It is a subject which has been grating on West Ham United fans for a long time but it is now clear who is in charge of transfers at the club.
West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic
An impressive 2-1 victory over Burnley in the season finale on Sunday saw Slaven Bilic’s Hammers finish 11th in the Premier League table.
In truth it masked what has been a torrid season for the East Londoners, beset by poor recruitment, injuries, the upheaval of the Olympic Stadium move and the Dimitri Payet saga.
Bilic’s job was the subject of intense speculation for sustained periods but the majority of West Ham’s supporters remained behind their manager.
Anger and frustration at broken promises over transfers saw many supporters turn on the board for the club’s troubles.
Ask any West Ham fan where things have gone wrong this season and they will point to some terrible transfer business in the summer as the root cause.
After a fantastic farewell season at Upton Park where the Hammers recorded their best ever Premier League points total everyone was in agreement that Bilic’s squad just need slight tweaking; three or four quality signings to add to the likes of Manuel Lanzini and co.
West Ham United’s Manuel Lanzini celebrates with Aaron Cresswell
Instead West Ham signed 15 players, 12 for the first team, and only one – Edimilson Fernandes – has been anything like a success, although Andre Ayew has showed promise as the season wore on.
The likes of Gokhan Tore, Havard Nordtveit, Alvaro Arbeloa, Sofiane Feghouli, Robert Snodgrass and Simone Zaza were well short of the quality required to maintain West Ham’s position in the European places let alone to push on to the next level.
But supporters have been split over who to blame with a lack of clarity from the club over exactly who is in charge of transfers between David Sullivan and fellow co-owner David Gold, Slaven Bilic – as many fans feel it should be – or chief talent spotter Tony Henry.
West Ham United owners David Gold and David Sullivan
Well now that has become clear after Henry, who was poached from Everton, gave a revealing interview to the club’s official website.
“We started when the window closed in January,” Henry told whufc.com when discussing identifying transfer targets for the summer.
“You’re always on the lookout for players. I have a group of scouts who go around the world looking for players. I go around England with a lad, Rory Campbell, who’s my assistant. I call Alan Harper, who’s based in the North West.
Bilic has his say but Tony Henry and his team take charge of West Ham’s transfers
“Basically, we look at players all the time. We do reports, we then go back to the manager and I sit down with the manager every week and we put plans in place all the time for every window.
“We need two or three, maximum. If we can get the ones that we want, I think we’ll be a really good team next year.”
As affable and honest as Bilic is, as good a manager as he is, as perfect as he seems for the Hammers, the fact of the matter is that he is as culpable as Sullivan and Henry for agreeing to the club’s transfer process in the first place.
Expectant: West Ham fans
Sullivan and Gold have come under fire from pundits all season over their transfer conduct with the likes of Jamie Carragher particularly outspoken about the way the Hammers do business.
In Henry’s defence, though, he has got a number of players right since coming to the club with Pedro Obiang, Aaron Cresswell, Cheikhou Kouyate, Manuel Lanzini, Diafra Sakho – considering the bargain £3.5 million price paid relative to his goalscoring ability – and Fernandes all success stories.
Hammers fans will be hoping Henry can get back on track with some much needed quality signings this summer.
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