David Sullivan has confessed that his sons begged him not to sign Jose Fonte and Robert Snodgrass for West Ham earlier this year.
In an interview with the Guardian, the Hammers co-owner has admitted the mistakes the Hammers made in the transfer market under former manager Slaven Bilic.
Sullivan blames the Croatian for demanding older players with Premier League experience and claimed he was under family pressure from West Ham-supporting sons Jack and Dave junior not to seal the January deals for Fonte, who joined for £8million from Southampton, and Snodgrass, who was prised from Hull for £12million.
“I’m very involved with physically bringing in the players,” Sullivan explained. “I’m not involved in the strategy. The manager said he wanted Fonte from Southampton and Snodgrass from Hull. My kids begged me not to sign them.”
“The manager had a policy of wanting older, proven Premier League players. That gives you an old squad and players who you’ve seen the best of.”
OPINION
Sullivan’s attempt to put the record straight on West Ham’s transfer policy is wonderfully candid. It is also potentially hugely damaging. Both Fonte, 33, and Snodgrass, 30, are still on the club’s books and neither will be too impressed that the owner’s Hammers-mad sons, both of whom work for the club, did not want them. Snodgrass is on loan at Aston Villa and might never play for the club again, but Fonte was a mainstay of the defence until he suffered an ankle injury in October that required surgery last month. What will the centre-back think of Sullivan’s latest episode of foot-in-mouth? It’s hardly a great way of motivating a supposedly key employee.