Amid doubts over his future as West Ham manager, Slaven Bilic will undoubtedly be wondering how his first season at the London Stadium could have panned very out differently – had fortune been on his side.
The move to the new ground caused problems at the start of the campaign, the 13 new signings last summer struggled to truly gel with the rest of the squad, Dimitri Payet unexpectedly downed tools to force a January departure and – perhaps less surprisingly – Andy Carroll’s missed most of the season through injury.
Had the England international remained fit for the whole year, West Ham’s campaign could well have been one of looking upwards at the top seven rather than nervously over their shoulders at the relegation zone, such is the effect he’s had on their results this term – the Hammers’ win-rate drops to just 24% when he’s not in the starting lineup.
But of course, such situations are nothing new. West Ham have depended on Carroll’s goals for the last five seasons, but in that time he’s managed just 98 Premier League outings. So with Bilic recently revealing the 28-year-old’s injury problems will be discussed this summer, we asked West Ham fans earlier this week whether the club should sell.
And according to the results of our exclusive poll, a whopping 81% of Hammers fans want Carroll gone – presumably for a more dependable, less injury-prone front-man. After failing to obtain one last summer, signing a superstar striker must be a priority for the Irons in the coming transfer window.
