David Sullivan accepts West Ham failure with pay out worth millions
David Sullivan may have eventually accepted failure when paying out for West Ham to sack Julen Lopetegui, Dan Plumley has said.
The Spaniard was given his marching orders last week and immediately replaced by Graham Potter, with the Irons said to have paid him millions (Daily Mirror, 8 January).
Plumley, a football finance expert, admits that after years of success in Europe under David Moyes, that will have been weighed up against the consequence of possible relegation from the Premier League.
“That is part and parcel of managerial change in football,” he exclusively told West Ham Zone when asked if it was Sullivan accepting failure.
“As much as player signings don’t work out, we can see that with managers and I think, when you look at that in the context of the club, you have to weigh up that bigger picture as well.
“They have had years of success in Europe and they’ve had a really good run at things in the last few seasons, but expectations are then raised and things have not gone their way with that appointment.
David Sullivan accepts failure with West Ham pay out
“Then you have got to look at what you don’t want to get dragged into is a relegation scrap and if you look at that in the context of what relegation would mean, we’re talking an immediate revenue reduction of around £60m overnight as a worst-case scenario.
“If you are going to make that call and don’t want to spend millions to accept the fate of what you’re doing for the compensation fee, sometimes it is necessary.”
Potter started life at West Ham with that FA Cup third-round defeat at Aston Villa on 10 January, with controversial decisions going against him in a 2-1 loss.
There were more signs of life in the players though, with a Premier League clash against Fulham next up on 14 January at the London Stadium.
In other West Ham news, Graham Potter would instantly win over fans with the transfer of this £12.5million ace.
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