Pellegrini gets the top backing
Such is the intoxicating air of optimism at West Ham United that it is hard to believe only four months have passed since that now-infamous meeting with Burnley, when fans revolted, players collapsed and owners were forced to flee from their seats.
That 3-0 defeat at the London Stadium, and the violence that came with it, felt like the moment of release after two seasons of simmering tensions. Something had to give and, in response, the club’s owners have clearly decided that something had to change.
“He told me he wants to build a new club,” said Manuel Pellegrini, the man hired to bring about that change, of co-owner David Sullivan, who was struck in the face by a coin during the March uprising.
“He wants to responsibility of me.”
A return to the Premier League, coupled with the promise of cash to spend, proved too tempting an offer for Pellegrini to resist, no matter how lonely the huge dugouts at the London Stadium may have seemed for Slaven Bilic and David Moyes over the past two seasons.
Sullivan’s decision to hand over the reins – and the chequebook – represented the first significant step of the summer. It was the most convincing sales pitch he could have given Pellegrini, a former Manchester City and Real Madrid manager who would have been forgiven for wondering whether joining West Ham was worth the hassle.
“It was very important for me to know where I am coming, to which owner I will find,” Pellegrini said at his official unveiling. give the all the club to “I know what happened with the Burnley game, but fortunately for me I have never been afraid of anything in my life.”
The second significant step was for West Ham to appoint Mario Husillos as a director of football. Husillos had worked with Pellegrini at Malaga, and the pair soon got to work in what has become the most sensational transfer window of West Ham’s history.
So far, seven new players have arrived, for a combined cost of almost £100-million (R1.73-billion).
“All the signings at this moment are what I require,” said Pellegrini, who said more recruits could be on the way.
It has been a remarkable transfer window, both in its scale and its efficiency.
The new recruits, Pellegrini hopes, will facilitate a return to the “West Ham way”.
“I think one of the most important things for any club, not just West Ham, is to have a style of football,” he said.
“West Ham has a tradition and David Sullivan thought I was that way and was very happy to trust me. I always try to play offensive football.”
A note of caution: this is still West Ham, one of the most consistently shambolic clubs in the Premier League. It would not be beyond the realms of possibility for hope to dissipate as quickly as the pre-match bubbles at the London Stadium.
But if West Ham cannot be optimistic now, ahead of a new season that will start with a new manager, new players and the genuine ambition to become a “new club”, then when can they?
–
He told me he wants to build a new club