Board/Fan Relationship

Poshhammer

Do they claim to be the "only" real west ham group..if so that's a bit silly isn't it?

thornburyiron

Aren't real West Ham fans the those who support them through thick and lean. I've supported for about 65 years now and believe me there's been many many many more lean times than there's been thick.
I moan when we play like we did yesterday and get outplayed by teams we shouldn't really but come the next game I'm ready. I go into the game hoping for a win but at the same time expecting nothing. If we play our best or near our best but are beaten by the better team on the day then that's the nature of football.
I'd also like us to buy the best players but the best in true terms are out of our range but if we can buy the best available to us then I'm happy. I don't go into meltdown because we haven't signed this player or that player we've been linked with if I've never really seen them play and can't really make a judgement one way or the other.
There's been many a post on here slagging off players such as Ayew et al saying they're useless and a waste of money but then when they get sold to a rival team it's suddenly ridiculous.
Posters were slagging off Hughill from the moment he arrived and most of us had never seen him play. Give him a chance.

grey_til_I_dye

Anyone who uses the term 'real' in their title is, it seems to me, defining themselves as different from others, who, by definition, are not 'real', or not 'as real'.

I wouldn't march if I were in the UK, and I don't believe I agree with or support many of the aims or beliefs of those who would march, and I would strongly object to being told, or having it implied, that as a result I was not a 'real' fan.

SuzanneClaret

I understand to a certain extent why they are angry and as a woman who spent a lot of her time demonstrating against a Thatcher government I can’t/won’t condemn the demonstration. I’m just concerned about what the end game is. We can’t go back to Upton Park and the owners/board can’t just leave...

Cuz1

I’m not a fan of the board one bit but agree with your post thorn

Poshhammer

SuzanneClaret said:

I understand to a certain extent why they are angry and as a woman who spent a lot of her time demonstrating against a Thatcher government I can’t/won’t condemn the demonstration. I’m just concerned about what the end game is. We can’t go back to Upton Park and the owners/board can’t just leave...

This march will not cause our owners to leave. They will only sell when they want to and I suspect that most people know that.
I'm not part of this group and can't go to the march as I won't be in the country on that day but I fully back and understand theyre reasoning behind it.

This discussion about the name of the group is in my view not important. Does it really matter

MrsGrey

Macca, I don't necessarily agree with your list.. but at least that is an agenda, a constructive approach, that could be worked on with the club.

Are the marchers really after that sort of thing, though?

We'd have to ask them, but I suspect not. I haven't seen anything that suggests that.

horshamhammer

Hiring a proper Director of Football and keeping Sullivan as far away from transfers as possible would be a good start.

thornburyiron

Isn't that what the director of recruitment was supposed to be.

claretandbluesky

There are always differences of opinions but there is no doubt this group have attracted a lot of support and funding very quickly and so are clearly not alone in their opinion as otherwise it would never have got off the ground, but it has and they have raised 20k in a week to fund this protest.

I can't agree with the idea that should the current owners leave the club would fold or be in trouble as there are always people looking for business opportunity and a premiership football club with a solid support base would likely have more than a few significant heads turning in our direction. I would imagine the consortium recently looking at Newcastle may possibly be interested.

Ultimately it's a means of pressure and everything and everyone bows to pressure should it be significant enough and placed at the right point and the West Ham board are not immune to that. I think regardless of if enough pressure is placed to unseat them, or if even if that is expected or not, I am sure it wont be ignored and that it will at least impact on their future communications and decision making.

IronHerb

The initial 5 points raised and sent to the club are:

1 : Must take up full away ticket allocation

2 : Memorial garden to be maintained regularly

3: The Hammer and Castle badge to be recognised with immediate effect on match programme and, in future, in the stadium

4 : The owners to be more professional on social media i.e remove the Sullivan kids from speaking on the clubs behalf

5 : The 15 minute interval must be managed better in the food & drink kiosks as it currently impossible to get to the toilets get a drink and be back for the restart a for the second half

SuzanneClaret

;hmm interesting

Thanks IH ;ok

MrsGrey

Doesn't seem too radical .. so this is what is on the banners, then?

OldCastleSwift

I think there's just a feeling of 'we have to do something'. I think most rational fans know that marching won't achieve what some want to achieve (i.e. GSB out of the club), but it is at least a visible and demonstrable indication of how a large number of fans feel.

I think the board underestimated the move away from the Boleyn. I was very pro-move because I felt it was necessary to move the club forward. I was swayed by the board's ambition and the confidence in the way they sold the move, but now that it's obvious that they simply don't have the finances to compete at the level they want to, the move seems a bit pointless. I know it's early in our tenure of the stadium and Rome wasn't built in a day, but I've seen no indication that things will change anytime soon.

And that, I guess, is why people think they've been sold down the river. The final straw for me, and I would argue a lot of people, was the January transfer window. No significant investment in a playing squad that is on it's knees in terms of depth and injuries, and a repeat of the abject failure of getting deals over the line due to poor planning and, IMO at least, an unwillingness or inability to spend what is necessary to improve.

But for me it's more than that. It's the seemingly constant barrage of unprofessional behaviour and PR gaffs that blight our club. Public spats with other clubs, unhelpful and frankly unnecessary columns in the tabloids, public denigration of our own players, accusations of racism and ill-discipline amongst the players. It feels like the club is broken and I can't help but think that starts from the top.

The relationship between the board and its fans is so important in making a club successful. There needs to be a mutual trust and respect between them and that is wholly missing at West Ham. It doesn't feel like we're in this together at all and the division is getting bigger. This forum is a prime example. I know we all have different opinions about things but I've not seen is this fractured for a long time, and I think that's symptomatic of what's happening at the club.

Finally, I don't buy into this 'real fan' nonsense. Bottom line is we all love West Ham and all want the club to be successful. Some believe marching against the board is necessary and good luck to them; their voices will be heard and so long as it remains peaceful I fully support their actions. Equally, those that don't march, or don't support it, aren't any less of a fan.

baracks_a_hammer

Puzzled by the notion that if the owners walked away and took the debt with them the club would fold.

Er why so? If they walked away they would sell to another investor pay them a price for the enterprise value, which would be reduced by the debt on the balance sheet.

I would imagine quite a number of clubs have debt on their balance sheet. In fact many businesses as a whole have debt on their balance sheet. Doesn’t mean they will fold if their owners decide they want out


I would imagine there would be reasonable interest in the club if the owners decided they wanted to sell

IronHerb

Good posts barracks. ;ok

baracks_a_hammer

And another thing - many many entities carry debt on their balance sheets for strategic reasons - interest on debt is typically tax deductible. The daves would have taken advice on how to structure the debt and interest. If they had wanted to just pay it off, I’m sure they could have done

jay_in_cpt

baracks_a_hammer said:

I would imagine there would be reasonable interest in the club if the owners decided they wanted to sell

But would they take us to the
"Next level".... ;wink

IronHerb

MrsGrey said:

Doesn't seem too radical .. so this is what is on the banners, then?

I think it's progressed from there... ;lol

IronHerb

For one Macca I would hate it to be called The New Boleyn because, well it's not.

Poshhammer

Macca85 said:

It’s about to get worse the clubs financials will be dEClared next week
Record profits and turnover
Good luck with this G and S

"Record turnover" is fine by me...Id just like to see it re invested in the playing staff and match day experience ;ok

Cuz1

Or the Aldi experience ;whistle

SuzanneClaret

;wahoo I get 10% discount at Tesco.....

Cuz1

I do at Morrisons

Whitehorsehammer

Macca. Record turnover and profits, surely the board will be applauded for that, well done. I can imagine the anti board faction making a point if turnover and profits were down.

grey_til_I_dye

I don't really think it is useful to think in terms of 'factions', or to assume that there are homogeneous groups of 'pro' or 'anti' with regard to the board.

I know I bridle at being labeled.

Whitehorsehammer

Point taken Grey but it's hard, reading some of the posts, to not feel there is an anti board element within the fan base, there clearly is. That is not surprising, you can't expect tens of thousands to all have the same view. Perhaps 'factions' was not the right word.

ianbishoplegend

Worst case scenario for me the is; we get sold because of this, and bought by American venture capitalists. They will be 100% in it for the money. You won’t here a peak out of them while they plot maximum profit.

Pearces_Left_Foot

I'm not pro or anti board I'm just pro West Ham coyi

grey_til_I_dye

Whitehorse

Oh, definitely there are a (probably large) number of fans who would come under the umbrella term:

'unhappy with the board'

However, I suspect that the reasons are varied, as is the strength of feeling.

It wasn't meant to be a pop at you; it's just that I feel when we think in terms of 'groups' it becomes easier to dismiss what an individual says, rather than giving it fair attention.