West Ham need a new owner and a new plan to keep their top stars like Declan Rice and compete in the future says ex hero Joe Cole.
When Rice took over the captaincy from Mark Noble this season, West Ham fans already pretty much knew it would be his last in claret and blue.
For the avoidance of doubt, though, Rice effectively told the world he fully intends to leave West Ham in pursuit of Champions League football and competing for the top trophies during an England press conference at Qatar.
There has been a clear management of fan expectation over an impending summer sale since with soundbites from sporting director Mark Noble, Rice’s West Ham teammates and now Joe Cole.
Leaving their beloved Upton Park for the London Stadium was supposed to stop all this.
It was supposed to strengthen West Ham’s ability to compete in the transfer market for signings and – just as crucially – keep their best stars.
In fairness, to a degree it has. And Rice has already played many more games than members of West Ham’s so-called golden generation who left for similar reasons to those cited by the current Hammers captain.
But every player at almost every club has their price and West Ham are not immune. Many could argue the Hammers have done well to keep Rice this long.
As fans, though, it is no less galling. If we are stuck in this perpetual hamster wheel how will it ever be possible to keep players and build teams capable of consistently challenging the elite?
Well quite simply, it won’t, according to Cole.
West Ham need a new owner and a new plan to keep their top stars like Rice and compete in the future says ex hero Cole.
Speaking on BT Sport Cole said he understands Rice’s position having been there himself at West Ham.
And he believes the only way to compete is with ambitious new owners and a new plan.
“I’ve been in Rice’s shoes,” Cole – who left his boyhood club West Ham for £6.6m in the summer of 2003 and went on to win six major trophies with Chelsea – told BT Sport.
“You’re fighting, you’re fighting and you’re fighting for your club and you want to win trophies and then you speak to your mates in the England squad and it can be frustrating.
“I’m sure Declan would love West Ham to be challenging for the Champions League places and for there to be a new plan with a new owner.
“But he’s got a decision to make at the end of the season.”
Cole is of course spot on. Yes you might get lucky and a manager brings a team together with a great spirit that punches well above its weight for a season or two – as David Moyes has just done with West Ham and as Leicester did back in 2015/16.
But realistically the only way to truly compete is money – and lots of it – being spent on the right players year in, year out.
That is never going to be the case under the current owners and it isn’t really the case for the majority of Premier League clubs outside the so-called top six.
It does make you wonder what is the point. But then seasons come along like the two West Ham have just had and it gives you that hope again.
Whether West Ham can attract mega rich, ambitious new owners in the near future is highly unlikely given both Man United and Liverpool are on the market.
Last week football finance expert Kieran Maguire spoke to Hammers News on the latest about the West Ham ownership situation and prospects of a takeover.
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