GSB Custodianship Nightmare

Custodian:  a person who has responsibility for taking care of or protecting something.

Over the past 10 years West Ham United have had an identity crisis that is far more rooted than the surface issues reported via mainstream media. Since the arrival of GSB they have declared themselves as saviors, owners & most recently during the PR machine to move away from Upton Park as custodians.

The term custodians is a curious one for GSB to associate themselves with, as there has quite often been little care or responsibility taken with regards to West Ham. Furthermore, the notion of “protecting something” is also an area the board are fast & loose with, such as changing our badge to incorporate London for marketing.

The marketing exercise was another tearing of the soul which came with leaving our spiritual home. Another immediate & jarring “out with the old & in with the new” philosophy pointing to West Ham as a Brand rather than a community as it once was.

As a fanbase we are constantly reminded how we are simply misunderstanding GSB & that our assertions they are not fit to run our great club is unfounded. Yet, they have only truly invested in the club after relegation under Avram Grant, to the tune of £43m not the £100m perpetuated by media. A club is more that it’s assets and the league it plays in, it’s the community & most importantly the fans.

As custodians GSB have a duty to the fans to take care of them & to protect what they hold dear, but alas this doesn’t serve GSB wants or desires it would seem. Karren Brady to the Supporter Advisory Board made a promise that West Ham would always take the full allocation of away tickets, but it is another promise they do not wish to keep. Hammers Untied were asked by the board to front up a bond to increase allocation from 1,800 to 3,000 at Anfield highlighting the desire to limit die hard fans support. The only reason they had to limit allocations is to protect themselves & try to preserve their image as well intentioned if not overly ambitious. The protest that transpired at Anfield demonstrated perfectly that GSB are misguided in their belief they are best for the club & a GSB custodianship brings success. Not only was the protest loud & clear that GSB are not wanted by the fans, what spoke louder is the support for the team which is unwavering even in the face of defeat.

Other words closely linked with custodian is keeper, guardian & protecter but yet when we review a decade under GSB we see very little of those traits unless we are discussing their own self interest. Over the decade we have seen the club used to avoid tax by David Sullivan & to fulfil his desire to play director of football ably supported by agents. David Gold has liken the fans to morons & so desperate for praise liked a tweet that not only talked about their ability as limited but made light of a tragic suicide. This is but a snippet of the levels of shame they have brought to the club.

Guardians & protecters to themselves is what they truly are, this once again highlighted with the laughable 2,500 they claimed attended the “Stoll on GSB” via The Standard. Those that were there can confirm the numbers was significantly higher and the police in attendance estimating far in excess of 5,000 fans attended.

Owner: a person who owns something.

Those that stolled on GSB has pushed back on their custodianship & outright questioning the ownership. GSB are possessors of the club & holders of the clubs soul, which many feel will only be the fans again when they finally sell up. GSB have insisted they want the best for the club & yet their practises say otherwise. Proudly claiming they have spent 10m on facilities when by comparison Leicester have spent 100m on theirs. Defiantly stating over 3m was spent on creating a scouting network under Pellegrini only for it to be dismantled to 1 scout on his dismissal. By contrast Southampton have approximately 40-50 people working in the analysis & scouting department.

As owners their actions are rational as the club is their possession to do with as they will & to hold only themselves accountable. The GSB ownership in their eyes are entitled to take £18m in interest payments to date & create a supporters group in the OSB as a conduit to demonstrate a perceived willingness to address fans directly. They fail to recognise that a net spend is nothing without context & simply spending money on transfers is meaningless when teams such as Bournemouth are spending more. Additionally, the imbalances of spending highlights a naivety in squad building & misplaced belief that only buying “exciting” attackers is worth investment over creating balance.

If GSB were truly custodians they would be curating a culture which revered it’s fans, opened honest & open dialogue with the likes of Hammers United. Rather than alienating 20,000 season tickets holders who failed to renew since leaving for the London Stadium.

Protecting the clubs name by avoiding controversy, rather than actively seeking it with carelessness & ill informed media segments littered with inaccuracies.

Guarding our future by investing in our infrastructure ensuring we are spending money wisely on players that fit our club, offering elite training environments & promoting youth from within.

Ultimately, a custodian should recognise when they don’t have the ability to protect anymore & take responsibility in find another who can. Under the banner of Hammers United thousands of disenfranchised fans are rightly demanding our club is run as it should. In the mind of thousands we have been torn away from our heritage under false pretenses to fulfil a dream of reaching the fabled next level. Under their custodianship too many “hopeful promises” have been made on aspirations & plans for the club but in reality GSB “Sold us a dream, delivered a nightmare”