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Overhaul in West Ham’s recruitment system great news for all involved

By Scott Johnson

SHREWSBURY, ENGLAND - JANUARY 07: David Moyes manager of West Ham United during the Emirates FA Cup Third Round match between Shrewsbury Town and West Ham United at New Meadow on January 7, 2018 in Shrewsbury, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)
SHREWSBURY, ENGLAND - JANUARY 07: David Moyes manager of West Ham United during the Emirates FA Cup Third Round match between Shrewsbury Town and West Ham United at New Meadow on January 7, 2018 in Shrewsbury, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images) /
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West Ham are set to completely change their recruitment system. The club are trying to respond to a series of poor transfer windows.

It seems that West Ham may finally be learning a very slow lesson. Maybe the chairman having the final say on transfers isn’t the best football policy? It might also help when the head of recruitment isn’t leaving people out based on their nationality…

So it seems that a new recruitment system being sorted is the way forward. It will see modern analysis techniques, a youth focus and the manager having final say. It all sounds rather common sense. So is there more to it that meets the eye?

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Well according to the Standard, this sees Moyes now planning for the long term. In stark contradiction to earlier reports it now seems Moyes is seen as the man to take the club forward, and the Scotsman has pushed his intent to return the club’s youth academy to its former glory. In recent years it has only produced fringe players, with newest crop including Rice and Oxford yet to truly prove themselves.

It also marks a stark change in the way the club is run. David Sullivan has been chief operator in recent years, making most of the transfer decisions. This has lead to strikers being signed left right and centre, with very little long term planning. However there are a series of positive quotes that leave me optimistic.

Sullivan said ahead of the 2-0 win over Watford on Saturday: “Only the manager can sign players. Going forward, we are going to completely re-jig it.

“I am going to delegate the whole thing to a huge new analysis system and a new head of recruitment, massive video analysis department, increase the scouting.

"Sullivan: “Every player will be looked at five or six times. We won’t be signing a player based on who the manager has never seen play; the manager will watch him play and we hope we will spend our money better. We are not going to spend money for the sake of it.”“Hopefully we’ll find ways of churning it back out and trying to make decisions which are right,” Moyes said.“They have signed an awful lot of good players here – Manuel Lanzini, Marko Arnautovic – so there’s no criticism, but we’re going to set up something that hopefully gives us another look.“It’s going to come a little bit away from the chairman. The chairman is going to try to stand aside a bit from it. We’ve put together some plans.”"

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If this is a genuine move, then West Ham will benefit. The football on the pitch has stagnated and there is currently a lack of vision about the squad. Hopefully a big summer will revitalize the club as many fans have gone past the point of patience with the board. I for one would not be at all sad to see them out.