Jack Sullivan Column

Jack Sullivan reflects on a memorable few days following the win over Liverpool and the busy end to the transfer window

Jack Sullivan is the youngest son of West Ham United Joint-Chairman David Sullivan and is a huge Hammers fan. Jack will be giving his exclusive views to the official website in a regular column...

 

Hello everyone,


It has been an incredible few days and I didn't think it could get any better following our memorable 3-0 win over Liverpool last weekend.


But my dad and everyone behind the scenes have made it a great end to the transfer window and we were able to bring in four major new signings before the deadline closed.


To be fair my dad has been extremely busy throughout the summer trying to bring in new players and all the fans can now see what we were working towards.


These deals are not straight forward and my dad can spend hours trying to negotiate a deal and then for whatever reason it doesn't happen.


But thankfully all his hard work paid off in the end and if you look at our squad, it is much stronger than what it was last year.


We have got lots of different options throughout the team and the quality of our bench is going to be so much better now. We are going to see more attacking football.


I asked my dad what his starting XI would be now and he couldn't name it – I was the same !!


We have got so much competition for places and there is real strength in depth which is what you need at this level.


I am thrilled that we were able to do a deal to bring Alex Song back to the Club. There is every chance he will be back to the player he was in the first half of last season.


Even though he is injured at the moment, we still wanted to sign him and that shows how much we rate him.


You can learn a lot from someone like him as he has played at the highest level and has Champions League experience.


He can teach the other players and I'm sure the youngsters in the squad will be looking up to someone like him.


He can pass the ball and open up defences and there are not many better than him. A big signing like Song shows the Club is heading in the right direction.


Victor Moses is another great signing. He has the hunger to do well and is unplayable at times.


We have been working hard on that deal for a number of weeks and fought off some big clubs who were also desperate to sign him. But like Song, we managed to clinch his signature and he can see the ambition that we have.


We have already beaten Arsenal and Liverpool away from home and there was no luck from us in either game. Someone like Moses can see there is a lot of quality in the squad.


The fans are going to be excited by the signing of Nottingham Forest winger Michail Antonio and he has great potential. He has come from non-league to the very top.


He scored a lot of goals in the Championships and created a number of assists last season and Forest didn't want to sell him.


But we wanted him to come to us and his personality has shown that he is not prepared to give up and wants to compete at the highest level.


We also solved our striking problems by bringing in Nikica Jelavic and Slaven was keen to bring him to the Club. The manager knows everything about him and he has scored goals in the Premier League before.


He will put more pressure on Sakho and Carroll and give us real competition for places in the forward line. I'm sure there a lot of Clubs in the top flight that would have liked to have signed him.


The players we have brought in make us so much stronger.


All this followed a remarkable victory at Anfield and ending 52-years without a win over Liverpool.


I will remember the celebrations at the final whistle for a long time to come and even seeing David Gold head down to the tunnel and towards the West Ham fans behind the goal. I'm still not sure how he managed to get down there !!


But the away fans were magnificent as always and we cannot thank them enough for all their support.


Everyone can see that the squad has so much enthusiasm and we are playing fast-flowing football.


Dimitri Payet was outstanding and Manuel Lanzini was superb. He was not frightened of anyone and showed he can tackle as well.


The whole midfield was so strong and I have to pay special tribute to Cheikhou Kouyate who was so strong and looks so dangerous when he drives with the ball into the opposing half.


I was so pleased for Sakho to get his first league goal and it all went to plan. It really shook up the Liverpool defence who didn't expect it.


There is no reason why can't we push on and have a really good season this year.


Why can't we do really well in the cup competitions and make this a season to remember – especially in our final ever year at the Boleyn Ground.


We are welcoming back the Boys of 86' for the next home game against Newcastle so it will be another great night.


I look forward to speaking with you all again soon.


Jack


The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of West Ham United