The manager of a club like West Ham has to be able to play the transfer market well to get an advantage over the top clubs. So it's interesting to see how Sam Allardyce's transfer record stacks up during his four seasons. Ignoring loan signings — and Jenkinson and Song certainly made a difference this season — I've come up with the following, completely unscientific analysis:
GOOD SIGNINGS: Nolan (first three seasons only), Taylor, McCartney, O’Brien, Demel, Vaz Te, Jaaskelainen, Diame, Collins, Adrian, Downing, Carlton Cole, Kouyate, Amalfitano (probably), Cresswell, Sakho. JURY OUT ON: Valencia, Poyet, Henry.
BAD SIGNINGS: Carew, Baldock, Maynard,
Morrison, Maiga, Diarra, Jarvis, Carroll (on fitness record not form), Joe
Cole, Rat, Zarate.
So it's 16 good signings, 11 bad and three inconclusive. You can't blame any manager for taking a chance on the talent of Ravel Morrison, even if it hasn't worked out. Enner Valencia has undoubted skill, and will be a success if he can score more goals next season, while Andy Carroll, if he's ever fully fit, might yet become a good signing. The best value for money signings have been cheaper players like Cresswell, Adrian, Jaaskelainen, Vaz Te, Collins and Sakho. Sam's biggest clangers have been spending £9m on Matt Jarvis, £4 million on Maiga and £2 million on Diarra. Not a brilliant record, though considering most other managers drop a few rickets too and BFS had to rebuild the entire squad when he arrived he's not done that badly either. Any views on this?
6 comments:
How many of those "good" signings did the board make without Sam involved,
not enough facts to judge this
And how many of the bad ones weren't used properly?
Sullivan claims the credit for Sakho though we have to assume most of the others were agreed by Allardyce. Would he have stayed if he wasn't signing his own players? Agree that some, like Maiga, might have been ok if played alongside a big striker rather than as a lone frontman.
Oh and Zarate was, according to the player, also signed by Sullivan.
Rafa to Madrid means there is no one who can do better than Sam...on the same transfer money...so let's keep him eh?
I'd rather have an imperfect but safe pair of hands to get us to the OS… once we're established there then the big names might come.
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