Lack of investment is a concern for supporters
- by Allan Cummings
- Filed: Sunday, 17th August 2008
West Ham United went into the 2002/03 season as the only Premiership club not to have spent a single penny on transfer fees during the summer - and were subsequently relegated nine months later.
Are the Club’s Icelandic owners about to emulate the mistakes made by Terry Brown’s administration six years ago?Hopefully not – and the arrival of Valon Behrami (aka ‘The Swiss David Beckham’) from Lazio means that United have broken their summer spending duck, at least.
However Alan Curbishley’s squad is still painfully thin in vital areas – none more so than in attack where injury to Craig Bellamy, plus the recent sale of Bobby Zamora to Fulham has left Curbishley with just Dean Ashton and Carlton Cole as fit, experienced strikers.
The controversial trial given to Ben Thatcher earlier this month also illustrated United’s lack of depth at left-back, and with first-choice George McCartney still injured club captain Lucas Neill – a right-back by trade - is likely to deputise against Wigan at the Boleyn Ground this weekend.
Given the current Board’s reluctance to release funds for player acquisitions (due in no small part to the Freddie Ljungberg fiasco) it’s perhaps no surprise that the bookies have made Alan Curbishley favourite to be the first Premier League manager to face the axe this term.
Additionally, a number of experienced football writers insist that the Hammers will struggle this year, with the Independent going so far as to say that United will finish 17th in 2008/09 – just one place above the relegation zone.
On a brighter note, similar noises regarding the club’s lack of investment were made during the 1985/86 pre-season– and things didn’t turn out too bad in the end that year!
* This article was first published in the Evening Echo on Friday, 15th August 2008.
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