West Ham fans braced themselves for the worst following relegation from the Premier League in May.
Justified pessimism, you would think, after a season in which they won ten games, drew nine and lost 19.
The star players will soon be gone and so perhaps the financial burden and emotional turmoil of being a West Ham season ticket holder would be hard to justify.
And yet, instead of desperation and despair, there has been an unprecedented sense of unity with fans, players, owners all rallying around the club.
There is even a feeling that a season in the Championship could be the reset the club needs and could act as a catalyst for long-term change.
However, West Ham fans like myself know full well that things can soon take a turn for the worse…
Nuno Espirito Santo is pictured on the day West Ham were relegated – he remains in charge
Ownership, or one-upmanship?
The most significant change has been at the top with Karren Brady and latterly David Sullivan stepping down.
The Czech billionaire and Royal Mail owner, Daniel Kretinsky, is both director and major shareholder of the club. Kretinsky helped generate hope and optimism as he took steps to retain two of West Ham’s key components ‑ their talisman and their manager.
Skipper Jarrod Bowen said of his decisive meeting with Kretinsky: ‘I flew out to Prague in the Czech Republic to meet Daniel and Jiri (Svarc, his right hand man) and the ambition that I got from them, certainly in terms of the direction the club wants to move in, it interests me a lot.’ He stayed.
Similarly, while many West Ham fans thought Nuno’s departure was a foregone conclusion and something that Sullivan had pushed for, Kretinsky placed significant emphasis on persuading him to stay.
Nuno remaining is vital for West Ham. Having a Premier League-calibre manager, who helped to get Wolves promoted with 99 points in 2018, provides much needed stability at the London Stadium.
West Ham United owner Daniel Kretinsky (centre) helped to generate some optimism
Everything seemed to be looking stable and there was a clear connection between the board and the club. However, West Ham would not be West Ham if there wasn’t some turmoil at the top.
On August 1, Vanessa Gold, daughter of the late West Ham co-owner, David Gold, announced that she planned to sell the family shares to a consortium led by ex-Newcastle co-owner Amanda Staveley.
What followed was a frenzy of back-and-forth, with loaded statements by Kretinsky, saying: ‘The agreement with the Gold family provided stability at crucial time. This does the opposite.’
Whether this Succession-style conflict will spell trouble for the Hammers is unclear, but the reshuffling behind the club is coming at the wrong time, as West Ham begin their Championship season at Burnley on Sunday.
Fan power
It is thought that the departures of Sullivan and Brady, combined with Kretinsky’s promising start, played a huge role in the rush to buy season tickets. West Ham announced that over 50,000 season tickets had been sold, a figure that dwarfs previous Championship attendance records and shows a set of resilient fans backing their team.
There were glimpses of this connection last season, especially when West Ham won three consecutive home Premier League games, a feat they had not achieved since March 2019.
Fans are treating this season as a restart and a new era away from the clutches of Brady and Sullivan, no VAR, two fixtures against Millwall and an opportunity to win plenty of games.
There was also a growing expectation that in the Championship the club would draw on the fabled Academy that has produced down the years stars like Bobby Moore, Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard and Joe Cole.
Freddie Potts is one of a number of young players at the club to have moved on
Surely players like George Earthy, Callum Marshall and Freddie Potts could use their experience in the EFL to provide cost-effective options in West Ham’s promotion push.
However, Marshall has joined League One Luton Town and Potts left for Club Brugge for £10million. Potts’ departure stings the most as fans believed his experience on loan in the Championship at Wycombe and Portsmouth would have been invaluable.
Former great Kevin Nolan, who scored 31 goals in 157 appearances for the Irons, expressed his concern.
‘I think this probably could turn out to be a bit of a mistake, but it’s good money for Freddie,’ Nolan said. ‘I thought that he could be one of the players who could stand up this year for West Ham.’
This sentiment is echoed by former Hammers striker Tony Cottee, who says: ‘I don’t get it…I played with his dad (Steve), and I want to see the Academy players.’
The loss of academy players could yet see the good faith that Kretinsky built up to begin to ebb away.
Ins and outs
This faith was never at a higher level than on July 17 when Bowen announced he was committing to another season. ‘We’re going to need a real tight knit, a real togetherness, a real understanding of what we want from each other,’ the forward said.
This sense of togetherness and commitment seems to be echoing around the locker room where the Hammers have been able to keep their core group intact ‑ with only two big-name departures confirmed.
Midfielder Mateus Fernandes joined London rivals Tottenham for an eye-watering £85m, almost £50m more than West Ham paid Southampton for him a year earlier.
Winger Crysencio Summerville joined Al Hilal for £60m, a good mark-up again after arriving from Leeds for £25m only two seasons ago and scoring just six goals in 50 appearances for West Ham.
Both departures were seen as inevitable but gaining close to £150m for the duo was seen as a shrewd bit of business.
Jarrod Bowen chose to stay with the Hammers in a huge boost to promotion chances
There were fears that Dinos Mavropanos, a man reborn last season, and newcomer Taty Castellanos would follow the pair out the door. However, both seem committed to the club and prepared to fight for promotion next season, another reason for optimism.
On the down side, the club have been quiet in the transfer market except for signings of Keiber Lamadrid and Joel Veltman.
In midfield, we have an ageing James Ward-Prowse, an injured Tomas Soucek, the inconsistent Soungoutou Magassa and an unproven Mohamadou Kanté.
West Ham’s relegation to the Championship led to restructuring at each level of the club, a renewed connection between the club and its fans and stability in all the right places.
However, recent developments around ownership and a backtrack on youth policy seem to have set them back. The jury is out.
