Last week, I spoke to someone I often refer to as a top transfer source on [this website](https://www.claretandhugh.info/category/news/).
He’s spent a lifetime in football, is still involved now, and knows a thing or two about the game.
Regular readers will recall he recently said: “The real problem at West Ham is the recruitment — for too long it’s been diabolical.”
Having witnessed what must be a new low against Brentford last night, it’s hard to disagree. Because West Ham weren’t just bullied at the London Stadium — we were out-thought, out-fought, outrun, and technically played off the park.
Sure, Nuno Espírito Santo made a complete hash of the starting line-up — and dare I say, the substitutions too — but it reaches a point where the players must come under the spotlight. And I’m afraid to say, they’re simply not good enough. That, ultimately, is down to the owners.
### Sullivan’s Squad, Sullivan’s Mess
West Ham have lurched from director of football to recruitment chief, before scrapping the concept altogether just to let [David Sullivan](https://www.claretandhugh.info/david-sullivan-bio/) have another go.
Yes — the very same major shareholder who sat in the directors’ box last night wearing a sparkly sequined blazer — can’t apparently decide whether he wants a progressive, tippy-tappy manager or a counter-attacking pragmatist in the dugout. Every decision Sullivan makes is reactive and seemingly the complete contrast of the one which came before it.
The composition of this squad reflects that confused mish-mash of thinking. And now we sit precisely where we deserve to be… rock bottom of the Premier League.
The team we’re watching flounder — no matter the manager — is the product of a club with no identity, no direction, and no soul. There is no cohesive leadership on the pitch, and there’s certainly none in the boardroom.