West Ham United may not have a game for three weeks but that hasn’t stopped the arguments around the club.
West Ham are a club in crisis on and off the pitch as David Moyes‘ side have gone off the rails of late.
Losing three games on the bounce and conceding 11 goals in the process has seen the Hammers dragged into the thick of the relegation battle.
The 3-0 home defeat to Burnley last time out saw fan unrest come to a head with supporters invading the pitch to protest against the way the club has been run by co-owners David Sullivan and David Gold and vice-chairman Karren Brady.
Homegrown Hammer and captain Mark Noble was seen rugby tackling one of the fans while another took the corner flag and planted it in the centre circle in scenes reminiscent of the Bonds scheme protests back in 1992.
The club don’t play again for three weeks when they take on Southampton at the London Stadium in an an absolute must win.
Moyes has taken his players off to Miami for some warm weather training and West Ham players have been pictured soaking up the sun on the beach.
That has gone down like a lead balloon with some fans while others argue it is a last throw of the dice to rejuvenate the team.
Then as the bickering reaches fever pitch online and social media, along came Sevilla striker Wissam Ben Yedder on Tuesday night to pour more fuel on the fire.
The French striker bagged a brace to help Sevilla beat Manchester United 2-1 at Old Trafford and secure a Champions League quarter-final berth.
The diminutive striker was heavily linked with the Hammers when Slaven Bilic was still the manager but passed up on the chance to sign him for a reported £8 million.
Instead he signed for Sevilla and has gone on to score 37 goals in 76 games for the Spanish side.
His two goals sparked further negativity from supporters with some blaming Sullivan and others Bilic claiming one felt Ben Yedder was ‘too weak and small’ and the other wanted to sign bigger name Simeone Zaza on loan instead.
The debate is irrelevant now.
But what it does serve to highlight is the rank awful recruitment process at the East London club, something that has been a major bone of contention for fans.
The list of transfer failures under Sullivan and Gold is endless and West Ham’s record fee remains a relatively low £25 million – the price they paid for hit and miss Marko Arnautovic last summer.
The club has signed over 33 strikers during their tenure with miserable results.
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