Board/Fan Relationship

horshamhammer

Is at a historic low at the moment in my opinion. Journo's starting to get critical too...

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/good-luck-working-for-the-west-ham-united-hierarchy-rpdgrfdkf?shareToken=9c36fa539b732c242efb2759599e9613

How do you feel about our owners at this moment in time? Discuss...

MrsGrey

'starting to get critical'?

grey_til_I_dye

Don't really understand how you come to that conclusion, or what you base it on.

The meejah have been anti us since at least the Tevez saga.

I'm more than happy with what the board have done for us since they came.

SuzanneClaret

I thought the SAB worked well.

The board listened and changes/suggestions requested by fans were made.

MrsGrey

I did follow the link and read the article. But I don't feel very enlightened, tbh.

If I want to read the views of people who are unhappy with the board/owners... I don't really need to venture off this site. ;puzzled

PrestonHammer

Not all journos but some of them have been very critical over the littlest of things and I reckon it started over the Tevez affair, even though we got punished twice. Maybe if we had been relegated things might be different.

Our owners at sometimes haven't helped but I don't think it would matter who owned us, those same journos would still have it in for us.

madridhammer

When they bought us we were in dire financial straits & we could have gone under so for that we should all be grateful.
Having said that,I simply can't stand them. Two grubby little men & a Tory Peer who in my opinion have ripped the heart out of the club. Brady even said something along the lines of how we 'needed to change the culture because when we arrived we couldn't see any culture'. Times change I know,but for many people Nathan's, Ken's Cafe, Queens,Boleyn,East Ham WMC etc etc WAS the culture. I don't get the chance to go very often because of where I live but these days I don't even want to go,at least not to home games.
I find Sullivan's persistent rent-a gob quotes to the press irritating & at times downright embarrassing & whatever Terry Brown was or wasn't at least there was some dignity coming from the boardroom.
If the fans formed F.C United of West Ham or something like it I would switch allegiance tomorrow because it really doesn't feel like my club any more.

Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes

Does anybody still care what newspaper journalists think about anything at all?

grey_til_I_dye

Madrid

Fair enough if that's how you feel, but I cn't see how a random team started by random people is in any shape or form a 'true' West Ham.

SuzanneClaret

Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes said:

Does anybody still care what newspaper journalists think about anything at all?

I don't.... although they do sometimes have the ability to make me very cross.

horshamhammer

madridhammer said:

If the fans formed F.C United of West Ham or something like it I would switch allegiance tomorrow because it really doesn't feel like my club any more.

Not sure I could, but I know where you are coming from and hear it a fair bit from other fans on matchdays.

Agree broadly with the rest of your post though.

madridhammer

grey_til_I_dye said:

Madrid

Fair enough if that's how you feel, but I cn't see how a random team started by random people is in any shape or form a 'true' West Ham.

Point taken Grey but at the moment what we have doesn't feel like a 'true' West Ham either. Don't get me wrong,I'm desperate for us to get out of the bottom 3 just like everyone else & I'm delighted when we win & annoyed when we lose but it just doesn't feel like West Ham any more. A lot of that is because of the new stadium & badge & that comes back to the owners.

claretandbluesky

It may seem a strange thing to say after such a long time but I am still no nearer being decided about our owners from when they first took over. Half of me thinks they are a safe pair of hands that will always have the club itself at the front of their decision making. The other half says they are barrow boys made good and out of their depth in the premiership and will always put their personal business interest before the club. Part of me thinks they have an affiliation with West Ham United and part of me thinks it was just a business opportunity. Part of me says Sully is overseeing managers tendencies to spend other peoples money too freely and the other part says he is a man who always thinks he knows best and cannot step back and let the manager manage. Part of me says they have a long term plan and it is perfectly reasonable to just need accept fans demand for immediate leap into the next level is unrealistic, and part of me says they will never bankroll the club to the extent necessary and just looking to maintain status until they can sell and recoup and profit...... And part of me says we are being sabotaged by the Russians just like the American election, but this is likely irrational as the only evidence I have is Sully's strange hat and coat selection.

SuzanneClaret

The badge has changed many times.

MrsGrey

madridhammer said:

Brady even said something along the lines of how we 'needed to change the culture because when we arrived we couldn't see any culture'.

I always took that to refer to the 'ethos' of how the club was run, rather than culture in the sense of 'high' vs 'low' culture in society as a whole.

(If you see what I'm getting at.)

horshamhammer

MrsGrey said:

I always took that to refer to the 'ethos' of how the club was run, rather than culture in the sense of 'high' vs 'low' culture in society as a whole.

(If you see what I'm getting at.)

To change us into Arsenal, basically.

Pearces_Left_Foot

I think they are decent owners not brilliant but decent. When you look at clubs like Portsmouth / Leeds / Forest / Sunderland etc you can see how far clubs can fall under poor owners. Fernandes at QPR promised the world and delivered Championship football.

grey_til_I_dye

c&b

I remember a club owner (can't remember who) saying that the only way to become a millionaire as a football club owner was to start off as a billionaire.

I've seen nothing to suggest that they are in it for profit.

As to bankrolling the club to the 'extent necessary' - how long is a piece of very long string?

Necessary to do what? Challenge the top 4? They certainly don't have the kind of money to do a Chelsea or a Citeh, but then, neither did Spurs.

Since the 03/04 season their net transfer spend has been £105m, while ours has been £123m.

I'd say they've had better value for money than we have in that time.

In the last 5 seasons our net spend has been £107m.

The owners aren't stinting with the cash.

Expat_Hammer

Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes said:

Does anybody still care what newspaper journalists think about anything at all?

I'm sure that our Outcast does ;biggrin

madridhammer

MrsGrey said:

madridhammer said:

Brady even said something along the lines of how we 'needed to change the culture because when we arrived we couldn't see any culture'.

I always took that to refer to the 'ethos' of how the club was run, rather than culture in the sense of 'high' vs 'low' culture in society as a whole.

(If you see what I'm getting at.)

I do see what you're getting at Mrs Grey & I hadn't thought of it that way,probably because I dislike Brady & everything she stands for. She's a Tory Peer which is the opposite side of the fence to me but worse still she writes for The Sun. When other football clubs are boycotting that awful rag our Vice Chairman writes a column for it,which for me is more ammunition against the current owners.

madridhammer

SuzanneClaret said:

The badge has changed many times.

Indeed it has but I preferred the one with the castle on it,in fact I preferred the one we had until the mid 90s. At least it had the letters F.C on it.

claretandbluesky

I think club managers and owners spend their life in a magnified praise and blame position and so when the club is doing well they get the praise and when it's not they get the blame, I think it's reasonable, and understood by them no doubt. At present the club is in a low, we had a wasted season last year, one that started with huge hopes and this year we are already fearing a relegation scrap, Slav has got the sack and the owners are getting flack and I think it's to be expected. Just as a manager is expected to demonstrate his substance when under attack so also the owners will have to if wanting to emerge with the affection of the fans during this low, this will be demonstrated by how they communicate, how they appoint and how they invest.

There are big questions for us fans also mainly to do with whether our expectations reasonable? My personal expectations would probably be to be a top 10 team who has something to play for during most of the season, be it a cup run or looking to put in a spurt that might get us into Europe in the manner of Slavs first season. I would like us to be able to attract and sign players that get you a little excited whilst accepting we will never get the superstars, to also bring along our own and give them a chance. I would like us to conduct ourselves with a bit of class just as Slav always did so that we actually consider and take responsibility for our club image.

Expectations are personal and I am sure many fans will differ from mine. When using mine as a barometer to assess whether i am happy with the owners or not I cant help end up where I started, since them taking charge I am neither convinced by them one way or the other. I am an optimist however and so retain a hope that nest season will be our season.

grey_til_I_dye

horshamhammer said:

MrsGrey said:

I always took that to refer to the 'ethos' of how the club was run, rather than culture in the sense of 'high' vs 'low' culture in society as a whole.

(If you see what I'm getting at.)

To change us into Arsenal, basically.

Because that would be such a bad thing, I suppose.

Imagine the ignominy of only finishing 4th, and not getting far in the knockout stages of the CL, with just a few paltry FA Cup wins to cheer us.

Horrible. Doesn't bear thinking about.

horshamhammer

It's more the 'cultural' side of it that I dislike about them -

The manner in which the BMF was ditched
The way the Lyall and Greenwood families were treated
The shabby exit of a club legend in Tony Carr
Giving a donation to the Tories etc.

MrsGrey

That donation thing turned out to be not quite what it was thought to be, didn't it?

In that it wasn't a straight-up donation, but a payment for taking a table at some event. A fancy dinner or ball or something.

(if we are talking about the same thing.)

horshamhammer

grey_til_I_dye said:

Because that would be such a bad thing, I suppose.

It would, yes. A soulless, corporate, prawn sandwich club with no identity. Not what we should be looking to emulate.

horshamhammer

MrsGrey said:

That donation thing turned out to be not quite what it was thought to be, didn't it?

In that it wasn't a straight-up donation, but a payment for taking a table at some event. A fancy dinner or ball or something.

(if we are talking about the same thing.)

I think we are, yes.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/05/27/west-hams-12500-donation-to-the-conservative-party-raises-seriou/

Cuz1

I’m ok with the owners ish it’s their cash after all it’s the bits that makes us fans the laughing stock of the others ie jacks Twitter, Brady’s column used to be all about other directors/ owners affairs and transfer dealings in public that build our hopes up and then crash round us, sometimes wonder what is the truth but ay like a lot of us we are born West Ham and our souls have been sold

grey_til_I_dye

horshamhammer said:

grey_til_I_dye said:

Because that would be such a bad thing, I suppose.

It would, yes. A soulless, corporate, prawn sandwich club with no identity. Not what we should be looking to emulate.

Well, that's what you think. Obviously I don't share that opinion.

I think they are a well-run club that play good football.

That would do for me.

Expat_Hammer

horshamhammer said:

Giving a donation to the Tories etc.

So who made the money to donate in the first place ???

They made the money and decided to donate it / spend it how they wished
Exactly the same as you or I do

I choose which charities / political or whatever donations that I make
are MY decisions wrong because they don't agree with your choices ???

MrsGrey

Cuz1 said:

it’s the bits that makes us fans the laughing stock of the others

But (imo) if they (other clubs' fans) weren't laughing at us about that, they'd find something else. I mean, it's not like they didn't mock BEFORE the current owners took over.

Best ignored, I think.