37 Comments

Sam’s Fletcher ‘disaster’ – don’t think so mate!

Fletcher_2222093aThere are many things I may dislike about manager Sam Allardyce but for one thing I’m grateful – he says it as HE believes it to be!

As a result it allows bloggers across the West Ham universe to give their view on virtually everything he has to say which at the very least keeps us in words. We could have Steve Clarke or a ton of others with little or nothing of any real significance to say.

Even Sam’s throwaway remarks present a fund of ammunition as was the case yesterday when after the Darren Fletcher deal had broken down he was moved to declare: “Thank God this transfer market is closing – it’s been a disaster.”

Whichever position you take as a blogger you will get almighty ‘stick’ when commenting on this particular manager for he truly does create extreme reactions – you either love his management techniques with a passion or loathe them to the point of near hatred.

And in raising his thoughts on Fletcher he’s managed to raise the temperature again. To suggest that not signing him is a disaster does a tsunami wave or earthquake that kills hundreds a disservice.

And in footballing terms it’s not a tragedy either. This was a thirty year old with a dodgy recent medical and injury record who wanted around £11 million over three years to join a club already feeling the pinch via FFP.

Had we missed out on a quality central defender – a position which has moved from potentially problematical to very difficult indeed following yesterday  – I’d have shared the Allardyce concerns but he made no moves whatsoever in that direction and is now screaming “defensive crisis.”

Most people have recognised the problems at the back where both James Collins and the often fragile James Tomkins have had more than their share of problems for weeks.

It wasn’t rocket science to work any of that out so  why and how Sam was ready to offer such a massive contract to a midfielder rather than seek out a decent defender is a total mystery.

Yes, Big Sam creates big reactions…Nolan, Carroll, the refusal to play Sakho and Valencia together, changing the diamond – the list goes on and on.

But missing out on Fletcher a disaster? Sam you are surely having a laugh!

 

 

 

About Hugh5outhon1895

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

37 comments on “Sam’s Fletcher ‘disaster’ – don’t think so mate!

  1. HUGH is he hoping our freebe Swede on extra long trial is our saviour if Read leaves at the death,or is Nolan a born replacement at centre half ?

  2. The only disaster in this transfer window is the fact that we cant put our manager up for sale or send him out on loan 😉

  3. Allardyce is the disaster.

  4. we got lucky 11 mil or a 30 year old

  5. LOL – very amusing Bubs LOL

  6. I bet Doneil Henry & Stephen Hendry must be well impressed.We sign both of them in this window & then the dinosaur calls it a disaster of a transfer window.Yeah,great welcome for them both 🙂

  7. Cast your minds back 12 months exactly Hammers fans.Centre half crisis then too.We panic loaned Rodger Johnson and defensive bedlam ensued.The fact is we are now being found out because the depth of the squad is not strong enough and a couple of shrewd signings could have been made this month instead of wasting time chasing Fletcher.A good centre half should have always been the priority this month with all the Reid uncertainty as well. A great season is beginning to slide just lately because of a lack of forethought and stubborn Sam has resorted to type once again.

  8. Surprised any young player signs for the geezer. Why would you?

  9. What is really ****ing me off now is that The Davids were telling us all how we were entering this brave new world of attacking entertaining football.They delivered true to their word for a couple months,we were all loving it & now they seem to be sitting back letting The Ego ride roughtrod over everything they claimed would happen.It is getting to the stage that they are being made to look foolish as well as us punters who endure BFS’s prehistoric ideas of management.

  10. It’s back to the banners BFS OUT,
    We have till the end of the season to get the 2 Daves to listen even I think they have already made up there minds and just don’t want to pay to get rid early,
    I hope they are looking to sign a pre contract just like Read with a good young adventurous coach,although most of you are going to hate this I would like to see Di Canio given 6 months and I would not care how much the players complained about having to work for there wages,
    Now you can write your hate of that idea.

    • Anyone except Avram Grant.I though Zola did a good job under the circumstances at the time.With Di Canio in charge the side line would be where the action was rather than on the pitch.Yes Allardyce has to go and without any extra payment.

  11. I have never disliked a manager we have had.I have become disilluisoned by them & lost confidence in them but The Dinosaur gets right under my skin.The way he postures & wants to take credit when things are going well,but makes excuses & blames everything & everyone else but himself when things aint so great.He had won over a large majority of the fans earlier in the season but his own stubbornness & need to do things his way or no way will bring about his down fall & if he does lose his job or doesnt get a contract extension in the summer it will again be everyone elses fault but his own.

  12. Swansea are breathing down our necks on the table with Sunderland to deal with on February 7 and we have Man Utd to face.Anyone brave enough to say the 3 points are in the bag for us??I don’t know how bad the injury to Carroll is but if Newcastle came calling I would do the deal immediately.Nolan could be added at no cost to sweeten the deal.

  13. Old news and opinion. Why not report on something current like reid to Spurs transfer rumours for instance.

  14. I think everyone loves West Ham wants BFS OUT. I hope the owners will undersand the REAL DISASTER would be renew BFS contract. I hope they hear the prayers of the fans and are forward-looking because BFS is the prehistory and with have to look at a shiny future. A lot of players are really good, if we want to have a chance to hold them we need to expel BFS as soon as possible.

  15. you’d LIKE to think that everyone that lives West Ham wants allardyce out but in that your probably deluded or swayed by the vocal moaning minority.

  16. I don’t understand if you’re happy about bocal moaning minority… I really hope not.

  17. Yeah sure conkerpot,everyone is absolutely delighted with whats going on atm.The team selections & formations.If you believe it to be the minority who are dissatisfied then i think you are the deluded one.Im sure it is only a very small minority who dont want Nolan in the team,a very small minority who want to see a Sakho/Valencia partnership given a go again.A very small minority who are fed up with Sams strange team selections & set up/balance of the team.Yeah sure it is only a minority 😉

  18. Great comment rads!

  19. Obviously there are pro-Sam people about,thats fine,each to there own.But it doesnt mean people who dont like what is happening shouldnt be able to air their views.Im most cases the so called moaning is infact very valid points being made.If it wasnt for fans or supporters,which ever you prefer to call them calling for a more entertaining style of play this season we would still be stuck with the long ball crap from last season,though we aint far off of being back to that now anyway.No matter what people want to believe our views were taken into account by The Chairmen.To sit back & think everything is rosey in the garden at the moment is to sit back & not give a damn about our club.Too say it is a minority who are disillusioned is wrong.If people want to come on here & praise Sam then fair play to them,it is their right to hold this opinion,the same as anyone who disagrees with BFS & his outdated managerial skills has the right.

  20. This is getting a bit boring now!
    As a player Fletcher was of a quality we could of only dream about. When fit he was head and shoulders above Song!
    The only way we could even dream about signing a player of such quality is if there had been a severe change in such a players position.

    Such a change was the unfortunate illness that so cruelly blighted fletchers recent career. For let’s face it without such a drastic change in circumstances such players would still be beyound our reach.

    There was a chance that a quality player was available to us. He came with a certain amount of risk and after a more than vigorous medical that risk has been deemed too high.

    Well done to the club for reaching for the stars and well done the club when realising on this occasion they are out of reach!

  21. Conkerpot, I’m an Italian West Ham fan, sorry for my bad English. Suppose “vocal minority boaming” is real. If the majority of the people decide to throw themselves off a cliff would you follow them? BFS is one the most experienced manager in Premier League, but why he never coached important clubs like Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, Manchester City…? How many titles won during his long Premier League experience? How many times did he go close to win them? Ho many times did you entertain watching West Ham? I don’t want see West Ham survive, I want to see West Ham win or try to win with a sparkling playing style. I don’t to hear our manager cover himself before every match, I want a manager who wants to win every match. It will never happen but he has to beleive is possible. BFS is this type of manager?

    • The top tier clubs didn’t and wouldn’t even entertain Allardyce as a manger.His managerial skills are limited as well as his interpersonal skills.The top clubs realize that experience in European or world football is paramount and unfortunately Allardyce does not tick any of those boxes.He certainly does not suffer from a suppressed ego.He is Championship(English) standard at best.He was paid to get us back into the Premier League and should have been farewelled after his first year in the top flight.The man is a dinosaur in his thinking and strategic planning.Gifted new players and Teddy Sheringham have made this manager look better than he really is.I believe he is only still in the job because the owners don’t want to pay out any extras if he were let go now.I also believe West Ham could have had more points on the current table under progressive management.So I keep moaning.

  22. Roman, I totally agree with you and I hope BFS will disappear after the end of this season.

  23. Yes Phil the iron is spot on in his assessment of the fletcher deal. Some may be willing to let themsellves be brainwashed by the anti Sam sentiment expressed on websites such as this one. Others stand back and assess the situation unclouded by personal dislike of the man and they say that this club is in a hell of a lot better state now than it was when allardyce took over. We lose a few games mostly to top teams away from home. We have players injured. We are in the most difficult period of the season. This is when the team needs a lift and needs your support.

    • Yes the club is in apparently in good shape but through no miracle worked by Allardyce. Good owners who have purchased wisely is the main reason behind our lofty position on the table.Had Gold & Sullivan not spent on the likes of Song etc we would be just out of relegation zone fighting for Premier League survival as usual.There is nothing personal in my dislike of Allardyce.I want what every Hammer supporter dreams off and that is long overdue success.Your script of excuses seems to come from the same book called “Mediocrity” that Allardyce always reads from.

  24. By the way Hendrie isn’t available until the summer. Doneil Henry and reece Burke both injured which is why we had 16 year old reece Oxford on the bench who allardyce referred to as our young prodigy.

  25. Conkerpot it was only 5 weeks ago you were having ago At us all because we were 4th and had only lost to Chelsea,that was when we all knew the rot was setting in,then you commented the same how it was not BFS fault when we lost to Arsenal and we were still 5th,can you see a patern,let’s skip a few weeks when you philtheiron and others keep telling us we are the minority,I think you will find we are the majority and that we just want to be entertained,yes we want to win but one at all cost and if you fill this club has no chance in the future of bringing in class players until they are being put out to pasture you need to follow another club,as for playing youngsters,go back through the season and look at which players at other clubs have brought us down,how old was the Spurs player first game of the season,or the one at WBA,or even Sterling and there are more in most games I am old enough to remember a very old Paul Allen playing at Wembley 3 years younger than Poyet who is one for the future ect ect
    BFS must go for this club to grow FACT.

  26. Conkerpot you didn’t answer to my questions, that’s enough for me.

  27. I really cant see how people should be branded the moaning ‘minority’ for expressing an opinion on our club.If anyone can tell me how Sam can justify playing Nolan week in week out then good luck to them.Injuries isnt the excuse for this.I dont care how many sites,forums or conversations you see in pubs between we Irons supporters,it is the majority who know he plays as a Sam pet,it is the majority who knows Downing is being shunted about to allow Sam to put him in the team.It is the majority who want to see Sakho & Valencia given another go up front.It is the majority who have witnessed a change in style back to last seasons Collins/Tomkins launch up to Carroll & see where his header lands since he & Nolan returned to the team.Why the hell shouldnt people complain when they see something infront of their own two eyes which clearly is not giving us a chance to play to our full potential.We dont all think we should be the manager or are tactical geniuses but you need to be neither when you see something isnt right.If anyone can tell me they prefer the style of play since AC/Nolan cameback into the team compared to earlier in the season then fair play to them,i surrender & clearly know naff all about football 😉

  28. Get the fat git outta my club, all the sympathizers need to wake up.m We are dropping down the table like a stone and are playing awful football some times not even trying to win the match. He had the formation and players fit together like a beautiful master piece which he then broke up and changed for no apparent or understandable reason.

    Its time to force the fat man out of our great club and give another manager a season before the new stadium.

    I dont understand why the Sam lovers hate our club so much

  29. Fletcher is a quality player he passed the medical by all accounts and would have provided creativity in our devoid of imagination midfield. I don’t agree with everything Sam does and certainly not playing Nolan in midfield and moving downing out to the right but in the case of Fletcher 11mil over 3.5 years with no transfer fee is not that much these days about 60k a week for a proven player. If anyone thinks he is not quality then that’s their choice but I am sad he was not given the chance to provide the main thing in short supply from this team.

  30. West Ham Fan 32 you were happy to pay an unproved injury prone 30 year old 60k plus of our hard earned money but are happy we did not give a good reliable true hammer in Reid 60k and keep him at the club for another 4 years ?and where exactlywere you going to play Fletcher knowing Nolan is going to be first on the team sheet,why is Cresswell and Jenkinson not to young to play but Poyet is ? Why was everybody at the club calling for Noble to play for his country but now he is not good enough for our team ?
    Only one person wanted Fletcher at our club BFS,
    Only one person wants Nolan on the pitch BFS,
    Only one person is looking after himself BFS,
    Fletcher is old news,we have got to move on to the rest of the season and plan for the future,
    As a supporter of this club along time before BFS arrived and until the day I die (which I hope will be a long time after BFS leaves,)
    I need the sort of boost the first 2 months of the season gave us BFS had no choice but to play that way and was as suprised how well it went but as soon as KN and AC returned he went back to the system he is comfatable with,
    If you can’t change you then you must move on,
    Thanks for 2 good years and getting us back in the top flight BFS and KN but your time has arrived for you to leave.

  31. Bubs you think he is unproved yet a regular when fit playing at the biggest club in the country, the vice captain and captain of his National team a man with more European experience than the whole of the West Ham team… now that Fletcher has signed for West Brom we will see how good he is, you may be proven right who knows… I actually have said in previous posts we should pay Reid more than 60k a week to sign a new contract as he is our best defender so your quote is factually unfounded. If Reid is a good, reliable, true hammer then why is he likely to be leaving the club at the end of the season after only 4 years repaying nothing of the faith showed in him by Sam and the club ? You seem to have a blinding hatred of Sam Allardyce and your statements that only one person wanted this and only one persn wanted that etc, if they are your belief’s then that’s fair enough, but I and some others would have liked to see Fletcher at the club so to say only one person wanted them is not true on that basis alone, if we had signed Adebayor that is a signing I would have disagreed with but as it was we signed no one and the team has not had a shot in the arm it needed instead we have one angry Carlton Cole returning which will not do much for the morale of the troops. I would like to see a change of manager at the end of the season as I do not think Sam can take us any further along the road than we are presently, his loyalty to certain players has a negative impact on some players and our results, who ever that manager is should be a big name with tactical nous and an eye to attack and someone that can attract the best talent to the club. This new talent scout that the David’s have employed didn’t seem to find too many interesting players for us to approach, the only one that would have been a good choice would have been Gignac but after flying to France no more was ever said on that matter…

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