West Ham board leak transfer speculation to sell more season tickets! This is a theory that keeps cropping up and is a myth I would like to dispel.
Conspiracy theories are rife throughout history, Elvis is alive, George Bush was behind 911, Area 51 exists, Diana’s death was ordered by Prince Phillip, the Moon landing was staged, Tupac faked his own death, Climate Change isn’t real, the list goes on and I usually don’t pay attention to a theory that isn’t supported by factual evidence. That said the theory that the West Ham board spread transfer rumours to sell more season tickets is one of particular interest to me for the most part because it is detrimental to a football club that I am passionate about and detrimental to two people who saved my beloved club from very dark times indeed.
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Unfortunately I will not win the hearts and minds of people who want to believe conspiracy theories. The very fact they believe in this kind of theory shows by nature they are not open to reason, haven’t formed this opinion based on factual evidence and anything I write in this article will not change their opinions.
Faith healers, Tarot card readers, star signs etc are all a complete load b*llocks but there is a market for them because if people want to believe something then they will. The same goes for conspiracy theories, if you want to believe something you will. When tarot card readers and mediums starts advising governments, banks and CEO’s of corporate giants like Apple etc that’s the
day I will start to believe in them
I supported West Ham in the Championship, I will support West Ham in the Premiership, and I would support West Ham in Division 3. WHUTID. I want success but I support my team when we are not successful and when we play Chelsea I sing loudly “where were you when you were sh*t?” because I know when we are sh*it I am there supporting my club, I am not hiding in the woodwork waiting to crawl out and buy tickets when a Sheik or an Oligarch takes West Ham and signs a multi-million pound team full of billy big b*llocks players.
Here are a just some of the many tweets I have seen which has prompted me to write about this ridiculous theory that SuGo spread rumours to sell season tickets.
@Anonymous- @DavidGoldWHU yet again pre season promises no deliveries. Let’s get the season ticket money then let them rot
@anonymous – So Tevez and Caroll never going to happen…. Thoughts?
@anonymous – @anonymous It was made to make us all buy season tickets
@anonymous @DavidGoldWHU same old WHUFC all talk about new players to sell season tickets. Believe it when we see it this record breaking transfer.
@anonymous – I think all these rumours of big name signings joining WH is the usual dribble by Sullivan in order to sell season tickets
I have invited many who believe in the theory to contribute to this article, disappointingly no-one accepted my offer. In fact the same people did reply “yes” when I questioned if they had a season ticket last year and I can’t remember West Ham signing any elite players last year? So they same people who followed West Ham in the Championship believe they are being fitted up with the promise of big names to be blackmailed into watching West Ham in the Premiership?
Here is what I believe – SuGo are self made, intelligent business men who have made fortunes by daring to be brave, I believe they do target players that people may think beyond our reach however fortune favours the brave and they did manage to sign Christophe Dugarry for Birmingham City so the seemingly impossible is not impossible if you dare to dream.
We all know Andy Carroll’s and Liverpool are not a marriage made in heaven. SuGo didn’t weigh in with a multi-million pound cash upfront deal however they did try to take advantage of the situation with a bid that was structured so it wouldn’t cripple our precarious financial situation.
David Sullivan has admitted (after the last January transfer window closed which wouldn’t have impacted ticket sales) that he did try cheeky loans for Fernando Torres & Carlos Tevez. Both Torres and Tevez club situations were desperate and there was a thousand to one chance West Ham might have been able to capitalise on their circumstances. Yes it was farfetched and unlikely but not impossible so why not try when you have nothing to lose?
My question is this – under normal circumstances West Ham United cannot compete with Man City and Chelski for elite players so why not try to take advantage when an elite player ‘may’ be available for loan or on the cheap? It is a strategy of punching above our weight and I think our current owners should be applauded for being so bold.
Elite players and successful teams sell more tickets, that is a fact. Rumours do not sell more season tickets, that is also a fact.
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Who in their right mind would buy a season ticket based on the pretence that a big player might join West Ham? If there is anybody out there who only supports West Ham because we might sign Andy Carroll or Tevez then I am sorry but they are “plastic fans” and I would worry about their sanity, reasoning and judgement.
If the team is more successful I might be inclined to attend more games, if the board sign Tevez I would be inclined to go to more games, if there are rumours that West Ham might sign elite players this does not affect my decision to buy a season ticket, the rumour just serves to incite my anticipation, hope and expectations for the new season. I do not make decisions based on speculations from Journalists and ITK’s, I am certain no one else does either.
Let’s look at the alleged promises from the Board…..
1. David Gold has said on record SuGo and Sam Allardyce are working hard to improve the squad.
2. Jack Sullivan has tweeted two key statements, “Dad is working on the biggest signing, twice as big as anything before.” Also Jack replied when asked if he believes we will break our transfer record this window “YES.”
It doesn’t take a genius to work out the signing Jack was talking about was Andy Carroll and it doesn’t take a genius to work out that the Carroll signing would have been affordable with an initial loan payment and fixed transfer fee based on us staying in the prem with payments spread over 4 years. At no point has David Sullivan, David Gold or Jack Sullivan said we are going to go out and spend big. At no point have they named targets.
The evidence is there if you trawl through DG’s twitter timeline or read their interviews, no names have been released by the board, no promise of huge marquee signings has been made.
If anything Jack may have been a little over-excited by the prospect of Carroll and as West Ham fans we should be grateful that he let us know his dad was working to secure “a huge deal” I repeat though Jack didn’t name the player we were targeting which we now know to be Andy Carroll. BFS has confirmed we couldn’t convince him to come. Liverpool did accept our offer which proves it wasn’t pie in the sky nonsense and there was a genuine situation we may have been able to benefit from.
Here’s another tweet I would like to quote whilst debating the issue of the board spreading rumours to sell season tickets. “@anonymous My interest in West Ham supersedes the playing style & individuals. The soul of the club is the fans.” I love that tweet because it is the epitome of what I believe West Ham fans are, we love our club (although this love is sometimes severely put to the test), we live and breathe West Ham. If we were only interested in following a club with marquee signings we would all be following Man Utd (sorry for suggesting something so grotesque).
If there are people out there who would buy a season ticket based on a rumour then real West Ham fans should be rubbing our hands and welcome these fools money into our coffers. The fact is no-one buys a season ticket based on a transfer rumour, David Gold, Jack and David Sullivan have not promised anything, Jack merely suggested his Dad was working on something huge.
Seriously even if there were a few fools who bought a ST based on transfer rumours how many of them could there possibly be, 10, 50, 100? Certainly not enough to warrant an active marketing stragety from the board as the increased revenue from 100 idiots wouldn’t significantly impact our overall turnover. There isn’t an army of fans waiting in the wings to support West Ham just because we might sign Tevez.
Who do you choose to believe, ITK’s seeking fame and attention, journalists writing stories to sell more papers? The very fact Heat Magazine is such a popular title is testament to society’s hunger for rumour and gossip. I read the BBC football gossip column every day. Whilst we should all enjoy the excitement of rumour and gossip let’s keep in touch with the reality and remember the facts.
The facts are the SuGo have promised nothing other than to do their best for the club, if the transfer rumours spread by ITK’s and Journo’s were right we would have assembled a squad worthy of a top four finish by now.
Theory that the board spread rumours to sell more season tickets is just pure anti-establishmentarianism. If anyone can provide substance to this theory please comment below. I mean real substance not the same old comments like “They done it every year at Birmingham” which have no substance and only serve to fuel the conspiracy theory. Please show me one genuine quote SuGo where they have promised to sign elite players for West Ham or Birmingham.
Is anyone really only going to buy a season ticket based on a transfer rumour, if so then please believe this rumour – West Ham are going to sign Messi, and Ronaldo now please quickly deposit your funds into our clubs account and thank you for your contribution (sucker).
SuGo get a lot of unfair criticism from a minority of West Ham Fans, You may not share my appreciation of the current board but anyone is going to give them a hard time it should be based on fact not rumour.
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The fact is no-one is foolish enough to buy a season ticket based on a rumour, you either love west Ham or you don’t, the lure of the premiership and watching Elite players don the claret & blue shirt might be enough incentive for you to find a reason to buy a season ticket when times are hard but a rumour does not influence any sane persons decision.
West Ham is a unique club with a unique set of fans, we do not choose to support our club for the glory, we support West Ham for the love and heritage of the club, it is passed on through generations.
If you are a casual fan of football and you want to watch elite players there are several easily accessible alternative clubs in London that are better suited to meet your criteria for buying a season ticket and if your only reasoning for buying a season ticket is to watch elite players like Carlos Tevez, Andy Carroll, Neymar etc then I suggest West Ham really are not the right team for you.
My children will be introduced to West Ham as I was and they will end up supporting The Hammers out of genuine love not for playground bragging rights.
I want to stand in our stadium side by side with the genuine fans of West Ham, not fans of marquee signings.
Thanks for reading, follow me on twitter @JayHannen
WHUTID
We are west ham win lose or draw we are still west ham…. I had a season Tkt last year and I would of bought one if we got relegated… Carroll tevez messi Ronaldo wouldn’t change that… Irons
I don’t want to piss on your marigolds but Area 51 does actually exist just not in the way that the conspiracy nutters think.
You could be right but I wouldn’t put my house on it.
Governments, businesses and the Police have been consulting Astrologers and Psychics for decades already! The reason why such practitioners get a bad name is that the are so many rip-off merchants giving crap advice. They’re like cowboy tradesmen – and there’s nothing to stop these people from trading, unfortunately, There are a lot of great ‘readers’ giving valuable info out there.
I respectfully disagree, Derren Brown has show the cold reading techniques used by Psychics etc
What a great blog well done
Im west ham through and through and this article is awesome! All those “plastic” fans should do 1 and let Sugo get on with it!! Funny how no-one passed their judgement went we went in to sign moshni from Southend( who I happen to think would be a great signing) as for west jam not signing elite players guys, think back a few years when the so called elite players did come, futre, dani and radicoiu!!! Wat a success they were!!! So sugo if you are reading this keep doing what your doing, one more thing I’ve just seen Leo messi driving out of chadwell Heath!!
Jack/David Sullivan’s tweet about Caroll only served to make the club look foolish. It didn’t take an insider to tell you that he wasn’t interested weeks before ‘Dad started working hard on the transfer’. Maybe they should have talked to Sam, they share the same agent! As for the policy of hyping transfers, I don’t know of a club that releases so much PR of how ‘hard’ they are working on big signings. Fans frankly don’t care especially when most know when it’s a fools errand.
Spot on blog.
Who listens or takes notice of the insider rumours -the people who spread these really do know nothing. We emailed one with a top story and he went on and spread a rumour based on a top source. Pathetic.
SuGo keep it up we the real fans know you are doing a great job – COYI
Here here! Spot on! COYI!!
I completely agree with everything that you have said, however the only thing that I find wrong with how they go about this is that they reveal the wages and transfer fee that they are trying to secure the player with, only weeks after Sullivan said that paying over the top for player were over; the club publicly claims that we are willing to pay Carroll 100k per week. Think of what message this sends out potential new players and their agents, they now realise that this type of wage is available and we will find ourselves in the same precarious position of paying obscene wages to players that don’t deserve them. Also the Carroll saga had a very worrying theme that underpinned the whole ordeal, BFS and Nolan were both adamant that with the arrival of Carroll the club would secure respectable finishes. What message does this send to the other members of the squad? Without Carroll you will get relegated? You are all incapable of finishing higher in the league without the footballing genius that is Andy Carroll? I found this to be a very poor move from both our Captain and Manager. However big players coming in or out of the club has no influence as to weather I renew or not, my heart will forever be with West Ham United. As you do very well put WHUTID.
Interesting counter points on the Carroll saga, thanks for reading
Have supported the Irons, home and away , for 60 years ,most as a double season ticket holder. There is no doubt that all this speculation is promoted by the Dildo twins. Carrol , Tevez and co …. rubbish . We haven’t got the money and they won’t come . Live in your little cocoon and ignore the facts …cospiracy theories based on hard evidence should not be ignored . It happens every transfer window at The Boleyn and mostly we get has beens or never beens looking for a pay off .
Please tell me what the facts are to support your claims bubbles. where is the hard evidence to support that the ‘dildo twins’ promote transfer speculations.
Every interview I have read they only talk about a deal when its ever Dead or confirmed.
An interesting blogg but you ignore the fact that all publicity has a gradual soaking in effect. We have so much advertising thrust at us that we rarely buy anything on first sight. It takes continual reminders and seeing WH a speculative transfer story won’t make you sign up for a season ticket on its own but, it will give you a comforting feeling and remind you that you were going to send in your cheque or pick up the phone etc.
I respectfully disagree, I renewed my season ticket when we had Marlon Harewood up front and no amount of speculation about ‘Big’ players would change that.
Every club in the Premier league is subject to speculation and rumour why are we so special that in our case it is to sell tickets
Jesus. A 2000 word article to make a two- paragraph point.
We get what you’re saying. You don’t have to make the same point 15 or 20 times.
Sullivan and Gold are tits. Very successful tits but still tits. Well done, your bid was accepted and you got the chance to ‘save the club’ as you keep telling us.
I think even if a man saved my life, I would soon get pissed off if he kept phoning me to remind me how he saved my life.
Sullivan and Gold have been very successful with the philosophy that no publicity is bad publicity. Personally I don’t like that. If they are trying to pull off 1 in a 1000 chance loan deals for ‘elite’ players, fair enough. But I’d rather wake up one day to hear about the deal they pulled off than keep hearing about the deals they are trying to pull off.
Thank you for your feedback
Great article that i agree with 100%. Much better than some of your other articles (no offence) this one was actually worth reading.
Thanks, I only have one other article which was on Sam Baldock, I assume you are talking about that one? This is my second article.
Thanks for reading.
Really good article. I have this argument with my mate, who supports Man Utd, that I support West Ham because of my love and passion for the club, which has been with me for as long as I can remember. I never consciously decided to support West Ham, I just did because that was who my late father supported and my brother.
People who support clubs because “they win all the time” or “they wear my favourite colour shirt” are not football fans.
My little boy is just two and half years old. I will not force him to support West Ham, but he probably will because he has a natural affiliation for the club because his dad supports them, like I did with my dad.
Im sure he will grow up to support the hammers and you will go father and son which is a great way to appreciate football.