West Ham United’s under fire owners have been criticised again this time over the club’s pre-season plans.
On Tuesday West Ham announced plans to travel to Australia in July to play in the inaugural Queensland Champions Cup (whufc.com).
The Hammers will be joined in Australia by fellow Londoners Crystal Palace. There they will play the Eagles and Robbie Fowler’s Brisbane Roar.
But while Palace are all but safe in the Premier League after their weekend victory over Brighton, West Ham are far from it.
West Ham face tense battle for survival
David Moyes’s side have 10 games to secure survival with four wins – or the equivalent 12 points – needed to stay up.
West Ham will play on July 15th and 18th in a land down under. The earliest they would likely return to London would be July 20th.
Should the Hammers survive, they will have a Premier League match on the weekend of August 9th.
But if the Hammers be relegated, they would play their first Championship match on August 2nd.
Hammers announce plans to visit Australia for pre-season
Some West Ham supporters – particularly those based in Australia – are excited by the prospect.
But many are unhappy with the plans and have used it as a rod with which to beat owners David Sullivan, David Gold and vice-chairman Karren Brady.
Fans took to Twitter to highlight concerns over such a long trip on the eve of a new season, particularly when the club doesn’t even know what division they will be in next term.
Here are a selection of responses to West Ham’s announcement on Twitter.
‘Once again commercial pressures dictate’
‘Concentrate on staying up’
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