West Ham have got their Championship campaign underway as the Hammers look to bounce back from last season’s dire relegation campaign.
Nuno Espirito Santos’ side finished the season in 18th place to end a 14-year stay in the top flight, a period which saw them regularly oscillate between European pushes and survival battles.
Throughout this time, West Ham have been heavy spenders in the transfer market, but according to one former Hammers star, their recruitment has lacked the foresight and planning to build a balanced squad.
Tony Gale on West Ham’s transfer policies
Ex-West Ham favourite Tony Gale believes that the constant turnover of directors of football and other key transfer figures has meant cohesiveness has been lacking, leading to the club falling behind one of their rivals from across London.
“Fulham’s buying strategy has been far and away the better of the two,” Gale tells FourFourTwo. “It's designed to build a more balanced squad, with a good sell-on value for players.”
This has seen the Cottagers establish themselves as a mid-table Premier League side following their 2022 promotion from the Championship, with finishes of 10th, 13th, 11th and 11th over the past four seasons.
An effective transfer model, where the ability to develop players so that their sell-on value increases alongside their effectiveness on the pitch is vital in the current financial climate, but for Gale, this is not something West Ham have been able to replicate.
“West Ham seem to have been more reactive than proactive in the transfer market, taking action when a weakness is exposed,” he bemoans.
Central to his problem has been the revolving door of decision-makers behind the scenes.
“Then there’s been the constant changing of directors of football and the people recruiting,” he adds, before raising the basic issues that this problem brings on.
“Who’s been doing the buying? An agent comes on the phone and sells you his player. Well, every agent is going to do that.”
Gale’s ultimate conclusion here is one of another former Hammers favourite.
“What was it Harry Redknapp said? ‘They’ll have your trousers down’.”
