Those who know David Sullivan well will tell you he is not a man to call a spade a shovel!
He gives every impression of knowing precisely what he’s saying and has not achieved considerable success in life by making foolish statements.
Whether we agree with his modus operandi in an interview situation is one thing, but he will have certainly have checked his facts before opening his mouth!
And when talking of Charlie Austin’s failed medical at Hull, I have no doubts Sullivan will have been left stunned by the reaction he generated – for he is 100 per cent correct.
The Tigers called off the move two years ago with manager Steve Bruce telling the BBC all parties were in an awful situation because the “medical is not so great”.
Bruce said he thought the player was surprised “because he has not missed many games over the last couple of years, but these medicals are so stringent and obviously he has got a problem”.
And here’s what Austin had to to say a little later in an interview with FourFourTwo: “How did I feel? I didn’t really want to play football after that to be honest.
“I thought ‘Yeah that’ll do, I’m not playing anymore’. But even though I only had a year at Burnley left, I thought… [puffs out cheeks].”
Whether the chairman should have given a view on the player’s abilities is a separate issue. But don’t expect platitudes from him. He is well known for saying exactly what’s on his mind.
A relatively recent failed medical is a failed medical and will focus any chairman’s mind.
Should he have made his points? Each of us can make our own mind up, but perhaps, just perhaps, there’s been just the slightest of over-reactions?
Maybe i have been in a cave all day but what is this swap deal for Randolph/Green all about?
Dont know Essex,have been out most the evening,aint seen anything about it!
Only saw it on ‘read west ham’ …
Blind defence of the owners does your site credibility no favours.He was out of order.
Blimey rugby,this time i agree with you 100%.Sullivan screwed up,end of story 😉
Completely agree Rugby and we are worse off for it!!
Two thngs im pretty damn sure of 1) Austin wont be joining us anytime soon 2) Carroll has never been prolific,i look forward to him coming back but ever since his early days with Newcastle he has never been prolific.Its just a fact,nothing to even argue about 😉
That’s strange , JMan ,I thought Austin was a prolific goal scorer who has scored 60 goals in three seasons .. So , now he needs a server .. , mind boggling ..
So , which players exactly were serving the prolific Austin , or did he do it all alone for three or four seasons .
Well of coursee forwards need someone to supply them or serve them up chances Kevin.Christ im very tolerant of you because you a nice guy but its pretty obvious forwards need a supply line,wow,come on!! 😉
Are you really that thick Kevin, yeah he is a one man team!! Of course he needs service but the difference between him and Cqrroll is he converts and has played 148 games in the last 4 seasons, not sure Cqrroll has played 148 minutes!!!
We are giving our opinion he is entitled to his and as it is his money he holds all the cards,
So no. Need falling out again over a player that will not be joining us,
Now in the last few days we have done our best to knock Randolph,s confidence we want to start on Carroll,s as well,
What’s going to happen when Payet has his first bad Game ?
What’s going to happen when Mafia or Nolan score their first goal ?
Does not bear thinking about,
Come on new players come to West Ham and be made welcome
If Randolph is reading fan sites and taking opinions seriously Bubs then he really is in trouble, so I wouldn’t get overprotective about him, he will get his opportunity against Bournemouth to prove himself, I am dreading that but hey, as for Maiga if you are defending him then thats your choice, we have paid him a lot of money he has delivered nothing and when asked to do a deal on his contract and be let go he turned it down, can’t say I blame him for that because he is unlikely to get the same money elsewhere, that doesn’t change the fact he has leached everything he can out of us but you can’t say the same about getting the best out of his ability. Nolan has scored 99 PL goals so if he gets his first of the season I will be delighted for him he deserves 100. As for Payet he looks too good for us to be fair, if he has a bad game then so be it we are lucky to have a player of his quality which is why it winds me up that the chairmen are trying to get a striker on the cheap, if they are really ambitious they should invest in a proper goal scorer that can frighten every defence in the league. That might mean sticking two fingers up to the FFP nearly every other club knows how to manipulate it so I am sure the Davids can figure it out.
I didnt know you were into protecting our players feelings bubs.Not when you have spent the last year ripping one of our players,Nolan too shreds 😉
I think he has put his foot in his mouth with this one Hugh, I speak as someone familiar with doing the same, best thing he can do is apologise to Austin for jeopardising his situation, if he thought that he had no ligaments its one thing but he shouldn’t have gone public with that before the transfer window is shut and in honesty not even then. Its obvious he has made up his mind without seeing the evidence first hand, when you hear about these failed medicals as mentioned Demba Ba fits in that category, I can think of other players like Paul McGrath etc they played there whole very long careers with supposedly dodgy knees, there are some players who are sick notes, god knows we have had many of them through our club, Kieron Dyer couldn’t play golf because he used to pick up an injury every time the wind changed direction, Bellamy had many mysterious injuries that the doctors informed him were not there, Then there are the McGrath’s the Austin’s, Terry Butcher’s the Mark Hughes etc that don’t give a damn if they have got a knock or a niggle they just want to play and they will be on the pitch unless they have got a broken leg and even then they would probably try. Austin’s record suggest he has had injuries but he always turns up and sure he has the odd bad game like against us but over the season he will always score 20 goals or so and he scored 18 last season in one of the worst teams that have played in the PL in with a bunch of prima donnas on mega bucks wit ha team spirit through the floor. If there was any chance to sign him I suspect it is gone now, but who knows in football money talks and people might be willing to forgive a brash outburst if ultimately they end up doing pretty well out of it.
Couldn’t have put it better myself and I have watched Austin, there is no real risk and he would score loads for us with the likes of Payet servicing him
For every Demba Ba there is always a Jack Collison or hell even a Ledley King. Whilst some people play long illustrious careers regardless of underlying issues others are constantly plagued by them and are never able to fully recover. Its all about managing risk and for £15m plus a decent contract Austin is just too much of one.
I will agree though that perhaps Sully should give Austin a call to settle things but at the end of the day he was just being honest and I personally don’t take issue with that.
He hasn’t shown any signs of being a Collison, Dyer or Ledley King what a player he was even if he did play for spuds.
At the moment no but with these sorts of issues it may only take a knock (same as Collison and King) in the wrong place for everything to start to go sour. It may never happen and for Austins sake I hope it never does but when we already have Carroll giving us so little return on what he is costing us you can understand why we wouldn’t want to run the risk with Austin.
Things are rather getting out of hand … Austin is now deemed to be unrequired by West Ham .. According to Sullivan’s recent comments . There is no smoke without fire , so I prefer to listen to Sullivan . ,, a mug He Ain’t . You will see How much we missed Carroll last season when he starts regular football again .. Then maybe the doubters will retreat ., never to be heard from again as Carroll proves them all wrong .. And when Carroll scores that winning goal ??.
You are on cloud cuckoo land, Carroll has never been a prolific goalscorer and if you are pinning your hopes on him my friend wow show me where that is justified?!!
Fed up with the constant shitestirring now to be honest. Would be so nice to read something good about our club.
Couldn’t agree more Slaven and easiest way of doing that is by buying a proven goalscorer!!
Please read what is written J Man, and not assume. I said ‘possible’ not definitely. My view point is similar to DS & our friend Kevin, that, at 15 million its probably too bigger gamble. I would certainly be hesitant if it was my cash wouldn’t you ?
And, before you comment that’s true of any signing, I agree, but you really have to put the risks in perspective. At 5 million maybe, but at 15 Naaagh don’t think so.
Hammerman Idon’t know how you can say that,look at his record, there is no even possible and in the last 3 seasons he has scored 60 goals. I saw him at Swindon and he is class and would do great at a club that is desperate for a goalscorer. Please don’t tell me you think Carroll is someone we should put our trust in, tell me when he even played 60 games in the last 3 seasons?!!
148 matches in 4 seasons aint no sick note.Carroll is a sicknote not Austin.I know you are buddies with Gold & Sullivan but christ Hugh this place is turning into a love-up for them.As for over-reaction,you spent two years over-reacting about hippo even if he only farted!!
To be fair to DS He paid 15 mill for Carroll, perhaps once bitten twice shy ! We don’t need another possible sicknote.
What sick note, look at Austin’s injury record, there is no issue!!
No there hasn’t his comments about another professional player were poor. So I remember the issue with Demba Ba, has he broken down, no. Look at Austin’s injury record and then comment. Do the medics always get it right, no they don’t and how come we signed that crock Carroll then, where did they listen to the medics then. Overreaction, no we are short a quality striker and if you think Sullivan’s credibility is enhanced by putting his faith in Carroll then you are as deluded as he is!!