Source: Daily_Mail
MARTIN SAMUEL: Hang on to Avram? You may as well save Green Shield stamps
Avram Grant says he manages each game at West Ham as if it is his last. There is a reason for that. It should be. [LNB]Grant has three games to save his job, apparently. That was after the three games he had to save it earlier in the year. And the Save Our Season match at home to Wigan. [LNB] Under pressure: Avram Grant (right) laughs with Blackburn caretaker Steve Kean[LNB]Who knows what they will be saving next at Upton Park? Green Shield Stamps, maybe. They would be about as much use.[LNB]Meanwhile, as the club continues its seemingly inevitable journey towards the Championship, Grant maintains the chuckle-headed mantra that fortunes are on the upturn. [LNB]It is said you can't fool all of the people all of the time, but he has cleverly succeeded in fooling the two that matter: David Sullivan and David Gold, joint owners of a club they will surely steer over the precipice unless change is made.[LNB] More from Martin Samuel... Martin Samuel: World domination? Not when England keep collapsing like this 19/12/10 MARTIN SAMUEL: Are people thick or what? Now YOU get to pay for ads. Simples!16/12/10 MARTIN SAMUEL: Let's just call them...The Feeble Association14/12/10 Martin Samuel: Old Trafford defeat proves Arsenal's familiar failings still dog Arsene Wenger13/12/10 Martin Samuel: There's never a dull moment in Harry's game at Tottenham12/12/10 Martin Samuel: There's only Chelsea left for Tevez if he stays in England...12/12/10 MARTIN SAMUEL: Jacko's rave from the grave is no Thriller10/12/10 Martin Samuel: Hughton's end was a tawdry business, you can bet on it07/12/10 VIEW FULL ARCHIVEAt this rate, West Ham will be relegated quite early. They have taken 13 points from 18 games at an average of 0.72 points per match. [LNB]Multiply that through the season and West Ham finish on 27.4 points, a total that would mean demotion in every one of the Premier League's 18 seasons, take bottom spot in 11 of them and 19th place in six more. [LNB]The highest 27 points would have taken any team is 18th in 2002-03, when West Bromwich finished with 26 points and Sunderland with 19.[LNB]With the revelation that without Premier League football there is a £40million black hole in West Ham's accounts and that is a conservative estimate, allegedly the figure is nearer £50m the cost of relegation appears devastating. [LNB]Actually, it is even worse than imagined. The more West Ham dwell in the shadow of relegation and a perilous financial future, the less appealing it becomes to hand them the keys to a national project, such as London's Olympic Stadium. That leaves Tottenham as the only game in town. [LNB]West Ham could end up in the Championship, their best players sold, with a Premier League-Champions League club in a new 60,000 capacity stadium on their doorstep. [LNB]The fallow ground of London's east would be surrendered, with West Ham as the poor relations. [LNB]Unless Sullivan and Gold's big idea was to reinvent the place as an upscale Leyton Orient, this is catastrophic. [LNB]Put simply, relegation this season could have the most far-reaching consequences of any setback for a major football club in modern times, changing its dynamic, perhaps for ever. [LNB]Leeds dropped two divisions but will return one day perhaps next season as a significant force in a one-club city. [LNB]West Ham risk losing not just their Premier League status, but influence over their traditional territory. [LNB]It seems incredible that Sullivan and Gold would speak of owning West Ham as a lifelong dream and then allow this to happen. [LNB] Are these men fools? Or is there some other factor motivating them to hang onto a failing manager [LNB] All because they are determined to show loyalty to their manager or are too mean to pay him off.[LNB]What other reason is there to persevere with Grant when better men are available? Sam Allardyce, recently sacked by the new regime at Blackburn, has a fine track record in adversity. Grant, too, has experience of relegation battles, but not positive ones.[LNB]Taking his time at Portsmouth and West Ham into account, he has been bottom of the Premier League for all but three weeks in the last year and, even without the 10-point deduction, Portsmouth would have been relegated with him in charge.[LNB]No wonder Grant asks to be judged on factors beyond league position, as if with an established system of meritocracy tried and available we should now be looking at the unquantifiable for clues. [LNB]Yet even if we do, the evidence mounts up against him. Are West Ham playing better football than last season? No. [LNB]Have transfer dealings improved greatly? No. Is the future brighter? No. Has Grant introduced and improved young players? No. Has he made the club more appealing? No. Is he getting more out of the first-team group? No. [LNB]Prized asset? Will Scott Parker fetch a hefty sum if West Ham go down? [LNB]Then what are these elements that Grant believes will state his case? [LNB]Maybe he cuts a lovely orange at half-time or always lines the team bus up nice and straight in the car park. Maybe he is a master of deadpan comedy like Max Wall. [LNB]Whatever his talent, it is in a field that is not immediately visible to the neutral, because in what there is to be seen, he is a bust.[LNB]There is almost charming naivety in the speculation over how West Ham will resolve their financial difficulties in the event of relegation. A fire sale of top players is predicted, but that never generates the money that is expected.[LNB]It is not a sellers' market when a club needs to balance the books, as West Ham discovered the last time they fell from the Premier League. [LNB]After a season in Division One they were forced to cash in on Michael Carrick, receiving £2.75m from Spurs. After two seasons at White Hart Lane, he was sold to Manchester United for £18.6m. [LNB]So forget the idea that West Ham will happily trade Scott Parker, Rob Green or Mark Noble; they will get the going rate for a club facing financial oblivion. [LNB]West Ham's best player when the club went down in 2003 was Joe Cole. He was 21 and regarded by some as the most naturally gifted English midfield player since Paul Gascoigne. He went to Chelsea, as one of the first money-no-object signings of new owner Roman Abramovich.[LNB]The fee was £6.6m so how much can West Ham hope to accrue from the sale of the uncapped Noble, or from Parker, who will be 31 in October? Even Chelsea have grown wise to the wiles of the market place.[LNB]What are they waiting for at West Ham? It will not cost ostensibly more to remove Grant in the summer than it would now, except in real terms, with a bill of £40m, and Tottenham's tanks parked permanently on a Stratford lawn. [LNB]At which point it will be too late to change anything at all.[LNB]FA's feeble solution is... ask the fansAfter six months of exhaustive research and intense thought, Julian Eccles, the group director of marketing and communications at the Football Association, put his paper on the future of the FA Cup before the Professional Game Board this week and decided to wait for it ask the fans.[LNB]Oh yes, he's a real radical is our Julian. [LNB]Bereft of ideas or courage, it has taken him half a year to come up with the concept of a vox pop of some tired old proposals to take place around the third and fourth rounds in January. [LNB]His paper confidently predicts he can turn the results around by May. It's certainly all go at the Feeble Association.[LNB] Rocking the foundations: Noel Gallagher brought a touch of glamour to the draw, but Julian Eccles is struggling to be original[LNB]These well-worn schemes include seeding Premier League clubs to play away in round three, lobbying UEFA to let the winners into the Champions League, trialling goal-line technology, abolishing replays and regionalising the competition up until round five, although Julian makes clear these last two would represent a 'substantial departure'. [LNB]You can hear his knees knocking already.[LNB]Not that, having canvassed the fans, there is any guarantee that their views will not be binned anyway. [LNB]'Presentationally, canvassing such ideas is likely to be regarded as an unusual, even radical initiative by the FA,' writes Eccles, biting his lower lip and pouring a calming slug of whisky. [LNB]'However, given that the ideas are only for consultation, not approval, we have the opportunity to distance ourselves from them as well.' [LNB]So there you have it. We ask the fans and if they come up with anything too clever, we ignore them. [LNB]Better than nothing, you might think. At least we're part of the process. And on the surface of it, that is true. Six months of consideration, however, should have taken the FA a little deeper. [LNB]There is, you see, no such group as The Fans. They're all different. I would abolish replays to ease fixture congestion. [LNB]My dad would have replays until a winner emerged, as they did in the old days, with epic contests going to four or five matches. [LNB]The Fans argue and contradict each other all the time, which is why a strong governing body is required to cut through the chatter with vision and leadership.[LNB]If the best they can come up with is a half-baked market research exercise, we might as well hand the lot over to The Fans. [LNB]They couldn't do a worse job than the Feeble Association.[LNB] ..........................................................................................................................[LNB]JoseMaria Olazabal is expected to be named Ryder Cup captain next month, ata press conference in Abu Dhabi. Presumably, the continent of Europewas unavailable.[LNB] ..........................................................................................................................[LNB]Safe hands? David Dein is the favourite[LNB]Popular wisdom has David Dein, in all likelihood the next chairman of the Football Association, as one of the sport's sharpest politicians. [LNB]He opposed Arsenal's move from Highbury, backed the stagnant takeover plans of Alisher Usmanov and was a major figure in the England 2018 World Cup bid that garnered one vote from outside this country. [LNB]Some may feel his hand a little overplayed. One chapter from Dein's past that is often forgotten, however, is his participation in the three-man arbitration panel that ruled against the Football League decision to block Wimbledon's move to Milton Keynes in 2002, paving the way for the theft of a football club. [LNB]Dein's contribution makes him an accessory to one of football's most shameful episodes, rather than one who can be guaranteed to do what is right.[LNB] ..........................................................................................................................Chickens could be coming home to roost at Blackburn faster than anyone imagined. [LNB]Failing to beat Premier League patsies West Ham on Saturday means the club lie six points clear of Wigan, who have a game in hand at home to Aston Villa. And Phil Jones may be out for the season with a knee injury. [LNB]Still, no doubt the friends of Jerome Anderson will have all the answers come January and it will be Champions League, ahoy. Champions-something, anyway.[LNB] ..........................................................................................................................[LNB]King Carlo will fallIf Carlo Ancelotti thinks he can do another 10 years at Chelsea he is living in a fantasy land. [LNB]This is what will happen. One season he will fail to win the Premier League title and will be sacked, because that is the fate of all Chelsea managers under Roman Abramovich. [LNB] Fantasy man: Carlo Ancelotti needs a reality check if he thinks he can survive that long at Stamford Bridge [LNB]Jose Mourinho was the exception, lasting one month into the next season after coming second, and Luiz Felipe Scolari did not even get to the end of his first campaign, but for Avram Grant and Claudio Ranieri, a single shortcoming spelt the end, as it would for Ancelotti. [LNB]Abramovich does not invite dynasties, other than his own.[LNB] ..........................................................................................................................[LNB]Keith Harris, broker of football clubs and most recently in the headlines as a prime mover behind the doomed Red Knights takeover of Manchester United, is relocating to New York, following the merger of Seymour Pierce with the Gerova Financial Group. [LNB]He was passing through, like so many of these guys with their big ideas for football. Your club is just another job, another client, another deal to them, no matter the spin. Never forget that.[LNB] ..........................................................................................................................[LNB]The idea that Premier League clubs be allowed more than one sponsor's name on their kit to increase revenue should be resisted at all costs. [LNB]One only has to look at Brazilian club shirts with a name on the back, two on the front and one on each sleeve to see that the power of team colours can quickly become lost. [LNB]Wearing additional logos may seem a good way to spin a fast buck, but to lose identity is a heavy price.[LNB] ..........................................................................................................................[LNB]Full of surprises: FIFA President Sepp Blatter [LNB]Lord Moynihan, chairman of the British Olympic Association, fears legal challenges from excluded players if Great Britain's football team for 2012 includes only Englishmen.[LNB]He also believes the BOA would be in breach of the Olympic charter.[LNB]Sepp Blatter (right), president of FIFA, has guaranteed the home nations that grouping together for this one occasion would not be used as a precedent to threaten their sovereignty, but for some reason they seem not to trust him. Why ever not?[LNB] ....................................................[LNB]Well, isn't the Qatar World Cup the gift that keeps on giving? [LNB]As predicted, the major European leagues have not taken too kindly to FIFA's airy claims that season schedules be altered so it can take place in January. [LNB]The words 'breakaway league' are being mentioned again by the privileged elite, despite having their continued supremacy all but guaranteed by Michel Platini's financial fair play strategy. [LNB]No pleasing some people. ..........................................................................................................................[LNB]The incomparable Captain Beefheart (January 15, 1941 - December 17, 2010) will be greatly missed; the incomprehensible Captain Tevez (August 18, 2010 - date of latest hissy fit) not so much. [LNB]If Tevez does not want to be at Manchester City, he has forfeited his right to lead the team. [LNB]If he has seriously considered playing for Manchester United again, as was reported at the weekend, his credibility in English football is beyond repair.[LNB]'You'll not be thrown but dive and sink, your pockets filled with earthly burdens, when they could be filled with light and back with wings.' [LNB]You tell 'em, Captain. RIP.[LNB] Explore more:People: Sepp Blatter, Sam Allardyce, David Sullivan, Paul Gascoigne, David Gold, Joe Cole, Luiz Felipe Scolari, David Dein, Jose Mourinho, Keith Harris, Roman Abramovich, Carlo Ancelotti Places: New York, Leeds, London, Olympic Stadium Organisations: Football League, British Olympic Association, Football Association
