Hammered
I have too many West Ham mates to be cock-a-hoop about the Hammers’ relegation yesterday although the light aircraft that flew over Wigan’s ground just after their equaliser you have to admit was funny and cruelly timed.
The Hammers have knocked on the relegation trapdoor a few times since they got promotion under Alan Pardew in 2005, but for me this season the writing was on the wall. It is said that new owners Messrs Gold and Sullivan budgeted for relegation. Well they pretty much confirmed those expectations by then appointing Avram Grant. Yesterday at the final whistle the porn brothers showed their class by sacking Grant as he walked down the tunnel after seeing his players throw away a 2-goal lead.
I wouldn’t trust Gold and Sullivan in appointing the right manager, but whoever it is is, and the Wally with the Brolly is the early favourite, he will spend most of the summer fighting of agents and attempting to put together a team capable of instant promotion.
There is plenty of evidence that says the more established the relegated Premiership team the harder it is to bounce back. By established I mean big wages, a huge infrastructure and inflated egos. Middlesbrough, Coventry, Southampton Leeds, Forest and Charlton are all sad recent examples, yet Chris Hughton did buck the trend and would I reckon be a good appointment
West Ham have the 8th largest payroll in the Premiership and are £80m in debt with the move to the Olympic Stadium looming. If a quick promotion is not achieved then their marketing department will be working overtime to dream up ideas of how they will fill the Olympic Stadium against Doncaster Rovers of a damp Tuesday night.
Sad days for our friends over the river.
Chicago Addick 
Yet if you dare to suggest they shouldn’t have sacked Curbs, the WHU fans look at you like you’re mad.
I know, what did Curbs ever do for them? In fact the same with that Pardew character too!
I was the only Charlton fan in my household when growing up. Everybody else was a hammer, and because we were usually leagues apart there wasn’t much rivalry and we all had a soft spot for each others club.
These days I’m kind of torn. The club now has a recent history of poor management from the top. How can you sack two excellent managers (Redknapp & Curbs) and later get people like Roeder, Pardew, Zola and Grant? I realise it’s not all the same people sacking and appointing these managers, but it just highlights some major issues with the people that have run the club in recent years.
I believe football clubs should be run properly or suffer the consequences. West Ham will now suffer, Gold and Sullivan have always been poor at appointing managers (Steve Bruce aside) so I’m not expecting them to make a quick return to the Prem.
West Ham would be my second club if anything ever happened to the Addicks. I’m sorry for my mates who follow them but not for for Gold and Sullivan. I hope they lose a packet in the process. Trouble is, they are more likely to do what they did at Birmingham and run it as a business irrespective of what happens to the club and in spite of their personal fortunes and the fact that this is “their” club. They will probably rake in millions selling off their better players and will come up smelling of roses.
I’m with you Dave, always had a soft spot for West Ham way before I lived amongst their brethren. They were good to us when we played there as well.
But Hammers’ fans won’t be cheered by the fact that Gold and Sullivan took Birmingham down to the 3rd tier in their first two seasons of ownership as well.