West Ham United have been named in Europe’s elite eight clubs, now it is time owners David Sullivan and David Gold starting acting like it.
West Ham and Chelsea fans clash after last week’s match
The Hammers move to the 60,000 seater venue has been making the headlines this season but for all the wrong reasons so much so the authorities have capped capacity at 57,000.
Fighting among fans and rival supporters and general safety fears at the ground have been a major issue and reared its ugly head again in the EFL Cup win over rivals Chelsea last week.
The club finds itself at the centre of a new negative story each week with the spotlight firmly fixed over East London following the move into such an iconic ground.
The Olympic Stadium, now known as the London Stadium
There have been calls for West Ham to be evicted as tenants, reports from a police source claiming it is impossible to police and even a suggestion from an MP that the ground should be demolished.
But there is no disputing the fact the move has elevated the club onto a whole new level after it was revealed that the Hammers now have the eighth highest average attendance in Europe this season.
Above the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea, the East Londoners – with an average attendance of 56,949 – are in elite company.
West Ham have the eighth highest attendances in Europe
Slaven Bilic’s side sit below Arsenal, Schalke, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Manchester United, Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund and will jump up to joint fifth with the mighty Real Madrid if permission is granted for the capacity to be increased to 66,000 for next season.
But West Ham are miles behind all of those clubs when it comes to their dealings in the transfer market and co-owners David Sullivan and David Gold must competing with the big guns to challenge the elite where it really matters, on the pitch.
West Ham signed 10 players for the first team over the summer and only one has made any kind of impact – young star Edimilson Fernandes.
West Ham co chairmans David Sullivan and David Gold before the match
The owners talked publicly about their plans to sign a marquee striker for £30million plus but the best they could do was flop Simone Zaza on loan from Juventus and Andre Ayew, widely regarded as wildly overpriced at £20m from Swansea City.
As a result the club finds itself languishing in 17th place in the Premier League, one place and three points above the relegation zone.
And a hellish set of fixtures is looming in the coming month against Tottenham Hotspur away, Manchester United at Old Trafford twice in three days, Liverpool away and Arsenal at home consecutively after Saturday’s crucial six-pointer against Stoke City.
From January onwards Sullivan and Gold simply must start being one of the big players on transfers if they seriously want to go places.
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