First thing’s first. David Gold and David Sullivan are two very clever men and without them, West Ham would be a very different club, most likely for the worse, not the better. They are very good at their job, one might even argue that they are one of the best chairmen in the country for leading West Ham into their most promising era in their history.
I am also not one of those people who thinks that I can do a better job as the owner because I led West Ham to the quadruple on Football Manager (which for the record, I did). There is one bone, however, that I have to pick with them.
Imagine you’re at work. For argument’s sake, you work in accounting and your name is Keith. Your boss stands in the middle of a busy office, jumps on a table and grabs a megaphone, screaming “WE HAVE INTERVIEWED 10 PEOPLE FOR ACCOUNTING AND WE WILL HIRE ONE, MAYBE TWO PEOPLE TO REPLACE KEITH. WHEN WE DO, BYE BYE KEITH”. He steps off the table, leaving everyone staring at you. Mary in advertising, who you have been plucking up the courage to ask out for the past 2 years, is trying her hardest not to laugh at your pitiful life.
How would that make you feel? Insecure? Embarrassed? Demotivated?
This is how Diafra Sakho feels. He wants to play, yet there is all this talk about how West Ham have made 10 bids for various strikers. As a footballer, you should be used to speculation about your future. But when the club mentions this in articles under the name “The Boleyn Insider”, it is basically like the club are telling the world that you’re going to be replaced.
It has been revealed that Sakho refused to fly to Austria with the club for the pre-season tour, which is completely out of order on Sakho’s part – considering the fact that this is the club and the fans who stood by him when he attacked his girlfriend, had a fight with Alex Song, crashed his Lamborghini into a wall etc. – and he really should have sucked it up and done this small favour who pay him more in 1 week than a lot of people get in a year. But can you blame him? I know he has a bad attitude, but the club has humiliated him by more or less saying he is getting replaced, so why should he prepare for the new season at a club he will never play for again?
Now imagine you’re Keith again. You earn a decent amount a year, nothing that will make you rich but enough to provide food for your family. Your boss goes around telling everyone that the people in accounting earn 5 or 6 times the amount that you earn. You then see a job application for the role you are in, where they offer 10 times the amount you’re earning. You now get jealous seeing Mary driving a Ferrari into work whilst you can’t park in the office grounds because your tractor is too tall to fit into the car park.
How would that make you feel? Insecure? Embarrassed? Demotivated?
This is how Enner Valencia feels. As if the whole striker situation was bad enough, Valencia is looking at people like Payet getting very hefty new deals whilst he is getting little in comparison.
This is all because of the arrogance of the board and in particular, David Sullivan. Sullivan announced to the press that Carlos Tevez was offered £150,000 a week. People like Valencia can get unsettled when these figures get so publicly announced, and they will demand more money.
This is also detrimental to our current and future transfers. People like Carlos Bacca will see that West Ham have £150,000 to spend on wages, and he knows that he can squeeze out a couple of extra pounds out of their budget. And he knows they are willing to do this because David Sullivan has said on numerous occasions that West Ham are prioritising for a 20-goal-a-season striker, and the Boleyn Insider has spoken of West Ham’s 10 striker bids, blatantly suggesting desperation.
This can also have a negative impact on the fans. If you look at the stats, West Ham were the 4th highest scorers in the league, so on paper, Diafra Sakho and co wouldn’t be bad, especially with the additions of Gokhan Töre and Sofiane Feghouli in attack. However, if SuGo promises a big-name striker, the fans get restless if a world-class striker doesn’t sign.
To conclude, West Ham need to stop being so transparent about our transfer dealings. It is nice to keep the fans up to date, but the board are shooting themselves in the foot by doing this because not only are the fans in the know, the world is too, and they can manipulate our desperation to their advantage.
