Hammers get back McCartney

Good news that West Ham have signed George McCartney on a two-year permanent deal for an undisclosed fee. McCartney was one of our most consistent players last season. He's 31 and maybe lost a little speed, but he proved what a good player he is under Curbishley and should have a couple more seasons left at the top level. Roy Keane paid £6 million for him a few years ago as part of his helter skelter transfer policy at Sunderland and we've signed him back for a lot less after his career went down a lot of long and winding roads, such as a loan spell at Leeds. The other bonus is that McCartney supplies this blog with an unending supply of bad Beatles puns...

Note from Statto

George McCartney was the 22nd player to score for West Ham this season on Sunday. Everyone in the squad who's played has scored at least once, bar Faye, Demel, Sears and Dan Potts. Which has in some ways masked our lack of a consistent striker. Midfielder Kevin Nolan on eight is now our second top scorer behind Cole on nine. We have to hope Maynard or Vaz Te are the answer, but encouraging to see so many goals shared around.

McCartney Gets Back

Well, the riots are over, my house is still standing and it's my birthday today - sadly, I'm now officially too old to play for WHU - and West Ham are playing at Doncaster. So expect they'll let me down as usual...

Still, George McCartney is a great loan signing on the evidence of his last spell with us (could we get Aaron Lennon as well?) and suggests Big Sam has lost belief in Herita after last Sunday. Collison's signed a new deal and we still have Scotty, Carlton and Robert so perhaps a win might not be too much to hope for?

Help!

George McCartney has told the BBC: "I have seen on the West Ham website I handed in a written transfer request. I never did anything of the sort. It was purely a family issue and I never handed in a written transfer request.
The state that the club's in at the minute they are just trying to cover their tracks with the supporters."

Was McCartney a paperback writer? Did he ask for a ticket to ride? Oh won't you please help me...

Get back to where you once belonged

“They’re doing what? They’re selling McCartney! Why?” My agent David Luxton (that’s literary not footie) might have just told me that Abu Dhabi billionaires have bought Man City and they’ve bid £34 million for Berbatov on deadline day and plan to capture Robinho changing forever the face of English football, but all that registers in my cranium is that George McCartney has travelled across the universe to Sunderland. May all the cloggings of Repka be unleashed on whoever is responsible.

It could be argued it’s more important to keep McCartney than Ashton or Ferdinand, as we only have one left back at the club. Now we have none. Was he sold over Curbs’ head? To lose Konchesky was unfortunate but to lose Konchesky and McCartney and miss out on Shorey looks like carelessness. Now it seems that McCartney’s wife was homesick. Surely we could have done a deal where we’d let him go in January once we signed a replacement? And I thought he’d divorced Heather anyway. Or is it a cover for an enforced fire sale? Playing half a season without a left back is madness. It all reminds me of Labour in the 1990s. Perhaps we've abandoned all concepts of anything leftish, and will now be playing a Right Back and a New Right Back in the slightly the other side of right position.

And what of my McCartney puns? No more McCartney to give us wings. Should we just let it be? Never again will I be able to fantasise about a suspended McCartney going AWOL and inspiring a headline of “Banned – on the run”. No doubt in January he’ll be replaced by Norwegian wood.