Assuming some strange tragedy other than those brought about by the HMRC doesn’t befall West Ham at this point in the season they should maintain their current (poor) level of play and stay in the Premier League next season.
That though isn’t something that West Ham should be celebrating. Since when has survival been enough? Just scraping by? I’m tempted to even call that brand of thinking pathetic but that’s neither here nor there.
This summer West Ham need to be smart. The right move is to invest in players that have a lot of time left in their careers. Three players 23 and under are what they should invest in. The side need to be honest with themselves. They are not one of the clubs that players often imagine finishing their careers at. Sometimes those players get won over in time but as we saw with he-who-shall-not-be-named and his childish episode this season players don’t treat the club properly.
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Look To Rival Success
What West Ham should do is adopt the Tottenham model from 10 years ago. The Hammers need to start getting the business side of the game right and then building off of that. Tottenham are a perfect example of how you can eventually build yourselves into title contenders but pretending money doesn’t matter is ignorant and foolish. Tottenham were smart enough to buy Luka Modric and Gareth Bale early on in their careers by promising them playing time. But also that they wouldn’t have their hopes for moves in future stopped either.
Tottenham bought Modric for 16.5 million before selling him for 30 million a couple of years later. They bought Gareth Bale for 7 million pounds (possibly rising to 10) and then moved him on 85.3 million pounds. The net profit here in just these two deals is a little over 90 million pounds. That money has been reinvested in the club and now while Tottenham, who used to sit well outside the top-4, are now the dominant North London club and challenging for the title with regularity.
The club can change their fortunes the same way but it will take an honest recalculation of values and where the club truly stands. The squad is poorly balanced and by and large too old to have any chance of turning a profit later. There is a happy medium that the Irons can reach between competitive both athletically and financially and it is only by doing that you truly turn a club around.
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The biggest and best clubs are great businesses as well as athletic associations. West Ham need to start taking the right financial steps if they’re going to make the right competitive ones.