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Give Soucek an improved deal and do it now!

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By Hughie Southon

Tomas Soucek has been at the centre of what we at ClaretandHugh considers entirely the wrong headlines for several weeks.

And tonight we put it on the record that we are utterly disgusted that he may be allowed to leave the club.

The Sun today followed up on what we reported back in February, that the manager will not offer him an improved deal. For me that’s as near unforgiveable as it gets!

The news originally came from one of CandH’s most trusted sources and when told I was horrified and remain so because I believe he is one of the most gifted and hard working players we have seen at the club – notably of course in his Hammer of the Year season.

He looked tired and out of position last season through no fault of his own – he was over played and used basically to sit in front of the back four which ensured that his goal scoring output was reduced from the double figures he had supplied in the Czech and Premier Leagues.

Had our midfield signings – Kral and Vlasic – been better, and Vlasic cost £7 million more than Tomas, he may have got a rest. It didn’t happen and now he may be punished as a result.

Our understanding  is – and despite breaking this sad story I hope it is 100 per cent wrong – that if the club is offered anything from £25 million upwards the man will be gone and should Declan leave next summer God knows where that will leave us.

This was a West Ham United story I never wanted to write because I truly have as much admiration for Tomas as any player I have seen in claret and blue. He is utterly tireless and as good as anyone on the squad and several before it when at his best.

He should get a rise and get it now – anything other,  for me anyway,  is a disgrace!

One other thing!

ClaretandHugh was set up as a Hammers daily newspaper nearly 10 years ago and be the news  good or bad we will always bring it to you.

We hate this story as much as thousands of fans but we HAVE to write what we hear from our sources – anything else is cheating ourselves and you.

And that is something we will NEVER do.

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Hugh Southon is a lifelong Iron and the founding editor of ClaretandHugh. He is a national newspaper journalist of many years experience and was Bobby Moore's 'ghost' writer during the great man's lifetime. He describes ClaretandHugh as "the Hammers daily newspaper!"

Follow on Twitter @hughsouthon

29 comments

  • Terry864 says:

    Completely agree he deserves a new deal. I think Moyes has done a very good job since he returned to the club but some decisions he makes leave a lot to be desired & if he takes the plaudits for his achievements then he must also take criticism when it’s due & not giving Soucek a better deal, being fixated with Lingard ( he had his chance now let’s move on), not buying a striker last summer or in the winter & generally not adding to the squad enough. I do ask myself what Rob Newman is doing as if your job is player identification & transfer he doesn’t seem to be doing that very well.

    • West Ham Fan No 32 says:

      Agree with what you say Terry, if you look into Moyes transfer dealings he doesn’t have a great strike rate for players that do well. Soucek is one of those that has done well, even playing out of position, so why we don’t find the money to pay him is beyond me.

  • Auslander says:

    Moyes judgement called into question, with very good reason. His seeming obsession with Lingard, when we need a real striker not a back up for Mikey but a replacement! A dispute with Tomas which could see him leave for no good reason. The man has shed blood for our team, give him a deal now! When Declan finally goes we’ll need his steel and goals! Losing my confidence in Dave rapidly ,strange substitutions, out of form players selected, he appears to have several blind spots!

  • Cleasm says:

    This could be the straw that breaks Moyes back…….selling soucek would be a massive mistake….stop dithering over Lingard and trying to scrape money from somewhere to pay his outrageous pay demands and instead give soucek a decent payrise and go get the Lad O’brien from Huddersfield a much better bang for our buck than Lingard.

  • hammerpete6 says:

    Well I agree totally Hughie and think it’s a tragedy that we may well lose him. It’s a fact that he has been played out of position to accommodate Dec, has played every game without a break, and that he was HOTY in his previous role. Like many, I praise Moyes for his achievements, but question some choices, like Vlasic, pursuing Lingard, no January signings and no U23 development. That is observation of a fan not calling for his sacking.

  • claretwine says:

    Probably in the minority here but if we can get 40 mill for a slow no pace no goals can’t pass well soucek then sell him please and put towards
    Prowse. Stop lingard from joining too greedy players like him are not wanted here ones that played poorly last 6 games for us too as thought he had done enough to show manure why they should play him . This moyes and club need to become ruthless now like the players demanding obscene wages and some even nearly 30. How about taking a better player than these two .

  • Pessimist says:

    Could not agree more with you Hughie. We need to throw money at our best stars and keep them.

  • PAUL GARNER says:

    no player is bigger than any club, he cant just demand a pay rise without it being warranted, moyes has askd him to replicate his form when he first came here, then that will earn him a rise, but a manager cant pay a player more money if hes not performing, or not worth it, then causes bad vibes in dressing room he cant do that, move him on.
    scott mctominay would fill his boots or zinchenko for more attack, rapadori from spain, sarr for speed, lots of better options, great player 2 seasons ago but not so great now, cant live on sentiments, you only as good as your last game im afraid. sell him.

    • He is not demanding. The question was asked and the answer has been explained

    • Bella100 says:

      Are you a Spurs fan ?
      Mctominay is not fit to lace Souceks boots,
      If i was you i’d switch to watching netball because you clearly do not know anything about football !!!!

  • Budgie says:

    I agree with mooro66uk comments The whole thing does not make sense so either there is something we do not know or its being misreported

  • Good Old Daze says:

    Said it on here many times – I think David Moyes has done a great job and while I don’t agree with everything he does, this would by far be his biggest error. I don’t see why he is pursuing Lingard who patently does not want to come here unless for silly money when part of those funds could keep Tomas at our club. Signing him gave us the platform for our recent success. What message about the ambition of the club does this give Declan? We risk losing both HOTY’s within the next 12 months. Madness! I’m with you 100% on this one, Hugh.

  • westhamsteve says:

    There has been many a player who doesn’t see eye to eye with the manager,but this is not a reason to get rid of them.This is about the team! The one thing you don’t do as a manger is sell one of your best players to a rival and he has not stated he wants to leave,whereas a player like Phillips obviously wanted to chase money and trophies and to my mind he is not as good as Tomas.Give him what he deserves.

  • BoleynIrons says:

    Ljd1980
    Moyes has made more bad decisions in 2022 that correct. Virtual relegation form in the league. All this down to his reluctance to play youngsters,squad players or purchase a couple of players in the Jan window.
    Let’s get this right though Rice is by far the better player so his position should be paramount. I don’t buy that Soucek was played out of position. I think it was more to do with being knackered and losing form,virtually every player losing form at some stage. But the 3 errors I pointed out led to this being escalated. Add that to him playering every game for his country.
    Moyes screwed up both the EL,the poorest 4 teams in a semi final you could see-we were actually better than the other 3,plus the CL qualification at the very least EL again. Not getting in front of a really poor Man U was criminal. Look how a clever Conte signed 2 players and used his squad to gain CL football. Spurs had a poor defence but used their attacking players to mask this.
    Give Soucek a better contract and use him better.

  • danielson79 says:

    There must have been a fall out behind the scenes. Pot Tommy boy made to play out of position to pander to the needs of Declan, who let’s face it even if he gives us this coming season, he don’t wanna play for us he has bigger dreams, fair play. But to then punish Soucek for not having enough output?! Switch their roles back, make Dec the holding MF and Soucek the box 2 box and you’ll see who’s more suited where. Geezers a grafter just pay the man.

    Hugh any chance of running a poll and getting the results in front of you contacts?

  • Clive says:

    I heard Soucek signed a 4 year contract worth 14 million and has been earning something like three and a half million quid a year, 67 grand a week or similar. My head bleeds for him. I don’t know how he gets by. And now he’s asking to double his wages because he found out how much Kurt Zouma earns? If we hadn’t bought him he’d still be playing in the rubbish Czech league. Maybe someone should remind him of that before he gets too big for his boots. Don’t get me wrong I like the player but if he’s going to get greedy then sell him and move on. Get in a midfielder who knows how to pass the ball.

    • Who the hell said he was asking for double? And where did you get his wage figure anyway. That is pure and utter rubbish. Where on earth do you get your information. Garbage

  • mooro66uk says:

    There must be something else bubbling under in the background to all this. It just doesn’t make sense otherwise. I cannot believe it’s simply a disagreement on what Thomas is worth to this club. If it is that then somebody needs to sit these two down and knock their heads together. If Thomas were to leave the club for the sake of a few grand a week it would be tragically self harming.

  • ljd1980 says:

    For me, Moyes faces the biggest challenge of his second spell in charge at the club in the early weeks of the 2023/24 season when he’ll be without Rice for the first, when the best player at the club will have moved on. Moyes will be making that transition much more difficult without Tomas. If the reality of the current situation is as is being reported, it’ll be the first major decision that Moyes has made during his time with us that I fundamentally disagree with. It seems like such a dreadful error, and one that’s easily remedied, that it’s making me wonder if there’s something going on with Tomas, or between Tomas and Moyes/the club, that’s not public knowledge.

  • U know very little and there’s much I am, aware of which is not for the public domain. Dont bother with anymore comment becos you are plain wrong

  • Eug says:

    I agree 100%. Soucek is an unbelievable player. Other players were bought and paid more and were total flops. Soucek always gives 100% is as hard as nails and when in his best position scores goals for fun. Why on earth are we considering selling him?
    And why isn’t he given a rise. The guy is worth every penny. Something is going on and I don’t like it.

  • Martin61 says:

    Completely agree Hugh. I very much remain in the Moysie camp but cannot get my head around the Tomas issue.
    Played out of position to accomodate the efforts to make Dec the complete midfielder……which has reduced our goals/assists from the pair. Never complains, literally puts his head on the line and has run himself into the ground. If we lose Tomas and Dec in next 12 months it would be a calamity.

    Come on Moysie……get this sorted

  • Tricky says:

    Couldn’t agree more. Can’t believe we would even think about letting him go.

    • Tez knows says:

      At this point we have lost kraal , noble , rice won’t be here next year , Coventry doesn’t look like will have a future here , abs we are going to sell soucek?
      Lol

      I would have thought moyes has more pressing matters filling the new gaps in the squad on top of recruiting the 3 mark now noble said we were missing last season.

      Either he has a complete new midfield lined up as well or has lost it

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