Blind Hammer makes a blog return to support Moyes in his Striker hunt.
David Moyes has received criticism, given Antonio’s fragility and Yarmolenko’s injury, for not lurching out to grab a striker during the January window.
In contrast I have cheered from the roof top his refusal to yet again drive West Ham down the blind alley of wasting money in wages and agent fees.
It is difficult to think of any other club who have wasted so much money. This failed strategy that have been endemic for so long at our club but memories are surprisingly short.
The record of West Ham wasting money on loans and low cost striker recruits is truly appalling. Believe it or not West Ham have signed 48 strikers since 2010 and most of them you would struggle to recall.
Think about that, on average West Ham have signed nearly 5 strikers a season since 2010. This is a colossal and scandalous waste of money.
Even Moyes was drawn into this when he signed Jordan Hugill in his first stint. Moyes is intelligent enough not to repeat the mistake. There is absolutely no future in adding to the list of failures because of pressure from fans.
I offer the below to jog some memories of what a lousy strategy this is.
Winter Transfer Deals
Mido (Loan from Middlesbrough, February 2010)
Ilan (Free from Saint-Etienne, February 2010)
Benni McCarthy (Undisclosed from Blackburn Rovers, February 2010)
Robbie Keane (Loan from Tottenham Hotspur, January 2011)
Joe Dixon (Unattached, January 2012)
Marouane Chamakh (Loan from Arsenal, January 2013)
Wellington Paulista (Loan from Cruzeiro, January 2013)
Sean Maguire (Undisclosed from Waterford United, January 2013)
Marco Borriello (Loan from Roma, January 2014)
Jaanai Gordon (Undisclosed from Peterborough United, January 2014)
Nene (Unattached, February 2015)
Emmanuel Emenike (Loan from Fenerbahce, January 2016)
Jordan Hugill (£10m from Preston North End, January 2018)
Mesaque Dju (Free from Benfica, January 2019)
Summer Deals
Frederic Piquionne (Undisclosed from Lyon, July 2010)
Victor Obinna (Loan from Internazionale, August 2010)
Pablo Barrera (£4m from Pumas UNAM, July 2010)
Brian Montenegro (Loan from Deportivo Maldonado, August 2011)
Modibo Maiga (£4.7m from Sochaux, July 2012)
Mladen Petric (Unattached, September 2013)
Mauro Zarate (Undisclosed from Velez Sarsfield, May 2014)
Nikica Jelavic (£3m from Hull City, September 2015)
Luka Belic (Free from OFK Beograd, September 2015)
Ashley Fletcher (Free from Manchester United, July 2016)
Simone Zaza (Loan from Juventus, August 2016)
Jonathan Calleri (Loan from Deportivo Maldonado, August 2016)
Lucas Perez (£4m from Arsenal, August 2018)
Albian Ajeti (£8m from Basel, August 2019)
Admittedly not every striker we have signed has been a flop, Carlton Cole and Nicky Maynard achieved some success. Yet Maynard, a a fine player at Championship level, was never a Premier League player. which leaves Cole as the sole standard bearer for this genreally failed approach.
In contrast where we have recruited well we have had to pay serious money. Jarrod Bowen (£20m clearly represents value despite his recent dip in form whilst Marko Arnautovic (£24m eventually delivered for us and we recouped his fee on his departure.
So the evidence is that with limited resources the worst possible approach is to waste money on a revolving door of low cost strikers who offer little or no value to the club. We need to trust in Moyes’ judgement in avoiding the panic recruitments and buys of the past. window.
More power to Moye’s elbow. He will recruit only when players we need are and can afford are available. He needs to break West Ham’s long held tradition of gambling on low cost panic buys.
Lovely to hear form you again. You write clear sense with all things West Ham. I hope all is well.
With you 100% Denver444. Clear and sensible from Blind Hammer.
COYI
Heres an idea.-why dont we sign a good striker.-Not a has been or a temporary fix.
Here’s an idea. WHO?
Are you aware how little was spent in the window £70m across the board. The problem with those on your side of the fence is that they have little tolerance to balanced points of view. Good strikers are kept by clubs at this stage and won’t play second fiddle to others- Blind Hammer is long respected supporter and is entitled to his view which he manages to repeat just |ONCE unlike some.
where did I say blind Hammer is not a long respected supporter or not entitled to his view?
You know exactly what my point was – that we don’t need a view we have heard a million times before. Let others have a say – we know your views . Predictable and now old news
I can see both points of view but if having one striker a converted injury prone winger is a sensible option why are every other clubs in premiership not following the gold /sullivan way.I thank hammersunited for all they are doing for us supporters. I might add in a professional way and probably at expense to themselves
We will report your organisation’s views as we have been doing – plus a 40 min video – when your official spokesman chooses to give them. Yours are simply like listening to repeats of old radio programmes which not many bother with.Leave it to Andy. Ta and I hope you unerstand what I am saying here
Best Post by far on this. Well done Blind Hammer. You have actually better sight than many on this vexed subject!
Rubbish post why do you keep defending them we should be going for Europe what club truly has a make shift centre forward as the best I have been going over 50 years please don’t try to put me down I have done the miles and seen these peopleruin my club not there’s
You’re deluded, an absolute board worm. How about we use the money and spend it properly on a decent striker to come in long term and score goals.
Stop being the Jizz dwarfs mouth piece and read the room. You’re are becoming as disliked as GSB.
Talk to Blind Hammer, me or anyone else again like that and you are history – NOTE TO ALL – hatred, nastiness and general rudeness which represents ignorance is now banned, Such expressions will be immediately binned and the contributor banned. This is a family site – it’s not for the rage fuelled – go to Twitter for that. After all that was Trump’s outlet so off you go.
You are a toad. Argue the point, not he person. Your second sentence would have sufficed.
Great article Dave. We wanted to buy a striker, but not any striker at any price! Hurrah for DM holding back for what he wants. Haller was very poor at ball control, linking play and being a target man – glad to see him gone. Sheringham always dropped back a bit to link up, as does Kane for the other lot. Liverpool thumped us at the LS with Mane, Salah and Chamberlain breaking. Good players please, not expensive fillers.
Agree totally. This is where a coherent long term plan should come into play. But…………until such time we plough the same field.
Interesting list of so called strikers you provide. It is probably worth mentioning that, between 10/11 & 19/20 seasons, our top scorers have been predominantly midfielders! And the highest individual total 12 goals (Payet) during those seasons only emphasises the failure of the majority of those signings.
Strange reply to a reasonable question!
No one is digging out BlindHammer but we obviously need a target man. There must be better players available than those Sully Specials BH listed
If you re-read I think you will find somebody was presumably believing I erote it but that’s yesterday’s news. Good morning
Totally understand your point but why let Haller go when no one better to replace him especially at a 50% loss. Now we have no one . It is not a surprise that Antonio gets injured . It has happened so many times . Tweak the system to give Haller a better service might have been a better option and then do a proper job in the summer with one or two specific targets not 20 or30 who are cheap , past it or have a bad attitude . There are plenty more to add to the list as well Boogers,Zaza,Cavelli,spring immediately to mind.
We’re doing pretty well in the league with no one at the moment.
Hugh,I am entitled to a view as is the next man.
What a disgraceful attitude from you hugh , do you have any idea of how lowly you are thought of because of this type of comment ? I came on to read a few articles for the first time in a long time, my good you are a nasty individual.
Oh dear – poor me. If you only knew the real truth. I’ve had mpre support from this site than anything in my life. Always haters
Financial support, I assume.
With the amount of clickbait on here coupled with the ‘jerky’ nature of page scrolling, making it almost impossible NOT to click on one of the myriad of ads, you must be absolutely minted 😂😂
How wrong can people be. And if i’m minted it has nothing whatsoever to do with you. We will also be starting an ad free site so I’d keep your unknowing mouth buttoned if I was you. Why not just leave if you don’t like it. Ah no that would spoil your ignorant trolling fun wouldn’t it. You could always start your own site to see how minted you could get or you can carry on moaning about what others do which is probably how it will remain.
Well if they all share the sort of comments you choose to throw around when making it clear we will not tolerate hatred and spite I’m MORE than happy for such people to hold me in such a low. Makes me truly nasty of course to call for decency.
Totally agree with David Moyes strategy on this and applaud his courage and determination to carry it out. Buying a good striker is the most difficult signing to get right and full of risk. Far better to grow your own if you can.
“In contrast I have cheered from the roof top his refusal to yet again drive West Ham down the blind alley of wasting money in wages and agent fees.”
(This suggests there is a binary option: to either waste money or do nothing. There is a third option: Make the money available and trust Moyes to spend it wisely.
The owners have failed to do the first part of this strategy in Moyes’ last two transfer windows, during both of which a striker has been an absolute necessity along with several other positions which we’ve been crying out to address for years.
A fourth option would be to make better use of our scouting infrastructure to identify players in the first place. Oh, hang on…)
“It is difficult to think of any other club who have wasted so much money.”
“The record of West Ham wasting money on loans and low cost striker recruits is truly appalling.”
(I couldn’t agree more. But the way to correct this is to spend money wisely, not to starve Moyes of funding to improve the squad.)
“There is absolutely no future in adding to the list of failures because of pressure from fans.”
(Again, I couldn’t agree more but I haven’t seen many fans pressuring the owners or Moyes to sign flops.)
“So the evidence is that WITH LIMITED RESOURCES the worst possible approach is to waste money on a revolving door of low cost strikers who offer little or no value to the club.”
(Again, I agree. But the evidence of limited resources begs the question, why are there limited resources?
This is a question for the owners who told us, “We will strengthen in the right areas to ensure an exciting and balanced squad that is well placed to cope with the rigours of a Premier League season.”
Yes, a lot of money was spent under Pellegrini but money isn’t the only resource – I’ve already mentioned the scouting infrastructure above.
The reality is that whichever way you choose to carve this particular turkey, evidence of the people who ultimately run our club consistently getting things wrong is overwhelming, yet scrutiny of the way in which they run our club is in short supply.
While everyone is busy heaping well deserved praise on Moyes’ for producing miracles on a shoestring and getting the team looking the best it’s been for many years, has anyone stopped to ask themselves what might have been?
Where might we be now, had Moyes been appointed full time instead of Pellegrini, and the with the funds so loudly trumpeted by those who point to the investment our owners previously made?
That was a crucial decision taken at the highest level and it was a disaster. Where is the accountability?
In any other business those responsible would have rushed to resign before the sackings were dished out and appointments of competent, qualified, experienced personnel would have been made.
But at WHU the same people remain in place and at least one of them received a monumental pay increase.
To “cheer from the roof tops” in celebration that we haven’t signed another flop is one thing. Addressing the causes of why such celebrations are, well… celebrated, is quite another.
One can only hope those who reside in the board room don’t mistake your celebrations as an endorsement of their transfer strategy in particular or their running of the club in general.)
Well said!
Sign one decent striker with the money from the Haller transfer. Obviously still desperately poor business, yet £22m would have gone a long way to getting a Striker, which is undisputedly needed.
The admin threatening to ban people for disagreeing is one of the most petulant thing’s I’ve ever seen, disgusting attitude.
Parallel Universe. Different world from mine. Money from Haller sale had already been earmarked for paying off part the money loaned to ‘buy’ him in the first place. Carry on with the good work, Hugh.
COYI
Well you ain’t seen much and didn’t see that, Binned and nbanned for hatred and malice. NOT DISAGEEMENT. Do TRY TO UNDERSTAND. It may be your day to day currency – it’s not ours
Yes, well yes unlike yourself I do take time to formulate my responses because I actually think. So a question: Why are you here?
Actually ignore that I am no longer interested
By the way we have been running for six years not 10.
Does really highlight the poor recruitment over the years sadly there is more missing. Ayew, demba Ba! The latter was one of the better ones. You can look at that list and very few contributed.
For me we needed another striker in the summer which was clear to most then we go and sell haller with no replacement which I think will come to be a poor decision as he definitely would have contributed even in a system that doesn’t suit him. Eg his overhead kick that won us all 3 points having someone contribute like that could be the difference between us getting into Europe or the season fizzling out. That would definitely make us a more attractive option in the summer to get the strikers we want perhaps one of the reasons our transfer record is so bad is because we are always looking when we are desperate trying to avoid relegation.
Sorry, have to tack this on to the end of the discussion as the ‘reply’ button to Hughs response appears to have mysteriously dissapeared:
An ad-free site?
What, for your 250,000 followers?
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
This site would be far better and hold more weight if you were able to entertain differing ideas as to the way the club should/could be run, as opposed to vigorously defending the board and accepting virtually zero criticism of them without spitting your dummy out.
Of course, it’s your playground and your ball. Play by Hugh’s rules lest he take his ball home, eh? Oh and there is no mystery – I bin rubbish and rudeness as explained. Try to keep up
You said a swear Hugh, you’ll have to ban yourself.
Hi Hugh. This is the most balanced WHU website I have found. I would prefer to pay for a membership and have non-members pay to post comments. That would probably prevent some of the less considered comments (of which I have been guilty) while allowing disagreement.
Gaz
I suppose the proof will be in the summer whether the board invest in the squad. I have my doubts but am open to being surprised . I expect them to try to offload Lanzini Anderson and Yarmo to finance any signings. I think they will struggle to do this due to high wages. The board have been in football for a longtime with a poor to middling record and have never been universally well thought of by fans. I suppose their are worse owners in premiership but am struggling to think of any possibly Palace at a push Newcastle but Ashley doesnt charge interest
I’ve been following C&H for 10 years, lots i agree with, some I don’t. This post I don’t happen to agree with.
I feel uncomfortable posting this, worried that I will be banned or the post won’t be allowed, based on what I read above, which I find very concerning.
It’s very clear and simple – hatred, malice, spite and stuff which can be considered litigious is banned as it is on any other operation that values respectability.. Disagreement is obviously allowed as this and many many posts demonstrate. The same arguments filled with hatred over and over again upset more than approve. And we are family friendly. I’m quite happy to remove it nd simply make decisions of which nobody has any knowledge but that is not the best way to behave in my view. Praps I will in a minute. All we require is common decency
Have binned the post about banning those who can’t remain controlled in their cricisims. We were trying to address an adult audience in letting you know we have no room for hatred here. We’ll leave it there and do what we do. Sorry to those who understood the point