And so that’s it for another season. You can stop your stressing and start your celebrating/moaning/crying - whatever is appropriate for the outcome your team’s season.
For fans of Blackpool and Birmingham, you have my sympathy: I know how it feels to slide out of the big time that is the Premier League, and in to the relative small time of the Championship. Well actually that’s not quite true, as West Ham rather furiously propelled themselves towards relegation in an unstoppable march to the Championship, rather than finally slipping out after losing their grip on the lip of the Premier League trapdoor.
In any case, what I’m trying to say is that I know how deflating relegation is. It means playing at Ashton Gate and not Anfield; Millwall not Manchester United and worst of all, having to wait until nearly midnight on Saturday nights to watch highlights of your team. It’s the grim reality of being a Championship side, and not a Premier League one.
But following Sunday’s last game of the season, I now also know that being relegated is actually not as bad as it first seems. Having had a week more than Blackpool and Birmingham fans to get accustomed to the idea of relegation, I’m now fairly relaxed about it. Of course there will be things we’ll miss about the Premier League, but going down needn’t be the end of the world. In fact, it’s just another example of how as fans, we have no influence or control over the fate of our football clubs.
This thought struck me mid-way through West Ham’s final day home defeat to Sunderland. With the Hammers already losing 1-0 and looking unlikely to pull back the deficit in a month let alone the remainder of the match, I felt oddly relaxed when many around me seemed deeply concerned that more, not less of these poor performances could be expected over the coming months.
It’s hard to put my finger on exactly why I was unconcerned, but it’s clear that the jovial atmosphere at Upton Park played its part. The fans were in fine voice throughout, but not always in support of the team: They cheered as a giant beach ball was palmed around the stands; sang about the inglorious trip to Coventry that awaits us next season; and a conga danced its way along the front row of the Chicken Run. Generally, fans were enjoying themselves despite one of the club’s worst ever seasons in the top flight. And that’s what made me realise that being in the Championship will not be the end of the world.
The truth is, the fans will be back next season. Ok there may be a few less of them than this season, but by and large, they will be back. They will cheer on the team as they do now, and I’m sure they will boo when the team underperforms, as they do now. Relegation will not change that; not for West Ham, not for Blackpool or Birmingham; and not even for Stockport or Lincoln who sadly dropped out of the Football League this season.
For what neither relegation or promotion can change is that you support your football club unreservedly. When you make a decision to support a football team, there are no caveats that mean you get to opt out should they ever be relegated. You don’t get to switch on or off, or opt in to cheer them on only on the good days. Unfortunately unless you’re lucky enough to support the likes of Manchester United or Liverpool, there’s likely to be more bad days than good. It’s something you have to deal with, not decide you’ve had enough of.
It’s why on Sunday afternoon I laughed to myself as the realisation that I will never have control over what West Ham do finally dawned on me. I know that I’ll still be supporting them whether they get promoted at the first attempt next season, or suffer a Leeds-like fall from grace and drop in to League One (please God no). As depressing as that thought may be, there is nothing I can do to change it.
So supporters of Blackpool, Birmingham and any other clubs suffering relegation this season, fear not; it will get better. The pain will subside and before you know it, you’ll be filling in your season ticket renewal form and plotting away trips to grounds you never knew existed. Don’t try and fight it, just embrace it. Your football life is completely in the hands of your club’s squad, its manager and the board.
Actually, given West Ham do not yet have a manager and the recent behaviour of its owners, perhaps I should be a little more worried than I am...
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Tuesday, 24 May 2011
Monday, 16 May 2011
Foreign owners are not the problem; idiots are
After two months without a win and yet another customary second half collapse, West Ham’s relegation at the weekend was hardly unexpected. Unfortunately, neither was the appalling way in which the Hammers’ board dismissed Avram Grant shortly after the final whistle on Sunday.
The exact circumstances surrounding Grant’s departure have been the source of much rumour and debate; some claim he was sacked in the tunnel immediately after the game, whilst others believe Karren Brady’s televised post-match chat with Dave Whelan in the directors box was to request a room to use in order to hand Grant his P45. Whichever scenario is true - if any - it seems like yet another tactless act from West Ham’s board, who must now surely take their fair share of blame for the Hammers’ disastrous season.
That Grant was sacked is not the issue here. His record as manager of the club was desperately poor, with good cup runs masking alarming league form. With relegation confirmed following the 3-2 defeat at Wigan, he simply had to go. But why couldn’t the board have waited until Monday morning? Why couldn’t they allow the man, who was clearly hurting, the chance to collect his thoughts over a glass of wine and take a bit of time out of the glare of the media?
Just because he failed in his task to keep West Ham up, does not mean he warrants humiliation. When the fans have asked for him to be sacked, it’s not because they want to see the man hung out to dry, it’s because they want someone in that will return the team to winning ways; no-one asked for a sacrificial lamb.
The actions of Gold, Sullivan and Brady have brought shame on West Ham United. They have shown a lack of class that many fans at Upton Park will not forget - even if they would not disagree with the decision. But this weekend’s events are unfortunately typical of a board that has misunderstood passion for posturing, and so far managed to oversee the dismissal of two managers and a relegation in the space of 18 months in charge.
Make no mistake, the good will afforded to Gold and Sullivan for rescuing the club when close to financial oblivion has well and truly gone now. The fans are tired of their constant interference in team affairs, the murky and undignified way in which the Olympic Stadium bid was handled and their constant airing of the club’s dirty laundry in the media. With them at the helm, West Ham have become a club that few people respect anymore.
All of this makes you wonder if West Ham made the right choice in selecting Gold and Sullivan as the winners of a four-way bidding process last year, which also included representatives from the USA and the Far East. At the time, Gold and Sullivan presented themselves as the only bidders with the club’s interests at heart; they were fans from their childhood and knew what the club meant to the Upton Park faithful. Heck, David Gold even trained for the club as a youngster; what could go wrong?
For many, the clincher was that they were English. West Ham had been stung by foreign owners before with the Icelandic bank collapse remember, so surely there was no way they could risk bringing in another group of nasty amateur foreign mercenaries? And what about those Hicks and Gillett fellows? Only in it for themselves that lot. And Shinawatra; the Glazers; Alexandre Gaydamak, they’re all the same. Or so the general feeling amongst English football fans seems to be.
And yet no-one seems to mention the list of greedy and incompetent English owners of football clubs do they? Doug Ellis was hardly revered by Aston Villa fans during his time in charge, and I’m sure not many Manchester City supporters hanker for the days of Peter Swailes. West Ham themselves had Terry Brown, who remains a hate figure amongst the fans for sitting firmly in the back seat unless the opportunity arose to make a few quid on a home grown player.
No, the foreign owners are not the problem; idiots are the problem. And West Ham have two of them in charge.
The nationality on someone’s passport should not dictate whether they can run a sporting organisation or not. True, there are plenty of examples of foreign owners that have failed their clubs, but so too are there examples where they have moved their clubs forwards. Ellis Short for example, is beginning to establish Sunderland as a top flight fixture in a way they haven’t been for generations; Randy Lerner, for all his failings, has certainly improved Aston Villa’s standing since the days of Doug Ellis; and whisper it quietly, but the Glazers have actually overseen one of Manchester United’s most successful periods in their history.
There remains a “little Englander” approach to club ownership, that masks the real failings in football organisation. That the owners are not English should not be our concern; our concern should be ensuring fans have a voice and are represented at the upper echelons of clubs’ structures - regardless of the nationality of the owner.
Just because someone is not English does not mean they will burn the club’s history books and run away with the safe under their arm. But too many people are too easily assured by the fact that prospective owners are local boys done good. With West Ham due to move away from their home in the next couple of seasons and classless acts such as the dismissal of Grant; Gold and Sullivan could end up doing more damage to West Ham’s history than any foreigner ever could.
 |
| Gold and Sullivan |
The exact circumstances surrounding Grant’s departure have been the source of much rumour and debate; some claim he was sacked in the tunnel immediately after the game, whilst others believe Karren Brady’s televised post-match chat with Dave Whelan in the directors box was to request a room to use in order to hand Grant his P45. Whichever scenario is true - if any - it seems like yet another tactless act from West Ham’s board, who must now surely take their fair share of blame for the Hammers’ disastrous season.
That Grant was sacked is not the issue here. His record as manager of the club was desperately poor, with good cup runs masking alarming league form. With relegation confirmed following the 3-2 defeat at Wigan, he simply had to go. But why couldn’t the board have waited until Monday morning? Why couldn’t they allow the man, who was clearly hurting, the chance to collect his thoughts over a glass of wine and take a bit of time out of the glare of the media?
Just because he failed in his task to keep West Ham up, does not mean he warrants humiliation. When the fans have asked for him to be sacked, it’s not because they want to see the man hung out to dry, it’s because they want someone in that will return the team to winning ways; no-one asked for a sacrificial lamb.
The actions of Gold, Sullivan and Brady have brought shame on West Ham United. They have shown a lack of class that many fans at Upton Park will not forget - even if they would not disagree with the decision. But this weekend’s events are unfortunately typical of a board that has misunderstood passion for posturing, and so far managed to oversee the dismissal of two managers and a relegation in the space of 18 months in charge.
Make no mistake, the good will afforded to Gold and Sullivan for rescuing the club when close to financial oblivion has well and truly gone now. The fans are tired of their constant interference in team affairs, the murky and undignified way in which the Olympic Stadium bid was handled and their constant airing of the club’s dirty laundry in the media. With them at the helm, West Ham have become a club that few people respect anymore.
All of this makes you wonder if West Ham made the right choice in selecting Gold and Sullivan as the winners of a four-way bidding process last year, which also included representatives from the USA and the Far East. At the time, Gold and Sullivan presented themselves as the only bidders with the club’s interests at heart; they were fans from their childhood and knew what the club meant to the Upton Park faithful. Heck, David Gold even trained for the club as a youngster; what could go wrong?
For many, the clincher was that they were English. West Ham had been stung by foreign owners before with the Icelandic bank collapse remember, so surely there was no way they could risk bringing in another group of nasty amateur foreign mercenaries? And what about those Hicks and Gillett fellows? Only in it for themselves that lot. And Shinawatra; the Glazers; Alexandre Gaydamak, they’re all the same. Or so the general feeling amongst English football fans seems to be.
And yet no-one seems to mention the list of greedy and incompetent English owners of football clubs do they? Doug Ellis was hardly revered by Aston Villa fans during his time in charge, and I’m sure not many Manchester City supporters hanker for the days of Peter Swailes. West Ham themselves had Terry Brown, who remains a hate figure amongst the fans for sitting firmly in the back seat unless the opportunity arose to make a few quid on a home grown player.
No, the foreign owners are not the problem; idiots are the problem. And West Ham have two of them in charge.
The nationality on someone’s passport should not dictate whether they can run a sporting organisation or not. True, there are plenty of examples of foreign owners that have failed their clubs, but so too are there examples where they have moved their clubs forwards. Ellis Short for example, is beginning to establish Sunderland as a top flight fixture in a way they haven’t been for generations; Randy Lerner, for all his failings, has certainly improved Aston Villa’s standing since the days of Doug Ellis; and whisper it quietly, but the Glazers have actually overseen one of Manchester United’s most successful periods in their history.
There remains a “little Englander” approach to club ownership, that masks the real failings in football organisation. That the owners are not English should not be our concern; our concern should be ensuring fans have a voice and are represented at the upper echelons of clubs’ structures - regardless of the nationality of the owner.
Just because someone is not English does not mean they will burn the club’s history books and run away with the safe under their arm. But too many people are too easily assured by the fact that prospective owners are local boys done good. With West Ham due to move away from their home in the next couple of seasons and classless acts such as the dismissal of Grant; Gold and Sullivan could end up doing more damage to West Ham’s history than any foreigner ever could.
Monday, 9 May 2011
Down and out in E13
The feeling of hope is something covered on numerous occasions by CBM; usually in the context of its utter futility when it comes to following football. For whilst hope is often what takes us to the stadium in the first place, it just as often leaves us bruised and broken and vowing never to return again.
On Saturday afternoon, West Ham delivered a first class demonstration of the theory that it’s not the despair that kills you; it’s the hope. For the opening 10 minutes in West Ham’s encounter with Blackburn, the atmosphere was electric; hugely positive, signing even from the expensive seats and so loud you could barely hear yourself think.
But as soon as Jason Roberts scored what seems like his 100th goal at Upton Park for his 50th club, the crowd fell silent and there was a collective, unuttered agreement that the game was up: West Ham were soon to be a Championship side again.
It was evident in that moment that whilst we as fans hoped for a victory, no-one actually believed it would come. We hoped the team would repeat 2007’s exploits and produce a sequel to “the Great Escape”, but deep down the belief was not there. Right now, I’m sure Avram Grant is hoping he can cling on to his job with two victories in the final two games of the season; I doubt anyone, anywhere actually believes that will happen.
And that’s exactly why I’m now embracing the prospect of relegation, and not living in misguided hope that we’ll escape. Hope has masked what deep down, we’ve known for the last few weeks and perhaps all season; West Ham are simply not good enough.
Free from both the hope and expectancy of a dramatic turnaround, we as fans can now move on. Sure, there are two games to play and we will still get behind the team, but having won just two of our last 14 games and lost five of the last six, it’s difficult to see how a team missing vital players such as Parker, Noble and Upson will be able to win those two games. Even if the unlikely was to occur and West Ham do pick up six points, it may still not be enough.
In my lifetime, I’ve seen West Ham relegated three times before, and no doubt I’ll see them go down even more times than that in years to come. Despite often having some of the best players in the country, West Ham are known for underachieving and unfortunately, the class of 2010/2011 has lived up to the club’s reputation exceptionally well.
Just because we have accepted relegation is a near certainty, and are comfortable that it is not the disaster that it would be for the likes of Manchester United or Arsenal, does not mean we can be content though. The fact remains that this squad of players should not have been in relegation trouble, even if it was also unlikely to trouble the top half too much.
So who to blame for such an underachievement? The usual suspects in such matters are the board, manager and players. In West Ham’s case, all three can take at least a portion of the blame. Starting with the board, owners David Gold and David Sullivan saved the club from a financial meltdown last season but have far from covered themselves in glory. Their appointment of Avram Grant has proved disastrous, and their constant communication to the media has surely caused unrest within the squad. Their botched attempt to appoint Martin O’Neill mid-season made the club look a laughing stock and their failure to attend away games displays a lack of respect to travelling fans and hardly sends the right message to the players. Make no mistake, Gold and Sullivan have had a big hand in this season’s debacle and the fact that they rescued the club when the bailiffs were at the door does not make them immune to criticism.
The players too should shoulder some responsibility, with some playing well below their potential and others simply not good enough. Upson and Cole for example, are England internationals but have barely warranted first team places for much of the season.
But ultimately, Avram Grant must take the lion’s share of the blame for West Ham’s terrible season. The squad was flawed, but good enough to avoid relegation; he was afforded cash to spend in January; he had inspirational players like Scott Parker at his disposal; and his team played to sell-out crowds most weeks. But Grant has made mistake after mistake.
Rooted to a 4-3-3 formation that West Ham simply don’t have the personnel for, his substitutions have also left fans recalling the days of Glenn Roeder (he of the “let’s swap full-backs” school of tactical changes). His failure to inspire the team has been evident in an alarming amount of matches where promising first halves have been ruined by strangely opposite second halves (trust me, you will not believe the amount of times a different, altogether more useless West Ham has emerged from the tunnel following the break).
In fact, it’s hard to think of any positive attributes that Grant has displayed during his time at West Ham. His assertion this weekend that West Ham have been playing some of the best football outside of the top six would be laughable if we weren’t already busy wiping away our tears. No Avram, we have not, and unfortunately we’ll now be aiming for a different top six next season, along with the likes of Leeds, Ipswich and whoever else joins us in the Championship. With Grant at the helm, I would not bet on West Ham even troubling that top six either.
 |
| Grant's Hammers look doomed |
On Saturday afternoon, West Ham delivered a first class demonstration of the theory that it’s not the despair that kills you; it’s the hope. For the opening 10 minutes in West Ham’s encounter with Blackburn, the atmosphere was electric; hugely positive, signing even from the expensive seats and so loud you could barely hear yourself think.
But as soon as Jason Roberts scored what seems like his 100th goal at Upton Park for his 50th club, the crowd fell silent and there was a collective, unuttered agreement that the game was up: West Ham were soon to be a Championship side again.
It was evident in that moment that whilst we as fans hoped for a victory, no-one actually believed it would come. We hoped the team would repeat 2007’s exploits and produce a sequel to “the Great Escape”, but deep down the belief was not there. Right now, I’m sure Avram Grant is hoping he can cling on to his job with two victories in the final two games of the season; I doubt anyone, anywhere actually believes that will happen.
And that’s exactly why I’m now embracing the prospect of relegation, and not living in misguided hope that we’ll escape. Hope has masked what deep down, we’ve known for the last few weeks and perhaps all season; West Ham are simply not good enough.
Free from both the hope and expectancy of a dramatic turnaround, we as fans can now move on. Sure, there are two games to play and we will still get behind the team, but having won just two of our last 14 games and lost five of the last six, it’s difficult to see how a team missing vital players such as Parker, Noble and Upson will be able to win those two games. Even if the unlikely was to occur and West Ham do pick up six points, it may still not be enough.
In my lifetime, I’ve seen West Ham relegated three times before, and no doubt I’ll see them go down even more times than that in years to come. Despite often having some of the best players in the country, West Ham are known for underachieving and unfortunately, the class of 2010/2011 has lived up to the club’s reputation exceptionally well.
Just because we have accepted relegation is a near certainty, and are comfortable that it is not the disaster that it would be for the likes of Manchester United or Arsenal, does not mean we can be content though. The fact remains that this squad of players should not have been in relegation trouble, even if it was also unlikely to trouble the top half too much.
So who to blame for such an underachievement? The usual suspects in such matters are the board, manager and players. In West Ham’s case, all three can take at least a portion of the blame. Starting with the board, owners David Gold and David Sullivan saved the club from a financial meltdown last season but have far from covered themselves in glory. Their appointment of Avram Grant has proved disastrous, and their constant communication to the media has surely caused unrest within the squad. Their botched attempt to appoint Martin O’Neill mid-season made the club look a laughing stock and their failure to attend away games displays a lack of respect to travelling fans and hardly sends the right message to the players. Make no mistake, Gold and Sullivan have had a big hand in this season’s debacle and the fact that they rescued the club when the bailiffs were at the door does not make them immune to criticism.
The players too should shoulder some responsibility, with some playing well below their potential and others simply not good enough. Upson and Cole for example, are England internationals but have barely warranted first team places for much of the season.
But ultimately, Avram Grant must take the lion’s share of the blame for West Ham’s terrible season. The squad was flawed, but good enough to avoid relegation; he was afforded cash to spend in January; he had inspirational players like Scott Parker at his disposal; and his team played to sell-out crowds most weeks. But Grant has made mistake after mistake.
Rooted to a 4-3-3 formation that West Ham simply don’t have the personnel for, his substitutions have also left fans recalling the days of Glenn Roeder (he of the “let’s swap full-backs” school of tactical changes). His failure to inspire the team has been evident in an alarming amount of matches where promising first halves have been ruined by strangely opposite second halves (trust me, you will not believe the amount of times a different, altogether more useless West Ham has emerged from the tunnel following the break).
In fact, it’s hard to think of any positive attributes that Grant has displayed during his time at West Ham. His assertion this weekend that West Ham have been playing some of the best football outside of the top six would be laughable if we weren’t already busy wiping away our tears. No Avram, we have not, and unfortunately we’ll now be aiming for a different top six next season, along with the likes of Leeds, Ipswich and whoever else joins us in the Championship. With Grant at the helm, I would not bet on West Ham even troubling that top six either.
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