Last season was one of real torment for West Ham fans and there are a number of things that need to be put in place to move forward next campaign.
Co-owners David Gold and David Sullivan have said in their open declaration to fans that they have plans for the club, which include getting a new manager, signing better players and sorting the club’s finances. To be honest though, it doesn’t take a genius to work out that is what West Ham needs.
Getting the right man in for the manager’s job is an absolute necessity, the Avram Grant link has been rumbling on for long enough now and this needs done and sorting so he, or whoever takes over, can start to bring quality players in to ensure a repeat of the Premier League relegation fight does not happen again. His resignation from Portsmouth should speed this along.
The likes of Alan Hutton, Yakubu, Tiberio Guarente, Christian Benitez and Jamie O’Hara are rumoured to be transfer targets for the Hammers – but the club cannot seriously think about new faces before getting a permanent manager in.
More worrying, Carlton Cole, Robert Green and Valon Behrami have all been rumoured to be on their way out of Upton Park. If the club wants to ensure they move in the right direction in the Premier League then need to hold on to their best players. If Matthew Upson plays well at the 2010 Football World Cup he could attract attention too.
Hopefully, the owner’s financial plans for the club can be achieved without having to sell star footballers. I fear too much of their vision is aimed on the Olympic Stadium in the future, rather than sorting out the here-and-now problems that exist around Upton Park.
If the season where to start tomorrow, the betting odds would once again make the Hammers among the favourites for relegation and it’s clear things need sorting now.
Whether it is Grant, Sam Alardyce, Ian Holloway or someone else who is in the managerial hotseat in a couple of weeks, they are going to have their work cut out to transform the squad over the summer and bring a season of success for Hammers fans, rather than another campaign of misery.
I may be an always overly optimistic West Ham fan but I think that we wont have the same issues as last year because whilst I am no fan of the David’s this is s new season and they are in place and not coming in mid way through. The upheaval has gone and any new manager will not play a below average right back as a left back. I would say we dropped at least 10 points last year due to that. I am not putting that blame on Specs as such but the fact he is out of position, a player that needs confidence and it gave the whole team an unbalanced feel was one of the major causes. IMO. We played some good stuff and we made stupid mistakes and Zola whilst I like the guy and his ideas was tactically inept which Clarke should have helped with. So I don’t think even with the squad we have we will be relegation fodder but we do need to improve. As for Cole that everyone is saying can’t leave, it wasn’t that long ago everyone was saying if we get a £5m bid we should take it as he is useless, in come Mr Zola and turns things round for him so does anyone else worry that without Zola’s 1 2 1 tuition we may have the old Cole back?
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Hopefully next season will be a fresh start – new manager, new players (partially), and a whole new style of football. I’m not saying I’m expecting a fantastic season – who are west ham fans without the heartache of simple games lost due to silly mistakes? – but I hope that we aren’t flirting with relegation season-long again. It wasn’t very fun.
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