Late David Gold, Sullivan and Brady

[HamburgHammer]

One swallow doesn't make a spring. It took them eight years to find the right manager ?
That means they are either incompetent or too cheap or a combination.

I am really happy we have MP at the helm now. But that doesn't change my view on the board and what they have done over the years. It'll still be a day of celebration when they leave, whenever that may be.

I hope they take their pot of gold soon and enjoy their pension funds which will have been massively upgraded due to them owning West Ham...

[ashbanki]

I see that Sullivan has managed to wriggle himself out of the "Lazy Africans" shitshow! The fact is he should have sacked Henry on the spot for committing such a racist slur in the name of West Ham.

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/ ... uct-charge" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Ozza]

How long until Sulivan does an interview in one of his press bitches rags?

I’m thinking start well with the new signings doing well and he’ll say all the signings were setup by him.

Bad start with Jack on the treatment table and it was all down to our new DOF.

[DaveWHU1964]

At the end of the day the most important thing is that we perform on the pitch. All the lies, the move to the OS will be forgotten IF we start the season well with a couple of wins then particularly at home.

Seriously, just speak for yourself, not for me and many, many others who will never forget or forgive the lies.

As for yourself, if anyone really forgets all that they've done off the back off a couple of wins then they'll be bent over by this board again soon enough.

Credit where credit is due these signing excite me and I am really looking forward to the season now.

Yeah, credit where it's due - to the hundreds who protested in front of the directors box, to flag man, to the lads on the pitch. They blew the 'we're all happy' lie apart that day and turned the press against our parasites.

I don't like the OS much.

Phew, we at least agree on one thing.

but all I care about is meeting up with mates and watching my team play good football and win more than they lose. All the crap with the board last season wasn't healthy but would it of happened if we were playing well and winning? No chance IMO.

This one again? Suffice to say that again you're making the mistake of assuming that everyone will react like you will/ thinks like you do.

[Northern_Light]

One swallow doesn't make a spring. It took them eight years to find the right manager ?

This is really the single biggest issue that addresses all the problems of the last few seasons.

Is it really a surprise that it has taken 8 years? We had Avram Grant, who had attracted the attentions of English football's wealthiest entrepreneur, then Allardyce, when we were in the Championship, then Bilic, during a transition period, then Moyes, and now Pelle. Could we really have skipped all the in betweens and gone straight for a manager who had won the Prem?

What has really attracted Pelle to West Ham? Would he have come if we were still at the Boleyn, nothing to do with ardent support, but just the finances?

Who was available when we were looking for a manager and where were we at the time? That is the single biggest question that we need to face as supporters.

Finding a manager or players is not simply going into a shop with a wallet full of cash. It's the whole package that comes with it.

If we had thrown £100 million at Allardyce, or Bilic or Moyes, what would be the risk involved? Are those managers that you would be confident in giving that much money to? Bilic did great in his first season, but the second season was always the real test, and he struggled. The failure to invest came when we struggled, not when we were looking to consolidate. Context is everything.

Seeing how the pieces have fallen into place with Pelle coming is itself a lesson and it puts the last 5 or 6 years into a proper context. Expectation is all very well, but realism is something else.

We think the owners should be honest, but do you really want our owners coming out publicly and saying that Allardyce was not that exciting, but his record suggests that in the longer terms process, he can do a job for us, putting us in a position where we can attract a better quality of manager.

Bilic was an exciting appointment, but something of an unknown, so do we really expect that the owners would come out and be totally honest about how they felt about that 'project'? "He's talented but lacks experience, shame that West Ham would pay the price for any mistakes he's inevitably going to make." - No, at every turn, their going to spin and sell the most positive picture... being realistic, we cannot expect real honesty from the owners, it's always going to be some kind of spin.

We seem to have lost touch with the vision that the owners have. I'm not trying to assign blame here, but just trying to see what's happened. I think it's partly because our expectations were quite high to start with, thinking where West Ham should, but selling the longer term journey was never going to be easy.

So the club was trying to sell the positives at each point, but probably couldn't afford to be totally realistic about just how difficult it was going to be - all the while trying to push for at least some kind of progression.

Personally, I've seen a clear progression, in spite of the struggles and relegation battles. The stadium move was always going to be a challenge, because we lost any advantage of a 'home' game for the first couple of seasons, and second, a fairly thin squad meant that injuries seriously affected the balance of the squad going out on the park. On paper, our best team was always pretty exciting, but rarely did we have a full strength team out there.

Sometimes I wonder if the biggest problem of our current owners is that they were too successful in 'spinning' the project, raising expectations too high, when the reality was that it was always a slow burning project. But does that sell season tickets? Were the fans sold short? I think it's a mixture of over-sell by the club and unrealistic expectations by the fans. That's not some philosophical attraction to 'balance' in blame. Nope. I just think in this case that that is where we're at.

There has been so much anger in the last couple of years - the loss of identity, history and 'failed' promises. But the simple truth is that anger doesn't heal anything. It doesn't create unity or understanding. We all make mistakes: players, managers, fans, and owners. Improvement is all about making mistakes and learning from them. The question really is how to move forward together. Hope and optimism... and a small matter of forgiveness, all round.

[Ozza]

Guv apologies on my use of fruity language

[goingunderground]

Sometimes I wonder if the biggest problem of our current owners is that they were too successful in 'spinning' the project, raising expectations too high, when the reality was that it was always a slow burning project.

This is the only part of your post that matters.

They spun and spun and spun and eventually got tangled because they tried to blag success without real investment.

That's all you need to know.

We were sold a lemon, our home was blown up, they've undermined all our managers and you expect us to forgive them? To just hold our hands up and say "we're complicit too - we believed you! Bygone be bygones!"

b*llocks to that.

[Ozza]

Nice long post, but you’re wrong imho.

The lies, the duplicity, the treatment of the “customers” more lies, it stinks.

The re-writing history doesn’t work for me, saying they have been holding back for that special manager after acting the same season after season at two separate clubs and then appearing this year to change all of that. What bull****, let’s stick to facts and historical facts at that.

I hate them, what they’ve done to this club, how they have treated our history and fans what they stand for, how they act, and spending some money this season won’t make me flash my knickers at them.

I realise I’ll probably be a growing minority, especially if results look good, that was probably one thing that Brady has said that’s correct, seriously bringing in a decent manager and spending a bit of cash in a transfer window how fickle must our support be if that’s all it takes?

[Mega Ron]

There's no chance I'm reading something that long about GSB.

They are c**** and that's that.

[GaryP]

At the end of the day the most important thing is that we perform on the pitch. All the lies, the move to the OS will be forgotten IF we start the season well particularly at home, play good attacking and entertain.

No. No it won't. The three of them are utter scum.

[westham,eggyandchips]

This transfer window has bought them a smidge of breathing space. One wrong move and the foot goes back on their throat.

NEVER FORGET THEIR LIES.

[Hammerite]

Sold our home and our soul for a **** hole.

Never forget, never forgive...nothing else matters.

[Bamber Gascoigne]

Sold our home and our soul for a **** hole.

Never forget, never forgive...nothing else matters.

[Phil S]

Nice long post, but you’re wrong imho.

The lies, the duplicity, the treatment of the “customers” more lies, it stinks.

The re-writing history doesn’t work for me, saying they have been holding back for that special manager after acting the same season after season at two separate clubs and then appearing this year to change all of that. What bull****, let’s stick to facts and historical facts at that.

I hate them, what they’ve done to this club, how they have treated our history and fans what they stand for, how they act, and spending some money this season won’t make me flash my knickers at them.

I realise I’ll probably be a growing minority, especially if results look good, that was probably one thing that Brady has said that’s correct, seriously bringing in a decent manager and spending a bit of cash in a transfer window how fickle must our support be if that’s all it takes?

couldn't have put it better mate

[OohAahButler]

Northern, I get where you’re coming from and it’s very eloquently put, but I think you’ve really overstated your point! I simply don’t buy that appointing MP this summer was the culmination of an 8 year plan. No way. FFS Gold is over 80, he wasn’t planning that far ahead.

I don’t think there’s many here prepared to forgive the lies. And they were lies, not simply a bit of marketing spin, as you suggest. The question is whether people are prepared to be pleased enough with this summer’s business and solid enough in their support of the team to be able to put that to one side and approach the coming season in a positive frame of mind.

[sendô]

Let's not get excited with the "credit where it's due" stuff.

It's much easier spending £100m in one window when our net spend since summer 2015 is approximately zero.

It doesn't change the lies. It doesn't change Brady. It doesn't change the OS.

What we are spending now, given our turnover and our "world class" 60k seater stadium is the minimum of what we should be doing.

It's only taken them 8 years to get to this point ffs.

[Samba]

Hope and optimism... and a small matter of forgiveness, all round.

I have hope that GSB will leave one day.
I'm optimistic that they will leave one day.
Even if West Ham now win the PL & the CL (yeah, like that's going to happen, any time soon), I will never forgive them for making us leave Upton Park.
And especially lying, to get us into a ground not fit or built for watching football.
If you enjoy watching football at the OS, good for you.
I don't & I won't.

[Colours never run]

Just as a total fantasy hypothetical thought that's unlikely to ever happen, but say we won a Trophy or 2 whilst they're still in charge, I won't think they are completey useless devils incarnate ********s. They would earn some respect back. Anyways, will never happen so useless devils incarnate **** c**** it is for the time being.

[dubaihammer]

I see that Sullivan has managed to wriggle himself out of the "Lazy Africans" shitshow! The fact is he should have sacked Henry on the spot for committing such a racist slur in the name of West Ham.

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/ ... uct-charge" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

His explanation for asking about the french passport seems totally plausible. However no response to the comments is a little odd. presumably the agent wasn't interviewed also?

[The Old Man of Storr]

It would seem that we were bought by a couple of chancers who weren't prepared to spend any of their own monies other than the amount they loaned to the club at 7% interest . In comparison to the owners of the Manchester clubs , Liverpool and Chelsea they are relatively poor , they're on a par with the likes of Crystal Palace and Southampton - they will be looking at Tottenham and thinking ' If only we had a player like Gareth Bale on our books ' , they will be looking at the players Crystal Palace and Southampton bought by selling their assets , anything not to have to risk their own money . That's just good business , they're not a charity . So , finally , after buying the likes of Paulista , Maiga , Valencia and Ravel Morrison in the hope of turning a pretty penny they had a couple of true assets on their hands in Payet , Lanzini and Arnautovic . They turned the Payet profit into Robert Snodgrass and Jose Fonte , Lanzini suffered a potential career ending injury which leaves Marko Arnautovic .

So far this season they've invested £85.5m with £1.53m coming in from the sale of Reece Burke , with Marko valued between £50m-£60m their projected net spend for this coming season could be just the usual £20-£25m - this doesn't take into account free signings which aren't free .

If they sell Marko Arnautovic it'll be just the usual Razzle Dazzle Smoke And Mirrors nonsense - if they keep Marko and continue to invest in the Squad then we should thank them for a good transfer window .

So far this season , Liverpool [ ground capacity of 54,000 ] have spent £119.70m on three players , in a few days' time they will part with another £66.9m breaking the transfer record for a Goalkeeper , last season Liverpool spent nearly as much on a cente half as our owners have spent on 5 players this season , - before we get carried away .