Good piece by Billy Blagg ( Long )

The Devil's in the Detail
Billy Blagg 16 May 2011


Anger, frustration, disappointment, surprise - I
really didn't see this coming with the players they had at their
disposal - and, yes, a bit of sorrow I guess; but the main emotions I've
suffered since confirmation of West Ham's relegation to the
Championship following the 3-2 defeat at Wigan, is the horrible sense of
resignation and ennui - and that is what hurts more than anything.

You
see, I'm used to the annual roller-coaster of supporting West Ham. The
exhilaration of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, the joy of
seeing young players come through the Academy and make their mark on the
game before leaving for the promised land of Champions League football,
exciting wins, dismal losses, bizarre decisions, crocked players,
overpaid wasters, the way the unexpected becomes the expected - all
these things are part of the pain and pleasure involved in supporting
the Hammers. But this horrible season has even stripped me of the
capacity to relish the low points. Frankly, I'm tired - so tired - of
watching the people who run this club continually try to outdo
themselves by shooting off their mouths while simultaneously shooting
themselves in the foot.

Ever since Emmanuel Omoyinmi came on as a
cup-tied substitute in the 1999 League Cup quarter-final, Upton Park
has become synonymous with boardroom machinations, administrative
errors, poor decisions, misguided statements, management in-fighting,
staggering financial incompetence and sheer bad luck. I wouldn’t mind
but it wasn’t as if the Boleyn was a watchword for unbridled success
before ’99 either! But now, if there's a lame duck manager to hire, a
dodgy agent to entice or a fat striker with an injury problem to sign
then expect West Ham to be in with a shout. If we can hire them or buy
them with money we don't have then so much the better.

I'll be
honest I never felt the appointment of Avram Grant equalled that of the
inexperienced Glenn Roeder in 2001 ("I'm not expecting another
relegation battle" I said back in August!). Although he wasn't the man I
wanted to see in charge, I thought the ex-Chelsea boss could do a job
for us, but it became very apparent very quickly that this wasn't the
case and Grant should have been shown the door last January. It was
ironic that, despite intense media speculation, the end didn't come as
expected after the appalling home defeat to Arsenal, as that match was
possibly one of the lowest points in all my years of watching West Ham
and I would have sacked the man for that game alone. But Gold and
Sullivan decided - perhaps were forced - to hold onto Grant and the
result has been a team shaped in his own image, one unable to express
itself while lacking the fight and tactical nous needed in the very
basics of the game.

Of course, the usual drill at this time is
to make sure the finger doesn’t point at one man and there has been
obvious castigation of some of the players with major criticism coming
in for the misfiring Carlton Cole and the inept captain Matthew Upson,
but that’s not something I’m going to join. The Roeder season proved
what has always been evident and that is that in trying to play in ways
dictated by a poor manager and his coaching staff, even good players
become lost and, except for the very best, once that happens confidence
suffers and things start to unravel.

Eventually in the doldrums,
players give up and look for excuses and the chance to pass the buck. I
use the word ‘players’ but could equally substitute ‘employees’ because
I’ve seen this in countless offices and work places over the years and
have long believed – much as I don’t want too – that football is no
different. Bring in a new man and things can change very quickly. To
those who try to shift the blame from Grant I ask one question: had
O’Neill or Hodgson been put in charge of that squad back in January,
would West Ham be facing Millwall and Ipswich next season? Don’t even
bother to reply.

Now obviously the decision of who you want to
run your company or club is a major one and needs to be taken with care
but, in much the same way that it should be a basic tactical decision to
close a player down to stop them getting in a shot, or move a
left-footed player over to their right side to stop them getting in a
cross, so should it be a basic at boardroom level to make sure you get
the right man in and the wrong man out. We all make mistakes, of
course, and no-one expects perfection but we do expect those tasked with
the major decisions to be competent enough to make those decisions

For
me, it’s the lack of basics and the attention to detail that let West
Ham down time and time again. See how Manchester United can bring in a
young, inexperienced player into their team and look how quickly they
settle in. They already know what they have to do and what is expected
of them and its why United are celebrating their 19th League title
despite sometimes seemingly not having the best players in every
position. OK perhaps ManU aren’t a great example – if every club could
emulate Alex Ferguson then surely they would - but I’m not talking about
winning the Premiership or even playing in the bloated, overrated
Champions League – I’ve long since given up any idea of that. No, I’m
just talking about playing entertaining football and winning more than
seven or eight games a season. I think West Ham supporters have a
God-given right to that.

Now I know that last statement will gall
many. A lot of neutrals think that West Ham live above themselves, that
we think ourselves better than we are and we live off the fact we won a
European trophy and supplied three players and a captain to a World Cup
win way before most people reading this were even born. Throw in the
Olympic Stadium bid and you can see a lot of discussion boards are
buzzing with that very thing right now. The disturbing issue for me is
though; I’m starting to think some of these may have a point.

Certainly
in recent history, we’ve paid way over the odds for supposedly top
players we couldn’t afford and who had shown themselves either to be
unfit, unsuitable, inept or way past their best. The club’s ability to
spot a Dyer, Ljungberg or a McCarthy and put them on a salary more than
you or I will see in a month of Sunday’s is surely second to none.
Meanwhile, I’ve seen players like Bobby Zamora, Matthew Etherington,
James Collins and Nigel Reo-Coker given little more than a regal wave as
they are shipped off to the likes of Fulham, Stoke and Villa. Good luck
to them at those clubs seems to be the consensus – we’re moving in another direction. Well, we’re sure right about that last bit…

And
we’ll do the same again. It will be Carlton Cole next, so poor this
season that he can surely only got to Colchester or Orient. Won’t we be
surprised when he’s rescued by Tony Pullis or somebody and ends up
getting 15 goals a season? Wouldn’t it be nice to just get the best
from an established Premiership player for once?

So what are
these basics that West Ham seem to miss out on? Well, here’s a novel
idea. Let’s start the season with a squad of players who know exactly
what their role is and what is expected of them. Let’s not experiment
with the giddy idea of playing without full-backs ever again. In my
opinion, just that one change last summer would have given us the five
or six points we needed to stay up this season. (They say you learn from
history but Glenn Roeder tried the same tactic in 2001).

Let’s
also understand that – great though it is to pull off an away win at Old
Trafford or surprise Liverpool at home – the bread and butter stuff
needs to be sorted first. Most headers conceded in the top division,
most leads conceded, most goals shipped in the first 15 minutes – all
down to West Ham United this season. Key games against Blackpool, West
Brom and Birmingham at home were all frittered away. I could go on, but
what’s the point?

We’ll be back, of course, probably sooner
rather than later too. The last 50 years suggest that West Ham don’t
hang around in the lower tier for too long, in fact there’s even some
evidence that suggests that – like 2004 and 05 – we can play pretty
badly and still do quite well. But that’s not really the point. Whatever
you think of the owners (my opinion is probably libellous) Messrs Gold
and Sullivan have committed the club to a bright future in a landmark
stadium. They haven’t shown themselves capable of breaking the mould so
far, in fact they look to have adopted the same kamikaze strategy, but
that has to change and the change needs to start right now.

No
more half-baked managerial appointments, no more pussy-footing round
when things aren’t working. We want decisive actions. I want a Manger to
manage with a plan for the next five to ten years built around a
nucleus of players that will not only take us up but also form the
backbone of a squad to build on after. I don’t care if those players
aren’t people I’d recognise if they knocked on my door – we keep running
down that road and it leaves us nowhere. Just get in people who give
100%, can play a fair bit and who are prepared to do their utmost. Build
the type of club that doesn’t need relegation to get rid of deadwood
and people we can’t afford, and stop offering us the moon when we don’t
need to go there.

Let’s do what Avram Grant couldn’t this season.
Sort out the basics first and then build from there. Let the manager
get the team to do the talking on the pitch and cut out the nonsense
from off it – we know that the Directors paid a lot of money for West
Ham United but their pointless statements are harmful and self-defeating
and do nothing for the profile of the club and its fans.

For the
horrible truth about this relegation is that the club deserves it. The
players, the coaching staff, the owners and most certainly the manager
have all made awful, awful decisions not only this season but over the
past few years. One bunch of people who don’t deserve it though is the
long-suffering fans. We have a right to better and it’s about time we
had it.

Now, anyone got the train times to Coventry?

Well said that man.

I wish I'd written that.....

x2

yep spot on