WHZ View: Eleven years of West Ham under Gold and Sullivan – highs and lows
Tuesday marks eleven years of West Ham under David Gold and David Sullivan.
From the abysmal relegation to the emphatic promotion. Farewell Boleyn and Europa League push, to the London Stadium and Astra Giurgiu. Dimitri Payet to Simone Zaza.
Their reign has been one of many highs and lows, but not short of controversy either way. We’ve looked into the three main talking points of the Davids tenure.
1. Relegation and immediate promotion
The new owners took over with the club sat 16th in the Premier League and they couldn’t steer us away from the inevitable relegation. Avram Grant’s side went down with a whimper after a 3-2 defeat to Wigan at the DW Stadium.
Sullivan and Gold infamously sacked Grant after full time and refused to let him on the team coach. This prompted Scott Parker to step in and ease tensions.
The reaction? To loan the Hammers £32.5m so newly appointed Sam Allardyce could get the club promoted at the first time of asking. A highly successful season was capped by a 2-1 win in the play-off final to Blackpool.
2. Stadium move for European football
The biggest talking point is the uprooting from the Boleyn Ground to our new home in Stratford.
Thousands of match-day traditions and rituals broken, sold to fans as a price worth paying to grow and challenge for European football. All part of the seven-year plan.
It hasn’t quite worked out that way. The Hammers have only finished in the top half three times over the past ten seasons, with a high of seventh coming in the 2015-16 season – before the move.
That saw us qualify for the Europa League for a second time, only to again be knocked out by Romanian side Astra Giurgiu.
European football in East London – a promise that 11 years on has still not been fulfilled.
3. Sporadic Spending
The East Londoners have seen their transfer record broken numerous times since the Davids took over. Marko Arnautovic, Andre Ayew, Felipe Anderson and Sebastian Haller amount to a combined £129m and three of the four have definitely been flops.
It’s been well documented that the owners have seen 49 strikers enter and exit the club in their tenure. Honourable mentions go to Jonathan Calleri, Benni McCarthy and Savio Nsereko.
It can be argued that, yes, the owners have put their hands in pockets, but the recruitment has been – largely at least – shockingly poor. This could be David Sullivan’s insistence on being involved with transfers, but that’s another story completely.
Best business by far? Payet in for under £15m, a deal that still shocks many to this day. However, their transfer handlings can be perhaps best illustrated by his sale for less than we paid 18 months later.
In summary, the majority of West Ham fans remain unhappy at the running of the club. We don’t ask for much, just hard work and exciting football – the West Ham way.
Promising so much and delivering so little, on top of moving the club from its rightful home hasn’t helped get anyone on their side.
But it has to be said, this season, in particular, West Ham look more stable and consistent than we have done since the last season at the Boleyn.
Whether that’s down to the board or not is another question.
In other West Ham news, David Moyes praises ‘New West Ham’.