The moment of truth approaches

On the surface, West Ham supporters may have plenty to be thankful for as of the conclusion of activities on Boxing Day.

An unlikely point against Chelsea that was earned with an excellent performance, coupled with a win against Pompey that by no means looked certain following their improvement under Avram Grant. We could have bottled it in both these fixtures, as relegation-threatened sides often do, but instead we took four points from six. A positive step, along what is going to be a treacherous road to ultimate safety.

It's no coincidence that in these two fixtures we conceded only one goal in total with Matthew Upson present - and no coinicidence that in the three fixtures prior to these two we lost every match, conceding eight goals in total, without Upson. It tells you all you need to know about how important Upson is, not only to our defence, but to our survival in the top flight. He is simply irreplaceable this season, as are Scott Parker and Carlton Cole. The one player who could be sacrificed, if and only if we got Ben Foster on loan from Man United, is Rob Green. But even to sell Green would, in my opinion, be a mistake, at least in this window.

From a supporters' point of view it is simple as could be: with the team in a relegation battle, why sell ANYONE, as we're struggling as it is? Why do anything to make life even more difficult for a threadbare squad, especially if whoever we brought in was not an adequate replacement for who we sold?

That is not what I would call logic; it's simply common sense, which any schoolboy would understand.

If that is the case, then why all the speculation about possible sales of key West Ham players in the window? Surely, if the owners want to sell the club, their best chance of doing so at a good price is if the club is NOT stripped of its key player assets, and if its position in the table is improved. Of course,holding on to your best players and moving up the table go hand in hand. Then why is the media so convinced that the likes of Upson in particular, and Green, Parker and Cole could all be sold? Surely the sale of one or more of these players would see us relegated. Yet CB Holdings claim that they are no pressure to sell the club quickly. If that is the case, then why would CB want to sell players and jeopeardize their entire investment?

Why? Because the interests of CB Holdings do not appear to be aligned with the interests of West Ham supporters . CB Holdings do not seem to be terribly concerned one way or the other whether West Ham avoid the drop or not. If they were concerned about our potential relegation they would not have sold Collins, and they would have successfully re-signed Neill for another season to ensure that we did not have the fourth-worst defence in the League. And they would have bought both cover for Cole and a strike partner for him in pre-season, as opposed to waiting til the season was five weeks old to get Guillermo Franco. And therein lies our problem as supporters - not only is our club competing against 19 others in the Premier League, but it is also competing against a 20th opponent, the club's ownership.

The owners of West Ham don't appear to be bothered about our potential relegation, which would of course see them lose their entire investment in the club. Sky revenues would disappear, ticket sales would plummet and merchandising profits would vanish etc. Even the money that we would get from sales of players would be marginal as the sales would all be cut-rate desperation deals. So why are CB Holdings seemingly oblivious to all this? For a start, at the moment the only thing on their minds seems to be selling the club at some unrealistically high price. If they can find some fool to pay over the odds for the club in a recession they'll have it. Otherwise, they have no intention of selling - and certainly not for under £80-100million.

Well if CB Holdings are not going to sell in the near future, then certainly they don't want to see us get relegated, right? WRONG. It is a damn good thing that we got results against Chelsea and Pompey because if we did not, there could have been a firesale in January. Were we sitting bottom of the table New Year's Day, with little prospect of beating the drop and no chance of finding that "magic buyer" prepared to reach CB's sky high valuation of the club, what would stop CB from selling all our top players? Absolutely nothing. Which is why a point would not go amiss at White Hart Lane either.

Simply put, I think CB Holdings' game is to extract as much cash out of West Ham as it can in the short term, meaning in the January window, even if it results in our relegation. They don't seem at all concerned about the terrible impact that all the window speculation has had on the morale of the players, managers and supporters and on our results thus far this term. From the selfish perspective of CB Holdings if we go down,so what ? If we go down, that could force the club into admistration. And who holds the bag then? Not CB Holdings. Because if the club goes into administration, then all those debts that West Ham have could disappear in smoke. Leaving CB with no obligation to make good on those debts, nor to honour contracts with players, managers and other staff.

After all, if CB are really broke or skint, who is going to be able to come after them here or in Iceland? If CB are facing insolvency themselves, then who is going to be able to collect anything from them? Nobody. So one could argue that in essence, CB Holdings are sitting on a free option. If it all goes pears, it's not their problem - they may be able to just walk away from it and say "blame it on the credit crunch and the recession." In which case it will be the players, managers, staff and most importantly, the supporters who are hung out to dry.

Upson has 18 months left to go on his deal and you can easily understand why he does not want to extend it under the current West Ham ownership. But that is no excuse for selling him in January. He could still be sold in June, at a decent, even if somewhat lower price than now, without putting the club's survival in doubt now. But that assumes that the Icelandics actually care about West Ham United as a going concern. Which, in my opinion, they don't.

And that is why CB Holdings, ladies and gents, are a cancer which must be exterminated from West Ham United, before they exterminate our club.

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