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'Deadly Dave' Statement From West Ham United Boardroom

nevillenixon's picture
Submitted by nevillenixon on Thu, 01/09/2016 - 17:48

There was more than a whiff of the 'deadly Doug Ellis' about West Ham United co-owner and chief share holder David Sullivan's boardroom statement released earlier today, although not to the extent of Massimo Cellino of Leeds United!
"Before the deadline day on Wednesday we had an unbalanced squad and we needed to change a few things around. The decision has now been made that Michail Antonio will play as a winger after originally starting the season as a right back, as a result we had to move out a winger, getting a £1.5m loan fee plus wages covered on Enner Valencia, and have brought in a full back to compete with and help Sam Byram." Mr Sullivan continued, referencing the signing of Alvaro Arbeloa who is an accatips top bet to excel in the Barclays Premier League, "We explored all avenues and managed to secure the signature of one of the more experienced full backs in the world and one with Premier League experience. He is ideally a few weeks away from playing in a game as he has not trained with a team since May and needs more game time."
For those too young or others who don't remember, Doug Ellis was the owner of Aston Villa football club, he ruled it with an iron fist for many years and oversaw a financially secure and well run balanced if not spectacular football club, Villa fans claimed he was aloof and disinterested in investing in order to 'push on to the next level'. Ellis did have a propensity for 'influencing' managerial decisions, and those who disagreed invariably found themselves out on their ear!
We are not suggesting David Sullivan is as bad as 'Deadly Doug', in fact the 'Antonio' statement merely confirmed what just about every West Ham fan with a pulse had thought for the last few weeks, so in that way Mr Sullivan IS the man of the people, but the problem is where and how far is the 'tipping point' when it comes to influencing the manager? It is a bit of a tight rope act for the co-owners and the manager, but it is worth remembering that Doug Ellis finally succumbed to fan pressure and in a true 'be careful of what you wish for moment' sold the once stable club to American, Randy Learner, and the rest as they say is history. - Ed

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I see it a bit different dicks. I think the we was used to show a bit of solidarity, so It wasn't more of a Slav used him at right back and now we've had to sort out his mess late on type of comment that journo's can jump on.

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285 users have voted.
Deluded Hammer's picture

Under the "From The Boardroom - David Sullivan". Don't see any "we" regarding the decision to move Antonio back to his proper position. The "we" accurately reflected that the squad was unbalanced and changed needed to be made. By "we", I presume they mean West Ham as a club. And quite frankly, playing Antonio at right back DID make the team unbalanced and I'm presuming that Sullivan didn't pick the teams.

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316 users have voted.
cast iron's picture

Do you remember life at Upton Park when Egghead was the chairman and we were in debt up to our eye balls, G&S and Brady worked a good strategy now we are pretty sound money wise and have a brand new stadium, shrewd Bussiness people, but because 'Deadly Dave' gives its fans an insight on how he sees the club run for this season he's compared to Doug Ellis. Some times I dont understand the fans on here 1minute they say they are kept in the dark when their told they critisise decisions

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Deluded Hammer's picture

We don't actually own the brand new stadium do we. Bit like me selling my house and renting a mansion at a peppercorn rent. Wont find me arguing that they're shrewd business men. They're doing very well out of it.

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325 users have voted.

You've got to remember they didn't have any wealth before they bought West Ham. They just got lucky somebody handed it to them for free and they muddled through. Up until then they were a couple of old tinkers roaming the streets looking to make a quid or two. They're only in it for the money so they can spend it on Houses, boats, planes, helicopters, cars etc... I bet they can't wait for the day when they can sell West Ham to the highest bidder so they can experience that lifestyle just once in their final years.

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227 users have voted.
nevillenixon's picture

I know you jest because they obviously have all the things you mentioned already, but interestingly David Gold did sell his private airline business to help fund things in the early years of their ownership of west ham. (however, it shows how canny he was because he sold just before the financial crash!)

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243 users have voted.

The thing is Nev, for those that believe they aren't in for the money, but for the legacy, then we're idiots. Regardless of how long they are at the helm, we are still idiots. It's one of those no lose arguments for the doubters. Gold is 79 do we really think with all his wealth at his age he wants more? Or he's after a legacy?

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327 users have voted.

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