Just to be clear these are the views of David Sullivan Jnr and NOT those of The WestHamWay.co.uk, West Ham United or any of their employees.
After reading the headline in the Daily Mail I think that it is only fair that you hear the other side and the complete figures relative to the Tony Carr story. We have respected Tony Carr as a great servant for the last 43 years and I personally am very sad he has felt the need to go the press about what is essentially his retirement. It is worth noting Tony Carr is 66 years old, most men in the UK retire at age 65. So essentially he is just retiring. Tony also has a substantial pension, we cannot disclose the amount but I assure you that Tony is being very well provided for by the club. So this £14,000 really is not what it seems.
Tony has earned over £1.6 Million since 2005. Many fans are not aware of this figure and I think it is hard to argue that this isn’t a fair wage and that he was not underpaid. He received hundreds of thousands of pounds from the testimonial we organised for him (which was a thank you for his service to the club) and when we brought Terry Westley in we gave Tony a 2 year fixed ambassadorial role at £210,000. As I said earlier he is now 66. These are the facts which make the £14,000 seem insignificant and I don’t see why these are not made public if the £14,000 was.
The main focus of the academy is to produce players of a high quality. Nothing had come out of the academy since Tomkins. James made his debut in 2008 and was the last academy player to get into and maintain a place in the first team. This left 6 years between 2008 and 2014 where Tony unfortunately brought no players through. Much like in any job or career the past has to be ignored and what becomes important is the future and it was clear a change had to be made. The Academy, plus young pro contracts (most of the latter fail) costs the club £6m/£6.5m a season. The Academy is £4.5m of that. So given the large costs of the academy it only makes sense for a change to be made if the results aren’t showing. If we assume this figure stayed constant during the 8 years where no players came through it would have cost £48 million which virtually cancels out all of the sales of Tony’s golden era. We had to move on. Football is a results business.
Terry Westley, who replaced Tony Carr, has been with us for 2 years and has brought a breath of fresh air. During this time Westley has brought through the likes of Reece Oxford and Reece Burke and attracted many sought-after youth players such as Domingos Quina, Martin Samuelsen and George Dobson, all of whom will be pushing for first team football at West Ham United either this season or in the next few years.
What I do not understand is what I have just read in the Evening Standard – “Tony Carr urges West Ham to ‘not let it end this way’ after ‘paltry’ redundancy offer”. Tony said “The last thing I want is to feel bitter about how things have ended” – I find this very sad as West Ham United have only ever treated Tony well and with respect. His wages along with his large pension in my eyes are fair and this is anything but a bitter ending. All things come to an end and sadly nothing lasts forever.
Maybe DS and DG should of handled it personally and not the HR department. Very disrespectful in most eyes!
Leaves a different perspective,go and enjoy retirement in the sun and look back with great pride in your achievements. Well done Tony.
As always there’s two sides I wonder how mutch of the story came from him after all the years he was a loyal member of the team I don’t think he would disrespect the club in this way think it paper talk would like to think so anyway
well done
How does the young son of one of our joint chairmen have so much knowledge about Tony Carr’s financial arrangements with the club ? If that is true then that in itself is incredibly wrong.
With Avram Grant and Big Sam in charge, no youngsters were ever gonna break through, especially with big Sam
Yes well done Tony, at 66 time to enjoy your family, no disrespect, there are many people who would loved to have your achievements.
Talking to the press was always going to bring a twisted version of events , totally agree with young juniors comments ,don’t understand the need for Tony Carr to make it public ,retire gracefully.
Well said but why go public.He was a great servant to the club and did well to bring an England team through the academy
Tony Carr should have a Stand named after him, for all the good work he has done. He has made Whu a Mint Load of Dosh with the Quality players he has brought through, but because the Premier League produces so much Money, Managers would rather Spend that rather than nurture Players, as there Jobs are on the line for Instant Sucsess, so don’t blame Tony Carr, Blame Sky, Blame BT, but don’t use the easy cop out of saying he can’t pic out a Quality Youth Player, its been his bread and butter for many a year and more, So waste, 26 Million on a player that only cares about the Money and not the Club, and rip us the fans off in the process, maybe not this year, but next Season we will see the Prices rise, to pay the Greed that’s rife amongst Players Agents and Chairmen alike. Tony Carr . Thank you so much for giving us Joe Cole Lampard Defoe Carrick Noble Tomkins, etc – and Spend your poor redundancy wisely ⚽️ Remember The way Bobby Moore was Treated, Part and Parcel of the Game, the Board might be upset with you, but us real Fans have your back, and we will always Respect how much you gave this Great Club and hope to see you at the new Stadium soon COY!
Did you forget about the 8m WHU got for Anton Ferdinand in 2008 and also the fact that West ham wasn’t very good between 2008-14 . Elliot Ward , Junior Stanislas , Freddie Sears and Jack Collison ????
Our club has one major problem and that is the communication of its owners and their family entourage. Basically, our owners can’t quiet. They allow Sullivan Junior to comment on transfers, leak information and be a named source on Sky Sports News. Sam Allardyce wasn’t right for us by any means, but they continually commented publicly on his performance and approach and it undermined him. Trial by media. They knew it. And they thought they were being clever by doing it.
Now we have a high profile guy who has served the club for forty years and they not only didn’t have the decency to deal with him personally to the point where he feels agreieved and has gone to the papers but also we now have Sullivan junior passing comment on his package and putting “the other side of the story”. Really? It’s low class. inappropriate and no wonder Tony feels the way he does. It’s insult to injury. Let’s say Tony IS wrong. Let’s say he earnt £50m over the last ten years. Let’s say he has a gold plated pension. The fact that the owners son is saying this is simply wrong. The fact he has specific information is wrong. The fact he smugly puts the other side of the story is wrong. It’s a PR disaster.
The rights and wrongs of specific matters like this aside (and there are many); basically a Premier League club needs a professional and first class communication strategy and this really isn’t it. Like it or not Sullivan junior is the owner’s son. So, and let’s be clear, he’s not an independent communicator. And he clearly has priviledged access to information too. I expect the people paid to be professional communicators within the club are pulling their hair out. I expect Karen Brady has already pulled hers out too. The fact is they try and manage the young Sullivan’s outbursts and to control them (in the same way they do his dad’s constant stream of drivel to the press on every issue. The reality is that someone needs to speak truth to power and tell them it’s unacceptable and to stop. David Gold is good on twitter, it’s quite well controlled. The only person who can stop it is David Sullivan himself. This stuff is immature, unprofessional and does the club damage and the sooner it is recognised and stopped the better. What other club has the owner’s son on the phone to the Sun? Arsenal, Spurs, Man U? Don’t make me laugh. It makes us a laughing stock. It’s like they are wanting constant attention and recognition for what they have done. Of course they have done a lot for the club, saved us. But don’t derail the project with this ridiculously poor behaviour. It’s definitely not the west ham way.
Just the words of an accountant. Any other club that did this would stink !! The fact that it is our “Family” club just saddens me almost beyond words !!! Trying to justify the 40 million cost of the academy blah blah is rubbish. EVERY club has to spend these amounts nowadays and even other club’s fans recognise the conveyor belt of stars that have rolled off of ours on Tony’s watch. This guy should be paraded in front of us loyal fans on the opening day of the new stadium and given a sizeable cheque on the pitch. You would see the reaction you would get from our fans AND the Bournemouth fans. Maybe then you would look up from your computer screens and see what football is REALLY about !!! Now go away and THINK about your actions !!! COYI
He was paid to do a job! A job we’d all give our right arm for! Let alone a good salary and pension, it’s not like when your playing days were over and you had to start grafting to pay the bills. The club doesn’t owe him anything.
I imagine that his biggest gripe was with how it was handled, ie Sullivan and Gold not directly dealing with him.
Bosque won euros at 61, LVG FA Cup at 64, Ferguson Premiership at 71. Why is it worth noting his age? Old people don’t offer much is that it maybe Gold should step down then.
Perhaps a bad decision to let the HR dept inform him rather than the owners, seems like a lack of respect
How about it was never about the money. Who are you to list his earnings …. His worked hard and earnt every penny over the past 40 years. Once again more disrespect …. Whu should hang their heads In shame.
Classless.
Not only are we looking at Lady Brady’s mate taking charge fully now (is he gonna try bring his unskilled son back in?), but I remember Tony Carr flying back from holiday to ensure Reece Oxford stayed at the club. Well done Terry, you couldn’t even do your job without the real leader of our academy there.
You want someone to just go away, don’t you, rather than voice displeasure. Big businessmen thinking they can chuck someone out and then, not used to being challenged, walk away quietly. Maybe Tony wants to highlight the classless approach. I know Lady Brady is used to Lord Sugar pointing the finger for her but she must have had to deal with real people somewhere along the line before she became a cold, humourless businesswoman.
This article is classless, and only strengthens my belief that the club has acted with no class at all. Thanks for letting us all know someone else’s finances. I just hope this was written by your old man, because I thought better of you. I look forward to you posting comments on Twitter about fans who are not happy with this.
Tommythefist is spot on. The club really must stop this amateur motor mouth communication strategy where commercially sensitive, sometimes confidential information gets shared often by a child. We can’t keep quiet about anything- transfer targets, wages to spend and now hr issues. If we are to move as a ‘big’ club this has to stop.
Like all stories there are 3 versions, typically his, hers and the truth. IMHO this should never have got any face time without the initial reporter getting at least 2 sides. As Paul said, HR handling it might have been a bit off, but then on the other hand Tony should have addressed his problem to the board first, not the press. Dirty washing that should never have seen the light of day.
I think Sullivan Jr is mistaking money for respect, from what I read and I may have misinterpreted it but it seems like Carr was more bothered that it was some HR bod that let him go and it was all pretty cold considering he had spent the vast majority of his working life serving the club. As others have said under Allardyce youth would never have got a chance unless they signed up with Curtis and even then it would only be as a bench warmer.
Anton Ferdinand, Stanislas, Sears,Collison to name a few post 2008!
Seems a tad snide that David sullivan Jr has to do his dad’s dirty work for him but has access to all the figures. If West Ham’s Academy is not producing the goods the fault could well lie somewhere other than at the feet of Tony Carr.
Tony Carr has earned the equivalent of £3000 EVERY week for the past eleven years .Tony Carr did not recruit any of the players sold on for the many millions of pounds received . Tony Carr was responsible for the coaching and ” schooling ” of the players in the last two years of their academy life , and a good job he made of it .Most of the academy boys have been at the club for between 5 to8 years being coached in the different age groups by a succession of coaches . What more did the greedy man want, a testimonial and a sizeable pension , oh sorry he’s already got that .Selfish springs to mind
Typical media hype, enjoy your retirement Tony you deserve it.
As co-chairman of the Tony Carr testimonial committee and a lifelong friend of his I am outraged at the behaviour of the current owners of West Ham United.
To release to the Press Tony’s remunerations over the last 11 years adds insult to injury. It was a classless thing to do.
If Sullivan Junior had half the class of Tony Carr then he would have known not to do this despicable thing.
Having known Tony for over 30 years I can assure all the fans that this is nothing, and I repeat nothing to do with money.
I would like to point out that it was the Icelandic owners that granted Tony a Testimonial and that the current owners only honored the agreement and the statement by Sullivan Junior of hundreds of thousands of pounds is grossly exaggerated.
Tony lived and breathed West Ham United, worked tirelessly for the club and loved every minute of it.
Tony is a very private, humble man and to end his illustrious career in this manner is disgraceful.
Karen Brady, David Sullivan or David Gold should have had the good grace and shown Tony the courtesy of informing him personally.
This is my statement; Tony Carr has no knowledge of it.
Keith Cosby
The man was 66, retirment age passed? WHU basically got shot of him when he was replaced by Westley.
They could have let him go then, as he basically “wasn’t doing what was in the requirements of his job” i.e not producing players for the 1st team, but the club treated him with utmost respect and put him on 2k a week, free boxes at games, free food, shaking people’s hand as ambassador, not bad work if you can get it, they even threw him testimonial game, in which he pocketed over 200 bags!
Now he’s throwing a wobbly and going to the press, he’s not being fair in my eyes, the club treated him very well, he even turned down a part time roll as ambassador, who of us would do that now? Let alone when we’re 66 years old, he’s not club royalty now is he?
This is a club (albeit new owners) who got a steward to tell Bobby Moore to leave a game at Upton Park, because he didn’t have a ticket,
We’ll never know the ins and outs, or rights and wrongs of this emotive situation. The simple fact is that the adverse publicity is damaging.
Young Jack I have no problem with your argument but I think the day of “most” men of 65 being retired has gone for a few reasons.
I myself haven’t retired yet! Admittedly I cut back a bit when I reached 68 in April: I now only do around 50 hours a week Monday to Friday. Got to get the life/work balance right