The Premier League off-season has seen West Ham United spend over £94 million on playing talent. Only Liverpool have opened the coffers more liberally and there is apparently more on the way.
The spending spree was obviously part of the deal and attraction that lured Manuel Pellegrini to the Olympic Stadium. The Chilean begins his tenure in full knowledge that David Gold and David Sullivan have well and truly had enough of the Hammers mediocrity and were in agreement to loosen the purse strings.
The 64 year old Pellegrini arrives with a pedigree needing little explanation. Despite relatively short-term reigns at Manchester City and Real Madrid, there were some wonderful moments and achievements.
The man himself sites internal issues for the frustrations at Madrid and he left City with an astonishing win percentage and goal-scoring record. The lure of a younger man in the form of Pep Guardiola was too strong for the owners to resist and Pellegrini completed his tenure at City in June 2016.
Now he is a West Ham man; coaching a Club touted as perennial battlers and historically a ‘make up the numbers’ Premier League participant.
Relegated twice since the induction of the Premier League, the ‘Irons’ fought their way back into the top tier almost immediately on both occasions. Those seasons are perfect representations of exactly where the club has sat for the last 25 years; a fringe top flight team without the depth of stars to seriously threaten the big boys.
Years of frustration for the fans had worn thin, as the club filled the role of an honest toiler, but when Gold and Sullivan acquired their original 50 per cent controlling interest in 2010, the future looked bright. Unfortunately, little changed. The club has managed only one top ten Premier League finish (2015-16) since.
Dimitri Payet during his time for West Ham (AP Photo/Jon Super)
Thus, with the recent, stunning moves made in the transfer market, West Ham loom as a perfect discussion point when it comes to modern football, the Premier League and the sheer power of money. If West Ham United do indeed morph into something as impressive and intimidating as they were in the 1960s, two simple points could be made.
On one hand, it will confirm that money does indeed talk and Leicester City’s heroics of 2016 will always be a blip. Conversely, if the Hammers fail to impress, it will reflect the drastic need for a change of culture and thinking, above the acquisition of players
That thinking is ingrained and difficult to overcome. For years I had felt some macabre sense of pride in the struggling cockneys. There seemed something noble about the battler. Australia knows it well. With the billions spent at the top end of the Premier League, surely resisting the temptation to pursue the title backed by money alone provided some sense of integrity?
Quality academy players like Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole and Michael Carrick were poached, only to return and inflict pain on the club in opposition colours later on. The psyche of the club become a self-fulfilling prophesy, as the hard edged fans took on the role of the aggressive underdog, hell bent on derailing other teams’ charges, rather than ever building one of their own.
West Ham United were the like the clean guy at the back of the peloton attempting to compete in Le Tour without EPO.
Without a domestic league title of which to speak and just one glorious European Cup Winners Cup Trophy in 1965, the Londoners have provided much ammunition in my footballing circles over the years, so efficient at mediocrity have they become. Nobody seems to remember their three FA Cup victories.
It appears West Ham have finally adhered to an old truism; If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.
With the arrivals of Felipe Anderson (Lazio), Andriy Yarmolenko (Dortmund), Jack Wilshire (Arsenal), Ryan Fredericks (Fulham), Lukasz Fabianski (Swansea) and Fabian Banbuena from Corinthians it is clear the eleven that face Liverpool on August 12 will be exciting, new and a stunning transformation.
With rumours still circling around a potential Dimitri Payet return and a big offer still on the table for Jamaal Lascelles (Newcastle) the Hammers fans are queueing up, kit in hand, ready to emblazon some very new names across their shoulders.
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In a non-salary capped league, it is the nature of the beast. Is it right? Yes, well within the rules. Is it ethical? Who cares either way, I want a title before I die and there is little scope for such considerations in the meat market of the football transfer system.
Is it the best thing for the league? Probably not.
The money West Ham has spent has the potential to shift thinking considerably. Years of sooking and whinging; living in constant fear of relegation breeds a strange psyche and a clear dislike for European powerhouses such as Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool.
Now the club has made a play at becoming exactly what the fans claimed to have hated and only time will tell whether the moves made are prudent and wise.
However, the idea of a star-studded West Ham United side sitting high on the domestic ladder, playing consistently in the Champions League and filling the Olympic Stadium, would be just as much of a shock to the home fans, as it would to the entire Premier League.
marron
Guest
Mate, I loved that band, saw them a few times in Sydney and once on a trip to melbourne when I also went on a self-directed tour... you know, noble park, wheelers hill, springy shops etc etc haha. Great memories.... You know how it is though..... New taps and all that!
Cuffy
Guest
Marron... didn't think I'd get a nibble with a Loin Groin reference but there you go. The lack of any academy players coming through, the move away from Boleyn, the fact that every year is a new squad that aren't likely to finish the season makes it hard to have any emotional attachment. Maybe I should just crack out 747...its time to start lovin!
marron
Guest
It's only got worse and worse over those 20 or so years since Craigo was singing songs about Fitzroy while standing on his head. I really thought that football was here to stay But they've taken my team away Said they knew what it meant to me and I'd enjoy it more when it's on pay tv West Ham are fairly emblematic of those twenty odd years.... back when Loin Groin were trotting out the ironboard around the place, they had almost a hundred years of history with only 8 managers, only one or of whom wasn't a local boy, a home ground almost as old, a proud tradition of developing young players through the academy, and a slightly more intangible tradition of playing a certain brand of football, which, however naff, was still something of an identity. They're just another modern football club spending ridiculous amounts of money and playing out of a shopping precinct now. Thanks for the memory cuffy, I'm off to dig out secksually harrasta and reminisce about long gone things.
Andrew
Roar Guru
Getting Pellegrini in as manager was an absolute steal for West Ham. People seem to forget what a miracle worker he was at Villarreal and Malaga, which is the more appropriate comparison with West Ham rather than his work at Real Madrid and City. Got Villarreal to 2nd in La Liga and was a missed Riquelme penalty away from beating Arsenal in the '06 CL Semi-Final, then nearly got Malaga through to the same stage only for them to conduct an all-time meltdown to Dortmund in injury time of CL QF. Also I live about 10 minutes from the London Olympic Stadium, and boy is it a terrible ground to watch Football in - the incline of the stands is far too flat.
Ross Piper
Guest
Firstly West Ham have a semi-decent squad of core players with an established culture. With moves to the Olympic stadium proving so divisive among fans and the effective walkout and holding of the club to ransom issue of Dimitri Payet were dramatically disruptive. We are lucky have survived in the EPL and the thought of offering Payet a homecoming, as was widely reported, makes me want to smash things in its shortsightedness. He was massively destructive to the club in his leaving and we just shouldn't entertain such a thought again; particularly given his recent fairly severe hamstring issues. I am not disputing that the results may not start flowing immediately with such an in-flux of new players and their lack of knowledge of eachothers movement. If it is an initial failure this will be a key reason. But I don't think our squad is a cot case as much as this article portrays. There are some very handy players in the squad and I am hoping Pellegrini can mesh something together which gets the best out of them. With a new season, where the fans aren't repeatedly calling for the board to resign, where some of the teething problems of the new stadium have been addressed, maybe our existing squad would've been OK. But with Felipe Anderson serving up Arnie and Chika; watch out!
Kangas
Roar Rookie
l bizarre hostile capital letter retort with no relevance to west ham or epl But agree with you those other sports are overpaid if that settles the debate . M q grob. Totally agree the horse has bolted , I wonder if this spending will last at this rate I’m guessing the Chinese and India markets are where the epl and la liga are there new audiences.
LC
Guest
I suppose that's why the EPL is the world's most popular and watched sports league? Money is fine when it comes to American sports, Tennis, Golf, F1 etc. but NOT Football?
Cuffy
Guest
A great Melbourne band, Loin Groin, summed this perfectly in their song Footy Takeaway... "It seems that everything that I once enjoyed is now repackaged as rich mans toys. They take the things I care about, tell me that it's better when in fact it's shit house"!!! At least they've made me think about Loin Groin.
Stuart Thomas
Expert
Really exciting news for him. Time to fulfil the potential and what an opportunity.
DNZ
Guest
They will have the same problems as Everton - even if they've bought better players. YOu just cannot undertake such significant overhaul of a squad and expect to make immediate improvements. Such change needs to be incremental. Particularly as the Premier League can bring with it significant culture shock to players not used to the UK.
Lionheart
Guest
Thanks Nick. Brandon has a lot of potential, let's hope this is a good move for him.
MQ
Guest
The horse has definitely bolted on that one. We have some hope that the fair play rules might level the playing field a touch, but otherwise, it is what it is.
Nick Symonds
Guest
NEWS - https://www.a-league.com.au/news/borrello-signs-bundesliga-club
Kangas
Roar Rookie
Stuart The top level of English premier league and la liga and the money spent makes me angry , it’s ridiculous with everyday people the world over doing it tough . Who do far more valid work then play sport I’ve cut down my epl and champions league watching to virtually a few highlights from you tube and I just listen to a podcast about the football league . Seriously How long can this ridiculous spending on football continue. . Rant over I must be tired from night shift ?
Kangas
Roar Rookie
The Portuguese agent does all the desks for wolves ,Jorge Mendez. There is a story behind it all , not sure of all the details
Davico
Roar Pro
More interesting is whats going on at Wolves. Seem to be getting very good players at very cheap prices!
MQ
Guest
Fans will forgive almost anything if victories flow.
Lion Brown
Guest
First and foremost I'm just hoping they're not this season's Everton - after that 7th is probably the goal - the top 6 have remained unchanged for 2 seasons and they'll be a hard nut to crack first up and even that will take some doing. The real issue is if they do achieve that 7th or better spot is holding on to the performing players as history shows the clubs with real cash will come calling