Sweat and blood

OLAS 479, February 20th 2010

Somewhere in the house I’ve got a copy of the Thoughts of Chairman Mao knocking around. This “Little Red Book” as it came to be known, sold millions and millions of copies across the world. Some of the quotes in it are very sound and surprisingly subtle. Others are totally banal and laughable and, although it was a pretty strange thing for young people to do to get their kicks, back in the 70s, me and a couple of mates used to play this game of making up quotes that could have been in it and the others had to guess whether they were genuine or not. Anyhow, the numbers of those who bought a copy far exceeded the numbers of those pledging any allegiance to Mao’s ideas. Many people were interested in what Mao Tse Tung had to say about the problems of the day. Somehow I don’t think there is going to be quite the same market for the “Thoughts of Chairman Sullivan”.

To be frank, his post-hoc justification for his antics before the Birmingham game absolutely stinks. Far from seeking to galvanise the team through “reverse psychology” this was a pre-meditated action as part of his business strategy conducted in his typically blunt manner. He thinks West Ham will be more successful under a different manager so he tried to undermine Zola and make him walk. Chairman Sullivan was also giving early notice to other clubs that, although one transfer window has just closed, they can start looking in the West Ham shop window today for their summer additions. I fully expect Sullivan and Gold to try their hardest to force out some of our higher earners next summer, even if these players feel inclined to stay, none of which bodes that well for next season even if we do stay up.

Forget the “competing for the Champions League in seven years” bullshit. Their actual plan is much less ambitious for the club, though possibly a bit more ambitious as far as their own pockets are concerned. In the period during which they are genuinely aiming to get the club back on a sound financial footing I don’t believe they are setting their sights much above hovering between mid table and the drop zone on a young, thin, cheap squad. They want to cut the wage bill and sell some of our big current assets, as they look for a host of ways that they can claw back their initial outlay and profit from the opportunities afforded by a fantastically loyal fan base and the valuable land that Upton Park sits on.

Should we survive this season in the premiership – a season in which we as fans have really suffered because of the mismanagement at the highest levels of the club – we surely deserve a bit more serious ambition for the club and the team to be shown.

While Matty Upson is reaching the point in his career where we will perhaps only have the summer to get a decent price for him, and Rob Green might come to be seen in a similar light, this is certainly not the case with the likes of Carlton Cole, Scott Parker, Jack Collison and others that the new owners would love to place in that shop window. But our new owners are using the threat of cutting their wages to unsettle our players and encourage them to seek pastures new.

Any truly ambitious plan to transform West Ham into a club that can compete in the top half of the premiership has to be built around keeping our best players, ensuring that they are playing for us and not for rival teams during their peak years, while using their experience to bring on the younger emerging players. I have total confidence that we will continue to develop excellent youth players, but they need guidance and support from top class older players.

Of course we would like to think it is different at West Ham, but premier footballers inhabit a dog-eat-dog world where loyalty counts for nothing, and the desire to make massive amounts of cash before your premier legs fail you soon after your 30th birthday dominates their decision-making processes. If we have got an untypical and truly committed set of players who swim against that tide and genuinely love playing for this club and its fans, even at the expense of their material ambitions, that is something we are going to discover next summer.

The integrity and team spirit of the players, their commitment to the fans, and their desire to play for this particular manager, will be sorely tested at the end of the season. I suspect that Gilbert and Sullivan are actually a little worried that we may have an unusually loyal set of players here, which may be the reason they are trying to undermine Zola now. His friendliness, support and one-to-one rapport with the players, the personal loyalty and sentiment he shows to them, may, in the eyes of our owners, be seen to militate against taking hard-nosed business-based decisions.

The players response to Diamanti’s thumping free kick against Birmingham must have been galling for them. Instead of the celebrations focusing on the player who scored, they wrapped themselves around Zola. And Diamanti himself led the charge. The message was clear – they scored that goal for their manager whom they perceived was under unwarranted assault by the owners and they were standing shoulder to shoulder with him (well shoulder to head as he’s only a little fella). It was a very emotional moment for everyone in the ground.

The team performance as a whole against Birmingham was so uplifiting after the Burnley debacle. Every single player showed a determination to get the result that was needed against a team with one of the tightest defensive units in the league, and we were clearly aiming to win out through strength, skill and attacking flair, rather than sitting tight and hoping for a lucky break. Zola’s team selection was spot on. He took my advice (or coincidentally came to the same conclusions) that Noble and Collison both had to drop to the bench and sent out a team that had the right balance of strength, pace and creativity, Daimanti, Behrami and Faubert made sure we used the width of the pitch, Kovac gave one of his most assured performances to date, and though I find it hard to write, I have to admit that Spector did not put a foot wrong after he came on for injury–prone Rita. Birmingham arrived in confident mood and spread the ball about well, but in the end they were out-fought and out-thought.

Carlton Cole was declared man of the match with about 15 minutes to go. Interesting, as he had not won one ball in the air the whole game, but on the ground his improved close control and dominating presence made him so hard to pay against. Mido worked well with him on his home debut, continually finding good positions and opportunities although his final product lacked sharpness and was disappointing. Ilan showed nice touches when he came on – and what a relief it was to have quality options on the bench. This will surely make a difference as we enter the final third of the season and will need to deploy substitutes effectively to attempt to swing tough games in our favour.

Scott Parker had another storming game, always driving forward with tricky runs, and constantly looking to thread that clever pass through the defence. But the player who really caught the eye with a terrific performance has to be Faubert. He is finally justifying the fee West Ham paid for him and played a key role in the second goal taken so well by Carlton, that wrapped the game up. At the back Tomkins had a nervous first half but an excellent second. Upson seemed a little off the pace but the way the defence operated as a unit nullified any threat Birmingham posed.

If we can repeat this level of team performance today, without the evening atmosphere under the floodlights, we should emerge as confident winners. Hull have pulled off a couple of impressive and surprising results at home recently but they travel badly and their defence this season has been considerably less organised and resilient than Birmingham’s.

At this stage of the season we still have one big advantage over our closest rivals – our goal difference, which is effectively worth a point to us. We can expect that statistic to be challenged by our forthcoming visits to Chelsea, Arsenal, Manure and Liverpool and even if we fail to get a single point form these outings it is essential that we don’t allow ourselves to be tanked.

The team selection today should not be difficult for Zola. He must surely be tempted to start with the team that performed so admirably against Birmingham. The one possible change is that he might give Benni McCarthy the nod over Mido. I would be happy with that as I feel that Benni is more of a goal poacher but Mido is highly motivated and can be brought on as an impact sub if Benni fails to unlock Hull’s defence. Ilan ought to get some time on the pitch too when legs begin to tire.

Well, as Chairman Mao said (or did he?) “We must thoroughly clear away all ideas of winning easy victories through good luck, without hard and bitter struggle, without sweat and blood…give full play to our style of fighting – courage in battle, no fear of sacrifice, no fear of fatigue…and before we shoot we must show full awareness of where the goalposts stand.”

OK, the last bit was made up. Enjoy the game today. COYI!!!