Top West Ham legend kills the board over unforgivable decision as £120m opportunity wasted | OneFootball

West Ham legend Tony Cottee has spoken exclusively to The Debrief podcast about West Ham’s struggles in the 2024/25 campaign.

Julen Lopetegui’s men have so far struggled to build on David Moyes’ top-half finish last term, with the east London-based outfit currently languishing in 14th with a game in hand.

That’s despite the club having invested significant funds during the summer transfer window, with the likes of Max Kilman, Crysencio Summerville and Niclas Fullkrug joining on permanent deals.

Unsurprisingly, this has seen the 58-year-old’s future at the London Stadium become increasingly uncertain, giving rise to fresh links with potential replacements like Premier League great Jose Mourinho.

* Came in halfway through the season

West Ham shouldn’t have sacked David Moyes

(Photo by Alex Davidson/Getty Images)

Cottee admitted Lopetegui was far from being his first choice of manager to replace Moyes who secured West Ham’s first major trophy in over 40 years with a 2-1 victory over Fiorentina in the Europa Conference League final back in 2023. A first European trophy since 1965, it’s worth emphasising.

“It’s a difficult one really. I think, in general (and I wouldn’t say I was one of them), a lot of the fans felt the club had a good summer in terms of the transfer activity,” the former Hammers striker told The Debrief.

“Quite obviously there was a lot of money spent in the summer, £120m, and I think there were 10 players we either signed permanently or brought in on loan.

“Yeah, there was expectation. It’s so hard to pinpoint where things have gone wrong. There’s been a change of manager, we all know that, and it was a big gamble by the club. I said that six months ago, I’m not just saying that now because things haven’t gone well. I felt it was a big gamble in the first place, it wasn’t my choice of manager to take over the club, but I’m not in charge! So you can respect their opinion and give them the benefit of the doubt.”

The board is at fault: West Ham backed the wrong horse

There’s still, of course, time for Lopetegui to turn things around in the English capital.

It’s likewise worth noting that the Spaniard has so far been deprived of new centre-forward signing Fullkrug who registered 16 goals and 10 assists in 46 appearances for Borussia Dortmund in 2023/24. The absence has since seen the Hammers rely on ageing favourite Michail Antonio (34) with goals somewhat hard to come by this term. With the January transfer window fast approaching, a potential new arrival to shore up the forward line may very well be due.

Cottee was asked whether West Ham might find themselves in a better position had they instead kept David Moyes and provided the same backing: “Of course it would. I think with the sequence events that began with the club winning the conference league in June 2023 where you can argue the club was at a peak – the highest peak it’s been for 43 years since they won the FA Cup in 1980 – and then you lose your captain (signs for Arsenal) and the board, for whatever reason, decide to not renew the manager’s contract and let it run down. That’s where I’ve got a problem with what went on.

“You either give the manager the reward that I felt he deserved, in other words, a four or five-year contract, or you maybe look to change things there and say, ‘You’ve won us the cup and we want to go in a different direction’.

“But to just let the contract run down, it put everyone at the club in a difficult position.

“There was £120m spent in the summer – we didn’t need to spend it in the summer. We needed to spend in the January window at the beginning of this year. People forget West Ham were sixth and in the Europa League; they needed money spent to build up the squad and help the players get through what was a difficult campaign because you’re playing Sundays and Thursdays.

“That money wasn’t spent in January. They instead brought in one player who was Kalvin Phillips (and we all know went on with that loan spell) and they got rid of four players out of the squad.

“I can’t get my head around what happened in January and then you go and spend money on a load of players in the summer. But then it’s too late! By that time, it’s very easy for a rot to set in. It can set in very quickly at a football club and unfortunately with the decisions made at board level, and I’m not talking about the manager, those decisions led to where the club was. Ultimately they had to part ways with David Moyes because of what they created.

“To say I’m an unhappy Hammers fan at the moment is an understatement.”

Are West Ham at risk of relegation?

It has to be a genuine concern for decision-makers at West Ham given a loss to Newcastle on Monday night would see the club left with only a three-point cushion ahead of the relegation places.

That’s quite the fall from grace for an outfit that lifted major silverware in 2023 and secured a top-10 finish in the prior campaign. More to the point, there’s now a serious risk of the side being forced into a relegation battle between now and May.

Sacking Lopetegui and bringing in an experienced manager like Jose Mourinho might allow the club to be steered back into more comfortable pastures. That said, it hardly screams of a strategy geared towards long-term, sustainable success.

Perhaps the Hammers might have been better advised to build from a position of strength with David Moyes.