David Sullivan has been fortunate that the great win against Chelsea has distracted somewhat from the comments he made in Saturday's Guardian. It's fine being honest, but there's no point in undermining players who are still on the club's books. Sullivan told the Guardian's Jacob Steinberg, "The manager said he wanted Fonte and Snodgrass. My kids begged me not to sign them." Snodgrass, on loan at Aston Villa, responded with a tweet reading, "Thanks for your support Mr Chairman." While Fonte told the Daily Telegraph, "It's ignorance. I'm not gong to say anything. It's not going to change who I am. I'm going to keep being the good professional I am."
It's a row that never needed to happen. West Ham are certainly going to need Fonte again this season. To his credit Sullivan does admit in the same interview that he's made mistakes and he shouldn't have made it public that Slaven Bilic turned down Renato Sanches and Grzegorz Krychowiak in the summer window. As co-owner he's entitled to an opinion. But the discussion of the club's transfer policy in public by Sullivan and his sons should stop, particularly when it concerns current players. David Sullivan should either leave the PR work to the more discrete David Gold or allow a PR person to sit in with him at interviews who would have the power to tell him when to stay quiet.
Showing posts with label Sullivan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sullivan. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 13
Sunday, September 10
More media rumours…
An interesting piece by Jacob Steinberg on West Ham in today's Observer, headlined "Sullivan salvo has truly burst fading Bilic's fragile bubble." Steinberg writes that "an increasingly demob happy" Bilic is "living on borrowed time" as the PR wars begin and that "there is little chance of his contract being extended beyond this season", while a defeat by Huddersfield could see the axe fall sooner. He covers the club's recruitment problems and adds, "Sullivan has assumed the role of director of football, which means he shares culpability with Bilic for the mess." Another point he makes is that it remains to hard to work out what style Bilic wants from his team: "Are they solid and physical? Are they a counterattacking team? Do they favour possession? One thing is indisputable; they cannot defend." Click on the link to read the complete piece.
Tuesday, February 21
David Sullivan interview
Well worth reading Iain Dale's interview with David Sullivan on West Ham Till I Die. The Guardian has reproduced a couple of points today, including Sullivan's assertion that Parker was pulling out of tackles in the first five games of this season, letting Ba go was a big regret and that Avram was a mistake. Also interesting to read that Sunderland offered £6 million for Upson last season and that the player turned them down. There's a lot to take in, but generally Sullivan answers with some candour. Click on the link above to read it.
Wednesday, February 10
Big mouth strikes again?
Perhaps Sullivan should keep quiet about the debts. He’s made his point and surely talk of a wage cuts would be better done in the close season.
Zola has said David Sullivan’s Radio 5 musings about a 25 per cent pay cut for the players was badly timed. Yesterday Sullivan’s comments were all over the likes of the Sun and Daily Mail warning us that the club face "Armageddon" if relegated.
Zola responded: "It would have been better to maybe talk to us before talking to a newspaper.” For Nice Guy Zola this is unprecedented and indicates relationships are already strained.
Zola won't like Sullivan ruminating in print about whether his manager is "too nice" or possibly the next Ossie Ardiles. It's a fair question to ask in private or after the manager's gone, but there's little point in doing it now.
The players aren’t going to be happy either hearing about possible pay cuts and Zola and Clarke must also be annoyed to hear all the comments about their salaries being too high in the press. It’s probably true, but not their fault if the Icelanders were spending money like Lottery winners. (And it’s a sobering thought that we’d only owe £80 million and not £110 million if we’d never signed Dyer.)
Meanwhile Sullivan seems to be backtracking. He’s told Radio 5
the pay-cut plea was merely a way of focusing attention on the need to cut costs. "If we can cut our salaries by 25%, that would solve our problems. But it's not something that you are actually going to go out and do."
Zola has said David Sullivan’s Radio 5 musings about a 25 per cent pay cut for the players was badly timed. Yesterday Sullivan’s comments were all over the likes of the Sun and Daily Mail warning us that the club face "Armageddon" if relegated.
Zola responded: "It would have been better to maybe talk to us before talking to a newspaper.” For Nice Guy Zola this is unprecedented and indicates relationships are already strained.
Zola won't like Sullivan ruminating in print about whether his manager is "too nice" or possibly the next Ossie Ardiles. It's a fair question to ask in private or after the manager's gone, but there's little point in doing it now.
The players aren’t going to be happy either hearing about possible pay cuts and Zola and Clarke must also be annoyed to hear all the comments about their salaries being too high in the press. It’s probably true, but not their fault if the Icelanders were spending money like Lottery winners. (And it’s a sobering thought that we’d only owe £80 million and not £110 million if we’d never signed Dyer.)
Meanwhile Sullivan seems to be backtracking. He’s told Radio 5
the pay-cut plea was merely a way of focusing attention on the need to cut costs. "If we can cut our salaries by 25%, that would solve our problems. But it's not something that you are actually going to go out and do."
Tuesday, January 19
We're not Brassic anymore?
Finally we have a new owner. The Sullivan/Gold deal of buying 50 per cent of the club was probably the best offer on the table.
They were the only bidders with any experience of running a Premier League club and they did a decent job at Birmingham. The City fans might have complained, but when they arrived Birmingham was a poor Championship club with a rubbish ground. They now have a new stadium and for most of Sullivan’s time they’ve been in the Premiership.
They’ve also shown loyalty to their four managers, Barry Fry, Trevor Francis, Steve Bruce and Alex McCleish. This makes sense from a business and ethical perspective. And it appears they want to keep Zola and Clarke, which is good news, although Franco has yet to be tested in the transfer market.
Sullivan and Gold have twice owned shares in West Ham so it seems that as East Enders they do have an attachment to the club. Perhaps Sullivan’s indulging in a bit of clever PR talking up the debt to £110 million and saying he’d have been mad to take on the Irons from a business perspective, but as Londoners and apparent fans — and Gold is a former West Ham youth player — they are surely unlikely to asset strip us or inflict Glazer-style debt on us.
Even if he did make his money in razzle mags, Sullivan is a shrewd businessman. He’s already mentioned the idiocy of taking Ljungberg on 30k a week at Arsenal and then paying him 80k a week, which is the sort of straight talking we need. Presumably he will also get rid of Nani — a good thing based on the evidence of Savio — and ask Zola to select his own players.
The idea of moving to the Olympic stadium and competing with Arsenal has to make economic sense (and for the benefit of DC and the north London Irons it’s on the Silverlink). It would be painful to leave Upton Park, but can we ignore such a prime venue? We would have to relocate Ken’s Café though, and that is not negotiable.
Karren Brady will be vice-chairman and you would expect her to sort out the financial mess. She was certainly ahead of her time at Birmingham, introducing kids for a quid and some sound marketing ideas before they were fashionable. And we might get on The Apprentice.
The plan to invite investment in the other 50 per cent of WHU from the like of Tony Fernandes and other rich fans is, on the face of it, a progressive idea.
The downside of Sullivan and Gold is that it’s not exactly going to enhance our feminist credibility being run by the one-time publisher of the Sunday Sport and Asian Babes, but in this era we’re unlikely to get an owner without baggage. Man City had a geezer on human rights charges and businessmen running airlines and oil companies are doing more harm to the environment than Sullivan and Gold (who have after all encouraged men to, erm, make their own entertainment at home). And traditionally the East End has always housed the dirtier industries of the capital.
It’s also a problem that Sullivan might have loads of dosh but why does he wear that Russian-style overcoat with the dodgy red trimmings?
It might go horribly wrong of course. But surely nothing can be worse than the meltdown of the Gudmundsson era. We can now keep our players, buy a couple more, and look forward to Sullivan’s seven-year plan of Champions League football. Mind you, Gudmundsson promised that too…
They were the only bidders with any experience of running a Premier League club and they did a decent job at Birmingham. The City fans might have complained, but when they arrived Birmingham was a poor Championship club with a rubbish ground. They now have a new stadium and for most of Sullivan’s time they’ve been in the Premiership.
They’ve also shown loyalty to their four managers, Barry Fry, Trevor Francis, Steve Bruce and Alex McCleish. This makes sense from a business and ethical perspective. And it appears they want to keep Zola and Clarke, which is good news, although Franco has yet to be tested in the transfer market.
Sullivan and Gold have twice owned shares in West Ham so it seems that as East Enders they do have an attachment to the club. Perhaps Sullivan’s indulging in a bit of clever PR talking up the debt to £110 million and saying he’d have been mad to take on the Irons from a business perspective, but as Londoners and apparent fans — and Gold is a former West Ham youth player — they are surely unlikely to asset strip us or inflict Glazer-style debt on us.
Even if he did make his money in razzle mags, Sullivan is a shrewd businessman. He’s already mentioned the idiocy of taking Ljungberg on 30k a week at Arsenal and then paying him 80k a week, which is the sort of straight talking we need. Presumably he will also get rid of Nani — a good thing based on the evidence of Savio — and ask Zola to select his own players.
The idea of moving to the Olympic stadium and competing with Arsenal has to make economic sense (and for the benefit of DC and the north London Irons it’s on the Silverlink). It would be painful to leave Upton Park, but can we ignore such a prime venue? We would have to relocate Ken’s Café though, and that is not negotiable.
Karren Brady will be vice-chairman and you would expect her to sort out the financial mess. She was certainly ahead of her time at Birmingham, introducing kids for a quid and some sound marketing ideas before they were fashionable. And we might get on The Apprentice.
The plan to invite investment in the other 50 per cent of WHU from the like of Tony Fernandes and other rich fans is, on the face of it, a progressive idea.
The downside of Sullivan and Gold is that it’s not exactly going to enhance our feminist credibility being run by the one-time publisher of the Sunday Sport and Asian Babes, but in this era we’re unlikely to get an owner without baggage. Man City had a geezer on human rights charges and businessmen running airlines and oil companies are doing more harm to the environment than Sullivan and Gold (who have after all encouraged men to, erm, make their own entertainment at home). And traditionally the East End has always housed the dirtier industries of the capital.
It’s also a problem that Sullivan might have loads of dosh but why does he wear that Russian-style overcoat with the dodgy red trimmings?
It might go horribly wrong of course. But surely nothing can be worse than the meltdown of the Gudmundsson era. We can now keep our players, buy a couple more, and look forward to Sullivan’s seven-year plan of Champions League football. Mind you, Gudmundsson promised that too…
Friday, December 11
Come on down…
So David Sullivan and David Gold have bid £40 million for the club or they can do a deal on a 50 per cent stake in West Ham plus guaranteed player investment. CB Holdings may well turn it down, but we can't be too picky about our suitors. The pair didn't do a bad job at Birmingham, rebuilding the stadium and staying mainly in the Premier League, and they presumably come with Karren Brady who might at least sort out the finances a little and get West Ham mentioned on The Apprentice.
The pair might go up to say £50 million, but you sense their valuation is about right, with West Ham having £40 million debts and owing £30 million in transfer fees and Tevezgate money.
And as the publisher of the Sunday Sport famed for headlines like "World War Two Bomber Found on the Moon" Sullivan should at least be prepared for the surreal goings on at Planet West Ham.
The pair might go up to say £50 million, but you sense their valuation is about right, with West Ham having £40 million debts and owing £30 million in transfer fees and Tevezgate money.
And as the publisher of the Sunday Sport famed for headlines like "World War Two Bomber Found on the Moon" Sullivan should at least be prepared for the surreal goings on at Planet West Ham.
Tuesday, October 6
Only Fools and Horses
Today's Mirror claims David Sullivan wants to buy us for a knock-down price as we owe "£45m to several different banks", "£19m to Sheffield United" and "£15m to other clubs" after signing players, and "the Hammers are also running at a loss of £20m this year after recording an operating loss of £33.6m for the financial year ending May 2008".
On the plus side we'd get Karren Brady, star of The Apprentice, and Sullivan does have a Chigwelll gaff with statues on the lawn, columns and thick carpets. And an endless supply of Daily Sport lovelies to keep Frank McAvennie happy...
On the plus side we'd get Karren Brady, star of The Apprentice, and Sullivan does have a Chigwelll gaff with statues on the lawn, columns and thick carpets. And an endless supply of Daily Sport lovelies to keep Frank McAvennie happy...
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