Many outsiders might wrongly assume that West Ham will be disappointed to have had to release recruitment director Kyle Macaulay only ten months after paying Chelsea Ā£1 million in compensation for his services.
The former data analyst was recruited to head up the Hammersā transfer strategy, and only last month West Ham were boasting about how the future looked bright as a result of his appointment.
āSteps have already been taken to implement a new strategy and approach. We have appointed Graham Potter as our new Head Coach. His role is to build and develop a first-team squad in line with the Clubās identity and objectives, with a continued focus on integrating young players from our Academy. Head of Recruitment Kyle Macaulay was brought in to oversee player recruitment and transfers.ā
Kyle Macaulay was hailed as the future only last month
None of which sounds quite so clever now, particularly against the backdrop of Hammers bosses sacking director of football Tim Steidten in January. But none of this is really a surprise, given that the exit of each manager seems to coincide with the removal of the person tasked with overseeing transfers.
Sullivan Back at the Helm
The net result is that David Sullivan will now be firmly back in charge of recruitment, and he will view Macaulay as a failure ā when in truth, he was never really given a chance.
The director of football should remain a secure position, not subject to the uncertainty and fluctuations of a head coach. A head of recruitment should offer stability and consistency, ensuring the direction and ethos of a teamās playing style and transfers do not change simply because a coach has left.
But once again, West Ham have thrown the baby out with the bathwater, and recruitment will receive an overhaul as a result. However, I doubt there will be too many tears at the London Stadium with Sullivan back in charge ā which is just how he likes it.
Steidten was never given a chance neither.
I’m not saying Steidten was perfect, far from it, but doesn’t change that we were told last summer that he’d be solely responsible for bringing in players.
Yet Rodriguez and Kilman were 100% Lopetegui signings. Pretty positive Soler was as well. From all accounts, Summerville was a Sullivan signing. I’m also fairly confident that Steidten wasn’t the one pulling the strings to sign Foderingham.
Todibo and Guilherme aren’t exactly stellar signings but are almost universally accepted to have potential. Wan-Bissaka was 100% a Steidten signing and he was Hammer of the Year. Kante flew under the radar but is looking a steal. And Fullkrug we know was only signed because Sullivan refused to pay the extra for Duran.
Zirkzee from Man united is not the answer
Simply not good enough
Letās try and find a 20-25 year old player who is finding the net regularly
We always seem to go for players who can not make it into the first teams because they are just not good enough
And letās forget the players which are past their prime
We need to buy carefully and not get prima donnas on a massive wage and long contract which prove to be useless
We have a few of them now, just canāt get the moved on
I’m still hoping they might promote Maximillian internally to stop him being head hunted. DS would remain de facto decision maker as always, with or without Macaulay. I’d hoped a while back they would keep him. thinking he had found & recommended Diouf & Fernandes. Perhaps Macaulay & Maximillian working together? Who knows.
everything is so opaque at West Ham, you’d think this were MI6.
Picking up young exciting players such as Diouf and Fernandes, giving the talented Academy players a chance, have been 2 good things happening at WHU that give hope that the team can vastly improve as these players progress for the next 5-6 years. Imagine how much money could be saved and most of all how the team could be playing with all these youngsters being around 25 with 5-7 years experience under their belts, including Guilherme if he makes the cut.
Recruitment should be driven imo by the manager and his vision for how the team should play. If that’s not happening you have a mess. More by accident than design (he was the only real option available), I think we’ve landed on our feet with Nuno. I can see this at last working if he’s left to get on with it. He’ll have his people/contacts and importantly, his targets.
Well one can only hope that Nuno is given the opportunity to progress with the players of his choosing. In an ideal world the manager picks the players he wants and the board go and get them,simple enough I know but that is it in a nutshell. Butā¦this is West Ham and we have Sullivan who cannot help but meddle and if he has any influence we will end up with past it,injury prone players on the cheap. Letās hope Sullivan gives Nuno a chance we canāt balls it up again. Or can we?
With Sullivan back in charge of recruitment we are doomed he has no idea what heās doing he wouldnāt know a quality player if he was hit in the face by them nuno will find out why managers are failing at West Ham when the transfer window opens later in the year he has been promised funds to bring in new players but then so was potter and he didnāt anything like the players he wanted just look at how Sullivan got potter a striker and that was Callum Wilson heās as bad as fulkurg well past his use by date this is the standard of player that Sullivan loves CHEAP and no use at all for the season as he along side his teammate will both be on the injury list by Xmas
So, are we assuming that he will not be replaced ? I wonder if our new manager has requested someone else ? With a new manager, I would expect a gradual influx of new staff with Nuno’s blessing over the next few weeks.
Hello mate, yes indeed, I am assuming nobody will take the role. Pretty certain in fact. There is no desire from the club to reprise the role of DOF.
Good news at last, Gonzo. Some continuity in the place of change and chaos.
Maybe now we can all be singing from the same hymn sheet.
COYI
Totally agree Gonzo.
We have had zero consistency in recruitment strategy or personnel, well, if you exclude the meddling fingers of Sullivan.
This makes the Baroness a complete Muppet after her statement…..or perhaps that is a puppet, with Sullivan pulling the strings.
We remain the most unprofessional of clubs. Embarrassing.
Recruitment overhaul? Donāt you mean underhaul? With the š¤”back in charge relegation is almost guaranteed. The squad still needs changes and I canāt see Nuno having much say in that.