HOW THE BUBBLES BURST
++ Explosion of West Ham’s wage bill ++ Woefully unbalanced squad ++ Muddled transfer strategy ++
IT could be noted with a degree of dark humour this week that the fear and loathing at West Ham might be easing.
The reason being that a banner which caught the cameras at the London Stadium only called for Karren Brady and David Sullivan to take their ‘lies’ elsewhere, so maybe David Gold has won over a few hearts.
Wishful thinking, perhaps, in a place where the wishes are increasingly desperate and the need for smart thinking has never been greater.
That today’s clash at home with Brighton looks so decisive to their Premier League fate says just about everything.
Except it doesn’t, because as ever with this club there is so much that can be added.
Plenty of which was said in that protest a fortnight ago in the Olympic Park, where 900 fans vented on the 10-year anniversary of the ownership of the Davids, Gold and Sullivan.
In the land of claret and blue, it has often tended to be distinctly black and white, even when the reality, as usual, is more nuanced.
While many fans see the stadium move in 2016 as a betrayal of heritage, others see paying £2.5million a year to rent a new stadium with no running costs as the bargain of this or any century.
What numerous folk see as a scandal of self-interest, namely that Gold and Sullivan have taken £18.6m in interest payments on their £45m loan, fans of some clubs will hold envy for a net spend of £214.4m on players in four years.
If neglect is the biggest sin of a football owner, then it is possibly one charge that is hard to stick on Gold and Sullivan (right).
But good decisions? Spending wisely? The installation of sound structures? They have an awful lot to answer in those regards.
This week has been especially revealing to that purpose, courtesy of the release of the 2018-19 financial results. They showed a pre-tax loss of £28.2m despite raised turnover, and warned of the dire consequences of relegation.
We also learnt that Brady, the vice-chair, took a £238,000 bonus and her latest annual earnings were £1.136m. While that figure sits uncomfortably next to the club’s recent fortunes, it is the explanation for the wider losses that really get you thinking. They derive from the 2018 push for a ‘ worldclass manager’ in
Manuel Pellegrini, an expansion plan that saw him spend £108m on players that season and an explosion of the wage bill, which grew by almost £30m to £135.8m and upped their wages-to-turnover ratio to a potential red zone of above 70 per cent.
When wondering about what it bought, it is necessary to call to mind the situation of Mark Noble who, at 32, is known to have remarked privately that he is at an age when his position in the team should be under constant threat and yet it isn’t.
Where, among the incoming faces, of which most were midfielders, is the challenge? How could the recruitment operation get it all so wrong?
One tale centres on the signing of Jack Wilshere. The club are said to have favoured a one-year deal in 2018 for a midfielder with such a lengthy service history but Wilshere wanted three and Pellegrini made it clear that the player was needed. He has made just 16 appearances and this week had a hernia operation. Sources around the club have questioned if the ownership were too quick to bend on such matters to their former manager.
Finishing 10th last season was no disgrace, but equally it was no surprise when Pellegrini was sacked after Christmas with his team 17th in the table.
In the reshuffle we saw the continuation of a trend of disjointed thinking — from Sam Allardyce to Slaven Bilic to David Moyes to Pellegrini to Moyes again. There has been no overlap in style.
If it sounds like muddled thought, that’s because it is, which tallies with what we have seen from the transfer strategy.
Of that 2018 season of excess, beyond Wilshere, Carlos Sanchez flopped, Lucas Perez left after four league starts and Andriy Yarmolenko has been crippled by injury.
The 2019 influx included a goalkeeper in Roberto who has already left on loan after a spell of bad form and £45m record signing Sebastien Haller, a striker who is on a six-game run without a goal.
The departure of Tony Henry from the head of recruitment post in 2018 — after comments about African players that were revealed by this newspaper — has had an impact. But further alarm comes from the suggestion that the club has been operating with a tiny scouting team and, as of December, no director of football following the sacking of Mario Husillos.
Sullivan has been accused of having too much influence on signings — something he plays down — and likewise that the club are overly reliant on a couple of agents.
One anecdote from a recent window goes that a player tempted by less than £20,000 a week by a Premier League rival ended up on more than £50,000 at West Ham. Not vastly uncommon but it plays to the widespread view that the operation could be sharper.
On the pitch, things could also do with an uplift. Since the early promise following Moyes’ arrival, West Ham are winless in their past five in all competitions.
But the defence has clearly tightened and performance levels are creeping up.
That is something but you sense far more is needed, both on the surface and beneath it, where the greater problems lie.