Rather a worrying piece by Jacob Steinberg in the Observer on the lack of a coherent transfer strategy. He cites tensions between David Moyes and new technical director Tim Steidten, with Moyes wanting proven PL performers and Steidten preferring younger players from Europe. Plus the input from Sullivan and Noble further confuses things. Add in Sully's tendency to underbid and West Ham have problems, with no Rice replacement signed as yet.
Mind you, to read some online comments from West Ham fans you'd think we were relegated before a ball has been kicked. If we can get James Ward-Prowse then he would be a good signing, and you can understand the club not wanting to pay over the odds to a relegated team who should be desperate to sell. My hunch is the £30m bid will be increased. There was a similar keyboard panic when we failed to sign Onana last summer and we ended up with a trophy. Let's see where the club is at the close of the window.
8 comments:
Moyes is proving to be the cancer at the heart of Westham . Moyes has his archaic narrow minded view of how to manage a club . No one inside the club or importantly outside the club agree with his methods . There is a flood of staff and players who wish to leave this 'sinking ship '. Sullivan is too old and proud to admit his mistake and sack Moyes to solve all the current problems . Westham may well start the season with even less quality players than they have now , which would be almost certain relegation under the duress of Moyes tactics . Moyes tactics means that the whole is LESS than the sum of the parts . he relies on individual skills to get a goal rather than solid tactics . A quality manager will make a mediocre squad over perform , Moyes is inversely proportional to that . Prediction; 10 games , 10 points or less and hopefully Moyes excreted some where .
It appears no one wants to join and few are wanting to stay. The toxicity at the top is feeding through to the players.
The players that we are being linked with seems to be the same ones that Notts Forest are being linked with.
Winning the Europa Conference league it appears is fooling no one. We are being seen as distinctly average by those outside of the club. The ship needs a complete refit and a new change of direction, otherwise it is going to become a sinking ship.
The post seems oblivious to the fact that not one signing has been made with 9 days to the start of the season and only a deal for Man City kids even beginning to approach the line before collapsing. This in a transfer window where the money has been there and it was obvious to all we needed to both compensate for the loss of Rice and ageing players to even maintain let alone improve. Nearly every West Ham fan blames Moyes intransigence and poor judgement. Nearly all are sick to death of his tactics and considers any success gained to be in spite of him not because of him( including the “ he saved West Ham from relegation “ tosh.He needed gone last November and the question now is what skeletons in the cupboard does he know about because that’s the only theory I have as to why he is still here.
After winning our first trophy of note for 43 years, I was desperately hoping WHU would see an opportunity to build upon that success and launch another assault on European silverware. However, given the summer inactivity, it appears those aspirations may not shared by those frequenting the boardroom and portacabins.
In hindsight, should this be a surprise. For as long as I recall the club’s transfer policy has been shambolic. After coming so close to being crowned Champions in 1986, the squad was not suitably reinforced and within three years the club was relegated. As WHU sought a return to the top flight the trend was bucked briefly with Macari overseeing some very astute purchases but from then on, WHU’s transfer policy, or lack of, has beggared belief. From a homesick Joey Beauchamp under Billy Bonds, to Redknapp’s shotgun approach and the Icelandics over paying for bang average journeymen, before selling players without consulting the manager. Then into the Sullivan era which has seen the search for a striker go on for nearly 15 years, alongside the arrival of every Carlos Kickaball made available by the Chairman’s “contacts.”
Sure there’s been some fantastic signings through the years, names that have gone down in club legend but for every Bonds, Devonshire and Di Canio there’s been at least ten absolute shockers (McKnight, Clark, Boogers, Kovac, Newell, Roberto, Bunbury, Mido, McCarthy, Stockdale, Quinn, Upson, Jarvis, Kelly, Quashie, Camara, Song, Savio, Chapman, Rat, Margas, Labant, Sanchez, Tore, Barrera, Zaza, Wilshire, Chamakh, Charles, Gordon – all came to mind very quickly).
Given all this, I shouldn’t be remotely surprised by the latest failing in WHU transfer policy but I did think, that just maybe, the long overdue opening of the trophy cabinet would see a desire to improve. How could I be so naïve!
That's a frightening list of rubbish signings! And you're right, transfer failures go right back to 1986.
Pete, I read your season's preview in The Guardian and am impressed by your optimism. However I just can't see what you've based this on. After the cup win there was indeed reason to be optimistic, despite Rice's departure. However, for me and many others, the disastrous way the club have gone about this transfer window in replacing Rice and building the squad has all but blown away the memories of June 7h. I really hope my pessimism proves to be unfounded but right now I'm absolutely dreading the (in)glorious twelfth..
June 7, Moyes wins our second European trophy, and first in 58 years, first trophy of any kind in in 43, and two months later he's a "cancer at the heart of West Ham". Someone said on Twitter yesterday that winning the trophy is nullified by the first half of a pre-season friendly. The Twitter warriors don't know what is happening behind the scenes, but choose to blame Moyes, not the man who makes all the decisions. It has been like this ever since he arrived, and for decades before. Let's see where we are by the end of August, I suspect all this nonsense will be lost like tears in rain. In other news, scrap VAR.
Agree Matt, the reaction to losing a friendly has been pretty OTT and it's a fact that Moyes has given us three successful seasons. Let's see where we are at te end of the window. It has been chaotic so far, so agree with Anonymous on that, but hopefully Moyes and Steidten have seen they have to work together, Sullivan is starting to bid proper money and the likely signing of Alvarez is a start.
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