Fly me to the moon with your rocket man! Published 09/04/18 on Irons United

If this season has taught the West Ham faithful anything, it is that the masters above vaulted ceilings must do a much better job of keeping the masses fat and content…for they have been starved of glory and victory in far too many encounters.

“There is no better than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance the next time.” – Malcolm X

All people live with the consequences of their decisions and mistakes are unavoidable, but a failure to learn from those errors is unacceptable and juvenile. West Ham have been the teenagers invited to sit down at the table with the three wise men of football, but instead chose to pick their zits, play with their peckers and be entranced by the latest GIF on their phones. They have totally missed the point of their position in the Premier League and have failed to recognise any solutions to the malaise that has infected the club for the last two seasons.

The transition into the London Stadium was always going to be a testy affair. The owners sold Upton Park and made many promises…whether they would readily admit to it or not, which they have not been able to fulfil. However the underinvestment in the squad and the failure to recognise struggling managers who have not been fully supported…has been the root of a poorly performing team. So what is the solution and why has it taken so long for it to be recognised?

The solution is stability, investment in youth and in new talent and to fully support a manager who demonstrates ambition in every game without relinquishing defensive fortitude with adolescent naivety. This summer will be the fiercest test for the board who are now living on borrowed time with a fanbase that has already run out of patience with all aspects of club policy. They yearn for justifications, they demand remedies and they want the squad to represent the ambitions of both board and fans.

The board have been given a temporary stay of execution whilst all minds focus upon urging the team to secure enough points to survive in the league, however every fan is primed to launch into protest once more as soon as the job is done, but especially if quantum shifts are not witnessed in the coming weeks to set the club back on track.

An ever increasing percentage of the fanbase would have nothing more to do with the likes of David Sullivan, David Gold or Karren Brady…would have them ousted with a rampaging mob hurling rotten tomatoes, wielding flamed torches and holding aloft sharpened pitch forks, however even if a tycoon were to parachute in to appease the fan’s frustrations…their only remedies would be to invest in the squad and not fix all other issues surrounding the move. If only that were possible, if only this was a fairytale and a knight in shining armour would could to the rescue…but there is no such fanciful hero and the owners shall not be moved.

Whilst the spiritual raise arms aloft and pray to the stars, there are those who would have purpose…to fuel themselves with vim and vigour and to launch the team and the club onto higher plains. The fans now look to the likes of Mark Noble…to be the general and command his troops in the field of battle, to Moyes to be the command in chief who will play politics and tactics in the same game…and look to the Hollywood heroes like Arnautovic to walk away from nuclear explosions holding the big bag of gold.

The game against Chelsea was another marker of where the season fell away and where it could be rescued. There was drive and purpose in certain quarters but fragility in others! If fortunes are to be turned around for this season and build on for the next, then the club must identify the positives and progress from there…at the same time not be so accepting of the negatives too.

With most fans waiting with bated breath to see how the season ends, they are also anticipating much work in the summer…and the first order of business must be to restructure behind the scenes…one task which they have already failed in.

The transfer policy and deal making system was identified by the club as being flawed, albeit that fans had recognised this for years. A director of football has been touted as the solution to this mess, however the club have not acted quickly enough to gainfully employ the services of someone with the right stuff. The fandom is not after a rocket scientist or an astronaut to fashion an oxygen generator out of some toilet roll and a hair clip on some ill fated Apollo mission…they are after somebody with a credible football track record and brain who can organise the backroom and the transfer system so that it functions at all levels.

The board could be pressured to spend a lot of money in all of the wrong places if they were so inclined, however true strength within a club comes from its foundations…and West Ham are in dire need of rebuilding theirs and it must be done by the start of the summer transfer window. Unless this is in place and a decision is made upon Moyes’ future soon, then this can only mean more woes for the fans come next season…whichever league the game is played in.

The club need only look to other teams and their systems to see which work and which doesn’t, but they also need to invest in the manager and the squad. The task ahead is huge and not one for wilting daisies. It requires a singular vision, a drive to action things quickly and a methodology that is tried and tested. The fans need a rocket man to fire the club into space and I want to be flown to the moon and leave the woes of West Ham terrestrial life behind…for good!