West Ham have worked reasonably quickly to complete the signing of German international Thomas Hitzlsperger on a three year-deal. An absurd amount of names linked with the Hammers have been thrown around by the media of late but finally a deal has been completed and West Ham fans can look forward to a genuinely exciting signing.
Supporters of the East London club, including myself have had some faith restored in David Sullivan, along with co-owner David Gold with regards to this acquisition as it finally appears we have owners who understand the balance of value for money and a sensible employee. Hitzlsperger has had a previous stint in England with Aston Villa, has won trophies in Germany and has scored a considerable amount of stunning goals over his career. With goals from West Ham’s midfield leaving much to be desired during the previous campaign, the owners clearly understand the needs of the squad and at the ripe age of 28, Hitzlsperger could really be one the surprise deals of the summer. Of course West Ham’s squad requires a great deal more of restructuring if it is to improve upon last season’s dismal showing, but the deal involving Hitzlsperger was described by Sullivan as “the first of many signings this summer” - encouraging news for fans of West Ham United.
However; it’s becoming increasingly unsettling for David Sullivan to continue talking to the media in the fashion he currently does. His openness is turning the club into somewhat of a joke and his policies are very hypocritical when he talks of how he wants “stability” and to “reduce the wage bill” by bringing in players of a sufficient age, only to go on and romantically link the club with eccentric names of stardom including David Beckham and Thierry Henry. Even before the Hitzlsperger deal was complete, a news story appeared on the Hammers website informing the world of how a deal was “nearly done”. Was this really necessary? Admittedly transparency in the club would be a fitting gesture of trust towards West Ham fans who tend to want to be involved in the club, but stories like this risk throwing the deal off completely, attracting competition for the player and risking losing him in a similar fashion to when Tottenham Hotspur stole Eidur Gudjohnsen from their London rivals last January. You have to ask yourself, what was the point of this story? Was it really just to keep the fans up to date or was it to satisfy the ego of Mr. Sullivan, who has a worrying tendency of craving heroic status and snatching all the credit of the club’s successes himself whilst blaming the wrong-doings on his predecessors?
Admittedly I am grateful for the pair saving the club and I do feel the financial future as well as our future on the pitch is in much safer hands now in comparison to when it was dizzily thrown into disarray by various Icelandic banking companies, but now Sullivan and Gold have appointed their “own man”, in Avram Grant, they must take a back-seat and allow him to do his job. With Grant, apparently not even in work yet, it’s possible he had no input into this deal - Sullivan must understand we’re eternally grateful for what he has done but we’re becoming increasingly bored as he builds himself up as “the saviour” and releases controversial news stories regarding players and transfers to enhance his own publicity.
Sullivan released to the media Benni McCarthy’s fat to muscle percentage and compared it to his own claiming, “Benni McCarthy is nearly as fat as me” - this was incredibly unprofessional and will do no good in helping a player to settle who has yet to do so. As the signing of McCarthy cost the club a substantial amount of money he also goes on to say how “Gianfranco wanted me to sign McCarthy”, again shifting the blame onto someone other than himself. Another bizarre story which appeared on the official West Ham website regarded the signing of major basketball player, LeBron James for a fee of £200,000 a week - the club being linked with the Michael Jordon-like figure was absurd enough but for it to appear on the official site was simply ridiculous. West Ham have said no more about the issue and the media have failed to pick up on it but it wouldn’t surprise me if this was Sullivan trying to raise his profile once more in an attempt to be noticed in the United States of America.
Yes; as West Ham fans we can be optimistic about the upcoming campaign and we should place our trust in the owners to restructure our squad to an appropriate degree, until they suggest they’ll do otherwise. Having fans at the helm of their club is a supporter’s dream, but when the owners have an ego as large as that of the seedy, slimy, Mr. Sullivan’s we are faced with a potential problem which could destroy the name of the club and turn it into a laughing stock for a long while to come.
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