Last August, I could not wait for the season to start. Granted, we were in the Npower Championship, but optimism had never been higher. The summer had seen us bring in an extremely experiened manager, some fantastic signings and with this came talk of winning the league in the same style that Newcastle United had done just a few years before. Looking back, we can chuckle at the fact this blind optimism lasted just 89 minutes until we received a reality check when Kenny Miller stuck a late winner for Cardiff City on the opening day. We returned to planet Earth, where our club would never do things the easy way, and instead of cruising to the Championship title, we hovered in and out of the automatic promotion places for the entire season. But this optimism at the start of a season is fantastic, and I thought I would never be more optimistic for the start of last season.
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I was, in fact, wrong. With a return to the Premier League, I truly believe that we have turned the corner on our terrible recent history. A year ago, 5000 of us sat in dismay, as Charles N’Zogbia scored a winner on the final day of the season, condemning us to the Championship, keeping Wigan up in the process. I could only see us heading in one direction. But, the transformation our club has made in the last twelve months is incredible. We have almost deleted the legacy that Magnusson left us with by clearing out the distinctly average players on our books earning ridiculous wages. The club no longer make unheard and unproved players our record signings. Our club’s finances are now well managed and spent effectively, with the fans interests taken into consideration. I sense there is a lot of optimism among the fans this year, and although we need to proceed with caution, I think we have the right to be hopeful of a good season. I have listed below the 3 reasons why I believe that we will survive next season, and achieve a respectable position in around 12-15th place:
1) Sam Allardyce. He has his critics, there’s no getting away from that. I’ll be the first to admit that I have criticised him on a number of occassions. Not at the style of football we were playing, but the way in which we were using this style of football. Away from home, our style of football was absolutely perfect. You can afford to play on the break, and employ the long ball away from home, because the home side are expected to take the game to you. At home, the story is completely different. Playing the long ball at home against Doncaster is simply not going to work. Its even more ridiculous when these tactics bypass using the best centre midfielders in the league who would be expected to dominate the middle of the park if utilised effectively. But in the Premier League, the tactics should prove to yield results. Our defence is the most organised I’ve ever seen it, and we seem to grind out wins on average performances. Allardyce has been there and done it, and has a fantastic record in the Premier League, and I have total faith he can keep us up.
2) The spine of our team. Many teams have to completely update their squad on promotion to the top flight. This is somethng we definitely do not need to do. We haven’t been able to retain the services of Robert Green but we now have Jussi Jaaskelainen waiting in the wings. We have a very exciting and underrated centre back in James Tomkins, and I believe he will make the step up to the division that he looked a little vulnerable in two seasons ago. In our midfield we have an abundance of experience in Mark Noble, Kevin Nolan and Gary O’Neil who proved dependable and consistent. I get the feeling Jack Collison needs to up his game next year, but I think he will with a good pre-season to get him back to the level of fitness he had before his injury. And in Carlton Cole, we have a striker, who at times is frustrating and does not get enough goals, but is effective, and can deal with the physicality that the division brings. Many top flight teams would kill to have a spine of the team like that, so we are in good stead going into next season.
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3) Our transfer policy. The theme of our signings in the last twelve months is experience. The signings of Abdoulaye Faye, George McCartney, Nolan among others proved very effective. Allardyce has a nack of signing players at a great value price. £4million for Nolan is a steal, under 500k for Ricardo Vaz Te, and soon to be a free transfer for George McCartney represents good value for money, and it’s clear that we now carry out our business in a much more effective manner than a few years back. For example, we spent £6million on Julien Faubert, £6million for Dyer, £4million for Barrera (all of whom were earning ridiculously high wages). And lets not forget our record £9million signing, Savio. There will be none of that this season. Talk of Yakubu and Louis Saha for next to nothing is promising. We need wingers, and its clear we are acting with talk of signing Ahmed Elmohamady, and although we may be priced out of Victor Moses and Matt Jarvis, these are definitely options too. With the backing of the board, and a reported £20million cash injection to fund summer signings, we can look forward to exciting pre-season in the transfer market. Who knows, maybe we can even persuade Joe Cole to come home. We can dream, can’t we?
These are arguably the three most important factors in creating a stable, successful club, and I think in the last year, we have seen to all three of them. With an experienced manager, a solid spine to our team, and an effective, well financed transfer policy, we are in a good position. We can’t expect miracles next season, but a respectable finish and a small cup run would mean a successful season from which we can kick on. Its exciting times to be a West Ham fan right now, and I speak on behalf of every fan when I say we already can’t wait for next season to begin.
Written by Tom Kilbey
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Reckon we need Jaskelinan and a striker