Leaving Selhurst Park is one of football's great pleasures. Though it may have been with just one point instead of all three, getting away from possibly the worst away end/s in top flight football around Europe, unscathed, is in itself a cause for celebration.
Fast forward about 12 hours. Sighs of relief once again audible in claret and blue-ville when the news broke that 99.9% of West Ham fans wanted - the departure of Baroness Brady, after 16 years of rule.While it was not the only boardroom shuffle to take place - Nathan Thompson also departing immediately and Andy Mollett announcing his impending retirement - it was the understandably the biggest of the lot. Long mooted, long wanted by the support. The Hammers United campaign for change in ownership getting its biggest scalp so far.
On a seven-figure salary, being bestowed with bonuses relating to club directives, she will leave not with the adulation and respect that she so desperately craved, but joy that one of the main protagonists in a spell of the club's history, largely thought of as miserable, has left the building.
Disdain towards the loyal support, ignoring valid criticism over the way our move from E13 to E20 was handled, branding us customers not fans, a self-proclaimed "deal of the century" being nothing of the sort, a key part of the skewed and propaganda selling off of our home.
The Brady legacy is one of bitterness. From her to us and reciprocated in spades.
The self-proclaimed bastion of female industry, a women excelling in a man’s world has forgotten that her key associates in her day roles over the past 40 have less than exemplary morals and business track records. Professionally sneering at naysayers and The Apprentice contestants, for performance not nearly as bad as hers. Well it’s added fuel to the fire.
The claims from our new co-chairman praising her role in the club’s development under her tenure. A trophy may have been won, but financially, commercially and aesthetically it was a failure.
Left with nothing but a brand name and staff. Being usurped growth wise by less salubrious teams. Not capitalising on media profile, a location in the heart of London’s financial heartbeat and delivering a stadium experience lacking in quality for ordinary fans, let alone the increasingly lucrative corporate market.
What next for us? Well Karren’s last power play was seemingly negotiating a transfer of shares from the Gold family to Daniel Kretinsky, so he holds equal numbers as that of David Sullivan. This brings some shift in dynamic, with Sullivan seemingly no longer holding the upper hand.
Will the Czech be the saviour we’ve clamoured for? I suspect not, looking at the way he has made his fortune. But his methodology and business acumen do seem more modern and capable than the eighties-based, tart-it-up-and-dazzle-them strategy of the GSB regime.
We live in more demanding times, now. People want change, and want it instantly. We have to bear in mind this is the mere start in a shift in power. Hopefully a shift in professionalism and modernisation in a footballing sense. Change will come, be it under Kretinsky or potential new investors.
But it will be change, albeit starting from a negative position. A root and branch overhaul is required, having inherited the financial and emotional debacle left by the Baroness. Revolutionising that will take time, patience and - as Newcastle and Aston Villa have found out - not just money.
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