(Article submitted by Sav)
There is a very strong paradox in English football. It is called West Ham United. Over the years the famous East London club has produced some of the best talent in English football and yet the Club’s performance has remained one of mediocrity, to say the least. Why is this paradox? Why is it that the club that produces so much talent has hardly achieved anything significant over the years (with the exception of winning a few Cups and a European Cup Winners Cup)?
Some West Ham supporters will also argue that West Ham has won the World Cup. I disagree: England won the World Cup, not West Ham. West Ham players were used to win the World Cup in 1966 just as they are today (and through the years) by other clubs to win trophies - Man United with Tevez, Ferdinand and Carrick, Chelsea with Lampard, Johnson, Terry and Joe Cole, Tottenham with Defoe, etcetera. What generates this acute paradox then?
The answer is an almost total lack of ambition by the owners and low expectations by the supporters. The two, combined together, create a ground which is fertile for promoting personal gain. Over the years, owners, agents, lawyers, even financiers and other intermediaries have taken advantage of this situation to make private fortunes.
And history repeats itself. Since it is almost impossible to alienate the loyal fans of West Ham United it is easy to use the club to make deals that create personal wealth, rather than building an infrastructure and a team that can make West Ham great. West Ham United fans (myself included) are just so easy to fool. We are all passionately in love with a dream team which, in reality, doesn’t exist. So many supporters travel all over the country despite the fact that their team more often than not will disappoint them. They spend so much money out of their limited income, because they live and breathe West Ham United. And unlike Fulham and some other London clubs, West Ham has a very strong supporter base which could easily fill a 50,000+ capacity stadium (such as the Olympic Stadium). Moreover, West Ham fans are so understanding and forgiving. It is like they have been conditioned to accept their fate. Survival is everything, anything else is just bonus.
So, lack of ambition and low expectations are the root of the problem. Attitudes need to change before a real change takes place. This is easier said than done. It takes many years, and sometimes generations, for attitudes to change. In the meantime, the owners and other people close to, or associated with the Club, who are proficient in promoting their self interest, will always take advantage of this situation. They will know that they can get away with anything as long as they package it properly so as to be palatable to the ever understanding, passionate and forgiving West Ham fan.
Sadly, Sullivan & Gold are just the latest in a line of owners who have taken the great West Ham fan base for mugs! Let's face it, even if we sell Parker and Cole and then go down, the fans will still turn up and cheer on the team, blowing Fizzy Pop bubbles that seem destined to forever fade and die!
It's not a dizzy pop league anymore
ReplyDeleteWe could take cole too,keane hutton + walker loan for cole and Parker but keanes acting like the we bollox he is.Kev
ReplyDeleteWhat is it now? The Andrex Tissue Championship?
ReplyDeleteWell written Sav!
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing wrong with my ambition though, I wanted G&S out from day one :)
Gold, Sullivan, Brady, Brown, Grant out!
Pards is available again HF! A real manager who has got where he is on merit and hasn't been given favours all his life.
Interesting post but...
ReplyDeleteI think your analysis of WHU fan's ambition is wrong. Behind Man City, Newcastle and Spuds (and increasingly Liverpool) fans I can't think of any supporters with more ludicrous over expectations as to their own clubs status and abilities in English football. The success of the club to generate players is indeed phenomenal (although this is probably exaggerated by the ineptitude and unwillingness of all the other clubs to do the same), but its success on the pitch is abject. The comments on this blog nicely illustrate the ludicrous expectations and wishful thinking of its fan base, coupled with the absolute hostility of any criticism.
Thanks Stani. Nice to hear from you again. I am already missing Zola. It's that bad with this guy Grant. I mean it took, what, 50 games for Zola to realise that Spector is a liability in the team? Now we have to go all through this again with Grant. Leaving Da Costa, Piquione and Barrera out was criminal. And what was the idea of making a subtitution 1 minute before the end of the game when we were losing 3-0? This one is a real Einstein! I don't know about Pards but I think there are not too many out there worse than Grant! Not even Zola.
ReplyDeleteSav,
ReplyDeleteZola would have learnt a lot and matured, this would have been a very good season for him in my opinion. Most fans are now seeing what Zola had to work with in terms of players available. They sacked him at the wrong time and brought in a P.E teacher.
How long before an unnamed player comes out with 'Grant hasn't got a clue'? Give it to Christmas :)
15:00 West Ham supporters may expect more than the team can deliver. The question however is why has the hurdle been set low by the Club in the first place. The owners sell off our best players, buy cheap and can't organise a proper team through recruiting and backing a decent manager. That's what I am on about. Despite that, Upton Park is almost always full. If that happen at Arsenal I can assure you that the Emirates will not be half full. And this is exactly why the owners are never tempted to misbehave or take advantage of their position to make a quick buck.
ReplyDeleteCould you send this post onto G&S HF?
ReplyDeleteThey read the site mate.
ReplyDeleteSomeone from the club definitely reads this site HF. It is in their interests to do so. There is absolute no point in reading whtid.
ReplyDeleteGive Grant a chance, apart from the top 5 what has any other premier league team won in the last 10 years. Yes we are playing badly and without much confidence but better to get this run out of the way now.The season starts when the transfer widow shuts and the players can focus on winning again.
ReplyDeleteHi Sav,
ReplyDeleteI did try to address the club issue in my post comment but it was too long and I had to ditch half of it, which I posted in a second comment which doesn't appear to have come through... it might be waiting in mod-limbo still? But just in case...
I feel the club has also been over ambitious, albeit in all the wrong directions and with little eye on the long term. Take wages for example: under the penultimate year of 'arry's reign I heard on R5L that we had the 6th highest wage bill in the Premiership! Yet obviously we didn't have anywhere near the 6th best squad in the Premiership (although some excellent players among the dross). Maybe this report was apocryphal rather than strictly true, however one thing is for sure: our wages haven't given us the best value for money in recent years. Indeed wages at WHU have been out of control ever since 'arry's time (except maybe under Pards). Ambition is a dangerous game. Our strengths, as you said, are home grown players - and our buys should be used to compliment what we have rather than allowing the twin evils of: hope of success (largely unrealistic) and the fear of relegation (exaggerated) control our spending. Let's see the club spend what it can and wisely. If we can't get the players then yes, we go down - but without the millstone of debt around out necks relegation need be no more apocalyptic for us than it is for 90% of the clubs that suffer it; many of which come back soon afterwards and do so without anything approaching out academy. It's a resource that should take the fear or failure away if used wisely.
Our ambitions should be long-term, should take into account the possibility of relegation. I can't see WHU ever being a new Man-U, but with long term planning and less over reaching too soon, we could be a solid club who plays attractive football and maybe wins some silver ware every few years. If we carry on trying to sign David Beckham then we're going to go down, go bust and be a bigger joke than Leeds.
best article for awhile (sorry hf) I agree totally and it does date right back Shankley and Greenwood for instance Shankley admired Greenwood that much he modelled Liverpool on West Ham we were promoted the year before Liverpool but their owners backed the team and wanted success for the team and West Ham owners were, well West Ham owners and history shows what happened since
ReplyDeleteSorry 1734, I may have deleted it inadvertently. It looked like the same post had been repeated three times. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteSod you Deane! LOL
ReplyDeleteThanks Deane.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you liked it. Give HF some credit though for adding some nice edits to it.
Unfortunately, this is the blatant truth. What you write is very interesting.
Indeed, I had the long term in mind when I wrote it. Success must be only for those who are willing to invest and persevere to make their vision a reality. That is the path that Liverpool followed as you correctly pointed out.
The sad thing is that we showed them the way but our previous owners always had their own private gain agenda. Terrence Brown (who by the way is back as a life president! or something) had only his short term self interest in mind. I am running out of reasons to believe otherwise but it seems the current owners are not much different. I so much hope I am wrong!
But my point is that the owners should not take the supporters for granted. The supporters want to see continuity and success. And every so often, they should be reminded that without the supporters a football club is nothing!
17:34, Thanks for your comments.
ReplyDeleteThe Icelanders were wasteful more and bad financial planners more than they were over ambitious. I am referring to the regimes prior to them. The T. Brown era in particular.
There is nothing wrong with having ambition. Indeed, it is better to have it than not. The problem is to plan to achieve it long term and methodically according to your means. Every time we had chance to do that our owners opted for a quick buck in the pocket or on the side or dare I say behind the scenes. That is the problem I am referring to. And they are able to get away with this because they take us the supporters for granted.
HF 15:44
ReplyDeleteHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!