West Ham will play their first second-tier match in 14 years today when they visit Burnley in their Championship opener at 4pm.
The club’s relegation at the end of last season came after the Hammers spent a decade trying to establish themselves as a Premier League force, only to be undone by a series of poor transfers and recent managerial instability.
As he sees his old club get set for the new season, former Irons defender Tony Gale believes that the drop could represent an opportunity for the slate to be wiped clean,
Gale on West Ham’s reset
“We’ve spent as much money as everyone else, but we’ve spent it unwisely,” Gale tells FourFourTwo. “It’s time for a reset.
“We’ve got to be looking more into the players we buy – studying their characters, not just their playing style. Character is even more important in the Championship than the Premier League – nobody can underestimate that division.”
Gale insists that the team cannot assume they will be in the promotion mix come the end of the season. “It’s no good thinking that six teams will get into the Championship play-offs this season, so we’ll get promoted by hook or by crook,” he continues. “West Ham have to be aiming to go up automatically. It’s not going to be a cakewalk.”
One thing the Hammers do have going for them, Gale adds, is their fanbase. “The fans have rallied around, with 30,000 season tickets sold within a few weeks of relegation. They’ve shown their loyalty.”
Gale has first-hand experience of relegation and believes mentality will play a defining part this season. “Going down is all about your mindset,” he continues. “I did it twice and came back up. We were lucky because the footballing world wasn’t so financially based then, and a lot of us stayed. Relegation clauses didn’t exist at the time. Our attitude was that we went down, so it was our responsibility to get them back up.
“The first thing on a lot of players’ minds nowadays is finances. No doubt some will have pay cut clauses written into their contracts but there might be boys going into the Championship who have hardly played lately who’ll be on £100,000 a week.
“West Ham went down because of complacency, thinking that the three sides who come up are always going to go down. But Sunderland were sensational and spent wisely. Leeds? Their home record was brilliant and Elland Road kept them up.”
Yet despite the anguish of last season’s campaign, Gale does have room for optimism this year.
“Relegation isn’t the disaster that everybody thinks, though,” he says. “I’m really looking forward to the Championship. If you’re a fan, you’re a fan. West Ham may lose the tourist supporters who came over to London to watch a game of Premier League football and visit the old Olympic Stadium. Maybe 10,000 will drop off the average gate.
“But you’ll still have the same number of away supporters, because they’ll all want to come to our stadium. Even little Lincoln will fill it, don’t worry about that, it’s their cup final. Our fans have shown their loyalty and hopefully the club is about to turn a corner, for a brighter future.”