Season Preview 20in20 - West Ham

5 of 20 - The Hammers

Author

nick lochner
July 28, 2023

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“The Hammers”

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2022/23 Finish - 14th Place, Won Europa Conference will play in Europa League

A pretty big London club known for consistency and developing players who typically underspend the largest clubs. Underperformed in the PL last season making up for it by winning the Europa Conference and securing a Europe spot, and David Moyse’s job. Have spent 65% of their seasons in the top league, and have never fallen below the second league.

The Club

Located in East London (Stratford)

London Stadium, 60,000 capacity

Rough estimates

$400M Annual Revenue (15th worldwide, 7th PL)

$150M Player Payroll

History on the Pitch

  • Highest finish, 3rd in 1986

  • 3 FA Cups

  • 2 Europe Cups

Ownership

West Ham’s current ownership is led by David Sullivan (interestingly made his initial $ in Porn) who owns 38%. Sullivan and David Gold partnered to acquire WH by buying 51% in 2010. In 2021, Czech Daniel Kretinsky, purchased 27% of WH and was appointed to the Board. In early 2023 David Gold (age 83) passed away and his 25% stake is now owned by the family. The remaining investors make up the final 10%, most notably WHU LLC, led by American Tripp Smith with 8% of the club.

Sponsorship

Home/Away

Biggest Rival - Millwall

  • Millwall, requiring extra protection for statues around the park and significant violence on occasion. With Millwall in the Championship, its been less intense of late.

  • Sheffield United became a rival when W Ham forced a transfer of Carlos Tevez, who helped them avoid relegation & sent SU down.

The Culture

8th highest attendance in all of Europe and 4thin PL at 60,000.

WH is considered by many The Academy of Football, known as the top club for their youth development system. Since the 70’s WH has contributed a considerable number of players to the English National Team. Also has led the PL in “home grown players” averaging 6-7. They do have a history of losing top players to “bigger clubs” who spend more. See Declan Rice this year. WH also has a significant hooliganism history, most notably the Mile End Mob and Inter City Firm. Green Street , a 2005 movie starring Elijah Wood, is named for the street next to The Boleyn grounds. In 1989 Gary Oldman stared in The Firm, a made for TV drama about the activities of Inter City Firm. The club has tried to remove the Hooligan moniker.

The Boleyn

Also referred to as Upton Park, was home to WH from 1904-2016. The grounds were part of Boleyn Castle, named after Anne Boleyn Queen of England (1533-1536), second wife of King Henry VIII. She was executed by beheading for treason and other charges. In 2008, The Other Boleyn Girl film was released based on the book by the same name.

Supporters You May Recognize

  • Russell Brand

  • Lennox Lewis

  • James Coreden

  • Keira Knightly

  • Matt Damon

Song

The story behind West Ham and Bubbles…..is shrouded in mystery. Composed in 1919 in the USA, its said the WH version took off in the early 1920’s, in part from a a U14 player who looked exactly like a kid from a famous painting entitled “Bubbles”.

Game Day Pub Guide

Fan Sites

Official Twitter

@WestHam

High Follows on Twitter

@WestHamViews_ (34k)

@WestHambuzztap (22k)

@UberWestHam (28k)

The Team

The Gaffer

  • David Moyse (Scotland), 41yo

  • 11 years at Everton, then short stints across leagues and full time to WH in 2020 and led WH to their club record 65 PL points in 2021.

ODDS

  • To Win League +25,000

  • To Be Relegated +2000

  • To Finish Top 4 +2,000

  • To Finish Top 10 +100

Roster Notes

Full Roster click link

Projected to finish 10th

  • No Americans on the roster.

  • The loss of captain Declan Rice (23) will hurt.

  • Lukas Paqueta (Brazil) $50M, Jarrod Bowen (England) $45M, Tomas Soucek (Czech) $40M, Nayef Aguerd (Morocco) $40M are the highest paid on the team and will need to step up.

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