The plan
West Ham’s steady decline continued last season with a ninth-place finish – one down on the preceding season and two down on the team’s maiden campaign in the top flight, in which they reached the FA Cup final.
The Hammers are a somewhat unknown entity going into the 2021-22 season, having shipped out 10 players and recruited the same number on permanent deals, as well as the underrated and versatile Arsenal full-back/winger Lisa Evans on loan.
Jack Sullivan, son of the West Ham co-chairman, David Sullivan, stepped down as managing director in May, leaving the general manager, Aidan Boxall, to take more responsibility for running the women’s setup. The manager, Olli Harder, was appointed more than a month after Matt Beard, who had built the team almost from scratch in the summer of 2018, left by mutual consent in November last year.
The New Zealander failed to elicit a…
