Welcome to another instalment of transfer reliability guides!
Let’s take a look at the media dependability pyramid for West Ham…
West Ham transfer tier of reliability
| Name | Media Outlet / Country | Tier Ranking | Reliability Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Official Club Source | www.whufc.com | Tier 0 |  |
| ExWHUEmployee | Twitter: @ExWHUemployee | Tier 2 |  |
| BBC Sports | United Kingdom | Tier 2 |  |
| Sam Inkersole | football.london | Tier 2 | |
| Lee Clayton | TalkSport | Tier 2 | |
| Kaveh Solhekol | Sky Sports | Tier 2 | |
| Gianluca Di Marzio | Italy | Tier 2 | |
| Alfredo Pedulla | Italy | Tier 2 | |
| Paris United | France | Tier 2 | |
| Nico Schira | Italy | Tier 2 | |
| COPE | Spain | Tier 2 | |
| BILD | Germany | Tier 2 | |
| The Guardian | United Kingdom | Tier 2 | |
| L'Equipe | France | Tier 2 | |
| The Independent | United Kingdom | Tier 2 | |
| The Telegraph | United Kingdom | Tier 2 | |
| Gazetta dello Sport | Italy | Tier 3 |  |
| Sky Sports | United Kingdom | Tier 3 | |
| Goal.com | United Kingdom | Tier 3 | |
| TalkSport | United Kingdom | Tier 3 | |
| Mundo Deportivo | Spain | Tier 3 | |
| ESPN | US / UK | Tier 3 | |
| Football.London | United Kingdom | Tier 3 | |
| Sport1 | Germany | Tier 3 | |
| Record | Portugal | Tier 3 | |
| NBC Sports | US | Tier 3 | |
| Liverpool Echo | United Kingdom | Tier 3 | |
| Manchester Evening News | United Kingdom | Tier 3 | |
| Sports Witness | United Kingdom | Tier 4 |  |
| The Metro | United Kingdom | Tier 4 | |
| aBola | Portugal | Tier 4 | |
| Bleacher Report | USA | Tier 4 | |
| Get Football France News | France | Tier 4 | |
| Fanatic | Turkey | Tier 4 | |
| MARCA | Spain | Tier 4 | |
| 90min.com | United Kingdom | Tier 4 | |
| AS | Spain | Tier 4 | |
| TuttoSport | Italy | Tier 4 | |
| Caught Offside | United Kingdom | Tier 4 | |
| The Express | United Kingdom | Tier 5 |  |
| Daily Mail | United Kingdom | Tier 5 | |
| Daily Star | United Kingdom | Tier 5 | |
| The Mirror | United Kingdom | Tier 5 | |
| The Sun | United Kingdom | Tier 5 |  |
Why does West Ham lack tier 1 reporters?
What is quite surprising is the distinct absence of tier 1 journalists and media sources for the club.
But on the other hand it does make a bit of sense, and I’ll now explain why.
In the past, the West Ham chairman David Sullivan and his son – Jack Sullivan – have been known to put out false stories of incoming transfers for the club as a way of appeasing the fanbase.
Even the former West Ham boss Sam Allardyce hit out at the chairman’s son for unhelpful tweeting which would have unsettled supporters.
With such access to the higher ups at the club, the manipulation of information to suit a particular agenda is likely to occur from time to time, which ultimately contributes to the lack of highly reliable reporting.
Who is the most reliable source for West Ham transfer news?
Despite the fact that there are no clear tier 1’s when it comes to the topic of West Ham transfer reliability, one source is very dependable.
ExWHUEmployee is exactly that.
The Twitter account is a must follow for West Ham related news as it’s garnered a massive following of Hammers supporters who quite often cling to every word.
More so, the account chairs a podcast called The West Ham Way with Dave Walker, which offers exclusive news and club insights that specifically pertain to West Ham.
On the podcast ExWHUEmployee mentioned it’s extensive ties in football as well as alluded to the fact that their transfer information is gathered from a couple of inside sources within the club.
So ExWHUEmployee can at least be considered an unofficial mouthpiece for West Ham, which is why I’ve distinguished the source from the rest of tier 2 by awarding an extra half star rating.
Concluding thoughts
Now that you can see which journalists and media outlets are present under West Ham’s classification, there’s something that I think would be of interest to you.
As you’re aware of the tier scale, you know that different journalists report on transfer news for different teams.
So, for example, Fabrizio Romano might rank in Tier 2 for AC Milan transfer news but performs less effectively when breaking news for a club like Manchester City with a Tier 3 ranking assigned to him.
What if you had a document that could provide you tier rankings for each one of Europe’s biggest clubs?
Well, there’s good news because we’ve got just the solution for you!
Have a look at our Transfer Tier of Reliability eBook which is the central guide piece to the current age of soccer transfer window speculation.
We’ve eliminated the painstaking hours of research for you by compiling a comprehensive Tier 1 to Tier 5 breakdown of the reliability of the world’s sports journalists and media outlets.
The teams included in this guide consist of the English Premier League’s traditional top six clubs, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Juventus and Paris Saint Germain.
Go ahead and jump straight to checkout for this eBook here!
If you enjoy the content that I create and would like to buy me a coffee, then I’d really appreciate it!
Any money that I earn through this donation will be re-invested into more content for this website.
Additionally, by sending in a donation you’ll also receive a copy of my recently released 190+ page eBook on Soccer Ball Care, as well as be subscribed to our mailing list where you’ll be regularly informed on the latest developments concerning the Soccer Whizz blog.
With a solid educational background in business management, the Soccer Whizz website is his first foray into the digital web space and it has been created with the intention of providing the absolute best soccer content for its readership.
Have a read through Samuel Waihenya's author bio page here.
- 4-1-4-1 Soccer Formation [Analysis] - September 23, 2023
- 4-2-2-2 Soccer Formation [Analysis] - September 23, 2023
- 4-2-3-1 Soccer Formation [Analysis] - September 22, 2023