By CandH’s top blogger Allen Cummings
With the traditional pre-season ‘taster’ safely negotiated – a comfortable and efficient win against a very useful Atalanta side under our belt – the new 2021-22 season is looming large.
Newcastle United await West Ham on our visit to St. James’ Park next Sunday – and I’m positive I’m not alone in saying “I can’t wait”!
Obviously we’re all hoping David Moyes and his team can pick up where they left off last May and gain a first game victory over a side who frustratingly took all six points off us last term.
They were results that in the grand scheme of things could be seen as the difference between us finishing a creditable sixth in the table as we did – or a magnificent fourth with the added prize of Champions’ League football.
After 2pm on Sunday we’ll finally have something tangible to comment on, a team performance to debate, individual performances to pick over, a result to celebrate – we hope!
We won’t all agree on what we’ve seen – we never do! Everyone has their own perspective – but that’s football – how it should be.
For the past nine weeks all we’ve really had to talk about is what’s going on ‘behind the scenes’ – out of our view – behind closed doors.
So much of what has been said on social media with regard to our transfer dealings has been recycled from a multitude of sources – some obscure and bizarre in the extreme.
Opinions have been passed on supposed targets, assumptions have been made about deals that are said to have failed to materialise, criticisms have been levelled, much of it based on whispers, hearsay and guesswork.
Just how much of what has appeared to whip some of our fan base into near frenzy has actually been fact? None of us can know for sure – the only ones who do know what’s fact or fiction – our board and our manager – are saying nothing, and rightly so.
I know it comes around every year, but this year it seems to have been worse than ever. The speculation won’t stop next weekend that’s for sure because for some reason the transfer window remains open for two more weeks after the season has kicked off.
That will give our transfer gurus a little more time to share their expertise with the rest of us – I’m sure David Moyes will be grateful for that (cough)!
But at least after next weekend transfer talk won’t have a monopoly on proceedings as its gradually drowned out by the switch to matters of proper football. I’m sure like me the majority of West Ham fans can’t wait!