For West Ham silence may well be golden
David Gold and David Sullivan have never been ones to shun the limelight. During their time as owners of Birmingham City the duo enjoyed a turbulent relationship with fans, as the club yo-yoed between leagues. After leaving Birmingham Gold and Sullivan took over West Ham United and immediately voiced their opinions on the club and players. Throughout the summer there has almost been a constant stream of rhetoric with regard to recruiting players, and often it is Gold or Sullivan doing the talking instead of manager Avram Grant. As the clubs owners the pair have the right to do what they want within their club, but they might be advised to take more of a back seat in the future and let the manager do the talking. Fans, players and the manager can get frustrated by their frequent opinion giving which could lead to discontent at Upton Park.
As soon as Gold and Sullivan took over West Ham United, they began voicing their outspoken opinions on what the club was doing wrong. After first giving assurances that Gianfranco Zola’s job was safe, it quickly became apparent that the Italian was a dead man walking. Following a 1-3 home defeat in March by then relegation rivals Wolves, David Sullivan launched a furious verbal attack on the manager and the players.
In an open letter to fans published on the club’s website, Sullivan stated “Nobody at the club should delude themselves that we are a good team. The table does not lie.”
Sullivan and Gold’s criticism of the team continued, and provoked a public rebuke from Luis Boa Morte who told BBC Sport “Mr Sullivan should have a bit more composure when he talks to the press to hammer the players. It’s not helping anyone. The fact that you have money doesn’t mean you can say do whatever you want.”
The problem with such criticism from the owners is that it can evoke a backlash from players, the manager and the fans. If it had not been so obvious that Zola would not be at West Ham for the next season, more players may have signalled their displeasure at the owners’ remarks.
With a new manager at the club, Gold and Sullivan have now turned their attention to speculating publicly over transfer targets. During the summer David Gold spoke of his desire to bring David Beckham and Juan Roman Riquelme to Upton Park. However it has emerged that Beckham has had no contact with West Ham and intends to continue playing for LA Galaxy this season. Juan Roman Riquelme meanwhile, has recently signed a contract with Argentine side Boca Juniors. With much of Gold and Sullivan’s speculation turning out to be just that, the better option may be for them to hold their tongues and let the manager get on with the job in hand. A player transfer should be solely the manager’s choice, and Avram Grant would be better left alone to make deals in the summer market and go about signing players the way he wants to. David Gold and David Sullivan have the right to voice their opinions, there is no question over that, but they might just experience greater success during their time at West Ham if they are just that little bit more publicity shy.
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With the PL season nearly upon us, let’s see the WAGS that will be keeping the players on their toes. Click on image to VIEW gallery
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couldn’t agree more. i’m fed up with the chairmans statements, everything they come out with seems to leave them with egg on their face! they should get on with their job quietly. let results do the talking. if they keep on talking about speculation and not delivering then we’ll all start ignoring what they have to say anyway.
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Your point certainly applied to the Zola regime, but thus far they seem to have given Grant a healthy dose of respect in terms of reducing their usual over-bearing media presence. That, as well as the signings made this summer, have given us a lot to look forward to. However, how they deal with the impending Scott Parker issue may well be critical…..
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Funny how Sullivan can unsettle other players, such as Dorrans at WBA, when you never even had a manager. Yet Spurs put a legitimate bid in for Parker and he gets the hump. What an odious little hypocrite!
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How can the Spurs bid be a legitimate one while the Dorrans ones be illegitimate. Certainly Hypocrisy here but hardly limited to Sullivan it seems.
This article certainly seems to be 6 months out of date while I am not sure how a manager like rentamouth Redknapp offering opinions on anything and everything most of which has nothing to do with him whatsoever, is in any way more informed than Sullivan doing so. Especially as the level of common sense involved on either side is hardly convincing.
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I think it’s still relevant. Gold and Sullivan have been talking about transfer targets all summer and they might be better off not doing so.
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