It seems like an awfully long time ago when former Sky Sports pundit Richard Keys called Tim Steidten a “sneaky weasel.”
Keys, a staunch supporter of David Moyes and chairman of the “Be Careful What You Wish For Association,” was evidently affronted that West Ham’s director of football and head of recruitment was doing his job—looking for a replacement for the Scotsman, whose contract was expiring.
Richard Keys wasn’t alone, of course. Many were lining up to criticise West Ham and the direction the club had chosen. There had been a unanimous decision by board members to switch to a more continental model, with a director of football, a technical director, and a head coach.
Several wasted transfers and a haemorrhaging of money over players like Sebastien Haller, Felipe Anderson, Nikola Vlasic, and Kalvin Phillips—to name but a few—had convinced the club that West Ham needed to get their buying and selling right.
As a result, Moyes was notified that any new contract would be as a head coach rather than manager and that Tim Steidten would be in charge of transfers. I believe it was this factor, more than anything else, that dissuaded the then-Hammers manager from signing a new contract.
Moyes struggled with Tim Steidten in place
So whilst the likes of Alan Brazil, Alan Shearer, Richard Keys, and even our own Stuart Pearce were telling us to be careful what we wished for, the plan was already in motion.
Make no mistake about it: the prolific way in which West Ham has gone about recruiting players in the current transfer window would never have happened under David Moyes. To labour the point, the season hasn’t yet begun, and West Ham have already done significant business.
The club has completed the sort of transfers that appear to be the envy of many similar-sized clubs. In the span of just 12 months, West Ham seems to have gone from a transfer laughing stock to an example of “how it should be done.”
There are many labels used to describe Tim Steidten, but the simplest is probably “transfer expert,” and it shows in the most incredible flurry of transfer activity that I can remember.
Agreed, Gonzo. It’s really refreshing to see us conducting our business in a professional manner. It has, for so long, been our Achilles heel it seems. Moyes was never going to evolve to suit the model, which is fair enough for him, and the right decision for us. The old guard only know the old ‘manager’ model so it’s understandable why they’d be like that. Disappointing but understandable.
Time to get a few stragglers out the door, recoup some of the outlay. Do this & keep within the stupid PSR, % amount will decrease again next summer to 70%.
No Europe this season to boost the coffers, will bite at some point in the future.
So far on paper, a great window for the club. We must be patient though as it won’t click together straight away
Not sure about us suddenly being “a shining example of how it should be done” Gonzo. Just a week ago we were Del Boy market traders if memory serves me right. Suggest we all keep calm and let Tim and Lop complete their work and see how how these guys all settle in. We’ve been here before after all……
Ahhh Jimbo mate, nobody is trying to stop Tim and Loppy from doing their job.
There’s so much to be miserable about at West Ham as a fan mate, it’s nice to have a bit of excitement. I’ll leave the reality check and calming down for other times.
At the moment I’m excited.
If we pull off the Todibo deal then this transfer window will be nothing short of an absolute masterclass in sh*thousery. Steidten proving to be an absolute transfer weapon. Can’t remember the last time I was this excited about a new season
I’m happy with the transfer business credit to Steidten and J-Lo . Just need a RB hopefully AWB or at least have a good back up option . That would make it a fantastic window ⚒
The amount of players we needed to recruit this summer had me worried as to who we would be getting in…we all thought freebies journeymen injury prone that’s what we have done in the past but blimey i think many of us have been blown out of the water with the players Tim has got in…..couple of Freebies 2 expensive Cb’s left wing sorted and old fashioned striker blimey never in my wildest dreams did i think we could get this done in one window…i think we got lucky that penny pincher Moyes did not want to spend in the Jan window and now “we are getting what we wished for” COYI
Be interesting to see what Troy Deeney is saying now after saying Jlo would be out after 10 weeks and that he did not think the players he’d got were not that good and that they would be regretting getting rid of Moyes!!!!!!
Keys doesn’t know his ass from his donkey. Steidten is the most important signing we’ve made for decades, and Moyes was just a sea anchor. A good mix of youth and experience has come in. Happy days. Looking forward to watching games, win or lose.
it was only a week or so ago that you were criticising Tim and his colleagues for the recruitment strategy re old men etc.
You really need to stop winding up the fan base and have some faith and patience.
It’s definitely great news we are getting our transfer targets, we are imho paying over the odds for them but nonetheless we are doing what we haven’t before. The moments of truth will be, how that relates to our position in the league and how we play.
There are less excuses now, we still need to get these defensive signings rb/lb/cb and maybe Duran and we will probably need 5 seasons like this to overhaul the squad. Am enjoying the window for once, long may that continue COYI!!!
Definitely excited for the new season, but we have to be realistic and it’s not going to completely click from the outset. It will take a while for the players from Moyes era to adapt
We will have good days and bad days for sure
But every reason to be optimistic that we are heading in the right direction
The proof of the pudding is what happens on the pitch nothing else nothing less. Our signings are 6/10 with a couple of unknowns like the 🇧🇷 boy who may be brilliant or terrible. Todibo would be good. I would like to see a new RB, LB and another CB and make sure no key player is sold before the end of the window before judging…
there are more than a couple of “usual suspect” commenters on this site that are conspicuously missing from the chats at the moment. oh, i know why…the transfer window is going well. i’d like to see their opinions on where we are at now. i’m really missing their vitriolic rants, entitlement, hatred for head office, foot stomping and (yep) racism. come back fellas, we miss you and value your valuable insights. sorry,…insults
i love West Ham! ⚒💪
Miss them? Not me
All those critics are looking fools now! And us west ham fans knew moyes had to go all along! If we can sign Walker-peters and wahl from lens I will be pleased! If we could get yousef fofana from Monaco as well I will be doing cartwheels COYI
Couldn’t agree more, 2 days ago Martin was contradicting everything you have just said with his Dad’s Army headline and his patronising suggestions in relation to the transfer strategy. Not that anyone else is even privvy to the strategy. Maybe you guys start paying attention each other’s posts and communicating so that it doesn’t appear that you all disagree with each other lol. In one breath you guys say the window started OK and then go the opposite way and start saying dad’s army stuff…..maybe wait till the window is completed before handing out your cynical judgements and just let them do what they need to do. So sick all the negativity and the way you guys build things up, only to knock them down a few days later. Just be patient and wait is my advice!