The news earlier that West Ham’s board are ‘taking back control’ ( that’s an interesting phrase, where have I heard that before?)of the transfer purse strings and power of veto on selections is recognition of a failure of the machinery to work properly in the summer transfer window.
However it could very well be the wrong prescription to fix the malaise.
Depending on your opinion, West Ham’s transfer window failures were down to Tim Steidten having too much influence over acquisitions, which led to Fullkrug and Guilherme coming to the club at a wasted spend of £50 million.
Most Read on West Ham News
Alternatively there is the opposing view that Steidten didn’t have enough control and was prevented from signing Duran, Gyokeres and Cole Palmer. What a team THAT would have been.
Either way it seems from Gonzo’s earlier article that the three-way struggle between Technical Director, Chairman and Head Coach with each wanting ‘their’ players recruited is consigned to the bin. The board will have the final say (which in reality means majority shareholder David Sullivan).
Appropriately, on Christmas Eve – ‘The Three Wise Men’ they were not.
Steidten, Lopetegui, Sullivan- would have been perfect if they had all followed the same star instead of wanting their own!
The selection of players by both Chairman (Summerville) and Technical Director ( Guilherme) that the head coach didn’t rate and wouldn’t select was clearly and embarrassingly dysfunctional.
The appointment of Steidten was a condition – we think – of Czech Billionaire Daniel Kretinsky investing in the club: Quite how the diminution of ‘his inside man”s influence over potential repeats of predecessor David Moyes’ madcap spending will be received – we can but guess:
If I were Steidten I’d be browsing the ‘situations vacant’ column over the holiday period as West Ham go back to their tried and tested (and haphazard) formula of recruiting players.
Peace on earth, goodwill to all men, and David Sullivan back running recruitment at West Ham United again. Let joy be unconfined.
Merry Christmas, Hammers