West Ham United Football Club - Just Like My Dreams They Fade And Die

West Ham United Football Club - Just Like My Dreams They Fade And Die

The straw that broke the camel's back has arrived neatly packaged and with a nice bright ribbon on top.

I have been very vocal over the years about my love of traditionalist values and the way my club, West Ham United, have conducted themselves. Our history is over flowing with local heroes and tight knit squads of players that have graced the Internationl stage all the while representing the claret and blue and always being indebted to the teachings of 'the West Ham way'. We have had the least amount of managers in our history, choosing loyalty and commitment over knee-jerk reactions and always sticking with our roots when choosing managers, local people who have dedicated large chunks of their lives to the club. We have only had one non-English manager, the jock Lou Macari who didnt last long anyway unsuprisingly given his poor results and his lack of affiliation with the club.

It's these kind of details that make me proud of the club. Proud we are traditional, proud we promote local talent and by and large 'look after our own'. Not many clubs do this nowadays.

Recently I have become pretty disillusioned with the club, coincidentally since the arrival of the Icelandic owners. They began by talking the talk but they are most certainly not walking the walk. All the signs point to a downward spiral and general raping of everything the club is about to people like me. Ticket prices have increased massively, investment in the club is minimal, information coming out of the club is minimal, shirts are changing every year, the manager is being publicly humiliated by the owners at every turn, players are leaving in droves and no replacements are being bought, players appear increasingly unhappy, everything is about getting that extra pound note from my pocket.

If I were Alan Curbishley I would walk away from it all. I would quit without a seconds thought. There is some backstabbing going on at board room level and Curbishley is being treated with massive disrespect and he simply deserves better. Nobody gives a damn what he is saying within the club. The board will do as they like. There is an exodus of players to fund god knows what. Ferdinand, Bellamy, Ashton, Upson and Green have all been actively touted around. I was told this a while ago and did not believe it, thought it was a wind up but it is true and accurate. Ferdinand has pretty much gone, Bellamy may well be off, nobody would pay the money we were looking for to get Ashton and Upson and Green are still hovering in purgatory (the Arsenal rumours persist for both of them from within UP).

Selling players is part and parcel of the game, I dont mind that. It's the complete lack of ambition and intent in investing in the squad. I feel we will struggle this year. Around 15th place is what I am expecting. I've mainly been keeping my negative thoughts away from here because it leads to the inevitable but I just dont give a damn anymore. I've seen the signs before and I have been here before. The same will happen. We will fall flat on our face and we will be sold on within 5 years. I would be amazed if that does not happen.

t=The undermining of a manager, our manager, a local bloke, one of us, is wholly unnaccaeptable and I will do the only thing I can do which is stay away from Upton Park for the foreseeable future while these idiots are in charge. I have not even bothered with a membership let alone my old season ticket for this season and I am glad I didn't. It's convenient the player sales have gone on after the season ticket renewal deadline date also. Convenient, but not suprising.

The whole Tevez balls up was left alone because it was not the Icelandic's doing but they have kept Terry Brown on board with executive perks for some ridiculously dodgy reason and also Kia Joorabchian is involved behind the scenes having struck a deal out of court with West Ham over the funds he claimed he was owned. Something somewhere is not right.

I hope Curbishley does quit because he is looking increasingly stupid on the back of all this and I dont think he deserves it. The media are stirring it up even more as they clearly have a slight inside idea of the things I have been hearing and the best thing Curbishley can do is walk away with his dignity and pride intact and reveal to everybody exactly what he has had to contend with.

These are ruthless business men with zero interest in football. The footballing side of the investment, Eggert Magnusson was thrown out a long time ago and all whispers from people on the inside are increasingly worrying. If and when those players go, Ferdinand certainly and probably 1 more of the others I mentioned I would be amazed, gobsmacked, if we get any sort of quality replacement. The only way is down.