Midnight Bramble

Pre-season training has started early at Chadwell Heath with the Hammers one of the the first clubs to return to work and more man bags than you can shake a bottle of hair gel at. Even unreconstructed Kevin Nolan was pictured with one.

Meanwhile Titus Bramble, who sounds like a character from a Thomas Hardy novel, is training with West Ham, allegedly in a bid to retain his fitness after being released by Sunderland. He might fit the profile of a Big Sam signing though. Plenty of Premier League experience at 31-years-old and available on a free. He made a lot of well-publicised mistakes at Newcastle, but where expectations were lower at Wigan he proved a decent centre back and was their player of the year and also did OK for Bruce at Sunderland.

He comes with baggage though, having frequently been caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, though in his most recent court case he was found not guilty of groping a woman in a nightclub. It's easy to have an instant reaction against signing Bramble, but he's a player who might benefit from tough love.

We're also rumoured to be interested on Liverpool's Jonjo Shelvey who looked very promising at Charlton but has been frozen out at Anfield. Although of course he made the winner for Liverpool at Upton Park last season, so might be worth a punt. And we might be able to pick up Peter Odemwinjie from QPR's car park.