Will the real West Ham United please stand up?
It has been a strange season for English football as a whole thus far. In reality, the calendar year 2010 hasn't brought forward any spectacular triumphs for England in sporting terms. The most successful football team in England, Liverpool F.C are already
facing a battle for their survival in the Premier League. As if this wasn’t enough, the dominant power in the League over the past two decades, Manchester United also seem to be on a decline and finally, the English national team also failed to impress at
the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
Not as glorious or marketable as Manchester United and certainly not as successful as Liverpool over the past fifty years, West Ham United are another English club which is on the course to become the next “Leeds United”. West Ham United are one of the marquee
names of English football no doubt. In the past, the club has had legends like Bobby Moore playing at the hallowed turf at Upton Park but recently all of that history has gone to waste.
In 2009-2010 season, West Ham’s quick decline caught pace under their manager, Gianfranco Zola. For most part of that season, they looked like a club side which was destined for relegation to the lower division of English football. However, the club managed
to cling onto a Premier League spot for the 2010-2011 season after a resurgent run of form following the month of April.
Due to their wasteful performances in 2009-2010 season, the club finished just a single place above the relegation zone at the 17th spot. In the summer of 2010, Zola was dismissed from his post as the club’s first team manager and the Italian
was replaced by the ex-Chelsea manager, Avram Grant. Despite the talk of several big transfers in the summer transfer window, West Ham didn’t do much business then.
The Hammers bought cautiously as their main signings included Thomas Hitzlsperger from the Italian club, Lazio and Pablo Barrera from the Mexican club, UNAM. It was thought that under their new manager, Avram Grant, West Ham would improve on their 17th
place finish in the 2010-2011 season. But, ever since the start of the new season, it seems as if the faces have changed at West Ham but the performances are still the same. Out of their nine league games so far this season, West Ham have won only a single
one, drawn three and lost five. Such record is sure to be the main cause of their downfall in the English Premier League.
There was a time when Upton Park was a fortress of a stadium where Hammers were at their best. West Ham’s fans were recognized as one of the loudest in the league but gradually as their team stooped to mediocre levels, the fans have apparently lost their
voices. At the weekend, West Ham United lost to Newcastle United by two goals to nil. At the final whistle, West Ham players were booed and jeered off the pitch by their own fans who were frustrated at the lack of quality in their club’s squad.
West Ham never bought big name players but they always had a steady supply of young talent from their youth academy- an institution which gave rise to footballers such as Michael Carrick, Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard and Joe Cole- but now there are seldom
any young names coming through the ranks at West Ham United. Not only that, their used to be a time when West Ham was a beacon of managerial stability but with recent news that Avram Grant is set to lose his job, West Ham are on the course to appoint their
seventh manager in less than ten years.
In all honesty, the club has definitely lost its identity as being one of the proudest English clubs around. It has lost the vigour and determination that made it a favourite in the English Premier League for most neutral viewers of the game. A change in
management might help West Ham in rectifying some flaws in the current setup at the club but in essence, a change in mentality is needed to truly kick start the Hammers' league campaign.
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