Morning -
I don't get approaching football as if I were a contestant on The Apprentice.
Maybe the owners encourage it. By discussing annual results, financial forecasts, “involving” us in the “business” then fans will excuse their appalling decisions as financial sense. Or worse, feel like they have been part of them.
As if anything any of us said or thought would make the slightest difference to a multi-million pound entertainment business. Owned by an individual. We’re not Union Berlin. We are a club owned by very wealthy people who act in their own self-interest.
The idea of involvement is, imo, a smoke screen
I grew up with Greenwood and Lyall. Those were salad days. Ricocheting between success and failure, winning cups and relegation. Always dramatic, always engaging. Always playing the “right” way. It may have helped as a kid being four feet from the playing surface - so close you could smell the deep heat on the players and hear every word they said. But it was magical and emotional.
Look at what we’ve had to endure since those days.
We had Bilic – exciting but too mercurial. Roeder – one of my most disengaged periods. I think I slept through most of it. Zola – f**k it, lets see what happens. Oh - that. Curbs – Let’s make us as safe and boring as Charlton. Allardyce was the most hideous, anti-football, arrogant dick. I screamed like a banshee when his name was being proposed. And I hated every single minute of his tenure. My worst period in my 55 years as a west ham fan.
I loved our time under Arry. He made things exciting – you never knew what was going to happen. He was like betting blind – you could end up with a royal flush, or a nine high. Ludicrously unpredictable. But it was fun.
And that is what I want. Fun.
If it is just about success, we’re following the wrong club. It’s always been about entertainment. Otherwise why support West Ham?
If it’s about business, I simply don’t care. It's not my money.
Rich people who buy football cubs don’t do it for sound financial motives. It’s a vanity thing. Which is fine – fill your boots. Strut around in a Russian hat all you like. But don’t expect me to give the tiniest of sh*ts about your financial well-being. It’s your business. You chose to buy it. Freely chose. And you enjoy the cachet of sitting in the Directors box. Good for you – you paid for it.
I can buy potatoes at Tesco. I can like their potatoes. It does not mean I need to be involved in, care about, or even think about, the annual results of supermarket. I Don’t care.
The job of an owner is to dig deep, spend money and entertain me. If you can’t afford it, sling your hook and sell to someone who can. That’s the entertainment business.
I follow the club for excitement. For drama. I’d rather flirt with relegation than sit watching a bunch of static lumps grind out a 0-0 by being “hard to beat”.
Just give me entertainment again. I just hate the “mid-table security” mindset. More Arry. Less Fat Sam.
