West Ham have been in freefall for a season-and-a-half now and it shows little sign of slowing but now we know who the board hold accountable.
A leading journalist has revealed who West Ham’s owners privately blame for the club’s alarming collapse over the past 18 months.
Fans have been pointing fingers at Graham Potter, Julen Lopetegui, Tim Steidten, David Sullivan and the players.
But the Hammers hierarchy themselves have their own opinion on who is most culpable of all.
West Ham fans will have seen these statistics too many times to mention by now.
But they are worth laying out in black and white for context here.
Shocking numbers behind West Ham’s dramatic 18-month decline
West Ham have won 13 of their last 54 Premier League matches. Yes FIFTY-FOUR.
That is relegation form across most normal seasons. Plain and simple.
The Hammers had the fourth worst defence in the top flight last season, shipping a club Premier League record 74 goals.
This season they have improved defensively – but only marginally considering the club committed £87m to sign three new defenders in Max Kilman, Jean-Clair Todibo and Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
Instead of having the fourth worst defence in the top flight, the Hammers still have the fifth worst this season with 59 shipped and three games to go.
Under Lopetegui West Ham won just seven games, six of them in the Premier League and one in the Carabao Cup before being embarrassed 5-1 at Liverpool in the next round.
Photo by James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images
Under Potter West Ham are even worse, winning just three of 15 Premier League games and exiting the FA Cup in the other.
There has been a blame game culture sneaking back into the club after a period of serenity and togetherness under David Moyes.
Potter has blamed Lopetegui for leaving West Ham in a mess.
Fans have blamed former technical director Steidten and Lopetegui for squandering £155m last summer.
Potter then said it’s time to blame West Ham’s players after the collapse at Brighton.
And the players have been blaming themselves in a series of frank interviews but beyond the usual suspects, they are doing little to show they can, or want, to reverse the trend.
Sullivan and the board have been taking a lot of flak recently too for failing to build on the club winning a first major trophy of the last 45 years.
West Ham fans look at Newcastle and Villa with envious glances at how they have been able to sustain their growth and progress.
West Ham tell prominent journalist who they really blame
There has been growing discontent about the manager, with some calling for another change this summer.
West Ham’s board have delivered their verdict on Potter after the disappointing 1-1 draw with Tottenham’s reserve team.
And West Ham have told a prominent journalist who they really blame for the club’s shocking decline.
That decline has been undeniable and progressively worse.
West Ham went from top six midway through last season to finishing ninth under Moyes.
Lopetegui left them team 13th in the table midway through the next.
Now Potter has the Hammers sitting another four places lower at 17th in the table as he closes on bringing up half a season in charge.
Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
West Ham fans know who they blame – and opinion varies from one to another.
But who do the board themselves point the finger at in the corridors of power?
According to The Telegraph’s Jason Burt, it is the club’s most successful manager of the modern era, Moyes.
Burt claims that senior West Ham sources argue the shocking decline can be traced to the second half of last season when performances and results tailed off under Moyes.
Burt adds that the feeling at West Ham was that Moyes’s time at the club had run its course and they wanted to make a big-name appointment and back him with significant spending as they aimed, again, to qualify for Europe.
A penny for Moyes’ thoughts on this one given what he did in keeping West Ham up twice, leading them to their record ever Premier League points total, three consecutive seasons in Europe for the first time in their history.
Hammers blame Moyes for mess they’re in claims journalist
That’s not to mention reaching the Europa League semi and quarter-finals either side of a first major trophy since 1980.
Or the fact Moyes played a big part in the continued progression of Declan Rice, which earned the Hammers £105m of pure profit.
Yes the malaise did kick in under Moyes – of that there is no doubt.
But how can it be argued on the one hand that Potter needs a pre-season and his own players before being judged and on the other that Moyes is to blame after Lopetegui and Steidten had just that as his successors at the Hammers helm?
Lopetegui and Steidten are the architects of a worst campaign since the Avram Grant relegation season.
And Potter should be doing much better with the players he has available – even if they aren’t his. Just look at Vitor Pereira at Wolves.
While it is interesting to hear who the owners really blame for the mess the club is in, there seems to be little accountability in the actual boardroom itself.
Beyond the hierarchy conceding to Burt they ‘massively overspent’ last summer.
Ironically the claim does come as Moyes’ honeymoon period back at Everton looks well and truly over.
That’s after Everton fans flooded social media saying the same thing about Moyes following the Toffee’ 2-2 draw against Ipswich.