Simon Jordan says West Ham are already being used by agents and managers for leverage after the short-lived Ruben Amorim saga.
Rarely has there been a buzz of excitement and anticipation around West Ham as there was on Monday evening.
When David Ornstein revealed Ruben Amorim, the attack-minded Sporting boss, was flying to London for talks with the Hammers, it sparked a media frenzy.
Here we had one of the most coveted and highly-rated young managers in the world and there was a chance he might replace David Moyes at West Ham?
Amorim proves too good to be true for West Ham
‘Too good to be true’ was the overriding thought of most Hammers fans of a certain vintage.
But as more information leaked out, hopes rose among even the most pessimistic and cynical of the West Ham faithful.
West Ham were willing to pay Amorim’s hefty release clause, give him a big transfer kitty and freedom to shape the squad.
The 39-year-old was said to be attracted by the Hammers project. And alleged longstanding suitors Liverpool were reportedly looking at other targets.
But alas like most of West Ham’s dreams, the prospect of hiring Amorim faded and died literally overnight
Simon Jordan says West Ham are being used
Julen Lopetegui, an uninspiring name as far as most West Ham fans seem to be concerned, has re-emerged as a candidate. Much to the delight of Milan fans according to a report from Italy.
The likes of Maurizio Sarri, Marco Silva, Kieran McKenna, Graham Potter, Hansi Flick, Steve Cooper and others have also been linked.
None quite capture the imagination as Amorim had.
It raises the ugly prospect of West Ham’s search for a new manager being played out in the press and on social media over the next few months.
In a summer where the club really need to be fully focused on a major rebuild which could require as many as 10-12 players being signed.
Now one former club owner turned pundit has shared his opinion on the situation.
Simon Jordan says West Ham are already being used by agents and managers for leverage.
Jordan believes Moyes will be leaving at the end of the season regardless.
And he suggests we have already seen with Amorim that agents and managers will use the Hammers to raise their profile for jobs elsewhere.
‘Can’t keep their traps shut’
“David I think is done at West Ham, I think he’s done by his own hand,” Jordan said on talkSPORT.
“We’ve been led to believe that he’d been offered a new contract by West Ham. I think personally, without any inside knowledge, that he’s going to walk away.
“His contract runs out, he announced to the media that there was a new contract in the offing and he’s not yet signed it. And it may well be that he thinks his race is run at West Ham.
“He thinks he’s exhausted what he can. His style of football and the way that he wishes to play doesn’t appeal to what seems to be an ever-increasing number of West Ham fans.
“He will look at it and go ‘Well I took over from (Manuel) Pellegrini, took you away from relegation, built you a side which gets you to the top end of the Premier League, that gets you European honours and goes deep into even more European competition and if that’s not good enough for you then it’s not good enough for you’.
‘Indexing their clients’
“And the West Ham fans will say it’s a style of play issue, we’ve got players like (Lucas) Paqueta and (Jarrod) Bowen and (Mohammed) Kudus we’d like to see our team further up the field’ and both sides are probably right.
“David’s way of playing is a slightly more reserved, not so flamboyant way of playing football. But it gets you results, clearly. So I think David will not be, in my view – I hope I’m wrong – at West Ham next year, of his own choice…
“Of course then what happens is, West Ham are going to have to replace him. So then what you get is agents that can’t keep their traps shut indexing their client to jobs to create leverage somewhere else possibly.”
