Jamie Carragher has waded into the debate over who pulls the strings at West Ham when it comes to transfers and sounds a warning about the manager.
The progress made at West Ham under David Moyes took a lot of the heat off the club’s majority owner David Sullivan.
Some Hammers fans will never see eye-to-eye with their billionaire co-owner.
The list of grievances is long among certain factions of the West Ham fanbase.
But a serene period under Moyes saw West Ham set their record ever Premier League points total, win a first trophy for 43 years and qualify for Europe three seasons in a row for the first time ever.
So no matter your view on Sullivan and the ownership, it has not been all bad.
The stadium move will always be a big divide among fans of course.
A major bone of contention among supporters has also been Sullivan’s influence over recruitment and transfers.
While Sullivan still plays a very active role in West Ham’s transfer dealings, he did take a significant step back from driving it with the appointment of technical director Tim Steidten.
In the summer the Hammers signed nine players to the tune of £155m.
West Ham are actually the fifth biggest spenders in the Premier League since the arrival of Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky three years ago this month.
Carragher shares honest view on Sullivan influence at West Ham
Until the win over Newcastle, the much-hyped window had looked like being a flop.
Steidten and Sullivan have been taking flak for their part in that.
But West Ham suddenly showed up for the first time this season in the superb 2-0 victory at St James’s Park.
And the summer business suddenly looked a lot better too.
Because new signings Max Kilman, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Crysencio Summerville and Carlos Soler were all fundamental to a win that has kept Julen Lopetegui in a job.
Before the game nobody was giving West Ham a hope in hell of a positive result.
So much of the build up was spent looking at where things had gone wrong for the Hammers.
Transfers was a big area highlighted on Sky Sports with it being suggested by presenter Dave Jones that “nobody knows who is really making the signings” at the London Stadium.
After the shock win, West Ham’s owners revealed what they loved most about the performance.
Suddenly the narrative around Lopetegui had changed, especially when West Ham’s running stats for the game were revealed to be the second best anywhere in the Premier League all season.
Pundit Jamie Carragher shared his honest view on Sullivan and sounded a Lopetegui warning to West Ham.
Carragher sounds warning over jumping the gun on Lopetegui
“Now I’m a big admirer of West Ham,” Carragher said on Sky Sports.
“I like the fans, there’s something about the club, there’s a bit of character, a bit of spirit. (But) I’m seeing that severely lacking here (before the Newcastle win)…
“I actually think Lopetegui is maybe a little bit fortunate that they didn’t pull the trigger in the international break – we’ve already seen Steve Cooper moved on from Leicester – and if this doesn’t change very quickly I can see there being a change here.”
When discussing West Ham’s transfers, the former Liverpool man said recruitment may be a factor.
But he feels if Sullivan is having an influence then he is entitled to as the owner.
“You can maybe look at what’s gone on above the manager as well, the players that they’re bringing in, the recruitment,” Carragher said.
“David Moyes definitely had a problem with the sporting director (Steidten) as well.
“That’s always been the accusation at the club in terms of that the owner is heavily involved transfer-wise.
“But listen, you know what, it’s his club, he puts his money in.”
The mood changed dramatically, though, as West Ham put on their best performance of the year.
In fairness the performance and result took everyone by surprise – especially West Ham fans.
It has breathed new life into the season and given supporters fresh hope.
But after the game Carragher said it would be naïve to suddenly think Lopetegui is the best thing since sliced bread simply because his players finally put a proper shift in.
‘Don’t be fooled by one off West Ham running stats’
“Not yet (do the running stats prove the players are working for the manager), it’s one game,” Carragher said.
“Why have they not been running that far in the previous games?
“I don’t think people will be putting more in because there’s talk about the manager losing his job.
“If they are that enthralled with the manager and they think he’s such a great coach and such a great man, they’d have been doing that from day one.
“It’s yet to be seen whether this is a one-off from West Ham. I said before this game kicked off, it probably couldn’t have gone any worse since the manager came in. Not just because of where they find themselves in the table but it’s how they’ve lost games.
“And when they’ve gone one behind or they’ve found it tough in a game they’ve just rolled over. I saw it at Anfield, I saw it in the Tottenham game, it’s happened too often this season.
“This is a great result, it really is. Now the next one (Arsenal) is a tough one, they could lose that game, you’d probably expect them to lose that game in terms of who they’re coming up against.
“But this has got to be the blueprint for them going forward in terms of the running stats, in terms of clean sheets…
“In terms of the criticism I gave them beforehand, I wouldn’t get too carried away with running stats in one game if they’ve been so low in the others.”
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