Sullivan admits Hammers fear

David Sullivan believes West Ham only have a 25 per cent chance of staying in the Premier League and has questioned the commitment of some of the club’s players.

Sullivan and David Gold became owners at Upton Park a year ago and, despite only just avoiding relegation last term, had high hopes for a successful campaign this season.

However, the Hammers have found themselves languishing in the drop zone for long periods and are currently bottom of the table, two points adrift of safety with just four games remaining.

A number of players are likely to consider their futures in the summer if the club does drop down to the Championship, and Sullivan believes that leaves manager Avram Grant with a major dilemma.

“I’m sure a few of the players are already looking at where they will be next season – their contracts are up, they’ll be off.”
West Ham co-owner David Sullivan Quotes of the week

Sullivan doubts whether everybody in the squad will be fully motivated during the run-in if they are already thinking about leaving, labelling many modern footballers as ‘spoilt’.

“I could go in there and give them a Churchill speech but whether it’s going to do any good, I don’t know,” he told the Daily Telegraph.

“I think some players are spoilt, I don’t say just with our players, I’m saying with all clubs. How do you motivate millionaires? It’s a problem all managers have.

“Alex Ferguson has got that fear factor and I do think that a manager needs that fear factor. You look at Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho. The players are a little bit frightened of them.

“But I’m sure a few of the players are already looking at where they will be next season – their contracts are up, they’ll be off.

“It means the manager might have a hard decision to make if we go into the last game of the season needing a win to stay up – do you trust the fate of the club to them or do you make the decision that you will not play those players?

“It’s a very difficult decision. Do you go for players who are committed to the club? If you look at that last game and someone is on a Bosman, will that player risk injury? Some will, some won’t. It depends on the mentality of the player.”

Realistic

Sullivan feels West Ham will probably suffer relegation this season but, regardless of the outcome of the next few weeks, he has demanded a response next term.

He said: “Obviously we are facing the reality that 70-75 per cent we are likely to be in the Championship next year. But there is still a 25-30 per cent chance we won’t be.

“We have to be realistic. The bookmakers put our chances at 28 per cent and you have to accept that.

“I feel for the supporters. We have fantastic supporters and I feel myself and David (Gold) have let them down. We have failed to deliver and the bottom line in football is that it’s a delivery business.

“Forget all the excuses – the bad luck, the good luck, the injuries – because over a season it sort of averages out. OK, it probably hasn’t quite averaged out for us this year but you can’t blame that.

“We didn’t come here to be relegated, we didn’t think at the start of the season that we would be relegated and we have to put it right next season.

“If we are in the Premier League we have to make sure we are not fighting relegation, if we are in the Championship we have to make sure we are in the top two this time next year.”

New players

Sullivan also admits that West Ham will have to sell players if they slip into the Championship and attract new faces that would be capable of catapulting them straight back up.

He said: “We will have to shed a few players and a few players will not want to stay. We will have to bring in new players to bring us back up.

“I think a lot of the players at West Ham will not want to play in that division the Championship. I don’t think it’s going to be easy and you need players who are proven in that division plus some young players who are fearless and who have the energy to play 46 games a season.

“We have some players who find 38 games very difficult.

“I’m anticipating bringing in players who are £2 million, £3 million. I can’t name names but you are looking at players who might be, for example, the leading goalscorers in the Championship.

“If you buy two guys who can get you 25 goals each, well that’s 50 goals and gives you the basis for going straight back up.”

Grant’s position has been the subject of scrutiny throughout the season and his future will also be discussed in the summer.

“We sit down at the end of every season, and whatever club we have been in, with the manager and hear what his thoughts are, what our thoughts are and we decide on the future at that point in time,” Sullivan concluded.