Alphabet Challenge | Part 21, Club 10 | Return To England Yields Immediate Rewards

Fresh from winning the Champions League with Manchester United, Trebor Mahtal explored new options as he moved back to South America with struggling Racing Club. He’d lost a mass of players just to try and keep the club afloat financially and had been forced to focus on youth.

So when interest in the Zambian ratcheted up in December 2041, he was very much prepared to consider it. That interest came from Europe as Braga and West Ham United offered him interviews, and the wages on offer left Mahtal with an easy decision. And after six months in Argentina, he was heading back to England with a ten-fold wage increase to £35k per week.

Who Are West Ham United?

West Ham United is a professional club based in East London. It was founded in 1895 as Thames Ironworks before reforming with the current name in 1900, when it moved to the Boleyn Ground (Upton Park) and adopted its famous claret and blue kits. It joined the Football League in 1919 and played in the top flight for the first time in 1923, the same year it lost the first FA Cup Final at Wembley, which became known as the White Horse Final against Bolton Wanderers.

The club won the inaugural Football League War Cup in 1940 and has gone on to win five major honours, with three FA Cups in 1954, 1975 and 1980, the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1965 and the Conference League in 2023. West Ham hasn’t come close to adding to those honours during this save, not finishing higher than 7th in any season. Moreover, it’s not finished in the top half of the Premier League since 2036, finishing 15th for the last two season, and not gone beyond a cup quarter-final during the save.

Mahtal walks into a club that was in more of a mess than he realised. It’s currently 17th in the league with 13 points and 3 wins from 14 games, just 2 points ahead of 18th-place Crystal Palace. But it’s still in the Carabao Cup, with a quarter-final coming up. The biggest challenge though was financial, as the AI’s inability to manage finances shone through yet again with West Ham a massive £136m in the red and facing £156m of net debt. Mahtal has a transfer budget of just £4.3m and a £2.5m weekly wage budget, of which £2.4m was being spent.

The best player at West Ham is homegrown winger Dave Robjohns along with midfielder Keaton Avery, Spanish strikers Jon Medina and Sergio Sánchez, centre back Omani Williams, and a big Argentinian contingent led by attackers Leandro Alfaro, midfielder Kevin Cortez, left back Juan Carlos Suárez and centre back Brian Martínez, who signed for a ludicrous £42m three years ago. There were also a few decent prospects led by left back Troy Cowdry and former Liverpool midfielder Tom Davies.

Mahtal Returns To England

Mahtal’s time in England began with a huge game at rivals Tottenham just three days after his appointment. He initially opted for a cautious 3-5-2 approach, which worked nicely as they limited Spurs and Robjohn’s penalty earned a solid 1-1. His first game at London Stadium was another London derby as Fulham came to town, which started well as Suárez sent through Sánchez in for the opener after 7 minutes. And they held on for a 1-0 win. The solid start continued as they somehow got a 0-0 at Newcastle despite having one shot, then conceded Everton’s only shot on target to draw 1-1.

Mahtal’s solid start had seen West Ham climb to 15th, 7 points clear of the dropzone heading into 2042. He wasted no time selling players when the window opened, with underperforming midfielder Gregory Gordon going to Porto for £53m and goalshy Medina to Torino for £37.5m, before Avery forced a £69m move to Man City. He brought in a total of £144m, slashing £600k off the wage bill, but the club remained £48m in the red. And he added to the squad with loans, bringing in his former Atalanta midfielder Dragan Matic and Saudi wonderkid Saad Al-Yami.

Carabao Cup Shot

A week after Mahtal’s appointment, he faced a Carabao Cup quarter-final at Aston Villa. His cautious approach worked well as Robjohns nicked a 2-1 victory, which was rewarded by a semi-final clash with Championship side Rotherham while Chelsea played Everton. West Ham eased to a 3-1 away win and Sánchez scored the only goal at home to send West Ham into an unexpected cup final.

They unsurprisingly faced Chelsea in the final, who came into the game with a tired squad as they played a Champions League playoff round game a few days prior. Mahtal had holding midfielder Stephen Roberts unfit after a twisted ankle and Alfaro suspended.

The sides played out a cagey first half with no serious goalmouth action and there was more of the same after the break. That was until Robjohns collected the ball in the area, turned towards goal but had his ankles clipped. And he stepped up to slam home the penalty. West Ham looked to be cruisng to victory, only for Chelsea to score a deflected shot from a corner in the 95th minute. Chelsea bossed the early stages of extra time as Mahtal was forced into changes and playing midfielders up front. But a rare breakaway saw Robjohns get clear and send Matic in to coolly slot past the keeper. That goal seemingly broke a tired Chelsea side that offered no response and West Ham claimed an unexpected 2-1 win. West Ham United lifted their first League Cup!

However, lifting the EFL Cup does not count as winning a major trophy – which we defined as winning a nation’s primary domestic title or cup or a European competition. So Mahtal’s time at West Ham was not finished within a few months. West Ham also made it to the FA Cup quarter-finals but lost 1-0 at home to Mahtal’s former club Man United, who went on to lose 2-1 to Chelsea in the final.

Moving Well Clear Of Relegation

Alfaro and Robjohns earned a big win to start the new year, defeating 17th-place Leicester 2-1, before Williams’ header secured a drab 1-0 at bottom-side Norwich, who only had 5 points from 21 games. That virtually killed off any relegation concerns, moving West Ham 12 points clear of the drop by the end of January. But the close nature of the midtable meant they were only 4 points off the European positions.

A run of three draws on the bounce ended by thrashing relegation-threatened Crystal Palace 5-1 led by a Sánchez brace. They lost 2-0 at Man City and 1-0 at home to Spurs before Robjohns’ double inspired a 2-1 win at Fulham. But a slightly tricky conclusion to the campaign saw them fade away to 11th place. West Ham finished with 55 points after 14 wins, 13 draws and 11 defeats.

Plenty Of Work Required At West Ham

Mahtal had seen plenty of positives at West Ham, but there was a lot of work required to take them to the next level. And that included clearing the ongoing debt at the club. The biggest positive was the unexpected Carabao Cup win, which earned them European football next season. Sánchez led the way this season with a pretty disappointing 16 goals in 47 games, but their best performer was clearly Robjohns with 14 goals and 5 assists. Beyond that, there wasn’t much to shut about and Mahtal had a clear idea of players he needed to move on.