The Athletic journalist Sam Delaney has recently slated the board of West Ham United on a Hammers-related podcast.
In January 2010, David Gold and David Sullivan completed their takeover of the Irons after they initially bought 50% of the club (per The Guardian). Since then, they have taken that to above 85% (per Football.london).
Since the duo took over the club ten years ago, however, there have been eight different managerial stints (per Soccer Base).
So, when discussing David Moyes’ current tenure at the club during the latest episode of the U Irons podcast, Delaney slammed the board for their “whimsical” nature. (15:18).
Delaney said: “I like the idea of a hard-working manager who might be given a long time to build his own sort of brand around the club, which is something we haven’t really allowed anyone to do since maybe [Sam] Allardyce.
“But I don’t trust the board to have any long-term strategy, they just don’t operate that way. They are whimsical, they wake up and make decisions each morning depending on the mood they’re in, as far as I can establish from their 10 years in charge.
“I’ve heard someone quote a friend of one of the people who run the club as saying, ‘well, the reason we got David [Moyes] back is that we know that we can get rid of him again cheaply. So, it’s not too much of a gamble.'”
TIF Thoughts…
Judging from what Delaney had to say on the West Ham board, his opinions seem to be quite damning of the way in which the London club’s hierarchy operates.
As stated by the journalist, no manager has perhaps been able to build their own “brand” at the club under the current ownership except for Sam Allardyce as none of the other seven managerial stints have been longer than two and a half years.
Would you agree with Sam Delaney that the West Ham board are "whimsical"?Yes, I think he's correct
No, I think he's wrong
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In fact, only Slaven Bilic was afforded nearly that long with two years and five months, the closest in longevity to his tenure was Manuel Pellegrini, who lasted a year and seven months.
So, that would seem to back up what the Athletic reporter had to say about the board being “whimsical” and not giving managers long enough to build their “brand”.