ten years which have led to headlines in the British press which have tarnished our image as a club but overall I would still rate this pledge as a PASS
Hugh’s verdict: Difficult to argue with the figures PASS
7. Make it enjoyable to come and watch
We want to bring the fun back. It is a serious business but we know you work hard all week and want to kick back at the weekend and enjoy yourselves. We want you to be excited on a matchday, and not just about the style of football. We are looking at ways to improve our pre-match and half-time entertainment and will welcome suggestions.
Sean’s Verdict: There can be no doubts we have witnessed some enjoyable games and historic wins over the past ten years particularly under Slaven Bilic and Manuel Pellegrini but there have been awful times under Avram Grant and Sam Allardyce too. The change of the stadium takes some getting used to. This is still a work in progress we are going in the right direction. The Club have taken on board suggestions from supporters and have been introducing improvements to improve the matchday experience at the London Stadium the entertainment has to start on the pitch with the players.
JURY STILL OUT
Hugh’s verdict: Not for me – we have moved from the beloved Boleyn to a stadium is something of an urban wilderness where -whatever spin you put on it – makes viewing tricky. Pre-match entertainment is neither here or there to me. Maybe it’s an age thing but for me a FAIL
8. Get closer to the community
This club does excellent work in the local area already but we want to move even closer to schools and businesses on our doorstep. We can extend our commitment to multi-sports, education and healthy living and show there is more to this club than just first-team football. We take our social responsibility very seriously.
Verdict: An area hopefully no supporter can disagree with. West Ham have invested £18m in the local community since the London Stadium move. At the time of the launch of the Players’ Project, Karren Brady committed that West Ham United would invest £10m over three years, in addition to £13m that the Club had invested directly across education, health and social mobility projects since 2013, in the London Borough of Newham and surrounding Olympic boroughs and Essex. The Club announced in November that just one year into the Players’ Project, £5m of this £10m has already been invested in local projects, taking the total to £18m. They then committed to increasing its commitment over the next two seasons and will invest a further £10m, an increase of £5m on its initial pledge, giving a forecasted investment of £28m by the end of 2021.
A big PASS on this pledge!
Hugh’s verdict: Pass
9. Go for the Olympic Stadium
Leaving the Boleyn Ground will be a wrench but the Olympic Stadium is an amazing once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in a financial and football sense. Our potential partnership with Newham Council promises to take this club to a new level, while protecting our history and traditions. To move forward, we have to move – but always with an eye on the past.
Sean’s Verdict: We accept not everyone likes the London Stadium, but it is hard to argue they didn’t ‘Go for the Olympic Stadium’ and won the tender process not once but twice. While some will argue it is not a traditional football stadium it was an opportunity too good to turn down and the fact that the stadium is sold out to 60,000 each week with 54,000 season ticket holders and a waiting list suggests they were right to go for it! West Ham have the 7th highest attendance in Europe and 2nd highest in the Premier League so it has it be marked a PASS
Hugh’s verdict: Nope hasn’t worked for me FAIL
10. Listen to supporters
Arguably the most important of all is our commitment to listen to what you have to say. We know we are just the custodians of this club. You who follow us every week, whether near or far, are the true owners. Whether talking to you online or in print, or face to face at fan forums, we will be open, transparent and available.
Verdict: This is probably one of the more contentious issues when it comes to the pledge, many will argue they don’t engage with supporters enough or don’t engage in the right way or don’t engage with the right groups but it is all highly subjective. The Official West Ham United Supporters’ Board was established in place of the old Supporters Advisory Board to create an open, transparent and ongoing dialogue between the Club and supporters and ensures that the views of the fanbase are heard at the highest level of the Club but it has had its critics. The members were chosen by an independent selection process. The club say they strongly believe that they have created a meaningful model for engagement, consultation, and structured dialogue. The Club now has five members in the Supporter Services team, a 50 strong team of Matchday Supporter Liaison Officers, nine information points on matchday.West Ham have been ranked third in the Premier League for fan engagement a new study has revealed. Only Leicester City and Everton score higher. Overall the Hammers were ranked 28th from all 92 clubs in all four divisions.There is no doubt there is still room for improvement for supporter engagement but as the old saying goes you can never please all of the people all of the time.
Sean’s verdict: There still room for improvement so marked as the JURY IS STILL OUT
Hugh’s verdict: I’ve never belonged to a supporters club, forums or anything else because I don’t really understand their point when it’s clear boards will always make decisions regardless anyway. If you are s supporter that’s it. You don’t need a badge and it all gets too political. So not really in a position to judge although I think it’s probably more about PR gestures than much else.
Is it April fools? Surely this article isn’t legit.?
1. Manager. Pelle and Bilic were good appointments, they were poorly managed. Board issue. Pass (just).
2. Sign players. Not enough quality (even with a DoF) . Th slagging of Snodgrass when they do sign players. Fail
3. Academy. Invested less than nearly every other premier league club. Man C spent 50 mil just last year. Fail
4. Debt. If it wasn’t for a global meltdown, the Icelandics would not have gone bust, however they did. The Daves stepped in and steadied the ship. A pass here, but don’t be under any illusions regarding us being used as a cash cow.
5. Season Ticket pricing. Cannot argue as mine is still not the price it was at UP. Pass.
6. We are worth more. And so is every other club in the Prem. Have we done anything to increase the brand? No. I travel a lot, and when we had Adidas as the shirt manufacturer, I stuck my head in official Adidas shops in 4 different countries, and didn’t see one shirt. I contacted the club and was told that that deal costs more ! Any extra exposure we get is purely a product of being in the premier league. Fail.
7. Match day experience. For Sean to say they are taking things on board, and at the same time leaving the OSB because they weren’t is amusing. Pure shilling there. Anyway match day experience is terrible. I have never been searched like that at any other ground, apart from River Plate. The concourse compared to the equivalent space at Spurs is night and day. I have bought a ticket so will not moan about sight lines and running tracks, as that’s my choice, but it takes more than a new carpet and some half arsed flags to up my experience inside the ground. Fail, but my opinion is more in line with Hugh’s.
8. Community. Pass, although it took our captain to get involved to get behind the Isla campaign.
9 OS move. ‘Promises to take this club to a new level, while protecting our history and traditions’. Changed the badge, added London to it as well (for the JCL’s) .Threatened to change the name of the club. Took 4 years to assist the supporters club. Not even a picture of UP in the new place, gates hidden in the shop. No respect for the history at all. Anointed Billy Bonds with a stand, plays bubbles before a game. No Mr Moon !
As for new level (as a promise), I’m not even going there ! Fail.
10. Supporter Engagement. As per 7. They can have as many groups as they want. If they are all ignored except for some carpet and some flags. Same drinks available across the ground, No. Discuss season ticket rises. No. Pontificate with all the groups about all sorts of mundane things, and then do what you want. Yes. Sack all the UP stewards, then go back on bended knee to get them back in as Liaison, Yes. Fail.
There you go.
Personally am not sure on growing the brand, we are in an iconic stadium which is not perfect for football, we have 60000 most games although that started to tail off in the last days of MP, the profile of the club has been raised more for negative reasons, have no idea why supporters leave 10 mins or more early most games but it’s a free country they pay there money, the chairmen and chairwoman find it hard to open their mouths without eating their own feet, although it was not their fault the Tevez debacle is still constantly referred to which detracts. We should imho have better sponsorship deals with kit suppliers etc, so for me that is huge fail.
Appointing the right manager, definitely subjective, i am with Sean on Allardyce, hated the football but he did what he does and stabilised the club, Avram was a disaster, Bilic was lucky it was out last season at the Boleyn, Moyes should probably have been retained first time, MP couldn’t make things work within the budget he was allowed.
More failure than success.
I don’t see us challenging Europe this season although there isn’t that much in the table that a good run wouldn’t fix. I look for progress on the pitch, that is the measure of success and ours has been limited we are constantly under threat which with our resources should never be the case we should be a top 8 team every season.
I seem to remember Spurs were desperate to get the London Stadium ahead of us and GS&B won the fight. I can’t see how enough revenue would have been generated from a 35,000 seater to start buying ‘next level’ players or to attract them to be honest. LS is not perfect but I believe it was a good move.
Anyway, at worst, it’s ‘spilled milk’ now and to keep mythering on reminds me of one of my kids who once spoiled a holiday by grumping about; saying every day how she wished we’d gone to Disneyland instead of the Lakes.
I agree with Simon about B’s Sun Column (but there again I hate the Sun, period).
The club has not progressed under their ownership as far as I can see. In many areas it has seriously deteriorated.
We haven’t been any more successful on the pitch than we were previously. That surely has to be the real benchmark for progress, the one thing that is an objective measure of improvement. Sure, we’ve broken our transfer record and so on, but due to increased TV revenue so has everyone else. We’ve had one good season really, Bilic’s first.
In the eyes of many the stadium we are in is utterly unfiit for purpose.The matchday experience is vastly inferior to that you see at any proper football ground. This isn’t nostalgia for UP, far from it, it’s simply a recognition that the ground is poor for watching football in. Great for athletics great for baseball, woeful for football. As an added disadvantage it is in the middle of a bleak, characterless industrial park. As has been mentioned elsewhere we are frequently pitied by away fans.The move has been a catastrophic failure.
When GSB took over we had been damaged reputationally by the Tevez affair but were still a well thought of club in my opinion. The classless antics of Sullivan and Brady in particular have ruined that and we are now despised by many. The fact that we allow her to continue with that garbage she comes out with in the Sun, shows how little they actually all care for the reputation of what was one of the great old clubs of English football.
They appear to have no ability at actually running football clubs over 25 years of trying. i would argue that they have failed miserably in appointing the right people particularly managers. The club has a very poor management infrastructure as evidenced by the report commissioned by Moyes last time he was here.
TV money – as with all clubs = used for signings. Last para is libelous and removedY
These were targets they set THEMSELVES so while you have offered a glowing (some would say extremely biased) reflection of their achievements, it is all IRRELEVANT.
My Mrs wants me to get some weight off, so I have set myself a target of losing half a kilo by December. Don’t matter what anyone else thinks, if I achieve it I can slap myself on the back.
Not that i can reach my back 🙂
Something people seem to overlook when comparing where we are now to where we were 10 years ago is – Where would we be now if we hadn’t have moved?
We sure as hell wouldn’t have been in the same position as before, we would have slid along with the clubs relative wealth. I think we would be Championship with an unrealistic chance of promotion.
Based on what?
What has the Stadium given us financially that we didn’t already have? We don’t make a significant amount more from ticket sales. TV money is the cash cow. Where we play is largely an irrelevance. If Stadium size mattered Bournemouth wouldn’t be playing in the PL.
I like the Stadium myself but again, it hasn’t added anything to the club we couldn’t have got by staying where we were.
Well done Sean a really good piece in my opinion you have stated the facts and from there people can make up there own minds .there are facts you cant disagree with (but there many contributers to this site that will) and others probaly a bit more personal to your self ie our new house i love it
Still ones things for sure you are going to get a lot of stick from the brain dead board haters
happy new year to all at C&H
Fairly staggering you refer to people as ‘brain dead board haters’ – there’s complete legitimacy in criticism of the board? We’re no better off in 10 years – we’re still flirting with relegation/lower mid table, still nowhere near European football, still nowhere near consistently spending decent money, still buying duds/has beens and still no long term strategy.
The board simply haven’t taken this club forward – that’s not being a ‘board hater’, that’s a fact. Yes they’ve moved us in to a 60k seater stadium which to our credit, we fill every week, yet we’re no better off for it?!
Time to get real – the board are the common denominator in our failings, no-one else. You only have to compare us to Leicester, for example, to see what real investment, planning and long term thinking looks like.
Staggering to be called board lovers when others support them. Board haters appears to believe they have a monopoly on truth – they don’t. Fascinating how you take only Leicester as your example. Have we forgotten WBA, Fulham, Swansea, Hull, Cardiff, QPR, Nowrich, Watford,Saints, Sunderland, Stoke, NEWCASTLE , Middlesbrough not to mention the likes of Leeds.
Hugh, I haven’t called you a board lover but you haven’t addressed the points I’ve made – we haven’t progressed.
We aren’t any of the other clubs you’ve mentioned and I give the board credit for stabilising us (so we’re not of the ilk of QPR, Sunderland etc.) but the board have not taken us forward?! They’ve done a good job at preventing us falling in to disrepair but they aren’t the right owners if we’ve got any sort of ambition.
The Leicester example is a good one – a club of a similar size who have achieved success by investing sensibly. Yet you choose to ignore that with the amount of money you say we’ve spent, we could have had similar success had we had some joint up long term thinking.
Whether you like it or not, the board promised a hell of a lot and have delivered, in 10 years, nothing of note. So you can support the board for stabilising us, support them for ensuring we’re not the next Sunderland and that’s fine but you cannot support them for taking us forward – we’re no better off.
Let’s start at the last par J. The whole point is they made NO PROMISES. They came close but in Points 1,2 and 4, where the word is applicable, they used the words instead (1) effort (2) aim (4) bottom line is to ensure the club survives. What is meant by taking the club forward? 4 managers in 4 years, as I said in my verdict, is awful but elsewhere I find it hard to argue with other facts and stats as given. I’m not sure Leicester is a good example. It’s untypical and showed what was going on when the won the title. The reason for mentioning the other clubs was to show that those of a similar size and bigger, as is the case with Newcastle, are in much the same position and worse. Calling for ambitious owners is fine but there hasn’t been a potential buyer in 10 years so a bit irrelevant. The board are not stupid enough to make promises in football because absolutely NOTHING can be promised.
this is a very tough debate but i know that deep deep down we all knew champions league football was never going to happen even tho the board wanted it to. i mean ive seen and heard a lot in football and at west ham in 40 years following them but IMO the only thing that this board can be accused of “failing” on that is tangible and realistic is the “pitch view quality/distance”. Even Gold has humilaitingy apologised for that failing now. And…. I DO understand why this is going to be a stick to beat the owners with for many and for years to come for some fans. ANd we must respect that view. BUT i will always side with people who are more reasonable and moderate fans like hugh and sean (who himself rubbished the stadium above!) because at some point, like Brexit, we ALL have to move on and stop the bleating. These are not bad owners. The 6 years in charge before the OS prove that – where were the moaners then? i think thats the point hugh is tryng to make is that he is making the best of the situation and is also trying to see BOTH sides of ALL fans and te boards stories!
We are the 7th longest serving club in the premier league which shows you what has happened to all except the very rich!
You seriously don’t think they’ve failed on a single point Sean? Surely if you can’t prove the point and the ‘jury is out’ as you put it, then it’s a fail?
It’s kind of hard to take your analysis seriously when even Sullivan himself wouldn’t grant that all 10 had been met.
I believe the whole pledge thing was taken out of context. It was something they said in 2010 but they are beaten with it all the time.
As we said, we happy for others to share their perspective on the pledges as it is highly subjective
I don’t really see any other context in which it can be interpreted or the point in time it was made having any relevance either.
It’s a list of mostly vague promises which, bar the Stadium, any owner would have been looking to aspire towards. I mean, signing players, listen to supporters, invest in academy, build image of the club. Isn’t this just the day to day running of a football club? Surely in order to warrant a ‘pass’ in these specific areas they would have needed to go beyond mediocrity and surpass what are generic expectations?
They’ve essentially promised to do their job, delivered the bare minimum in multiple areas and you are trying to claim they’ve met their goals.
If a football owner says they’re going to invest in the academy as a point of focus, I’d expect to see more than £1mil a season put into the project. Relative to a club our size, that’s what I’d cite as a bare minimum figure.
If a football owner says they are going to invest in players, you’d expect us to have spent more than we have on full backs and goalkeepers over a 10 year period. We continue to pad our squad out with freebie nobodies and cheap punts who aren’t up to it. How many quality strikers did we buy in the last decade? How many players have we invested good money and sold for a profit? Virtually none. Our player recruitment policy and scouting networks are farcical.
I can’t even be bothered to get into ‘listening to the fans’. They’ve fallen so short of that it shouldn’t even need to be discussed.
And as for building the image of the club. The apathy towards us from within is at an all time high. I don’t know if you’ve noticed the empty seats at the stadium, or the decided lack of atmosphere most games, but it’s not looking great. Other clubs fans just feel sorry for us. We are a source of pity, for our stadium, for the fact we’ve had to go back and ask David Moyes to manage us again, for the fact that we are a bit of a soulless husk in truth. We’ve piggy backed on the Premier League appeal and so an argument can be made that we’ve ‘grown’ but it certainly isn’t because of anything we are doing as a club. We’d sink into mediocre nothingness if we dropped down a division.
Believe it or not but I’m actually an optimist when it comes to West Ham on the pitch. All this off field nonsense isn’t really what I care about. I love the game of football and West Ham is my team. The rest of it is easily ignored and I just focus on the game. But to sit here and read an opinion which states that they have been almost unanimously successful with the promises they made us back when they took over is tragic.
If you read carefully you won’t find the word ‘promise ‘ anywhere – aim, effort, bottom line. No promises. This is because nobody can promise anything in this game
Beating West Brom and Bilic in the cup would be orgasmic for me . Let’s make it happen because under Moyes I really do think we shall remain a Premieship club . It was nice and a relief to see us putting out a strong side against the Gills . Let’s get that belief back and be WEST HAM UNITED again .
COYHAMMERS
Not interested in politics , and even less in football politics . All I know and can contest to is that we have never been a massive club . Yes we have tried over many years ( a lot of years ) but there are too many Big Money clubs putting the breaks on others to develop . Our current owners are giving it everything and it’s time our Fans & supporters realized it .
I can only say how happy I am to see some ambition at last . Bad or wrong decisions depending on your point of view is part and parcel . The Good News is that we are longer supporting the Man United’s of this world by letting have our best players . Don’t feel the need to harp on because fans of my Age understand . We have seen too much and only want to see something positive happening . Maybe , but just maybe , this decade will see us a very different West Ham United . It’s high time we started lifting the rafters for the Irons .
COYHAMMERS
Here, here
Hi Sean and Hugh – I’d love the opportunity to reply to this, but a comment below the main article is not the best forum to reply. If I wrote a full reply, and you thought it was shareable, would you consider publishing it on the site?
Yes
Critics need to remember 10 years ago our club nearly went out of business!
At 72 I remember fondly the old days, however my kids and grand children love where we are at now as they are season ticket holders at a reasonable price. The ground is safe and meets their expectations. They are the future!
well said
Well you know how to express your arrogance, more passes than Sanchez in that article.
Yes well if you were to explain why we shouldn’t pass and fail your comment would be of much more value. As it stands meaningless and a tad spiteful and of course that is themain reason for it
spot on hugh. you are definitely not arrogant. we need constructive critisism on our club however harsh but what we dont need is puerile name calling, this really is brexit all over again!
utter rubbish cg1 – like twitter with brexit never forget keyboard warriors like u are always the minority. nothing constructive ever comes from people like u. ive been rading this siye years and not once did i ever think i was reading board propaganda. im so bored of that line about C&h. in fact i bet you hatrdly ever read it cos if you did youd know how balanced it is and can be very scathing of the club when it needs tp be. sean and hugh HNY keep up the good work into 2020. i dont agree with all your summaries of the above ten points but then neither do you two!
Just a reputation spread by people on Twitter with their own agendas – boring, predictable and without any intellectual energy involved by and large Marc
Well said Marc from another Mark being a senior hammer supporter who love his club and wants too see the club progress to the highest level tough decisions have to be made. In making tough decisions the owners I repeat owners make these decisions they own the club not us we support the club if we don’t like it either don’t go to matches go and support someone else and slag them off or shut your North and Souths. I am a season ticket holder and I amongst others travel hundreds of miles to watch our club. So to all the wingers and winers just shut up or leave I hate reading the doom crap you post. To C&H keep up the good work in keeping us fans informed of what’s going on within our club.
Spot on.
I reckon you are paid by Sullivan, you seem to love the directors so much
You obviously think Sullivan loves paying people. You are probably alone in that
Sorry, you’ve been incredibly generous to the board here on two key areas
1. Appoint the right manager – no – the board here implied they would appoint the right manager, not managers. None of them were right. Grant was a disaster, Allardyce wasn’t necessarily the ‘right’ manager and clearly, he wasn’t, otherwise he’d still be at the club.
Bilic’s reign was masked by an incredible Dmitri Payet and the bounce of our last season at Upton Park. Moyes wasn’t deemed good enough and Pellegrini wasn’t what we needed – big name but end of his career and clearly on the slide. The board don’t have a clue who the right manager is, hence just appointing someone who they deemed not good enough 18 months ago. They’re making it up as they go along. It’s a HUGE fail.
2 Sign new players – our net spend is still incredibly low over the ten year period – we can’t keep referring to the one summer where we spent a bit of money. In general, we have made horribly poor signings over the whole 10 year period, just look at the amount of strikers we’ve signed who didn’t even manage to score. The promise by the board implies quality, not quantity, and they haven’t delivered I’m afraid on a consistent basis.
West Ham are in no better position than we were 10 years ago.
Threatening some ambition but never quite committing to it.
The owners have not invested a single penny of their own money into the paying squad, all loans that they will recover when they sell the club for a monumental profit.
The quicker 2021 arrives the better.
Yeah I remember where we were under the Icelandics and with a youth policy which was rubbish as two examples
Unfortunately Scott, the 10 year period during which they’d have to repay any money upon selling the club doesn’t occur until March 2023.
10 years ago we were 17th.Where are we now? Enough said.
And probably 20 and 30, 40 and 50 years ago – just for balance you understand 🙂
This bears no resemblance to the club I see these days and I feel this merely paints you as board stooges. In hedging your bets with the final one about listening to supporters, you chicken out of an important fact.
GSB do not listen to fans, the board do not care about the club. They only think in the short-term and only spend on shiny things that are visible. Our training ground is a laughing stock and £10m merely paints over the cracks of an area that looks pathetic next to those of clubs we used to be level with: Everton or Leicester. Even Fulham’s is better.
There is no strategy in player buying, and with no DoF we are back to Sullivan playing Football Manager with no clear remit as to how to develop the team. They only appointed Husillos as a result of the Burnley protest, ,and even then got it wrong. A DoF should not be linked to the manager, it should be a role that is tied in to a vision that the manager buys into. Sullivan and Gold don’t have the wit nor wisdom to make something like that happen.
They are awful owners and this article paints over all that is wrong. Your recent ‘news’ about Stuart Pearce is a perfect example. They won’t reappoint him because of home truths he has pointed out. How petty is that? But what do we expect of a club where we are expected to be grateful of a new sticker of a player on the outside wall of rented digs, but where they wouldn’t pay for claret carpet for ages…
GSB have taken us for a ride and made West Ham a laughing stock with their cheap ways and unprofessional conduct. Brady’s column. Jack in charge of ladies’ team. Slagging off our own signings. And using websites to feed false nonsense to fans or get across unprofessional messaging regarding staff at the club, such as Husillos.
That is their legacy. And that you allow for it is a disgrace.
Bang on Steve. Saves me from writing something to the same effect. I don’t mind the owners are treating the club like a cash cow and they clearly are. I’m resigned to their interest being compound and even the predictable two-year tradition of hanging the manager out to dry so the fans find someone they love less than the owner. But don’t ask me to buy into the this 10-point PR plan. It’s yet another sleight of hand distraction they know full well isn’t worth the screen space it’s displayed on. Sean’s right. Like a horoscope it’s subjective, meaningless, PR dross. But hey if it gets the fans arguing amongst each other, happy days.
Are you David Sullivan in disguise?
We said it is highly subjective, it is easy to criticise so feel free to add your verdicts and reasons on the comments below.
The only point i think i could say the club have failed on is point 7 and even that is a very difficult one to administer. I don’t really get to a game early to see ‘entertainment’ and as half-time is usually spent in a queue, entertainment isn’t really an issue for me. HOWEVER (!), maybe there could be more done to get kids involved with the club, eg, penalty shoot-out competitions before the match or player meet and greets at half-time (injured players obviously; always one or two of them!). Maybe the ladies could be more available on men’s match days to try to get more female supporters interested in the club?
Even point 1 was overwhelmingly delivered i’d say, Hugh. When Pellegrini was appointed the huge majority of us thought he was the guy to take us to the next level. No-one, not even the so-called experts, can guarantee a manager will turn the club into a top 6 or top 4 challenging team.
Overall, i couldn’t see one point where i’d give a fail. Interesting piece though, guys, can imagine there’ll be lots of comments!!
Just the usual predictable smart arse crap Sean from people with struggling to express themselves.
Seriously!?
Sean gives detailed reasons for his views, on issues which he admits are subjective and that is the best comment you can come up with.
I despair at some West Ham fans!