[‘_West Ham_](https://www.claretandhugh.info/west-ham-3-0-leeds-united-the-morning-after/) _are broken_‘ claims the NY Times this evening. Tell us something we don’t know. Managerial duds, a stadium without soul or atmosphere along with countless other dreadful management decisions are reeled off ‘one more time’ as if fans themselves weren’t aware of the ten-year tale of catastrophe and financial mismanagement that has befallen their club.
Perpetual knee – jerk reacting is, if I remember right, how Michail Antonio described the failure at the club which seems to have no strategic plan.
The NYTimes highlights the colossal waste of money on failed transfers that has, ultimately, led West Ham to the second division of English football:
### “Absurd and abysmal: West Ham are completely broken”
_“In recent years hundreds of millions have been wasted on players who have made little-to-no impact on the team, with the likes of Gianluca Scamacca (£33m), Nayef Aguerd (£30m), Maxwell Cornet (£17m), Edson Alvarez (£33m), James Ward-Prowse (£29m), Maximilian Kilman (£40m) and Jean-Clair Todibo (£34m) all classed as failures.”_
Colossal waste of money – Maximilian Kilman
Indeed, **£216 million worth of failures**, most with resale value of well under half what the club paid for them. And the worst part about it is that no structure has yet been put in place to ensure the same thing doesn’t happen again if – _and at the moment it is a massive ‘if’,_ West Ham make it back through the Championship minefield to the Premier League promised-land in the next two seasons.
As the report sums up:
_“It really didn’t have to be this way. West Ham have advantages that the majority of clubs across English football could only dream of. Last season they generated £238million in revenues, the ninth highest in the Premier League (and 20th across Europe)._
_They can afford to pay wages worth a combined £172m to their players, the ninth highest in the Premier League (and 17th across Europe). In the past five years they have spent £654m on players, with a net spend of £317m in the past five years being, yep, you guessed it, the ninth highest in the Premier League._
The only crumb of comfort for supporters is the hope that business mogul Daniel Kretinsky will hold more sway over the future direction of the football club. Or the prospect of West Ham ‘doing a Leicester’ and suffering successive relegations seems more than just an idle fear.