West Ham majority owner David Sullivan has given an interview to the Evening Standard to mark ten years in charge of the Hammers.
On the lack of playing progress, the Hammers Chairman told journalist Ken Dyer “I would like talk about what we have achieved on the pitch but unfortunately, despite our investment and best efforts, we have not made the progress we all expected under the club’s most high profile and proven manager (Manuel Pellegrini), having brought in a new director of football (Mario Husillos).
“What happens on the pitch is obviously what matters most to our supporters and is our main focus.”
“Hindsight is a wonderful thing and perhaps it was a mistake to have let David Moyes go the first time. The easy option this time around would have been going for someone new, but we feel David is the right manager for West Ham.
“Manuel Pellegrini, an appointment which was welcomed by the supporters, had won the Premier League with Manchester City but ultimately, despite being a good manager, he wasn’t the best fit for the club.”
“We came to West Ham because we are lifelong fans and we came to make this great club better. We stabilised it first, which was key, and now we are trying to match the investment we’ve put in with higher finishes in the League on a consistent basis.
“I love West Ham and I deeply feel every moment. Every day I am thinking about how I can make the club better. Overall, I believe the club’s in a far better state than 10 years ago. We have some regrets, including the appointments of some managers, but we feel we have the right one now and we are confident he will do well for us.
“We’ve spent £210.4m net since the move to London Stadium, we have the cheapest ticket in the Premier League, the highest number of season-ticket holders in London and the seventh highest home attendance in Europe. I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve delivered in the community. The Players’ Project will see us invest £28m by 2021, but our community work goes far beyond that.
“I am also really proud that the stadium is affordable and accessible to working families, thousands of kids can come for £99 a season. That was really important to us and I see that as a real social achievement.
Well done Mr Sullivan…. if you really think that you are doing doing such a great job, good for you..
Now back to the real world…….
£210m net since we’ve been at the soulless bowl !!? More lies try £125m, and they want our league position to start reflecting the investment they have made ? We’re in this position because of total lack of investment which we were promised when we moved to this athletics stadium . They have no interest whatsoever about the club or fans they’re waiting for the stadium to be given to us then they’ll sell up the sooner these 2 clowns are gone the better
Not lies, look at accounts which are legal documents and don’t rely on transfermrkt
They’re obviously a rough figure transfermrkt but are they out by £85m ? I doubt it and I bet those figures don’t include all the money they’ve received from sales of Arnautovic Hernandez etc and the wages they’ve slashed i.e. Carroll don’t believe anything that comes out of their mouths and i didn’t expect anything less you defending them, I prefer to look at the real picture we’re fighting relegation in an athletics stadium with scaffolding and a depleted team with no strikers no pace no depth and I’m just sick of everything over West Ham regardless of the tripe that comes out of their mouths they’ve destroyed my club and we all know they’ll be off as soon as a big offer comes in and they’ll say they’ve done it for the fans, all they want is pound notes
Sean, are you able to breakdown what the £210m net was spent on, as Karen gave a different figure yesterday, and sure this figure is not player net transfer spend since move
At 70 years of age, I have seen the up’s and downs at West Ham. I have learned over the years that I think I will never see the team lift a European Cup, or may been even the FA Cup again. Having been lucky to see it lifted 3 times in my life.
Yes the players are not world class, but you should always reverse the problem. If you were a top player and you were told that WHU were interested in you, would you really want to come to our club.
Even as far as our owners are concerned, would you want to play for them. So it does not matter who owns us, who the manager is, unless the players stop using the club as just a meal ticket, and pull there finger out we will always be in the same position.
Perhaps one day a real owner will buy to three of them out, set the club on the path to glory. Just like our dreams!!!!!!!!
Spot on Rich, i am 5 years older than you and likewise have enjoyed the FA cups, and European cups and the games getting us to these. As you say why sign for a team that manages to under perform year after year. Look at the latest Fernandes possibly coming to us then Spurs come in, its a no brainer for the lad. Spurs are having a poor season and they are out of sight for us. [ i despair when i look at at Sheffield, Watford, and other smaller clubs ] they seem to find the passion and good luck to them. Over the years i have always managed to see 2 teams on the pitch and we are far far from a team / club that is envied . I don`t totally blame the stadium as at the end of the day the bit that matters is the green bit, its a football pitch and at 50-60k or more a week it cant be that hard to play on the visitors seem to manage it. I do not see the dream ever coming true, the squad has more injuries per season than most clubs, I hope Mr Moyes can work the miracle and keep us in the PL but that plays into the hands of the owners. Also as you say we will not see the trophy shelf doing any business at the London Stadium . So sad to see this club in this position, yet we are in the top 20 clubs in the world [financial] I think i am missing something, the football is not a happy day out for me now
‘The easy option this time around would have been going for someone new’
…..er no it wouldn’t.
Well I for one applaud Gold & Sullivan and their efforts to improve this club to a level where we’ve never been for 50 odd years .OK it hasn’t happened yet but I believe we are moving in the right direction. Getting fed up with all this protest talk which is same old noisy minority . I shall be at the Everton match on Saturday and will be hoping to see a positive result for the Irons beyond that I’ll be content to leave the running of the club to the experts who know a hell of a lot more about it than your average supporter.
Over 200 net ..😂😂😂👍👍👍I think I will stay quiet because after fans read this there will be enough uproar to read…..oh dear David
THere’s always uproar . Nobody among the haters seems to be able to discuss free of bitterness which is a poor place to develop an arguument
Which ever way you look at it.Investment or lack of depending on what you think of Sullivan..The glaring problem is there never seems to have been a clear strategy on how to take the club forward on limited funds to build a team that will consistently get better with age and maturity..It has always come across as a make do and mend way and we invariably battle to beat the drop rather than go the other way .We buy or loan players to fill voids the moment they get injured .Fabianski is a case in point and Fredericks is the same now.Sullivan loves loan deals and getting once very good players who are way past their best but still command huge wages.There are some fantastic young players out there but they are scared to invest so go back to this suicidal way of getting players in.We missed out on Maddison,Robertson,Traore,Dendoncker even Vardy a few years back.Berge and Bowen are almost screaming out to be brought into the club to build a future but the owners just cannot see it and as a result everything is short term and 11th hour panic buys.Will be the same this window.
£200m spent what was the total income in that time… we ain’t idiots David…
A conservative estimate would be circa £140m unless they’re adding salary, like Brown was fond of doing!
16-17 £24m net
17-18 £1m net
18-19 £77m net
19-20 £35m net
I am always puzzled why some people call “haters” anybody who disagrees with their view on West Ham’s dire situation.
Anybody who pays attention will tell you that there are clubs in the UK (and on mainland Europe) who are doing better and are more organized with a lot less money. So the issue here is the quality of the decision making at the top. If this club was a company making cars, would many people buy them? Or would they say, “no way, this car is too expensive, slow and it keeps needing repairs.”
For the same reason as those who disagree with them are called board lovers
Got to agree with that Pacific well said..
I understand you have to view and weigh up both sides in a debate and to form a balanced argument.
It’s plain to see that we have been going backwards for a while now. I had high hopes for last Manager and Dof and though we will get a plan to move forward. I do t think the board really supported them fully in the Trans market as we needed more investment into squad. We have had only only good season in 10 years and which isn’t good enough. Look at the spuds, Leicester, Wolves they have a clear plan and invest in younger players which is working. We are clearly don’t. You cant run business that keeps going backwards and hanging in there. We need owners who have a plan and them hitting those targets. Not by Loaning (other words a Temp) for the short term but think long term. They have to sell up as this is not good enough for a club of our stature
We are the only site to have published a statement from Hammers United and tonight have reported security for the event unlike all the others . So shut the **** up