This joke isn't funny anymore: Hammers laughing stock again

So it’s Monday evening and despite the widespread rumours of Saturday morning, Avram Grant remains West Ham manager and Martin O’Neil continues to do whatever it is out-of-work football coaches do with their lives. And so far, all West Ham have announced is that they won’t be announcing anything.

Reports today suggest that O’Neil may walk away from the job given the embarrassing nature in which his potential appointment was leaked whilst the man he was set to replace, Avram Grant, was still in the job and preparing his team for an eventual 3-0 home defeat to Arsenal. No-one has come out of this sorry mess with any dignity, and the whole situation has descended into an utter face. Once again, West Ham are a laughing stock, and the football world is splitting its sides.

It’s hard to decide what is the most depressing element to West Ham’s season: the team languishes in 20th place having won only four league games; the club continues to engage in an ugly public row about its aim to move to the Olympic Stadium; and now attempts to replace Grant with one of the most respected managers of the last 20 years could be doomed, following an appalling mismanagement of the situation.

Davids Gold and Sullivan 

Owners David Gold and David Sullivan, along with vice-chairman Karren Brady, are either guilty of fuelling the rumours of O’Neil’s arrival themselves, or of failing to clarify the situation and allowing the story to grow legs. Either way it is incompetent, and shows a distinct lack of class.

To be honest, we shouldn’t be surprised that West Ham have once again managed to make a cotton rag out of a yard of silk. Last year, administrators were in talks to sell the club to a consortium whose leading man promptly died; previously the club was bought by an Icelandic billionaire, only for him to go bankrupt and almost take the British economy down with him; and before then, the club was run by individuals more concerned with making tidy profits from selling some of the best young talent in the country, than building the team around them and aspiring to glory.

Incompetence is not limited to the corporate structure either. The team has spent much of its existence veering wildly from the sublime to the ridiculous, and then back again. They’ve managed to be relegated from the top flight on more than one occasion with a squad comprising numerous internationals, and look like they could repeat the trick this year too.

In a way it adds to the club’s charm and is why it has one of the most loyal supporter bases in the country, despite a relative lack of historical success. Fans know anything can happen at West Ham; they just don’t know what, when and to whom. Mavericks like McAvennie, Dicks and Di Canio found a home at Upton  Park for that reason: their irrational behaviour on and off the pitch could be forgiven by the many moments of magic that they also delivered  to their adoring fans.

So yes, the club is a joke and to be honest, has spent much of its history being a joke. But if I may quote Mr Stephen Morrissey, this joke isn’t funny anymore.

Would it be too much to ask to have owners who as well as running the club prudently, also acted with dignity and respected their employees? Would it be too much to ask for the club to conduct its business in the confines of its offices and boardroom, as opposed to the back pages of the tabloids? And would it be too much to ask for the club to put success on the pitch at its heart, and for everyone involved to focus their efforts on building a team that entertains its fans? After events this weekend, it would appear so.

The club now has a huge mess to clear up, and it must act quickly if West Ham are to have any hope of avoiding relegation. O’Neil could not be blamed for thinking twice about joining the club that has so far treated Grant so shabbily, and the owners will need to build a lot of bridges to convince him that a move to Upton Park is a good one.

For Grant, it looks like the game is up whatever Martin O‘Neil decides to do. With the club rock bottom of the Premier League and losing the momentum of its recent mini-revival, it’s a decision that can’t be argued with. It simply hasn’t worked out at West Ham for Avram Grant, who has struggled to bring either the fans or players on-side, and has been a dead man walking for some time now. But with all that said, he deserves more respect than he has been shown by the owners. He deserves to not be publicly undermined by his employers, and he deserves to know if he is to be removed from his post.

One can only hope that the owners have learnt their lesson, because top managers like O’Neil simply won’t stand for the way in which Grant has been disgracefully treated, and nor should he.

Fernando to go for Reds to bring back the glory days

So “King” Kenny Dalglish is back is the Anfield hotseat, and Liverpool fans the world over are expecting a prompt return to the good old days of the late 1970s and 1980s - when Dalglish was last spearheading their dominance of the domestic game.

But whilst most of us are guilty of going weak at the knees with nostalgia when one of our clubs’ heroes returns home, Liverpool fans will do well to reign in some of that new found optimism. Whilst King Kenny may have replaced Woy the boy on the Anfield bench, it’s on the pitch where the Reds are in dire need of change. And that change must start not with the much maligned Konchesky and Jovanovic, but with Fernando Torres.

Torres on form for Liverpool

After signing for Liverpool in the summer of 2007, Torres took to English football like a duck to water: he was strong enough to withstand the challenges from journeymen centre halves, whilst both quick and skilful enough to escape the attentions of the finest defenders in the league. His clinical finishing won many a game almost single-handedly for Liverpool, and the Kop simply adored him.

I remember Liverpool coming to Upton Park at the beginning of last season and believe it or not, being totally outplayed by the Hammers. Zavon Hines ran Jamie Carragher ragged that day, and Carlton Cole looked like the kind of powerful centre forward he can be on those rare occasions when he puts his mind to it. But despite turning in arguably our best performance of the season, West Ham eventually went down 3-2, thanks to two superb Fernando Torres goals: the first a fine solo effort, and the second a bullet of a header that almost broke the net.

But having watched Torres deliver yet another disinterested performance in Liverpool’s 1-0 defeat to Manchester United this weekend, those goals at Upton Park now seem a lifetime away. For Torres is playing like a man who would rather be anywhere in the world other than Liverpool football club. And it is holding Liverpool back at a time when they desperately need to move forward.

Of course, Torres’ woeful display at Old Trafford was no surprise to most football fans, who have seen him show only glimpses of his undoubted ability for a year now; a year that has included an anonymous World Cup and a shamefully lazy performance at Goodison Park in this season’s Merseyside derby. And the familiarity with Torres’ lack of impact in games is the heart of the issue.

Pundits, former players and fans alike are all convinced that Torres will burst into life any time soon, and drive Liverpool on to glory. But when? This lack of form is not a blip. It is not a period of slow recovery from an injury, and it is not a temporary lack of goals being compensated for by an exemplary work-rate. Let’s be honest, Torres’ form for both club and country has been awful for a year now, and is showing absolutely no sign of improving any time soon.

But despite failing to recapture the form of his first two seasons at Anfield, at 26, Torres remains young enough to still be hugely attractive to most of Europe’s top clubs, and could still command a transfer fee upwards of £30m. There is no doubting the man’s ability, and there is nothing to say he cannot regain the kind of form that made him the most feared striker in Europe. I just have my doubts that he will ever regain that form in the red of Liverpool.

Should Chelsea, Inter or any of the other supposed suitors for Torres offer Liverpool anything like £30m this summer, the Anfield hierarchy should take a deep breath and accept. That kind of money would finance the rebuilding of a squad so mediocre that its current position of 12th is almost a fair reflection of its ability; especially when you consider Van der Vaart was signed for £8m and Adam Johnson and Javier Hernandez both cost just £7m - all attacking players who are far better than those currently available to Kenny Dalglish.

Dalglish himself now has one of the toughest jobs in the Premier League. Liverpool fans have high expectations of the team, but the team - including Torres, Gerrard and Reina - is simply not good enough to challenge for honours this year, and without major surgery, will not be good enough next year either. With the new owners unlikely to provide unlimited funds to whoever is in charge during the summer transfer window, Liverpool need to do the unthinkable if they are to finance the necessary rebuilding programme: sell Fernando Torres.

Tickets and TV: the key to reviving cup magic

Is it me, or does this seem like the busiest festive period football has ever known? The games are coming thicker and faster than I care to remember, and a further full programme of Football League and Premier League fixtures will take place before the FA Cup third round ties are played at the weekend.

With West Ham taking eight point from their last four games, I am in no position to complain, although I do harbour concerns about how the festive fixture pile up will effect FA Cup attendances this week. 

If we’re honest enough to admit it, the old competition has been in steep decline for a number of years now, so sparse crowds at this weekend’s games shouldn’t be a surprise to us. But with most clubs playing their fourth game in less than a fortnight this week, fans should be forgiven if they view the upcoming cup ties as a game too far and stay at home.

January is of course traditionally a time when people close the curtains, turn up the fire and invest their efforts on clawing back the money they splurged on Christmas presents and parties throughout December. Football fans will of course have spent much of that money on watching their team over the Christmas period, and many will deserve credit for sitting through 90 minutes of turgid football whilst fighting off the double onslaught of the biting cold and a raging hangover.

For season ticket holders like myself, cup games are usually no longer included as part of the package, and therefore have to be paid for on top of the already extortionate season ticket prices. With this in mind, my own club West Ham, has admirably made tickets available for our home tie with Barnsley at a very reasonable £15.    

But having seen so much football in recent days, and invested so much money on both tickets and merchandise, I fear that many fans will still stay at home this weekend - despite the inviting incentives for supporters, and a number of high profile ties being played.

Of course, the cost and frequency of football are not the only reasons why we can expect low crowds at games this weekend: there can be no doubt that the FA Cup has lost much of its magic. Sadly, it is no longer the draw for fans that it used to be, and with the glamour and financial rewards on offer from qualifying for the Champions League, a fourth placed finish in the Premier League is now considered a higher priority than winning the FA Cup. 

The cup is not even a priority for those with little or no chance of making the top four, as the threat of relegation and the likely resulting financial problems mean clubs will do anything not to jeopardise their Premier League safety. Similarly, the Championship’s top clubs are wary of becoming distracted from their attempts to fight their way into the cash-rich Premier League, and are now starting to field weakened teams in the cup like only the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool used to.

It’s a sad situation, and one caused by the evolving definition of success in the modern game. The glamour and potential glory of a day out at Wembley no longer qualifies as the ultimate achievement in domestic football; with qualifying for the Champions League and either maintaining or achieving Premier League status now considered the new cup finals.

So is there anything that can be done to revive the competition? There is talk of moving the early rounds to midweek so not to disrupt the league schedule, but I can only see that harming the competition. At least now, managers normally have a week to prepare their teams for cup ties. If fixtures are moved to midweek, it will mean clubs playing three games in a week and therefore increasing the likelihood of managers fielding weakened sides.

Personally, I believe a more prosaic adjustment is needed. Including cup ties in season ticket packages will help to make season tickets at least appear more reasonably priced, whilst also helping to increase attendances on the day of cup ties. Allowing season ticket holders flexibility to forgo use of their seats to allow access to others who usually can’t get to games will help to ensure more casual fans can attend games as well. Family ticket packages could help ease the financial burden on parents looking to take their children to games, whilst also ensuring new generations of fans can access live football. 

Of course, giving season ticket holders more rights whilst offering ample opportunities to families and casual fans is a difficult balance to strike, but it’s one I believe the FA should be working flat out with the clubs to achieve. At the moment, I simply don’t think that is happening.

Lastly, the FA and broadcasters can play their part by working together to ensure televised games are sensibly scheduled. Games at 12.45pm on a Saturday or 5.30pm on a Sunday are now commonplace for the FA Cup, but are also often a nightmare for fans. Football has traditionally kicked off at 3pm because it is the time that best suits fans, and I believe the FA Cup offers the perfect testing ground for relaxing restrictions around televising 3pm games. Yes some fans will stay at home to watch the game, but if the ticketing approach is favourable, a great deal more will head to the game in the hope they see a traditional cut and thrust English cup tie.

So whilst the allure of the cup may be fading, there is still an opportunity to save it. And with ties such as Arsenal v Leeds, Manchester United v Liverpool and, ahem, West Ham v Barnsley; this weekend could well be another chance to see some of that old cup magic.

Going to your team's FA Cup tie this week? Giving it a miss? Have your say below: