Tag Archives: David Sullivan

January 9, 2014 · 3:10 pm

Open Letter to West Ham United

Mr D Gold & Mr D Sullivan
West Ham United Football Club
The Boleyn Ground
Green Street
Upton Park
London E13 9AZ

9th January 2014

Dear Sirs,

West Ham United Football Club
I am a proud West Ham supporter and have been for 47 years. Over the past three seasons I have become increasingly disillusioned with the direction in which you are taking our club. Along with many thousands of West Ham fans I am now dismayed, yet unsurprised, at the plight we find ourselves in.
We need a change and we need it fast. I think we can all agree on that. Yet having witnessed the hapless reigns, under your aegis, of Avram Grant – a proven football failure who led us to relegation – and Sam Allardyce – who looks determined to do the same – I have no confidence in your collective abilities to affect this.
Avram Grant’s management of the club was a farce. That alone was enough to make us a laughing stock, but your gauche attempt to appoint Martin O’Neill in December 2010 and the manner of Grant’s eventual departure, doubly compounded the situation.
O’Neill withdrew from discussions when he read about his impending appointment in the press before he had agreed a deal. Grant survived, but was summarily dismissed following the game at Wigan that confirmed our relegation. It was a match where defeat was plucked from the jaws of victory. Having been two up and cruising we capitulated and ended up losing 3-2. Yet that does not excuse what followed. That Grant was not even allowed to travel home on the team coach and was forced to make his own way back to London felt rather tawdry – certainly not the West Ham way. Indeed no less than Scott Parker, then club captain and a real credit to the shirt, expressed his disappointment at the shabby treatment of his former manager. He was sold shortly afterwards.
Two years on and things are, if anything, even worse. The ridicule that our beloved club was subjected to by the media following the 5-0 loss at the weekend to a decent Championship team (‘team’ being the key word) was dispiriting. Yes, we all heard the usual excuses and we all read your ‘open letter of support’ for the manager, but if the defeat in Nottingham was wounding, then last night in Manchester, gangrene set in.
Of course, losing a semi-final is not unprecedented for West Ham. But the manner of the defeat certainly was: an incompetent performance that reeked of indifference. So much so in fact that the 6-0 score line is not the worst part of the story. West Ham is a proud club, famous for its playing style and footballing philosophy, but it is becoming a travesty.
I feel that things simply have to change. There are tens of thousands of West Ham United fans who share this view. I understand that you are the legal owners of the football club and to that end, I would like to know how much you want from a fan consortium to purchase your shares for cash?
Our plan is simple: we will crowdfund the purchase of West Ham United and place in into the hands of thousands of genuine supporters for the good of both the club and the modern game.
I look forward to hearing from you,
Yours sincerely,

AG Payne

You can sign the petition here http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/david-gold-david-sullivan-name-your-price-to-sell-to-west-ham-fans

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May 15, 2011 · 10:02 am

#oneaday49: It’s all about leadership

Today is the day that West Ham United will prove that they do not live up to their name. West Ham yes, United no. I written so many times before about the appalling lack of leadership at the club that I am bored by the whole thing and cannot wait for this season horribilis to end. It has been a slow, but inevitable death right from the very first game of the season. Next week, I will go to Upton Park to say goodbye to Scott Parker, one of the few who has risen above the nonsense at the club  and played his heart out week in, week out. If only others had shown the same approach we may have shown a bit of fight.

But before we say goodbye and sign off, I will leave you with Avram Grant’s words of wisdom at his press conference on Friday, the full ‘transcript’ is available at  http://www.whufc.com/articles/20110513/avram-on-friday_2236884_2359537

‘This is a game we need to win. It doesn’t only depend on us, but what depends on us is the need to win. We are also playing against a team who also need to win, so this will be interesting.’

‘We need to do what depends on us, which is to win against a very difficult team in their home. If we don’t do it, we don’t have any chance’

‘In my experience of football it is not over until it is over. It has happened to me in the past. I was not in this situation – a relegation fight – but I was in the top in a situation like this when it didn’t only depend on us. I don’t want us to miss this chance, I want us to do what we need to do. That is all.’

And so the drivel goes on and on. Soon it will stop and I for one hope our leaders learn and then think long and hard before appointing their next manager. Time to put the helicopter back in the garage Mr Gold, close your mouth more often Mr Sullivan and take a tip from SirAlan Ms Brady and say ‘you’re fired’ a little earlier next time.  One thing is for certain, you will no longer get my season ticket money until you have proved there is a vision, after all a fish always rots from the head.

And finally the grand total of  14, yes 14 people pressed their Facebook ‘LIKE’ button on Avram’s reported words on West Ham’s website, proving there are only a few idiots around, despite all the rumours. 

:-

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May 8, 2011 · 12:17 pm

#oneaday 46: Chancey the Manager

One of my favourite films of all time is the last film Peter Sellers ever made, ‘Being There’. It was a tale of a man (Chance – the gardner)  who lived in near isolation, although not poverty, in a busy world and who by chance becomes a confidant to the president of the United States of America and extraordinary influence, yet speaks simplistic nonsense.  He is a simple man, naive but innocent and decent, but sadly capable of little. A nice guy.

Chance (Chauncey Gardiner) reminds me so much of the West Ham United manager, Avram Grant.  The wrong  man in the wrong place  for West Ham. I have gone on record, from the start of the season before we conceded 12 goals in 4 games that this was a catastophic disaster of a decision and culminated with me ditching my 2 season tickets in January. Take a look at this, enjoy the ‘movie’ references and marvel at the wisdom.

So yesterday, Saturday May 7th 2011, I decided to go back to West Ham.

The mood of the season has not changed since August last year, the beginning of the season. We have been consistent. A mix of appallingly bad leadership at the very top, ie the owners and their appointment of a manager who has zero track record, highlighted how much our owners really know about football and probably highlighted what the football industry thought of them. Faced with a crippling debt, which they inherited knowingly, they probably had few options in terms of replacements for the man that they undermined last season, Franco Zola. But the option they went with was always wrong, wrong for West Ham and wrong for everyone who is associated with the club. I think the mainstream media knew this and gently highlighted it early in the season. Indeed out very own foghorn Leghorn, co-chairman David Sullivan spoke freely about the manager being on the end of the noose as soon as we had lost our opening 4 fixtures by 3 goals a piece.

Then there was the Martin O’Neill debacle. Clearly the owners knew that Avram Grant’s days were numbered and he was an awful mistake, so they tried to recruit a replacement in January. Here the idiotic two were join by their managing director, Karen Brady who we will see dishing out all sorts of cod advice next week on the BBC when she appears as one of Sir Alan’s helpers on The Apprentice. Brady decided to brief the press on the quiet that O’Neill was all but a done deal. Even hapless Grant knew his game was up and threw his scarf into the crowd after the game with Arsenal which he thought would be his last. Trouble was, Mr O’Neill was a man of principle and knew if you sleep with dogs you can catch fleas. Within a day the deal was off, O’Neill was staying put at home and Sullivan and Gold were left with their tails between their legs. Gold even had the front to appear on Football Focus and state that ‘I would like Avram to be the manager for the next 20 years’. Unbelievable. You have to think this is either rubbish, or err, rubbish.

All this week the other half of Little and Little, Mr Sullivan, has been shouting his mouth off in the press about the inevitability of being relegated and the fact that all of our ‘England’ players will be sold. You really have to wonder if the owners are daft at all. We know they never want to pay high wages to players, just look at their record at Birmingham. How better to get the big earners off your books by a season or two in the Championship? The fans will understand that these players are too good for the Championship won’t they and the club can reduce the wage bill and get a few quid to boot.

You have to look at track records. The one track record we all know is that Avram Grant doesn’t have one, ‘got n Harry Rednapp’s way at Pompey as ‘director of football, took over from Mourinho at Chelsea when they lost the Champions League, and presided over Portsmouth’s relegation last season, before relegating West Ham’ is how I would sum it up. But the bigger question for me is the track record of the Holey (sic)  Trinity of Sullivan, Gold and Brady. 16 years at Birmingham – they took over in 1993 with the club in Division 1 (now the Championship)  and were  relegated to Division 2  in 1994. Eventually promoted to the Premiership in 2002 but relegated in 2006 after just 4 seasons. Promoted again the following season, in 2007, they were relegated the following year 2008 and promoted back in 2009. In short Birmingham were a yo-yo club – 16 years at the helm and Gold and Sullivan presided over 4 promotions and 3 relegations.

But back to Grant. Clearly unable to motivate the players, in possession of unusual tactical nous to say the least, he still, week after week talks absolute rubbish in every interview he gives. He cannot motivate his team, his bosses love to demotivate the team through the press and most of all us fans have become demotivated. Who can blame the players if they just want to get the season over and get the first cab out of Upton Park in search of a new club, with better ownership and with a manager who may just make them feel better about themselves and show them how to win. Messrs Green, Upson, Parker and Cole I personally wish you the very best of luck.  I just hope there are no more teams who will think Avram Grant is no more than a simple gardner and  I bet you all fear playing for him ever again.

Meanwhile Mr Sullivan and Mr Gold, you need to show proper leadership, take  long hard look at yourself, and hope for you own sakes that you can find someone with takent to manage our club. I am not sure how many would want to work for the two of you.

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January 15, 2011 · 1:57 pm

#oneaday 10: Dignity and leadership

So today is the final day of the much derided Avram Grant’s managerial reign at West Ham. For most, including me, this is the end of a very sorry chapter in the history of my football club. I have been on the record from the first, onerous day that he was unveiled as the new manager, that he should never have been appointed. My suspicions about the decision making of the owners of the club, messrs Sullivan and Gold, the two Davids, Gollivan by other words has always been high, ever since they bought the club last year.

Their first move was to brief the press against the incumbent manager, Gianfranco Zola, a true gentleman and a proper human being who only wanted the best for his players, the club and the supporters. The two David’s did not want Zola. I still am not sure why, but they felt he was not their man, did not have the right experience and West Ham were not exactly high in the table when they bought the club. So after much agitating in public and through the media, many pundits and observers suspecting that the owners wanted to make Zola break the terms of his contract and thus save paying him off, Zola duly left the club, along with his number 2, Steve Clarke at the end of the season.

The owners claimed that they wanted a more experienced manager, one with a proven track record and one who could execute the long term plan that the owners had for the club. Appointing Avram Grant never got near fulfilling that brief and you have to wonder what the logic, or indeed the commercial reason was for this decision. Indeed the so called long term plan  has never been shared with the supporters. As I see it, the long term plan is focused on moving the club to the Olympic Stadium in Stratford. According to the PR this is all part of ensuring that the Olympic legacy is not lost and that the stadium is retained and used for athletics , which was a core promise made by Lord Coe on behalf of the London Organising Committee for the 2012 Olympics. That is all very good and very noble, but the owners’ decision  to pursue this bid, is of course money orientated. And that is no bad thing at the end of the day. Rumours are that the Upton Park site has had planning permission for residential development granted, and estimates range on that deal realising £150 – 200 million profit for the club and its owners. In one fail swoop the debt would be wiped out and the club would be financially stable and solvent.

Decisions are always a key part of leadership. Even if the decision is ‘no change’ those who are in charge need to ensure that they are exactly that, in charge and capable of making decisions. Ever since the two David’s made the decision to appoint Avram Grant, they have been less than certain that their call was right. For me it was always wrong, but there is a school of thought that says once you have made a decision, you should stick by it and give it time to work. The speculation about Avram Grant’s future has been rife and in recent weeks, the club’s owners have made all sorts of noises. He was told that he had three games before Christmas to get at least one win. That sort of ultimatum is a daft one. Suppose West Ham lost their first two games and won the third, do you then keep the manager? Equally if they win the first, is he off the hook and therefore there is no real motivation to get results in the next two? All in all it was a stupid thing to say in public or in private and not the sort of thing you expect from any leaders in any walk of life. As it was West Ham won one game and drew two – a very good set of results given their previous form. And the rumours started again.

Thus on Tuesday this week, before an important Carling Cup semi final first leg, when Martin O’Neill was spotted at the club, we all knew that the end was nigh for the manager. Clearly the owners had decided that his time was up, but they wanted, quite naturally to seek a replacement before pulling the trigger. But why would you interview a potential replacement at the club, for staff and by passers to see? Why not somewhere private? Was it the need for the owners to be seen to be making a decision? Are they that paranoid that they want the media and supporters to know that they ‘really do know there is a problem and are doing something about it’? Indeed the rumours got stronger that Grant would be sacked on Wednesday after the board of West Ham would meet. Today, news broke that Grant will no longer be the manager, but that decision will be announced tomorrow, Sunday, after our home game against Arsenal. He will be replaced by Martin O’Neill.

This sort of approach smacks of being somewhat seedy, cheap and actually wrong, even if the decision is absolutely right. If the owners appoint the manager, they have the righ to remove him, but please don’t go about your business in this way. It lacks dignity and leadership in every way.

 At least Avram Grant has acted in a dignified way and is making no comment. More rumours suggest he has already struck a deal with the club. A pay off is always the upside of any manager’s hurt when he inevitably loses his job. I wonder when the game against Arsenal  finishes around 7.30pm today if Avran Grant will wave his goodbyes to the fans and the players and sail off to his next port of call. Indeed I wonder  if he will raise a smile. That would really be a first, the last time I saw him do that was when he arrived at the club.

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