Here’s a quick question for you.
What do Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest, Crystal Palace, Leeds United, Brentford, Brighton and Bournemouth all have in common?
The answer is that none of them were established Premier League clubs when David Sullivan and David Gold took over West Ham United back in January 2010.
Newcastle, Forest and Palace were Championship clubs.
Leeds, Brentford and Brighton were down in League One.
And incredibly, Bournemouth were struggling away in League Two.
The List That Sums Up West Ham’s Decline
There’s an even more damning list involving clubs who were relegated after West Ham and have since recovered better than us, but I won’t labour the point.
Because, honestly, the list above already tells you everything you need to know.
Nothing demonstrates quite how poor a job David Sullivan has done more clearly than the number of clubs who have overtaken West Ham despite having smaller fanbases, smaller stadiums and, in many cases, far smaller budgets.
Smaller Clubs Now Better Run
Of course, there are exceptions.
Newcastle and Leeds are huge clubs with massive support, so their resurgence isn’t particularly surprising.
But Brentford, Brighton and Bournemouth?
Traditionally, those were lower-league football clubs.
And yet all three now look infinitely better run, more modern and more stable than West Ham.
West Ham Have No Excuses
I’m not suggesting West Ham have a divine right to sit at football’s top table.
But when clubs with fewer resources, fewer supporters and less financial power consistently outperform you, it raises serious questions.
Especially when West Ham hold so many natural advantages.
The Harsh Reality For Sullivan
That’s what makes the current situation so difficult to ignore.
This isn’t simply about one bad season.
It’s about years of poor decision-making while other clubs adapted, modernised and improved.
And for David Sullivan, seeing so many so-called “smaller clubs” overtake West Ham really should be deeply embarrassing.
Absolutely spot on !!!
History, size of club and support have never been a guarantee of success. Like any business if you stand still you effectively go backwards and those historically smaller and/or less successful will sail past you. Many a former giant club have languished in the lower divisions
Newcastle were bought by mega money. Two others have been in a relegation fight with us this year. Any of them are one or two bad transfer windows away from the Championship
Bit of a pick and mix there Dudley.
But the point is they are not near the championship and don’t have back to back bad transfer windows.
Brighton, Bournemouth and Brentford weren’t even Championship teams when Sullivan took over. They are miles better than us and you’re using a invented future prediction to suggest otherwise.
Similar comparisons can also be made about the songs and groups in the current hit parade. It was so much better when I was younger and living the experience.
Proper songs. Proper singers. Proper grounds. Proper teams. We knew our place in those days.
Morning Gonzo, I always enjoy reading your stuff. Very considered and thought through.
The so called smaller clubs adopted the baseball moneyball concept in the early 00s.
Advanced scouting networks and strong development and investment in their academies. These clubs buy low and sell high and they are fine with that. In addition players who don’t make it into the first team are loaned out and sold for ‘pure’ profit as part of academy production.
In truth whilst Man City are wealthy they have made over £500m from sale of academy players over the last 15 years. Take a look at the list and there are total unknowns sold abroad for £2m, £3m, £4m.
We’ve not invested mate in the infrastructure. Sully and Gold tried to say they spent £2m on redevelopment of Chadwell Heath but that is pure fabrication and the figure is closer to £500k. The pre scholars still use Little Heath which is essentially a school playing field on a slope.
It’s quite embarrassing really if you look at the state of things behind the scenes and even first team facilities are still fixed portacabins.
It’s odd really as you can’t deny Sully hasn’t invested in player purchases but it’s all a bit misguided with no clear plan which ultimately falls apart. We tried with a DoF and putting a structure in place but because it didnt work inside 18 months we tore up the plan. Madness when you think the aforementioned smaller clubs have been refining and tweaking the same model for the past 15 years and we expected it to work overnight.
The club could be so much more especially with our catchment area but did you know West Ham delay their retain and release date in order to wait and see what Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham release first.
We are constantly trying to build foundations using Lego bricks and then building the second story with high worth materials and then wondering why it keeps collapsing.
Real shame as we could be so much more with the right direction and leadership.
Afternoon Jimbo . . . cracking post mate.
Have to agree with you, Gonzo. Nice Jimbo.
It should never be said that the size of the stadium and the fanbase and all of that should determine who sits at the top. Bournemouth, Brentford and Brighton each deserve to be where they are thanks to good work from top to bottom of their respective organisations – good luck to them, especially if one or more of them gets to sample European football. We all know that our club is exceptionally badly run, and that the few good years we’ve had (Bilic’s first, and the three successive European campaigns) have generally been the exception to the rule. There needs to be root and branch reform to the organisation, starting with the removal of the man at the top. We need someone that has deep pockets, not to throw money at the playing squad, but to change the way that the club works – better facilities, better people doing the work behind the scenes, improvements all across the place, which will then translate onto the pitch. Let’s face it, that’s what Brentford and Bournemouth have done, and they are on the verge of getting into Europe. Looking further afield, it’s what Hearts have done, and they look like they are going to win the Scottish title. Hard work and lots of investment would be needed, but ultimately, why not us?
The decision making has been worse than poor, at times it’s been unhinged.
There have been decisions that not one of us here would have taken.
Jaw dropping decisions have been made and basically out of sense of duty we have got behind them and hoped for the best.
The board have been incredibly poor, bad enough for me to have speculated is Sullivan losing it ? The only other board I see that’s as poor is Tottenhams, Igor Tudor for six weeks anybody it’s a similar clown show to ours.
At the end of the season either us or Tottenham will have got away with the boards incompetence.
Sullivan is ruled by his pocket not the desire to run a successful football club.
Think you mentioned in a previous article, Gonzo, under Sullivan we are an Anologue Club in a Digital age and until he’s gone we can never move forward.
He’s probably used his fax to contact Will Salthouse about any cheap as chips players available for next season ! At pushing 80, Sullivan should not be running any league team, let alone us – the modern day Doug Ellis !
Although mathematically we can still stay up, relegation looking likely as the Spuds superior goal difference worth another point.
Well done Sullivan, now please sail off to the Caribbean with your gold digging little bird
and leave us to try and recover the mess you’ve left us in.
Great post, been thinking about this for years.
I would love it if fans with media connections, like yourself and the guys hammers network – who also speak to media regularly, bring this up more often on Talksport, Sky etc.
Other fans of rival clubs are always quick to point out that Moyes leaving is the reason for our downfall, when in reality Sullivan, Brady and less so Gold’s incompetence is the root of all of our problems.
They moved stadium, changed our badge, alienated the fan base and allowed our squad to be significantly weakened year on year by dithering and incompetent managers. They should be held accountable not the fans.
I’m hoping to be on Sky before the end of the season Martin and I’ll certainly look to make these points
The badge had been changed multiple times BEFORE G&S took over. The castle is old hat now.
Worrying times Gonzo, 1 unholy mess overseen by people who should know what they are doing but as we all know they don’t. As a fan of 60 years I can’t remember anything as bad as now and when the top club officials are witnessing this, surely they can see themselves as not up to the task and should do the decent thing and step down/aside for the good of the club and fans. In many other businesses the buck stops at the top and the top people would be removed. Sadly as we all know Sullivan is going nowhere. We still have a chance but if we do stay up we’ve still got Sullivan.
saying Newcastle United weren’t an established premier league club negates this article, they were a constant in Europe until Ashley bought them, they had come close to winning the league on two occasions as well as being in two cup finals, and as near as 1999 the were the 5 richest club in the world only Man U being richer in the UK, this changed due to an owner who was only interested in advertising his sports company.
No it doesn’t, I said they were a giant club in the article.
The gist of what I’m saying is obvious to most.
Good article and I am surprised at how badly West Ham had regressed (at least until Nuno turned up too late). I agree that the Hammers don’t have a divine right to their place in the top flight, just the same as my team Leeds, but the EPL is better for you in it.
If there are a top six and clout wise it is probably true, then the next six would be Leeds, Everton, Villa, Sunderland, Newcastle and West Ham would be the “second top six” who it is always sad to see go down.
Personally there is still hope your two games including the one against my boys last up are winnable and I really fancy Spurs to lose at Chelsea.
Good luck but if you go down, I hope you come straight back up.
What makes this worse is not that they have just overtaken us after a decade or so of success. Apart from 3.5 seasons of Europe and the first half of Moysies last season we have laboured our way to mid table or been skirting with relegation – oh, apart also from our last season at UP.
There is no ambition for the club within Sullivan, nor Brady. Simply keep us in the EPL so they can see the value of the original investment go up…….and they’ve even cocked that up.