Much has been made of what is sometimes called a West Ham scatter gun approach to the summer transfer window.
The cynics claim there is no plan – that we are going for anything and anybody and that we will end up with nobody or somebody very inferior.
It’s an understandable reaction among Irons fans, many of who are a despondent lot given the disappointments of recent years.
So far the likes of Iheanacho, Giroud, Walcott, Batshuayi Modeste, Hernandez and Andre Gray have been linked with us and all are most definitely in the frame.
Any of them would be fine although Gray – at around £15 million – still has something to prove for me. However, to sink into criticism because we are going for all the top talent around seems odd.
The world and his wife are searching for the best strikers they can find and the simple fact is that there are very few out there.
Arsenal are having a tough time landing Lacazette -a player on our radar last season which demonstrates how tough it is to attract the very best to a club not involved in the Champions League.
Last season we finished up with the £25 million rated Zaza and thank God we signed him on a loan with a 14 game clause attached.
At the time I didn’t hear too many voices raised in complaint on his arrival – that of course came later but it demonstrated the folly of leaving it very late because of our concentration on just a couple of other targets earlier in the summer.
I have no issue with the club talking to the best around – however many of them there may be but my fingers are firmly crossed at least two of them fall our way
The window is always a time for hysteria or raised hormone levels as Ben called it lol
The truth is that we fans dont have a clue what is really happening and it is no time for mad hatters to play out scenarios in their head and in turn send other mad hatters running for the samaritans hotline.But it does make for enjoyable funny reading,i cant dispute that lol
Well of course that is presuming the mad hatters are outside of the club. There is some re writing of history about last Summer for most people would claim it was very similar to this with a scattergun approach players being kept on ice in case better maybe cheaper options cropped up later and every striker under the sun linked with little solid resulting untill panic set in rather late. Hey it’s still early so it may not work out that way but presently it is looking ominously similar unless you are an ultra optimist.
As for Zaza I for one expressed my feelings that he along with Caliari were at best punts though as it turned out I clearly wasn’t cynical enough. And that’s the problem even low levels of expectation are rarely met at West Ham.
I think after six decades of supporting us i am almost bulletproof to the highs and many many more lows that come with supporting us spyinthesky.One poor summer recruitment doesn’t even register on my panic meter anymore lol
The problem as i see it is that we have a pretty knowledgable fan base as a whole but we have some fans who are indeed el loco and hysterical.But it shouldnt detract from the fact we have a large part of the fan base who dont sit in their darkened bedroom having pink fits about everything.
One more wheelbarrow full of crap i have read from fans this week is that no other owners would appear on Talkspite apart from ours.
Well off the top of my head i have listened to Parrish of Palace,Coates of Stoke and Hoyle of Huddersfield do interviews on there.Thats only the owners i can remember.So the no other owners would go on there critics are talking out of their backsides!
I respect everyone’s opinion Ludo’s even if I don’t agree with them but all I ever seem to see when u write something is light abuse because you don’t agree with what there saying..
Well there is a lot of truth in what he says whether some fans like reading it or not.I have read fans fans saying that no other owners would appear on talksport when they have.Im not arguing with you but they are incorrect when using that arguement.
In regards to the approach whilst to a degree it is understandable for all the windows I can see there doesn’t appear to be a primary focus on individual targets and I personally think that is costing us, if you want Batshuayi for example find a way to speak to Abramovitch and find out what will it cost to buy him or indeed if he is or is not for sale, of he is not for sale say well if you change your mind we will match any offer and then move on. The way I see it it is a bit like when you are single say you are out and you see quite a fit bird and think yeah she is not bad maybe smile at her say a few words or whatever, then another good looking one comes in and you move on to her and do the same thing, it is unlikely you are going to have regular success with that approach and certainly if the first one sees you are looking at one or more others it is not positioning yourself for success imho. Most of the players we have been linked with are not the top quality and imho not even close to it, we could pick up championship level strikers with potential for less, we were linked with Chris Wood for example he is a proven scorer, physical may or may not be good enough for the Prem but don’t break the transfer record for average players like Modeste, go all in for one and if you have to pay more than you wanted well that is the price of success in the long term if you are right they will pay for themselves.
You cant say “fit bird” 32.Its misogynistic i believe and you will have the Female Freedom Fighter on your case 😂
You will learn in time young jedhi that you always agree with women.Never disagree with their opinion on anything.Its a sure fire way to get a rapier like tongue lashing lol
lol indeed boys, she is right about most things, hang on I am being brainwashed again, thats the trouble with us mysoginistic lots we think we are in control but really Karren Brady is pulling all the strings…
Its a no win either way depending on an individual fans viewpoint it aint it.Some complain we are putting all our eggs in one or two baskets others say we should concentrate on the one or two realistic targets & dont be scatter gun.
The only people being proper scatter gun right now are the press,they aint got a bloody clue 😉
Agree. What they don’t know, they guess. What they’re not bright enough to guess, they make up. Shysters, the lot of ’em.
True though that might have something to go with it being an easy bet based on the ongoing failure over 4 years and sometimes desperation in actually solving a position and the fact the owners have actually admitted tgat desperate need too. So far easier for a hack to half guess on an established fact knowing they can’t be proved wrong than guessing totally in the dark as they would, be it players in other positions or other clubs altogether.
Andre Gray and top talent.
Now there’s 4 words I didn’t expect to see in the same article.
Maybe Gold will discuss him tomorrow morning when he is back on Talksport.
Let’s hope that’s not the case Rads, as it would seem that most punters would prefer our beloved leaders remain schtum!
I know,i just wanted to see how many coronaries i could cause amongst the drama queens if they thought he was appearing again.He needs written permission from Spuds Till I Die now anyway 😂
You’re a bad, bad man Mr Lama 😂😂
I know i will be in trouble now.You will read a headline in the papers tomorrow “Man brutally murdered by bingo card wielding thugs” 😁
I’ll have some of what you’re smoking Lama Lol
Just in a good mood mate,i will leave the drama queens to go loonie tune over everything.Btw Steve Claridge played for Salisbury at 51 yesterday.We could put in a cheeky loan bid for him 😀
Not to be an hysterical fan like people obviously hate on here 😁 but when are we going to actually put a serious bid in for someone.. ???
Lol Hammerkip im only joking.Depends what you mean by a serious bid.I mean looking back now 6mill we bid for Snodgrass was more than a serious bid,but no fans told the board it was an insulting offer & to stop messing about and pay the full asking price.Well that was a total bolloxs up 😂
Atm you can put in a serious bid,even the players club know it is a realistic bid but they dont need to sell so can sit tight.Not much is going to happen until the bigger clubs do their business and then scavengers like us can pick up their scraps.Got to be patient Kip 😂
Fair shout rads ..go easy
If the papers are to be believed then i would say that £22 million for Modeste was a serious bid.the fact that some Chinese club offered £35 million just skewed it all.If we paid £35 million it would be awful business for a 29 year old who had one good season.
Should the club pay the £35 million just to please the ranters.Not in my book they shouldnt.
I would agree with that James, the fact that anyone would bid £22m for Modeste who was a failure on his previous attempt at English football is unbelievable, he will have little sell on value unless the Chinese come in again, maybe we should agree to buyback clause where we will offer them the chance to buy him back for 25% more than we paid, that seems to be the way of doing things these days hehehe.