Following the announcement that Head of Technical Recruitment and Analysis, Maximilian Hahn is leaving West Ham, and after weeks of uncertainty over the futures of Nuno Espírito Santo and Paco Jémez, which has now been resolved, the fallout from relegation is beginning to look exactly like what Michail Antonio has been warning about for years, a club with no long‑term plan.
Former Hammers hero Antonio did not hold back
Antonio didn’t hold back during his appearance on ‘The Sports Agents’, openly criticising the club’s hierarchy, for what he sees as short‑term, reactive decision‑making that has dragged West Ham into decline. According to Antonio, the board think only one season ahead, never building the kind of four‑to‑six‑year strategy that modern Premier League clubs rely on.
He said: “In my eyes, this is the problem with the club. They never plan four, five, or six years ahead. They are always planning for the season ahead of them. I feel like there needs to be someone there who thinks over a four‑to‑six‑year plan, and things would be a lot better.”
Antonio also suggested that the constant chopping and changing at board level and the absence of a stable long‑term vision made life significantly harder for managers like Nuno Espírito Santo, who were expected to deliver results without the structure needed to succeed.
The club’s mixed messaging hasn’t helped. The appointment of Tim Steidten, followed by the termination of his role one year, seven months later, left many baffled, especially after Sullivan publicly declared that West Ham didn’t need a Director of Football. Yet this week, the club is expected to announce a new Director of Football. How that fits with Nuno’s authority remains unclear.
No long term strategy: Both Steidten and Lopetegui were hired, then fired, in short succession.
West Ham’s stated ambition has long been to emulate the success of Brighton and Brentford, two clubs with smaller stadiums but far superior organisation, recruitment, and long‑term planning. The contrast is stark. West Ham’s relegation was sealed during a disastrous run of three straight defeats, including a 3–0 loss to Brentford.
In fact, across nine Premier League meetings, West Ham have managed just one win against the Bees, a statistic that underlines how far behind the club has fallen compared to the modern, data‑driven models they claim to admire.
Some supporters now argue that Brighton and Brentford are bigger clubs than West Ham and by one measure, they’re right. They’re Premier League clubs. West Ham aren’t.
But relegation may have triggered a long‑overdue shift. With Daniel Křetínský 26 years younger than David Sullivan finally stepping up, it appears he is now moving to protect his investment by pushing for a long‑term strategy rather than the short‑term fixes of the past.
If that’s true, West Ham may finally be standing at a turning point.
I just hope that’s true as we WEST HAM fans deserve much better treatment for years of devotion to our club! Kretinsky needs to steer the ship now and drop Sullivan off at the next port of call
Call me a cynic, but all this talk about Kretinsky feels more like a PR exercise than genuine change.
The club has made a complete mess of things, and it’s easy to imagine the board and communications team sitting around a table trying to work out how to calm fan anger. The message seems to be: “Don’t worry, we’re moving forward, there’s a plan, better days are coming.”
Conveniently, that narrative arrives just as season ticket renewals and fan engagement become important. It gives supporters something to cling to and a reason to believe things are heading in the right direction.
Maybe Kretinsky will eventually bring positive change, but right now all the briefings, rumours and stories about new direction feel more like an attempt to manage the mood around the club than evidence that anything has actually changed. Actions speak louder than words, and we have heard plenty of promises before.
With respect I think Antonio asked Chat for the answer. What does he know about strategic thinking? He can’t even keep a bloody car on the road.
This has to happen asap. This summer is an opportunity that cannot be squandered in the usual way, there’s too much at stake. Kretinsky must have been looking on in disbelief at the ineptitude of BS. Things have to change radically – and fast. I think Kretinsky was right to argue for Nuno and Paco. It’s a promising start. Now we have to maximise the income from the Fernandez sale and start the rebuild.
That is required to help pay off the £150 million we need to find to be SCR compliant. There will be very little, if any, money available for player acquisitions this summer
I’m disappointed with some of things Antonio said recently — I thought he was more attached to the fans — but I don’t disagree with his comment about the board and future planning. It’s something fans have been saying for years. It was never more clearly illustrated than by the way we’ve handled striker recruitment. We spent seasons with virtually no proper striker, and then we’d spend a fortune on someone with a big reputation that was unsuited to our squad and the premiership. Those players would then be sold on at a big loss. Looks like Fullkrug will be the next one. How much of the £27m or whatever will we get back – any guesses?
about £2mill I should guess, if we are lucky.. Milan turned him down for €4 million.
One big mess