BBC Say West Ham to Cut Costs
News of the West Ham's owners orders to Curbishley to reduce the squad size has reached the BBC.
The BBC are reporting that West Ham boast "a first-team squad of 40 players - one of the biggest in the Premier League - and a wage bill approaching £50m a year." They say that "turnover for the 2006/7 season was £57.3m", so West Ham are far from reaching their target of "being self sustaining".
The BBC say they have been told by a senior source at the club that Curbishley will still be in charge at the start of next season but has to trim the wage bill and sell players before he buys new ones.
"Mr Gudmundsson is used to looking at long-term factors and knows you don't judge a manager in any business after 18 months," the source said.
"Now is a time to stabilise, because we are convinced that success comes through stability. The ratio between wages and turnover is too high at the moment. We have probably the biggest first-team squad in the Premiership and our transfer strategy has to be carefully planned going forward.
"West Ham have a first-team squad of 40, so there is considerable room for manoeuvre. The last thing you should do when you have a problem is to throw money at it."
However this frugality is not due to Gudmundsson's finances, which remain healthy,
"Lansbanki is still running with considerable, healthy profits," the source insisted.
"Gudmundsson also has interests in several other companies and they are doing well. In the Forbes rich list last April he was the second wealthiest man in Iceland (behind his son) and one of the 1,000 richest men in the world.
"We finalised the financial arrangements of West Ham before the credit crisis hit and the club is on a very stable footing. That financial framework hasn't changed a bit."
The source also said that West Ham are looking to improve the medical facilities at the club.
"The medical and training facilities are better than those at a lot of other Premier League clubs but not as good as AC Milan's, which is the level we are aiming for," the source said.
posted by Keir Clarke @ 7:49 AM
1 comments
1 Comments:
The comment that West Ham s medical program/facilities are amongst the best in the premiership is not borne out by the facts. If that is the case,then why so many injuries ,and long term absences?
Also, it is precisely because we had a big squad this term that we avoided a relegation battle, which cud have easily resulted from losing so many players to injury.
Does the owner really beleive that we wud still have finished in 10th or 11th this term,given all the injuries,if he had a smaller squad?
The only reason we are in tenth is due to the size of the squad.
That said, obvious fringe players must ,and apparently,will be offloaded. The more difficult decisions are people like Solano,especially since he is out of contract.
While there is scope to "trim" the squad a bit,i.e. Quashie,Davenport and Reid cud all be deemed expendable, the owner ought to be careful not to threaten the overall progress of the club by being excessive in cutting costs.
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