And so the latest phase of capitulation, after being on the cusp of something special, is in full effect.
Back in the sixties, West Ham saw a team containing three World Cup winners struggle domestically. The seventies, from a Cup Winners Cup final to Division Two in rapid succession. The eighties, from nearly winning the title to misery in three years.Fresher in the memory will linger the likes of Glenn Roeder's record-breaking relegation. The dismantling of Alan Pardew's young swashbucklers. Failure to meaningfully back Sam Allardyce and Slaven Bilic after great seasons.
Now the spark of that night in Prague, almost instantly extinguished by David Sullivan announcing the departure of Declan Rice, to now. A team forced to sell an asset to a club we despise, because without doing so we’d be unable to fund a desperately needed squad shake-up.
Mohammed Kudus remains something of an enigma. Following his arrival from Ajax, he lit the place up. Our Starboy.
Running defences ragged, providing audacious goals. The direct, and exciting style he gave us was a real boost to the senses. A cocky swagger, a trademark celebration and more notably, a pacy, bums-off-seats player. He seemed so suited to us.
But post exiting Europe against Leverkusen, then following the parting of ways with David Moyes, we saw a different Kudus. His body language in pre-season last year seemed off. No more the enigmatic, self confident attacking threat. He seemed initially stifled by Julen Lopetegui’s attempt to implement a new ethos, which should have further improved him.
Rumours of half time bust-ups, the "head down and run" approach seemingly found out. We saw nothing of the Mo of season one. Instead of a livewire, we saw a surly, unhappy and distracted figure. The mercurial ability to notch goals vanished, the take-ons reduced and were largely ineffective.
Before a selfless, hard working and impressive performance at the Emirates, quite possibly his best act of Kudus' second season had been rendering two of his new teammates prone on the pitch as we got dismantled by that mob from N17. He looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but here.
And now after failing an intelligence test, he has his wish. £55m leaves us with a profit on the player, but not as large as had been wished for. Sadly, the reality is that, after last season, we may have been fortunate to get that much.
The ability, the promise is there, but it doesn’t come consistently enough.
Hopefully, his departure, and that of some of his former West Ham colleagues, will see the start of a rebuild. But don’t build your hopes high. A trusted colleague of ours from KUMB has highlighted just why Kudus had to depart. Sell to buy, as we owe approximately £200m to other clubs.
Cash flow is a huge, huge problem. Due to the failure to move into a stadium with adequate corporate facilities, short term thinking is leaving us floundering.
The man who will no doubt cop the flack, Graham Potter, looks to have been hung out to dry by his new employers, before even being given a chance to mould a squad of his own.
While we see clubs around us buy, announce plans to upgrade stadiums, we look to be shopping at the Poundland end of the transfer market, stuck for another 89 years in a ground which neither suits or befits us.
Strap yourself in for a bumpy ride.
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