Guest Post by DC
It’s a funny old game. It has certainly been a funny old few months in terms of ‘breaking news’ on social media. Zabaleta, Hart, Arnie, and Hernandez all signed. All experienced Premier League players fitting in with the general consensus from last season – the need for players who can walk straight into the 1st XI and improve it with immediate effect. “Let Positivity Ring” as Martin Luther King might say. This was however before a single competitive ball had been kicked in anger.
Perhaps one of the unforeseen consequences of the growth of social media is the incredible speed of continual demand for change and improvement. Yesterday is dead and gone. Too much change is rarely seen as a bad thing nowadays, especially where a baying mob is concerned. We are but kids in our very own Premier League Candy Shop.
Admittedly, there’s always been this idea out there that ‘todays news is tomorrows chip paper’. This was out and about when Professional Journalists were solely responsible for generating our news stories. Now it’s quite clearly over to the Ladies and Gentlemen of the street. Uncle Tom Cobley and all (he says being one of them). Fake News is this generations version of ‘Bonking’ Boris, the new on-trend expression to trouble the guys and gals at Oxford English Dictionary.
In terms of West Ham United and the constant breaking news that encompasses all of our wants and needs, I liken the sheer speed of it to a runaway train – a runaway train being a place of sheer panic. The dominant image that raises its head when I think about a runaway train is one almighty Train Crash!
“The runaway train went over the hill and she blew, The runaway train went over the hill and she blew, The runaway train went over the hill and the last we heard she was going still, And she blew, blew, blew, blew, blew.”
We needed a new Right back. TICK. We needed a goal scorer. TICK. Goalkeeper. TICK. We’re in for Arnie. TICK. Defensive Midfielder. X Whoa – The End is Nigh. Sack the Manager. TBC. Sack The Board. Yeah Right! The wheels just keep on rolling.
Whatever we’re given in our Premier League Candy Shop, there’s always Unfinished Business to attend to. Just one more deal, one more tweak and then everything will be rosy in The West Ham Garden. We move swiftly on these days. Mild Chronic Distress is never far from our door.
Yet contrast this to when the Professional Media, from time to time, look back nostalgically at successful periods in English football. We always find the same expression being used. The Shankly Year(s). The Paisley Year(s). The Clough Year(s). The Ferguson Year(s). The Wenger Year(s). The Ferguson Year(s). Mourinho’s moved about too much – but he’s good Press. One Manager at One Football Club. The little ‘s’ wields a lot of power when it comes to the success of a football club. That boring old word ‘Stability’ springs to mind.
Which brings our runaway train down the track to blow out the latest ‘rekindled’ breaking news story, Rafa Benitez, the answer to our prayers. The man who will no doubt change the trajectory and future history of West Ham United Football Club. Without a doubt. A no brainer. Welcome to the ‘New Level’. All will be good in the House of Gold and Sullivan when the new Messiah arrives. The missing piece in this complicated West Ham jigsaw puzzle.
Yet, take a brief look at Benitez’s record and you’ll see that he has managed 12 clubs during his 24 years in Football Management. Besides spending 3 years at Valencia and 6 years at Liverpool – the two clubs where he was most successful – Benitez has spent no more than 2 years (give or take) at any of the other 10 clubs he has managed. His average tenure at those other 10 clubs is just 18 months. It certainly appears that if Mr Benitez is not happy (or up to the job), he doesn’t hang about for too long.
Benitez left Valencia after ‘differences of opinion’ with The Board on positions that he wanted strengthening. At Liverpool, he was at loggerheads with the new owners for 2 years, demanding that they back him in the transfer market so that the club could progress. At Inter Milan, he told the club to back him with new signings or consider whether they wanted to keep him.
Whilst all of this aligns nicely with the media stories coming out of Newcastle, it does raise a question or two in terms of how Benitez might take to life at West Ham and in particular, how he might fit in working alongside Mr Gold and Mr Sullivan. If Benitez were to replace Bilic, I wouldn’t be too quick in cracking open the Champagne. Perhaps leave it on ice for 18 months or so.
If we look at some of the current gripes being aimed at Slaven Bilic, Benitez is also well known for playing key players out of their favoured position to suit a formation, namely converting both Steven Gerard and Dirk Kuyt into right-wingers. As we know from his time at Liverpool, Benitez is one of the biggest believers in Squad Rotation, something he has been hugely criticised for in the past and will no doubt be criticised for in the future. Perhaps the great change that some people might think they’re getting won’t be that much of a change at all.
Now might be as good a time as any to discuss who will replace Benitez?
This runaway train of ours is a fast moving one.
Let’s hope it doesn’t pick up too much speed and crash.