West Ham’s activity this transfer window has been accompanied by tips (or ‘leaks’ depending on your viewpoint) – comments from ‘in the know’ sources, training ground leaks, our own sources inside the club: All of which have suddenly gone very quiet win the last 24 hours.
Following the early report from Portugal regarding Arthur Cabral which we reported this morning, the radar has gone blank.
This is partially due to the changed regime – Graham Potter and head of recruitment Kyle Macaulay seem to be making a very ‘new broom -clean sweep’ of their way of doing things.
In addition, a very concerted effort is taking place to bat enquiries back with ” I know nothing sorry” responses from one of our own sources, when we asked today about the authenticity of the reports regarding Arthur Cabral’s reported ‘imminent’ (according to one journalist) transfer from Benfica.
The reason I’m writing this is that this is not a ‘normal day at the office’ for West Ham United. There would normally be direction, misdirection, tacit affirmation, confirmation or outright denial of the days stories. Fabrizio Romano or Florian Plettenberg, ‘in the know’ sources in Europe, would be giving us all the heads up of a whiff of a new signing..
And today, there is ..’nothing’. A concerted, co-ordinated strategy to give nothing away certainly hints at activity behind the scenes which the club don’t want to release ANY information about. Very exciting. Very frustrating.
Somethings afoot. No doubt. Whether it is Arthur Cabral arriving at London Stadium for a medical or Marcus Rashford heading down for a season – long loan – who knows. I do not blame West Ham for this ‘radio silence’ – actually it feels like ‘grown up’ transfer dealing, the way it should be done.
I bet they cannot keep it up though. Old habits die hard. And someone will blink and reach for their mobile phone or twitter account soon enough.
So, there are no ITK/leaksfor 24 hours, which necessitates C&H to report on the lack of news/leaks/rumours….
I don’t wish to be the one that has to point out the ‘bleedin obvious’ but…
Premier League is an entertainment business, which means it needs publicity/constant news source & drams. The transfer window has proved to be a huge PR success over the years, creating 1000’s of column inches and website ‘clicks’, and TV coverage.
The more rumours, stories and general newsbuzz around a teams raises profile, consequently will increase interest, support, TV exposure and eventually ££££s.
Could be naive optimism from me as I’ve wanted him at the club since Moyes was there and there was talk of him going when his contract expired in a year, but seems to me like with Potter in charge, we’ve finally got someone who knows how to not only talk well to the media and the players but actually has an inkling on how things should be run behind the scenes as well.
I’d much rather be seeing blind reports on supposed interest in players from the club than seeing daily “a top insider/source tells us…” reports and only seeing club insiders commenting when we’ve actually signed players. Seems like our “Head of Communications” leaving announcement suddenly has the club doing business properly. (Which was amusing how when that was announced here it had a “the reasons for his departure are unknown” like it was some big mystery that Holmes, Poirot, Marple and Fletcher would need to team up to solve…)
Has it occurred to you guys (those commenting) that the entire mantra of every source within the club may be working with smoke and mirrors? Knowing that speculation will happen regardless, so using that to spread false information while the real work is done quietly behind the scenes?
Can we go back to Ceefax please?
Is exactly how it should be. There should be nothing coming out of the club in tips, winks, propaganda and long live Hookey Street.
You speak of the new regime sweeping with a new broom Martin, yet we are going after a player we’ve been in for on more than one occasion! I’m guessing it’s just coincidental, just as it will be when the new regime only really want Mr salthouse clients eh!
Definitely would prefer these signings just to happen than all these constant silly stories linking us with everyone and alerting every other club what we could potentially be doing. I dont ever hear when Nrighton want a player, they just sign gem after gem
I would prefer our business to be done privately and behind closed doors. I’ve said in the past how this place likes to speculate and try and give the whole world a heads on what’s going on behind closed doors. I hate to think how many players we have lost in the past because you lot ask your club insider for a heads up. And they are stupid enough to give you the information. You would be considered proper supporters if you didn’t try to benefit off the club by giving our inside information to anyone who will listen. Maybe the new regime has their heads screwed on and know what they are doing. About bloody time. I’ll continue to enjoy the articles but I’d be more happy knowing C&H can’t get any accurate inside info on transfers by phoning your “top source”
COYI
I’m quite happy not to hear/know nothing from our club until it happens. All your silly stories mean beggar all until that moment, so best leave it till the manager and his team to decide what’s best for our club, after all they are the trusted ones right now.
And that is exactly how it should be. For far too long there have been leaks, spoilers and club insiders briefing reporters, Web sites and in the knows, and we will never know how many deals have ended up breaking down each window.
This new professional approach clearly instilled by Graham, and used so well in his press conference, will no doubt be frustrating for fans and reporters. But I have no doubt there is alot of activity going on behind the scenes which hopefully will lead to successful signings.
Does this also apply to Karen Brady who was confident in signing Banzuzi?