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ID: Would it be an exaggeration to say that almost for the first time since the days of Harry Redknapp that it’s a happy club?
SD: I have been at the club ten years and it’s the happiest I have seen it. There is a genuine belief that there is a permanence to it.There’s a clear structure. This isn’t just ‘we’ve signed a particular player who’s performing very well, and as long as he stays fit, happy days’. There’s a clear – I’ll use it early on – The Project – there’s a clear business plan…
ID Very New Labour. [laughs]
Exactly! Spin, spin spin! [laughs]. There’s a clear direction that has a certain longevity to it. I believe in it. Gianfranco believes in it. Gianluca [Nani] believes in it. I think the supporters have every right to be cynical and wary but I think they want to believe. They see a structure and a long term future.
What reaction have you had personally from supporters over the last few months? I don’t think many people believed you when you came out in January and said you wouldn’t sell players, but you delivered.
The death threats have reduced a little bit, but they haven’t completely gone away. Joking aside, I used to look at the unofficial sites. I stopped doing it but Greg Demetriou, my head of media keeps me informed of the general views. There can be quite emotive comments and some of them quite personal. I used to go home at night and I couldn’t sleep. I remember when McCartney left and we signed Ilunga, but we couldn’t announce it because of various red tape we had to get through, I really was getting death threats. One said that if I left the club they knew who I was, where I was going and I would be killed. It is quite disturbing. The danger is that you start to make decisions that aren’t rational because you are conscious of a personal perception. So I try to ignore it and make the right decision for West Ham. There have been lots of incidents throughout my ten years at the club but I can honestly say I have always done what is best for West Ham United. So I can sleep at night and I believe in my own ability so I am not here for my own personal gain. I am here because I do believe I can contribute to this football club and I believe we can achieve success.
Do you think that your comparative youth in running a club like West Ham means that people haven’t taken you as seriously as you might have liked them to?
I think yes, there is a danger of that, but the fact I have been here for ten years means I don’t look particularly young any more! Maybe. I make decisions that someone who is a little more conservative wouldn’t – Zola, for instance. But I have a team around me now which is a young team at all levels. I think that’s an advantage for us. It’s supplemented with experience. I think especially after the last year and a half I am taken seriously. We are negotiating CEOs of Inter Milan, Barcelona. We are on a very very high stage. They respect what we as a club, and me as a smaller part, have done. I don’t think that’s an issue any more. In the past ten years I have probably experienced more as a CEO than many others do in a lifetime.
When you talk about “The Project” what is a realistic ambition to emerge from those plans?
I am the wrong person to ask because I am ambitious. My answer will be to win the league. It’s not a stupid remark because we are in a league, it’s a race and if you’re not in it to win it, why on earth are you taking part? Simply to exist is not what I am about. If we get the right set of circumstances and continue to grow as a club, why not? Why can’t we achieve the ultimate? I was with Gianfranco just before the season ended and I said, well, if we sign these players we’ll definitely finish seventh and qualify for the Europa League next season. And he said: “Only seventh? No way, we’ve got to finish much higher than that”. He shares my ambition and my view. Of course I am aware of the financial constraints on the club and the perceived financial requirements to compete at that highest level, but we’ve got our vision and we believe in it. If we continue to develop the players, who knows where we can end up. We are certainly not going to limit ourselves and say we can never finish at this level because we all believe we can.
Moving on to the ownership question, it appears there is now a degree of stability but the owners are effectively the creditors of the former chairman. They are not in it for the long haul so they will want to maximize their return at some point. It’s not an ideal situation, is it, if you want to launch a bid to get into the top four?
I disagree to be honest. It’s a perfect scenario. The past year and a half has shown that if we can run the club without interference… It’s not just my decision, it’s Gianfranco, Gianluca, the three of us. Our decisions are not questioned and we can push the club forward. Straumur allows us to do that. Their vision is that over the next three years the world economy improves. They do intend at some point to invest in the club and grow the asset and then realize it in three years time. Three years is a lifetime in football. If the three of us can work together during that time and grow the club, wonderful. The one thing I cannot control is ownership issues. My big fear is that tomorrow a new owner comes in, doesn’t want Gianfranco as the manager, wants some high profile individual, doesn’t believe in the ethos of the project, wants us to sign the most high profile midfielders and centre forwards and it’s all destroyed. We have seen the impact of owner led issues at Newcastle. We have seen what it can do to a football club. We have had a year and a half of the football club being run on footballing principles and Straumur will hopefully allow us to continue that for the next three years. Then Straumur – and this is where I will try to be involved – will hopefully sell to someone who believes in Gianfranco, believes in The Project and simply continues the development. But unfortunately that’s out of my control.
Do you on a personal level feel quite sad about what’s happened to the previous chairman and indeed Eggert Magnusson in some ways? They clearly were not the kind of people who wanted to come in and rip the club apart, they seemed to me to have a vision and the world economic circumstances meant they weren’t able to realise it.
It’s dreadful. BG and Eggert are invited back to games. They had the best interests of the club at heart. I hope BG comes back to games next season. He personally has been dreadfully affected by the world economy. Individually he is a bankrupt. He’s lost everything. He loved West Ham. He really did. Again, during his personal troubles, and I am not saying he would have done this, but it would have been easy for him to say Scott, sell Upson, sell Green, sell Parker and I’m having that money. That pressure was never put on me at all. On the contrary. He completely endorsed the plans I had and backed me when I was having some pretty difficult conversations with the banks. Their place in history should be remembered fondly, and they have really contributed to a club that has improved during difficult times. It’s no small thanks to them.
Part Three to come soon!
Nice interview. It mentions that he’s dealing with the CEO’s of Inter Milan and Barcelona.
Does that mean Messi is coming?
Hey, we can dream.
Beat me to it Dujon! I picked up on the Barca comment too. Eidur finally signing after all the speculation?? Who knows…
Good to see that Scott has a sense of humour about the way he’s perceived. Perhaps another year of steady improvement, a higher finish, and a good cup run will see more people believe in the project.
Just a shame about the death threats. Fans can be so pathetic sometimes and take things too far
Wow. Can I get any more optimistic about the next few years?
SD obviously has real ambition, but ambition that’s realistic. aarrgh, getting too ecited about next season already
Nurse! The pills!
Good interview and helps to clarify some of the background and, more importantly, the future plans for the club.
As said above, it is a shame if SD still gets the abuse. It serves no purpose in the pursuit of making our great club greater. We have enough “enemies” without turning on ourselves.
I may have missed something somewhere in print but I have never seen “The Project” explained in full.
I get the gist of producing a team from young talent and securing financial stability with a view to selling the club in the medium term. But it would be good to understand all the strategies behind the “vision”
Will this be covered in Part 3?
I too feel a creeping optimism reading this. Bugger! Last time I was this optimistic we got releg……
Excellent so Eidur is on his way then?
CelticHammer just thought you should pick up on this part when SD said about BG – “Individually he is a bankrupt. He’s lost everything.”
Still believe BG owns 60% of Straumur then? Why don’t you come back to TeamTalk and just say you’re sorry for being wrong. Not to me personally but the rest of the guys quite like you when you’re talking football…
Once Straumur emerges from nationalisation and its sharestructure is revealed if I am wrong about Thor and BG being majority owner, I will be happy to say so. Of course thats very easy to say as I know I am not wrong.
As for Dux keeping the company line, hardly surprising now is it? Well it is to you but then again you dont even know where you live so thats not much of a shock.
Oh no, not another cat fight
lol you all mention eidur, but hey didn’t someone mention bojan a few articles back…..
This is certainly telling us fans what we want to hear. I like the fact Scott Duxbury is now keeping us more informed. I hope the clubs keeps to it’s word and continues to progress. Finishing mid-table last year was OK but not worth gloating about too much. Prove will be if they can make Europe next year. It does seam to be getting harder with likes of Man C and the Spuds improving but so do we need to. At least we can all be a little more optimistic then years past. C.O.Y.I
If West ham ever wins the top division in my lifetime, I will die a happy man. I was there when we came so close in 86 (watched the brilliant repeat of “Times of our lives” last night on SS1)and it still hurts.
One thing that everyone seems to have missed in the interview to date, is Zola’s reaction to SD when he suggests we can finish 7th next season.
“7th? We can do better than that”.
Gianfranco – you were a legend as a player and I think you will become a legend as a coach at Upton Park.
COYRRH.
Will you all please stop using the ‘O’ word?!
Roll On Part Three!!
Loving the interview Iain. Hope part 3 gets to the nitty gritty of the Tevez saga.
Great Iain. I am looking forward to part three. Especially the Tevez saga. I hope he can talk about any new signing?
The meeting with Barca was and still is to try and get Bojan on loan, not Gudjohnssen…. Though like with Mancini, there are a lot teams asking abount Bojan.
Scott Duxbury your finally growing on me. I have been a critic in the past but in letting us fans know whats going on will get most of the supporters behind you and your team in what West Ham are trying to achieve. I can see why the current chairman is basically letting you run the show a lot clearer now as well from both interviews. Run with it Scott your the man with the experience and the Project but watch your back when the new owners eventually come in.
if we got eidur gudjohnsen/bojan and balotelli/mancini i would be over the moon it would add that little bit of flair up front we need. 7th would be a good season considering u have the 1st mini league: liverpool, man u, chelsea
2nd: spurs, man city, everton, arsenal
3rd: us, fulham, aston villa
just please add 2 attackers, right back and a squad player(backup left back)
nice to see that they read these sites and take in what we as fans know is right for the club.i guess sd has realised the club needs to be in touch with the fans as apposed to sky sports or the papers so maybe the club website could do more !i think reading from this the most important asset we have at the club is not any player but zola and nani and sd are abusing that in a superb way !
scott….keep up the good work and keep these interviews going as us fans live and breath for them.coyi
ps ian….top job mate!
Good interview Iain.
Great Job Scott, Gianfranco and Gianluca.
Can’t wait for next season!
Great interview, good to see honesty coming out. Really sad inditment on the mentality of some supports that death threats have been made.
Its been interesting that there has not been a huge rush on transfers in the Prem – money is obviously a lot tighter.
Its good to be linked with some “flair” players – just what Zola was employed for.
Roll on part 3 if part 1/2 are anything to go by should be a good read. I hope there will be a part about the Tevez affair its about time we heard the truth at last. Keep up the good work SD with Zola & Nani. Roll on the 1st game. C`MON U IRONS
Great article. Hope I’m not being too gullible but I believe in Duxburys vision and in most of the article. There is a real sense of teamwork behind the scenes, on the pitch, and by all reports on the training ground. All bodes very well for next season and beyond. Welcome Jiminez, and perhaps Mancini. I want the season to start today personally. So exited. GZ,Clarke, Carr & Co can really put a permanent stamp on our History, I believe it..COYI
There was a time, not so long ago, that i thought Duxbury was a tosser feathering his own nest, responsible for the lunacy surrounding the Tevez debacle, and a person on a ridiculous salary with no real affinity with the club…….Nowadays, whenever i read something by him he comes across as professional as well as genuinely giving a f*ck
Iain,
what’s your gut feel?
Would still like to see much more credit to Steve Clark and Tony Carr – not all of this is down to GZ
Im hoping part 3 involves a plan to bring the geat Sir Carlos Tevez back to his home.
I go along with Reg, above. I was very sceptical about Duxberry as he was the only common factor at board level all the way through the Tevez affair and he was originally the legal director.
I really hope that the way he is coming over now is showing us his true colours as it seems so positive and, dare I say this about West Ham, sensible.
In terms of the coming season, it could be difficult to improve much on last year’s league placing but I’m sure that the entertainment levels will continue to rise. After all, last season, in terms of league position, was no improvement on the previous one but nobody can seriously argue that it wasn’t a far better season due to the way we played.
Once the season starts there will always be some surprise performances. At least one of the clubs expected to do well will start poorly (Tottenham again??) and another will over perform (as Hull did to start with).
Our aim must be to challenge the likes of Tottenham, Villa, Everton and Man City.
I’ve had the impression for a couple of seasons that Everton have, to a degree, defied gravity and, for all of their resilience, could have a less successful season this time around.
Man City may find it will take time to bed all of their new players in and will almost get unsettled when Bellamy throws a wobbly/punch.verbal volley, nine-iron (delete as necessary).
Villa, again, look the best placed to challenge the top boys as long as they get a bit more depth to their squad. They have already lost Barry and Laursen who were both really important players for them to they may end up a bit thin.
That leaves the Spuds. I am busy sticking pins in effigies of Redknapp and Robbie Keane and will move onto the rest of the squad in the coming weeks. So that’s them out of the equation.
That leaves us in 5th unless Arsenal have a bad run. Then we are Champions League.
Simples………………
This is excellent stuff. Iain, thank God you are a West Ham fan.
I endorse the comment made by Francofile; an explanation of “The Project” would be appreciated and would, I am sure, be of great interest to us all.
Good Luck.
Hi West Ham fans read a article in news of the world. And there is a suggestion what Joe cole could be on this way out from the bridge.
That would be a great capture!!!
That was really interesting to read. Last season was a dramatic improvement in the football we played.
At first, I wasn’t sure about having Nani on board, but with him, SD and Zola, we have a trio who myself and I think the rest of you guys, believe and actually trust in.
The one thing I am looking forward to the most next season is being off the back pages for financial problems and off field antics, but being on the back pages for playing well, abd being a good club.
great interview
Richard :
Are you sure that would be a good move he had a bad injury last season and why would Chelski be wanting to get rid of him the season before last he was one of their best players, don’t think it would be that good a move, Bosanigwa may be a safer bet and we need a RB ? both out of our price range I think.
Iain : great interview and ALL positive stuff
How good the future looks COYI!!!!!!!
Flynn : Not sure how you got to that split on the PL IMO Top 4 as normal then any of Everton Villa West ham Man city will make up the the top 8. How you can say spurs are better that us is Beyond me Sorry
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/no-more-freddie-ljungbergs-1418128.html Here is the link to the original interview explaining the “project” enjoy
Anton back no thanks,always lived off this brothers name,complete crap defender!
sorry Anton your championship.
Blimey, sounds like we could have been in a whole world of poo had BG pressed the panic button.
Its not just ‘The Project’ that gives me optimism its the fact that we managed to finish 7th last season despite circumstances conspiring to ruin us.
Strength from adversity, not just blind optimism from spin.
The futures bright, the futures Claret & Blue
COYI
P.S Just hearing Anton might be returning, if so that’s got to be the best loan deal in history.
Gavin/Francofile “The Project” was a road map drawn up by Duxburry after the disasterous spell in 06/07 when The Egg was chairman and Curbs was manager, when they blew close on £50M on players who were either not up to the job at hand (Davenport,Quashie, Faubert etc) or constantly injured and unable to play (Parker, Upson,Ljunberg).
It was bascially a complete overhaul of how the club was run. A Technical Director was brought in (Nani) to look after the off field, football aspects of the club. If the manager identified a position where we were short of quality then it was up to Nani to go and find a player who fitted the bill and conduct the negotiations to bring that player in. Due to the ineptitude of the medical staff that Curbs employed Nani was also charged with recruiting some of the best medical staff in football.
An integral part of the project was that the first team squad would be reduces to 22outfield players with 3 keepers. This meant that injuries had to be kept to a minimum and the plaers had to have a high level of fitness. Nani brought in Marco Cesarini and Giorgio Gasparini from Milans sporst lab.
The transfer policy was also changed. We were now only looking to sell a player if a better younger cheaper option could be lined up to replace him, for example when we sold linda to sunderland for £6M and replaced him with Ilunga for £2M. We were also looking to bring through as many young players as possible and to recruit some of the best youngsters in Europe to train at the academy, this it seems will prove to be a masterstroke when you look at the talend we have already attracted to the club. Young players like George Grasser, Hólmar Örn Eyjólfsson, Sergio Sanchez have joined the club and look like great prospects for the future.
The final piece of the puzzle was the appointment of Zola and Clarke as the management team.
Probably the best piece written on the project can be read here http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/no-more-freddie-ljungbergs-1418128.html
The overall aim of the project is to allow a club our size to compete for European football and possibly more without crippling the club with debts and mortgaging its very future like so many other clubs have done.
Liverpool may be about to agree a refinancing deal but it is very interesting that the only bank who would touch them are their current lenders RBS who were in effect left with the choice of forcing Liverpool into administration or agreeing a refinancing deal. Walton MP Peter Kilfoyle had actually tabled a parlimentary motion to try and get the government to force RBS not to agree a new deal. It has already emerged that the deal is going to cost the club a lot more than their existing deal which has interest payments of £40M a season. The club lost £42M last season and is now facing higher interest payments when the only means they have of increasing their turnover is to win either the Premier League or Champions League, a failure to do so will leave them facing a loss that in my estimate will be close to £100M next season.
The simple fact is that for any club to spend the kind of money it takes to mount a sustained title push you need a stadium capacity of at least 60,000. The catch is the cost of building that stadium can cripple the club with a huge mortgage as it has with Arsenal. These probelems are increased ten fold if someone comes in and buys the club in a highly leveraged buy out as Glazer did with ManU. He essentially used the clubs own cash flow to finance the cost of the loan he took out to buy the club. That loan currently stands at £660M and is likely to be increased to £750 IF and it is a big IF they can get someone to refinance them next year. This loan will continue to increase in every round of refinancing as the club is only capable of servicing the interest payments and makes no contribution toward the principle.
Even those clubs with wealthy owners are not immune as their fortunes are intrinsically linked to that of their owner. Added to that the difficulty of blended a team of individuals who essentially joined for the money. Only Mourinho managed to deliver the title to chelski despite the hundreds of millions they blew on players since Roman bought the club.
Now factor in Micheal Platini’s plan to force clubs to reduce their debts by banning them from lucrative European competitions and the project makes even more sense!
to go bit off track here but i think this is some good news asit as artical frm someone in inter milans well credited staff.
“Ora bisogna però sfoltire la rosa — conclude Moratti —, anche perché questi ragazzi rischiano di non giocare mai, di andare quasi sempre in tribuna. Il problema è che in giro ci sono pochissimi soldi, praticamente niente”. E infatti Branca e Oriali sono chiamati ai salti mortali, spesso dovranno ricorrere ai prestiti, magari contribuendo pure al pagamento dell’ingaggio. Sarà probabilmente così per Amantino Mancini, che sembra essersi convinto a raggiungere Luis Jimenez al West Ham. A giorni l’okay del brasiliano, giocatore sponsorizzatissimo da Gianfranco Zola, che nei mesi scorsi aveva pure fatto un tentativo per Mario Balotelli. Rivas piace a Bari e Palermo, mentre Obinna è parecchio tentato dal Napoli, nonostante le offerte di Monaco ed Everton.
sorry tht it is in italien and it came from west ham fans . org but it basicll sttes that despite offers from some big clubs jimienez has tempted Mancine to west ham with him imo this is reliable and i hope to see this tranfer go through soon. i did do this on free transltion so if any one speks italien would you mind translating and posting for all as i dont think free transltions are very reliable thanks in advance
completely off football for a moment but does anyone else find it sickening that the Iranian government have used to the last 3days to crush pro democracy demonstrations as the worlds media is too busy interviewing “experts” to find out who gets custody of Michael Jacksons sofa!
It just highlights how far the profession of journalism has fallen in recent years. Every single news professional involved in the decision to igmore what is happening in Iran in favour of devoted all their air time to some dead singer has the blood of those protesters who have died on their hands.
I dont know if Edmund Burke ever actually said this, though many say he did but its true “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing” I do know that he said “When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.” we have disassociated ourselves from those protesters and they are dying while we worry about what happened in Jackos final hours! Who cares!
alaldevo/CelticHammer
Many thanks for the link to the article on The Project and your summary, CH. It confirms some of the things I had read but puts the whole strategy into context.
I will keep the article as a reference for the season ahead. IMHO, all Hammers fans should keep it as a mantra, so that we engage our brains before venting our less than lucid thoughts upon the team or management of a club that just might be heading in the right direction!
Celtic :
firstly this is not a political site as,I seem to remember you pointed out to someone Not so long ago.
Secondly IF for Argument sake an important member of West ham died suddenly or someone important to you Hero idol etc Would you be wanting to know What was going on In other countries? or is it that perhaps this affects you more,business whatever? This is your personal view and with respect you should perhaps make sure the rest of us give a monkey’s.
For the record I am NOT a Jacko Fan but can understand why it maybe very important to some. AS for Iran the only thing I care about there is the BRITISH service,s and would much prefer that they ALL come home and leave Iran to it’s own devices.
IF at any time it is in the best INTERESTS OF THIS COUNTRY and we have to go back I would expect the leaders of the world to sort it acordingly and IF I wanted to find out more OR offer an opinion I would look to the appropriate SITE.
bottom line get off your soap box and take it somewere else cos as you said WHO CARES !!!!
CelticHammer
With reference to your last comment on the switch of attention to Michael Jackson from the democratic disaster in Iran.
I am afraid it is yet another example of the media’s “dumbing down” of the news, with the priority given to anything “celebrity”. In this case, at least this was a celebrity in the true sense of the word.
But the priority this event has gained over the far more important issues being raised by the collapse of democratic reason and justice in an unstable part of the world, is symptomatic of simply lazy journalism in pursuit of a quick buck.
Actually E1 what I said has indeed got relevance to football and especially to West Ham.
We have been the target of journalistic hacks for the better part of two seasons now. They have only taken a break from damning our club for the Tevez affair when they are pontificating our impending doom. They have caused decent fans a lot of unnecessary worry with their half baked stories. They have said we are on the verge of administraion, that our best players will be sold in a fire sale, our big stars want to leave along with the usual Hammers bashing that accompanied the whole sheffield unentitled compensation claim.
Not once have the present any balance or attempted in anyway to show our side of the story.
Why? Well as Francofile said, it would get in the way of them making money.
How many papers will a headline that reads “Hammer owner in financial trouble but the club looks ok and should carry on as normal” sell?
Now how many will you sell if you title the story “Another Nail in Hammers coffin as owner faces ruin”.
Forget about the concerned Hammers fans who will want to read the story, think of all the spuds, milwall and blunts fans who will buy it just to gloat!
@Celtic, I really get your point, but most people here, it seems, are switched on in terms of engagement in the wider world, We’ll find that information from other sources, even Iain’s non-WHU blog if we want the Tory slant on it (sorry, Iain). As an extreme, I see a lot about the Iran election theft on Twitter from a US actress who I follow cos she’s a huge baseball fan.
WHTID, though, I’m not convinced it’s the best place for it.
l bet Gordon Brown will make Jacko a lord for getting the papers off he’s back for a while.
WHY start your comment and I quote’completely off football for a moment’ Are you a journo an MP or a spin doctor very good NOT the way you can turn things round just like the people you say you dislike so much.
As far as your 2nd paragraph is concerned time and time again you as have I said don’t believe all you read in the papers.
If it is sentational then it will sell papers FACT OF LIFE.
The point is your comments had nothing to do with football or west ham and because of that I will not enter in to anymore conversation with you unless it does.
Sorry to everybody else for boaring you.
I for one love all your input Celtic keep it comming mate
ITS BOJAN TRUST ME HIS THE ONE THATS COMING TO US FROM BARCELONA NO LIE
Back to the interview please. This is my favourite bit:
It’s not a stupid remark because we are in a league, it’s a race and if you’re not in it to win it, why on earth are you taking part? Simply to exist is not what I am about.
that is incredibly true, i everytime i hear interviews from SD i like him even more, he seems to be the perfect man for our club