Things Not Looking Good For The Cheats

[White Noise]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/feb/25/david-sullivan-west-ham-survival?INTCMP=SRCH

David Sullivan says West Ham have less than 50-50 chance of survival

• 'We have underperformed all season,' says co-owner


• Relegation to Championship could cost the club £40m


Stuart James guardian.co.uk, Friday 25 February 2011 18.00 GMT


David Sullivan believes West Ham United's chances of being in the Premier League next season are "less than 50-50" and has warned relegation will cost the club £40m. In a brutally honest assessment of the club's predicament on and off the pitch, the West Ham co-owner has told the Guardian the team has "underperformed all season" and admitted their higher profile players will leave if they slip into the Championship.

West Ham, who have spent almost the entire season in the relegation zone and are only above bottom of the table Wolverhampton Wanderers on goal difference, have 11 games remaining and five of those are against teams currently in the top six, starting with Liverpool's visit to Upton Park on Sunday. The portents are not promising and Sullivan believes many West Ham supporters are resigned to being relegated.

But Sullivan refuses to give up all hope and, when searching for crumbs of comfort, points to the way a couple of Premier League clubs who have defied the odds to stay up as well as the difference he expects the fit again Thomas Hitzlsperger to make to the team. Yet his positive outlook stretches only so far, and as he surveys West Ham's precarious league position and the fixtures to come, he acknowledges they face a "huge struggle" to pull clear.

"We've got a tough run-in," Sullivan said. "But we've underperformed all season and we're now paying the price. I think, being realistic, [the chance of surviving] is less than 50-50. I actually think a lot of the fans are almost accepting we're going to be relegated. That's the case with the supporters I speak to, unfortunately. I say to people we're a long way from being relegated, but we have to do better. It's going to be a huge, huge struggle. But strange things happen in football. West Brom were 25-1 on to be relegated one year and got out of it and Fulham were almost gone one year [and survived]."

Sullivan attributes West Ham's dismal season to a number of factors, including shortcomings at both ends of the pitch. He also highlights critical refereeing decisions that have not gone their way and the injury Hitzlsperger picked up on the eve of the season as evidence of how things have conspired against them. Yet when results have been so poor for so long, Sullivan knows that West Ham's plight cannot be painted as a hard-luck story.

"I think all the players would admit we didn't anticipate being where we are," he said. "Not having people like Hitzlsperger has been a terrible blow. He was our marquee summer signing, and to get him injured three days before the start of the season playing for Germany was real bad luck. But you can't just put it down to that. I think, basically, we haven't risen to the occasion when we've needed to and defensively we've been fragile."

Contingency plans are in place if West Ham are relegated, but the numbers do not add up in the Championship. When Sullivan took over at Upton Park 13 months ago, along with David Gold, the club's other co-owner, West Ham were £110m in debt. Sullivan said that figure has come down to the "low eighties" but he predicts there would be more financial pain in the Championship as well as the inevitable departure of their stellar players.

"We love the club and we'll keep it in business but it's very frightening what we've inherited, and we could just do without relegation. There is probably a £12m-15m hole in the Premier League and a £40m hole in the Championship – that's a real figure. Either way, we'll plug the holes, but the problem in the Championship is that you've got to plug the hole and keep enough of a side together to get you back up, which is very difficult to do."

Hitzlsperger, who has an exit-clause in his contract, would be the first out of the door, with Scott Parker likely to be next. "I don't wish to discuss individuals but you must accept there will be certain players that don't want to play in the Championship and you've got to respect that," Sullivan said. "You can't have players that don't want to play for you and if you get a satisfactory offer, they'll have to be sold. If you don't, they won't. We're not going to be skinned alive by teams."

Sullivan, however, still clings to the hope that a summer of discontent can be avoided. "We have got a decent team at the moment, probably the best team we've had all season. [Demba] Ba is a good striker, [Robbie] Keane is injured, unfortunately, but Thomas will make a huge difference. If he had scored five or six long-distance goals up until now, which he would have done if he had been playing, we would be in a completely different position."

[LBNo11]

...he's just saying that to make his motley cru(de) look good when Brooking Associates ride in like knights in shining armour to yet again save the day for those luvverly cheeky cockerneys.

That said I hope he is right..

[epsomraver]

My hearts bleeds for them, :014: :014: :014: they need to go down as you should have with the Tevez affair.

[clint23]

West Spam will go down, will go down! (at least I hope)  :HD:

[MJG]

I think the fact that they have to play five games against the top six pretty much kills them to be honest.
On the other hand Wolves only have to play one game against them,and I think they have a good chance to stay up.

I'll love it if the spam go down.

[Snibbo]

How the bloody hell did we lose to them on Boxing Day. If we'd won that, we'd be safe and they'd be pretty much dead and buried. :019: