If you look at the recent results and their league position, it might be hard to use West Ham as a case study in how to go forward as a football team. Â But if you take a step back and look at the work they are doing on a level above the pitch, then the London club is a great example to clubs around the world how to build for future success.
The stadium
Football clubs make money from lots of different avenues and one that might be overlooked is from the stadium itself.  If you look at the big earners in this area, Arsenal made £100 million from the Emirates Stadium in 2014 while Manchester United made over £87 million from Old Trafford and Chelsea netted over £71million from Stamford Bridge.
Prior to moving to their new stadium, West Ham made just £19 million last year from Upton Park.  But the increased size of the new Olympic Stadium can dramatically improve their stadium revenue.  The capacity is already at 54,000 and plans will see the stadium reach 66,000 in the near future. Â
The new stadium is more attractive for other reasons – transport links to it alone are far superior than to their old ground.  This means that it can be used for other purposes and will also attract other revenue streams. Â
The sponsorship deals
Their big deal with online bookmakers Betway was another sign that the club was looking at the future. Â Betway have made it their business to work with football teams around the world where they can help develop the club and do more than just get some advertising on the team shirt. Â
Their recent deal with Ashanti Gold in Ghana is an example. Â Sponsoring one of the biggest teams in the country allows the club to upgrade their facilities, work on their development of youth and grassroots players and to create a long-term plan for the future. Â It did benefit the company with Betway available in Ghana and their connection with the club increasing their prestige for Ghanaian football fans too.
Recruitment
West Ham have also been clever about their recruitment of players.  Often clubs try to buy success, taking in big names for obscene amounts of money and then trying to throw them together into a team.  But the club has made a number of clever investments in players from around the world that have already paid off – Dimitri Payet being a prime example.  Payet was signed from Marseille for just £11.25 million having been over looked by many other big clubs.
Their clever tactics have been combined with the ability to make the deals that will keep the players at the club once they find success.  Payet, for example, has been eye-catching this season and is currently on a five year deal at £125,000 a week. Â
West Ham also make full use of the loan system to help assess players before putting real cash into the deal.  It allows them to see how players fit into their system and plans then either make a deal for the player when the loan is finished or allow them to return to parent clubs if they don’t fit in.
The board
Finally, the board have to be given credit for their work, even though some fans are a little uncertain about them.  When they took over the club in 2010, it was on the edge of going under and while they are the first to admit there have been mistakes, they have a clear plan ahead and their ideas are slowly building the club up to where they want it to go for the future – even if this season so far has been a bit rocky!
Who the hell wrote this? Brady?
I think you will find your article does not reflect the views of many many West Ham United fans. Firstly the stadium is a total disaster, no proper segregation, distance from the pitch is so massive that it is laughable, the don’t stand up policy even to sing bubbles and finally the videoing of our fans by unmarked stewards.These have left many of us feeling betrayed by the owners. Secondly the idea that the owners are doing their job regarding recruitment does not stand any srutiny whatsoever, they have bought in 32 strikers in their time at the club and the only really decent ones have been Carroll (who’s permanately injured) and Sakho who became so disillusioned with Mr Sullivan promising to bring in a 20 goal a season striker last summer. Of course Mr Sullivan failed as he almost always does and we end up with the loan signings of a lad from Argentina who is so bad I would be better and Zaza who quite patently is not up to Premier League football. You speak about being in a rocky position at the moment, may I ask what can be expected when you continually fail to address the weak areas of our squad, namely at right back and centre forward, I am certain they will not address these problem areas again in January and we aill hear the usual spin of “we are after a top top player, but we just failed at the last minute. But we have managed to aquire the services of a former England striker and Hammers favourite Carlton Cole!!!!