This summer West Ham have shown a great deal of a bition - but I feel the ambition has been demonstrated in the wrong way. If the Hammers want to push consistently for a European place, then they need to address the lack of discipline surrounding the club.

Last season, not only the players but also the board were involved in events that showed the club in a very poor light. The whole Carlos Tevez saga did the club no favours whatsoever and the players massively under-performed and were almost relegated.

West Ham failed in an attempt to sign Darren Bent earlier in the transfer window, the pacy striker choosing ambition over money by going to Spurs. However, the Hammers then went and signed Craig Bellamy - a player who I have no doubt will slip in very well to the 'baby Bentley' culture at Upton Park. They then tried to buy another player with a poor disciplinary record in Kieron Dyer, who would have linked up with former teammate Lee Bowyer, with whom he had a punch-up  while playing for Newcastle.

'The potential is there to be successful - but West Ham will not achieve this with what they are doing at present'


West Ham need to start creating the right culture at the club. They should not be paying money, as the top four clubs are, to players who are average and would not get into most of the top 10 clubs in the Premier League.

Scott Parker will add some grit and bite but the back line again looks shaky and has not been strengthened sufficiently.  When you look at Spurs five years ago, they were playing average-to-poor football and the fans had nothing to look forward to in a season. Then the club set up a system of buying young talent and spending wisely in the transfer market. Now they are a highly-respected club with an array of England stars and future stars, and are genuinely in with a chance of getting into the Champions League.

They did not do this by over-paying average players, or bringing in players with poor attitudes (Bowyer, Dyer, Bellamy). The potential is there to be successful - but West Ham will not achieve this with what they are doing at present.

If this foundation of discipline is reached, then the highlight of a West Ham fan's season will not be playing Tottenham Hotspur, who they have somehow convinced themselves are their biggest rivals - despite Spurs' main rivals being Arsenal and, to a lesser extent, Chelsea. The West Ham game is not a big deal to Tottenham fans  but seems to be to Hammers supporters, who will happily celebrate a draw at WHL if they achieve it.

West Ham's highlights should be achieving a good league position and building from there. They no longer seem to be a selling club and have the financial backing from the board to bring in the right players. However, whether this can be done under Alan Curbishley's lenient eye remains to be seen.

Can West Ham progress or will they remain a yo-yo team that goes up and down the league from season to season? My season's prediction is an 11th-place finish. I think they will be very hard to beat at Upton Park -  but away from home has always been an obstacle for the Hammers.