Opinion: David Sullivan’s attitude shows that West Ham will always be the barrow boys of the Premier League
It’s believed that West Ham owner, David Sullivan, isn’t short of a bob or two, however, when it comes to signings at the club, the 75-year-old would appear to want to keep his hands firmly in his pockets.
For years now, and particularly since their move to the London Stadium, West Ham seem to have had illusions of grandeur. That they could somehow be considered in the same bracket as London rivals, Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal.
The truth is that unless they adopt a different approach when it comes to buying players, they’ll always be a club for whom success and winning silverware will be secondary.
David Sullivan is ruining West Ham United
Even former Hammers hit-man, Frank McAvennie, criticised Sullivan for his lack of spending.
“Have we seen the money spent [from] Declan Rice? No,” he said to West Ham Zone.
‘[…] Sold on for £100m but we’ve never seen it come back into the club. So I don’t know if this will come back in either.”
Historically it’s always been the same at West Ham. Sell in order to buy, and big names are generally only ever landed when they’re coming to the ends of their careers.
That may not be true in the cases of Lucas Paqueta and Mo Kudus, though the former clearly wants to leave the club, and the latter is believed to be the subject of serious interest from Liverpool.
Two steps forward and one back.
The latest debacle surrounds brilliant 18-year-old Brazilian talent, Luis Guilherme. The Guardian (subscription required) report that the deal Tim Steidten thought he was getting over the line is now due to collapse because of personal terms, and it was apparently a similar story with Fabricio Bruno.
That speaks of an owner with no ambition and no real desire to see the club do any better than it has over the past few decades.
Lining his own pockets would seem to be preferable to that of investing in a team that could go on and conquer the Champions League in due course.
A fanciful pipe dream at this point yes, but with the level of support that the club can command from the incredibly loyal and passionate Hammers fan base, that’s where the club should regularly be aiming for.
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