Can the London club ever find true success when David Sullivan keeps listening to the same old voices?

[wils]

This was from today's Telegraph...

"As David Moyes might say were he pressed on the subject of managing West Ham United: making a success of it is not as easy as some people might have you believe.Seven months since the end of the Moyes era – that lasted more than five years plus an earlier fireman stint in 2017-18 – the club are back in crisis after taking the rare step of sacking a manager mid-season. To say that Moyes was never a favourite of the fans is putting it mildly. His style of play and his ambition were questioned. The great potential of the club, many thought, remained unfulfilled. But Moyes was able to coax a club pulled in all directions to three top-half Premier League finishes in four full seasons, as well as a European trophy.

It is starting to look like Moyes – steady, considered, unpopular – was holding it together behind the scenes much more effectively than others might have supposed. Of course, there is nothing wrong with a club pursuing a new vision and a fresh start, but that presupposes that West Ham are set up for change. David Sullivan, the principal owner and chairman, is still in charge, and still listening to the same voices – with much the same outcomes.

For Moyes’s successor, Julen Lopetegui, the end dragged on and on. Lopetegui took one final training session on Wednesday morning, still having had no clarity from the hierarchy at West Ham as to where he stood. By then he will have been aware from a cursory glance at any news platform that his time was at an end and Graham Potter was about to take his job. There are lots of personalities in the court of Sullivan but no one who was quite prepared to put Lopetegui out of his misery.

It has been a bleak few days in the history of a club who, for all their shortcomings, have been relatively buoyant in recent years. The Uefa Conference League triumph in 2023 was their first trophy since 1980. “Champions of Europe, we know what we are” became one of the more droll fan songs of last season – chanted by West Ham fans part in celebration and part in acknowledgement of the limits of their horizons. This summer the club spent around £130 million on players, bade farewell to Moyes and promptly fell into a relegation battle.

Sullivan controls almost 39 per cent of the club, while his late, long-term co-owner David Gold had 25 per cent, now controlled by his descendants in a family trust. The Czech investor Daniel Kretinsky, who awaits government approval for his £3.6 billion acquisition of Royal Mail, has 27 per cent. It is a relatively clean ownership structure yet somehow it continues to find itself periodically in chaos.

The Lopetegui appointment was a case in point. The Spanish coach was allied to the agency Unique Sport Management (USM), run by agent Will Salthouse – a close associate of Sullivan. The pair were pictured sitting together at the home fixture against Brighton this season.Salthouse and USM are listed by official Football Association documents as having overseen Michail Antonio’s most recent contract extension and the departure of Pablo Fornals. One suspects there may be further USM deals with West Ham listed in the next FA summary of intermediary activity.

Steidten unpopular with both Moyes and Lopetegui

Throw into the mix Tim Steidten, a German sporting director recruited from Bayer Leverkusen in 2023, whose name seems to be linked to every big job going. As Telegraph Sport revealed this week, Steidten had agreed to take time away from the training ground. A delicate way of saying he and Lopetegui were not aligned. The latter is understood to have taken a dim view of Steidten.

It was a near repeat of events in May last year, when Moyes had asked Steidten to stay away from the first-team dressing room as the German prepared to recommend a new manager to Sullivan.

As well as Salthouse and Steidten, there is chief executive Karren Brady, who attends Premier League shareholder meetings on the club’s behalf. Yet even with all these executives and consultants in the mix, West Ham’s summer window was unimpressive to say the least.

They spent £27 million on Germany striker Niclas Fullkrug, 32 next month, in defiance of just about every norm of the modern transfer market. As for the rest of that £130 million, plus loans, it would be fair to say that the jury is still out. At 18 years of age the £25 million Brazilian Luis Guilherme is still very young.

Six of the summer window arrivals, including loanee Jean-Clair Todibo, started Lopetegui’s last game in charge, the 4-1 defeat by Manchester City. The broken leg sustained by Antonio in a car crash last month was desperately unfortunate but his goals have been relied on by the club for much longer than ever was expected.

West Ham could be a great force; London location, big crowds, sweetheart stadium lease deal and an interesting – if not strictly glorious – history. But as with the move to Stratford and the adaptation of the Olympic Stadium to full-time Premier League ground, it never really goes to plan. The Lopetegui era follows a similar pattern, and it will be the same people who oversaw it whom Potter will be obliged to work for."

[kylay]

Nice to see a news article lay bare our biggest problem for the world to see, even if it's obvious to us. Not sure I've seen Sullivan indicted publicly like this. It's usually blame of some combination of fans, players, or manager.

[Texas Iron]

…Brady…

[Texas Iron]

Barrow Boy Management style of Sullivan and  ready…

Need. Full time experienced Chief Executive for day to day hands on management…

Like successful top clubs…

[Lee Trundle]

If we could replace Steidten with Dan Ashworth, the I'd be prepared to twist.

It's unforgivable that we still don't have the striker we need or a left back.  We've needed them for years.  Those should have been the first 2 players through the door.

I’d be prepared to stick with Emerson, Scarles and Cresswell for another year, which Cresswell back up and Scarles the man in waiting. 

Cresswell for another year?!

We're the oldest squad in the league.  Might as well get Ogbonna back to cover centre back as well while we're at it.

[ATHammer]

If we could replace Steidten with Dan Ashworth, the I'd be prepared to twist.

It's unforgivable that we still don't have the striker we need or a left back.  We've needed them for years.  Those should have been the first 2 players through the door.

 

 

Trouble is Ashworth is more of a CEO than a deal maker. CEO is Brady's role. Replace Brady with Ashworth? Yes Please! Deploy Steidten in implementing a good CEO's vision, cultural aspirations and playing objectives, buying players to complement home grown talent, Why not? 
Sadly can't see it with Sullivan at the helm. Any interference in the Salthouse; Silkman input and Brady's war on the supporters, however seems doomed to failure until Sullivan and Brady have gone.

[Pub Bigot]

If we could replace Steidten with Dan Ashworth, the I'd be prepared to twist.

It's unforgivable that we still don't have the striker we need or a left back.  We've needed them for years.  Those should have been the first 2 players through the door.

I’d be prepared to stick with Emerson, Scarles and Cresswell for another year, which Cresswell back up and Scarles the man in waiting. 

[El Scorchio]

Decent read. Wish they'd highlighted the Salthouse bit a little more. That's the nail hit on the head right there. Sullivan's ties to his mates and that influence over how he chooses to run the club. I don't know what's going on with the Gold family's shares and if they are compelled to back Sullivan by some agreement but surely he could be overridden if they and Kretinsky chose to do so in terms of this greasy association with certain agents which clearly impacts the decision making and running of the club at all levels.

[Lee Trundle]

If we could replace Steidten with Dan Ashworth, the I'd be prepared to twist.

It's unforgivable that we still don't have the striker we need or a left back.  We've needed them for years.  Those should have been the first 2 players through the door.