Andy Carroll has been told to become West Ham’s “marquee” man this season.
After attempting and failing to sign one of the the two or three top strikers around, the club are looking to AC to become the 20 goals a season man they have been seeking.
Despite the £17 million signing never reaching the target he has looked as sharp as we’ve seen for some time in pre-season and hopes are rising that he is reaching a new level.
Co chairman David Gold told ClaretandHugh exclusively: “We moved heaven and earth to bring in a top striker but now Andy has the chance to make a massive impact.
“He’s happier than he has been for a long time and apart from the early stages of it, has had a proper pre-season for the first time in seven years. We have dealt with and he is now free of all his old injury problems.
“So unless he was to get very unlucky we are hoping and praying he gets a full season in and who knows where that could lead him – the dream would be 20 goals .
“He will know it was our big ambition to get a top striker but now he can become the marquee man – he’s battled through a lot. Let’s hope this is the big man’s time.”
Haha,feck me now the marquee signing is a non signing at all.If this is a way of backtracking on the dopey marquee statement it’s up above the lamest ever.I think we have done fine in the window but I can’t see some fans taking this so well.Ding Ding Rd 1 😀
How’s the head this morning P45?
My nut was a bit tender this morning.I was just letting off a bit of steam last night,i dont like being stitched up I have still got the hump haha 😀
He has never scored 20 goals in a season, the best was 19 for Newcastle in The Championship. I can see him getting in to double figures but not the 20 goal a year striker that would have us operating right amongst the top 5. Given his injury record you have to fear there will be a period out as well, though I sincerely hope not. We still need fox in the box alongside him.
All the STs are sold now,they don’t need to get the support excited by bringing in marquee signings.Not that I’m a cynic lol
So it’s groundhog day and we’ve been transported back to 2013 and our marquee signing is ” Andy Carroll” anyone got an idea what his injury record is like? FFS lol
Exactly GW.Mate I have read this Gold sermon for every recent pre seasons.I bet it if you googled it you would find the same tired old words about him being over his injuries for each pre season.Its getting boring now.
JB it will probably get to October, AC would have slipped on a bar of soap at home or strained himself feeding the coy carp and he’ll be out till December and deja vu will be the buzz word. Fingers crossed it doesn’t happen as he has looked damn good TBH but with his track record Gold’s statement doesn’t fill me with confidence.
Bit of a backhanded compliment that – we couldn’t get a “top” striker so you’ll have to do, Andy. AC must feel great…
Big man is never going to be a 20 a season striker I think we all agree. But we’ve not seen the best of him yet – we were getting that in snippets at the back end of last season. Providing he stays fit, Slaven will turn him into a better player who can be even more of a handful than he is now. He will be almost like a new signing. I have faith.
Andy Carroll must be thinking thanks for the praise , now that West Ham need me .
The anti Carroll brigade on this forum must be gutted . How many times must AC prove himself to make people happy ??, hundreds , by the look of it ! . He was injured several times but still came back and scored the goals that gave us a 7th place finish .
Nice message from Gold , but a little out of order in my opinion . Unlike some who want to run away at the first little battle to recover from injury , AC stuck to it and came back .
Carroll in his own right would be a marquee signing for most clubs ,, but , he is at West Ham and we should be grateful for big mercies . He turned 2 nil into 2 2 against the defense of Juventus . Not many front men can do that .
Big Sam would do well to consider AC for England ,, because anyone could see that his omission was a tragic and stupid mistake ,, blind .
Thank you David Gold , but we / he don’t need you to tell us how good AC really is .
It nothing to do with fans wishing the worst on the lad Kevin for god sake.Historically we know he won’t get close to 20 goals,historically we know he is a walking injury.We are just facing facts which you clearly don’t want to face.I think he can be a top,top player but I still recognise his problems.
Never mind I have to go back to my pixies at the bottom of the garden who should be working hard down their Haribo mine.
A lot of fans have been , are being very impatient with AC ., Tone . It’s not me that needs to face the facts , it’s you who is being negative towards a player who has been unfortunate with injuries . Heck , West Ham United have been unfortunate with his injuries . But he wasn’t the only injury prone player we had last season . Time to stop singling out AC .
The list of injured players and the time they were out is unbelievable ,, . Most of them came back from injury eventually but had no impact . You can’t say that about AC .
Kevin calm down! The facts are he hasn’t completed a full season since he signed, we’ve never seen the best of him because he’s been riddled with injuries, we hear the same old thing from Gold every year and it all goes pear shaped. I’d love it if he stayed fit for a full season because he’s a bloody handful but until he does the facts are he’s never scored 20.
So Kevin you say fans should have patience with AC after three years but you withdrew your support of Bilic after three games.Strange logic if I might say so.
Very impatient with him,are you having a laugh.Im sorry to be rude Kevin but that is bull.He has been with us since 2012,look at his injury list & you say fans are impatient.Sorry I’m not buying that one..he has been out injured for almost 500 days since 2012.
And scored the grand total of 23 in that time as well Bob but no need to be impatient apparently FFS
Kevin is right. This site is unusual in the amount of anti Carroll sentiment expressed. Sakho has been injured more than Carroll and has a bad attitude to match his bad injury record but some of you seem to think the sun shines. Can’t understand it. Difference is sakho is more likely to injure himself in a car crash whereas carrol gets injured giving his all for West Ham. carroll scored nine end of last season after coming back from injury. No reason he couldn’t score twenty for us given a full season. A lot of his goals are important game winning or comeback goals too. But once again I have to mention his link up play and defensive abilities. How many times has he saved us a goal at the other end. How many times has he made goal saving clearances from out of our own six yard box? at times he is not only our no 1 striker but also our best defender.
Is it hell,i have read another site were many of them think he is a liability,one even wishes a career ending injury on him.Dont come here giving me that one Laugh!!!
Not anti AC Slav just pointing out the facts as Kevin wanted. As for Sacko yes he’s been as injured as much, yes he’s got a **** attitude and is more likely to smash his car against a tree the difference is though he cost 4.5m not 15m and he ain’t costing the club 90k a week in wages. Sacko needs to go ASAP but I ain’t buying into this 20 goals a season Andy Carroll or playing for a full season lark until he actually does it which he hasn’t done for 4 years however good a player he is on his day.
No SaL,wrong,i think if you go through the posts on here most want Sakho booted all the way back to France.There are one or two who say cut him some slack but I would say 9 out of 10 want him outta here.
Haha…I don’t understand this impatience with Andy… He hit a little snag, but in his glory days he’s unplayable, unstoppable, beautiful, charming, perfectly lovely and polite… lol 😀
Lol Matte.Your old mate Rads the Rabid Dog was on here last night.He said he has come out of exile again lol
Rads??? Thanms for the scoop Ant… I’m very happy, he’s my spiritual guidance, I bet he spent a great deal of time trying to find himself in the Himalayan Mountains… lol 😀
Yeah he was back,he was moaning he has been caught by a figa & is going to be a daddy looool 😀
Hahaha… figas are our curse Rick… 😉
Matte you were always a charmer lol
That’s how he pulls the figas lol
Haha… thanks GW, I know, I know… lol:-D
Right guys we are going off thread and I don’t know about you but I don’t want a bollocking of Makro lol
That’s easily remedied GW.Please insert OT lol
Funny You only have to mention Carroll and his worst critics pop up out of nowhere to slag him off. Yeah ok he will probably get injured before the end of the season but I hope he proves all the haters wrong. I would like to see him score twenty for West Ham and go on to be the main man for England. At the end of the season I would like to see him in one of those adverts like the Royal Navy where he says “I might have been born in Newcastle, but I was made in West Ham”. Ha ha
As I say Slav ain’t slagging him off just waiting after four years to see if he can score 20 goals and play a full season and if he does I’ll be over the moon but until that day happens I won’t buy into all the promises that are trotted out every year.
Ffs no one hates him,stop being so bloody melodramatic.Everyone has their own preference or favourite players,do we all have to love AC just to please you?? lol.I don’t see anyone say they HATE,they are being realistic that we have this same line trotted out by DG for the last two or three seasons.Has the seasons for AC been any different though..NO.
David gold is great at backing his players. He knows how hard Carroll has worked to get back each time. Not only that though. Gold is a businessman and Carroll is an asset. You spend 15 million on an asset that was once worth 35 million and you’ve got to hope his stock rises again one day.
Rarely do I comment here, but DG has got me in stitches (no pun intended Andy C) with this: “so unless he was to get very unlucky” hahahahahahahahaha. Stop it Dave. Stop it. You’re killing me. How you can say that with a straight face I’ll never know
I like AC as a plan B but he was already a marquee signing once unfortunately he has spent more time in the hospitality marquee than he has on the pitch, yes he is unplayable in the air the trouble is he unable to play when we make a fast break because by the time our players are in the opposing 18yard box he is still in our half. When we need to lump it forward bring him on otherwise let’s find a forward with at least a yard of pace that can run in behind the opponents. Apparently we have now had a £42 million bid rejected for Lacazette so you can’t accuse our chairmen of not trying to get the best targets, I would like them to get Mandzukic or Zaza at least we know they can score at the new stadium, Manolo Gabbiadini isn’t bad either.
AC is no back up. He scores two against what is considered one of the best defences in the world in juventus and clears one off our own goal line to boot but apparently he didn’t run fast enough to excite some. They’d rather see an athlete so why don’t we sign usain bolt. Doesn’t matter if he scores he will be good to watch running about scaring defences. Until they realise he can’t play football for toffee that is. AV is no back up. He is a as well as. Big man small man. You put the small sprinter in next to ac playing in and around him, feeding off it he big mans knock downs, and all round link up play, passes and through balls. Carrol scares defences and opens them up. Even the best ones can’t stop him.
It’s not about his running FFS it’s about the same old pony from Gold saying he’s a 20 goal a season forward when he’s never achieved it in his whole career. I’m not against him in the slightest and hope he has an injury free year and hits 20 goals but he ain’t done it the last 3 years of watching him when he’s been on the pitch and not in the treatment room.
Fark,other people are allowed to not get damp drawers like you about him Laugh.It isn’t part of a lifelong West Ham package you sign to love Carroll lol