West Ham Chairman Expects Success
The West Ham chairman, Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson, has sent a letter to season ticket holders in which he says he is happy with the progress the club has made this season but expects the team to be 'competing for honours'.
"Although certainly less eventful than the previous season I have been pleased with our progress and it gives the club a platform from which to progress further," he said.
"I share the frustration expressed by Alan [Curbishley] about the scale of our injuries but endorse his view that the squad he has assembled should be given a chance to play together while allowing the exciting young talents emerging from our Academy the chance to establish themselves in the first team squad."
"When I first purchased the club in December 2006 I was keen to emphasise my long term commitment to building the club. It was always my intention to invest further funds in the club to strengthen the first team squad.
"To this end the club has invested at net £40m in the squad since the takeover - and I hope that next season we will finally see a settled side with a realistic chance of competing for honours."
posted by Keir Clarke @ 9:24 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
hmmmm
he speaks of the investments in the past tense. i wonder if this is an indication of how/if further investments will be made this summer or if he is just keeping his cards close to his heart.
Interesting in that he almost sounds defensive regarding whether he has invested sufficiently or not. His comments about allowing the injured players to rejoin the squad and giving the academy players a chance suggest that he s in no mood to spend cash this summer. Doesn t mean we won t spend,but suggests to me that the spending will be limited ,and extremely cautious. Which bolsters the argument for loan deals ,rather than outright purchases. Also highlights the need for us to sell players who aren t likely to figure again, even if only to receive small transfer fees for doing so, and to get them off the wage bill.
Excercise in managing expectations of supporters ,and to a degree you have to give him credit for being upfront about it before people begin renewing their season tickets. Not difficult to be honest about it though,when he knows full well that the 25,000 odd season ticket holders will renew whether he dips into the transfer market or not. In that sense he s very lucky to own a club with that kind of loyal support.
The comments also suggest a reasonable degree of support for Curbishley,in acknowledging the injuries ,and suggests that the manager will be given some time to see what he can do with a "full deck" so to speak ,despite the frustrations expressed by many supporters last season(myself included). Again ,that s probably a reasonable business decision by the owner ,especially since it s one thing to be critical of the manager ,but something altogether different to be able to find a genuinely better replacement.
I think this basically just confims what we all knew already:
1) We won't be spending big in summer: there will be no spending £20 million on a striker or creative midfielder. We'll make one or two signings, a couple of young squad additions, and let a few go.
2) Curbishley will be manager next season.
3) It's time for Curbishley to prove he's the man to take us to the next level.
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