Saturday 10 July 2010

Barrera Deal Establishes West Ham Officially As A Feeder Club


This Barrera deal is dodgy I'm afraid. The President of Pumas, Victor Mahbub has let the cat out of the bag with this highly informative sentence, "Barrera will be signing a four-year contract, then in two or three years be transferred to another team".

So who, exactly, are we acting as a front for? It is beginning to look as if we are not only the Academy of Football, but also the nursery team of Chelsea, or perhaps Man Utd, or, in our worst nightmare, Tottenham Hotspur.

People have been wondering why we are suddenly bidding big money left, right and centre; well Mr Mahbub seems to have given us the answer. In a typical dodgy East London deal, Sullivan and Gold are fronting up for somebody else. We pay a fraction of the final fee up front, make stage payments over the next couple of years, and then a First Option deal is triggered, with Chelsea, or Man Utd, or Tottenham "buying" the player at a predetermined fee, with the balance of the money going not to West Ham, but back to Pumas.

In a sense, it is a win win win deal. West Ham get a quality player on the cheap for a few seasons. Providing the player develops, Pumas get to sell the player twice, with the combined fee greater than the fee they could hope to secure for the player at the moment, and Chelsea, or Man Utd, or Tottenham get an option on a player who, should he develop as they hope, they will get on the cheap should they opt to trigger the First Option.

Should we care? We enjoyed having Tevez for a season didn't we? But that was a one off. Do we really want to formalise our position as a feeder club? How would we feel if it transpires that we are being used as a finishing school by, of all teams, Tottenham Hotspur?

The trouble is, the deal means that West Ham carry all the risks for the lowest overall gain. Like a drugs mule, we have Barerra shoved up our arse. If he aint any good, we still have to pay the £4m over three years and, like Dyer, we are stuck with him. Pumas can count their dosh, and Tottenham, or whoever, never have to shell out for a dud. If he is brilliant, Tottenham, or whoever, get a gem on the cheap and sign him in his prime, fully adapted to the demands of the Prem. As with Tevez, we are reduced to giving a hero's welcome to an ex player who shows us the crossed hammers before kick off, then proceeds to smash in goals for our rivals.

Welcome to West Ham Pablo, welcome to Trotters International Traders!

18 comments:

Essexhammer said...

Sad to say this is the reality of football today.A player will always look to better himself,the days of club loyalty are long gone.Thats not to say if the team makes rapid progress to EUROPE we won't be able to hang on to players like BERRARA.A good wage along with club success is what all players strive for,we just have to hope AVRAM GRANT really turns it aroung at WESTHAM quick smart.

Hammersfan said...

If my reading is right though Essex, we wont have an option to keep him if he is any good.

Anonymous said...

If we bag all these top players we are linked with, in two years we will be so good they won't wanna leave to the stinking scum, mancs or yids! We can dream, hey?
COME ON YOU IRONS!

danielvdean said...

You are reading to much into this, lets be honest, i doubt most mexicans have heard of West Ham, The premieer league yes, Man U, Chelsea, Arsenal, Yes. So it goes without saying that he wants a foot into europe, and then maybe he will want to sign for a bigger club, who wouldn't.
Mr Babera's lifes ambition when growing up in Mexico was never to play for West Ham, lets not kid ourself, but we have signed a quality player, with pace to burm and a great shot, for at least the next 3 years, lets enjoy it.

Anonymous said...

this is the reason i give up going to upton park years ago. west ham have never had any ambition. they always get players that are rejects and that he other teams dont want. or their to old and way past their sell by date. and not only do we always sell our best players. but we sell our best players to teams we dont like. teams like tottenham for which i dont get because they are no bigger a club then we are. just a lack of ambition as usual. and to prove my point our transfer record is 7 and a half. even the old wimbledon team transfer record is more then that. when we sold them johny hartson. says it all really.

Hammersfan said...

But why give up? Imagine supporting Yeovil or Colchester! True fans don't give up. We moan, but we still support!

Sav said...

HF, you hit the nail on the head. This is the sad truth about our club. No ambition to become anything else other than a feeder club. We have been doing that for many years now through our academy. But now we have extended our role by doing deals for other clubs. The problem, as HF very correcctly points out is that we take the upfront risk and the other clubs reserve the upside. The only thing that gets covered in these type of deals is how much money pass under the table and for whom!

Anonymous said...

people fail to understand the importance of monay. yes this would not be the dream situation but it is the BEST we can hope for in the next 5 years.

option A - sign exciting young players that improve the squad and sell them on to reduce the debt in a few year. as a result keeping our core squad together

option B - sell green, parker, collison and cole, replace them with a mix of cheap new signings and reserve players that we already have. kiraly, kovac, jay simpson and sears. because that is all we can afford. we get relegated and sell the rest of our players and become leeds if we are lucky enough to still be around.

Hammersfan said...

1206, I don't disagree with you. I am of the opinion that we should open our eyes to what is going on, however.

Anonymous said...

I agree HF you and as always you so right - West Ham is a dodgy East End club with shady deals - like you it makes me sick the pit of my stomach.

It really has become something disgusting, vile and revolting to good people like you and I!

Anonymous said...

@danieldean - mate you have more common sense in your little finger - than that idiot HF has in the whole of his body.

"Mr Babera's life's ambition when growing up in Mexico was never to play for West Ham, lets not kid ourself, but we have signed a quality player, with pace to burn and a great shot, for at least the next 3 years, lets enjoy it"

You should do your own blog mate - much better than the trash on here

Anonymous said...

Even Everton and Aston Villa are feeder clubs in the sense that if Man City come knocking, there is no way to refuse: Barry, Lescott, and now Milner. What's so bad if West Ham get a great, pacey winger for a couple of years. It might be a couple of years that we get to remain in the league. The only other way is down, I'm afraid.

Hammersfan said...

LOL 1258, I can see people flocking to an article headed "Barerra's ambition as a kid was not to play for West Ham". That is sooooooo bloody obvious! It wasn't Diamanti's either. Or Cole's. Nor was it Upson's or Green's or Parkers for that matter! Misses the point completely. Not surprised that the article has gone over your head of course! Tell me, why don't you start a blog? See if NewsNow agrees to platform you? There's a challenge. I could come on YOUR site and leave comments then couldn't I?

1302, the difference is, Villa and Everton RETAIN THE PROFIT! Understand how that helps the "feeder club"? In this case, if I am right, we are taking all the risk and forgo all the profit.

Sav said...

Exactly HF, that's the point they are all missing in this deal. West Ham takes the up front risk. If it turns out he is good then we do not get the benefit, other than having him playing for us a year or two. However, if it turns out he is not much good, we end up paying his salary for 4 years and God knows what else and to whom.

danielvdean said...

well as requested 1258, lol

www.followtheirons.blogspot.com

Never done it before but thought i would give it a go, and see it from Hammersfan's view.

See you soon

(and go gentle, it's my first time)

danielvdean said...

well as requested 1258, lol

www.followtheirons.blogspot.com

Never done it before but thought i would give it a go, and see it from Hammersfan's view.

See you soon

(and go gentle, it's my first time)

10 July 2010 15:46

thenorthener said...

i think some west ham fans need to lie down in a dark room and start taking deep breaths. come out feel better and begin to live in the real world.its all nice and cosy imagining how the club should be who we should buy how we should spend money.one problem there isnt any to spend.when fans wake up from there sleep we are still £100m
in debt.you cant just fantasise that away.with our previous regime we where heading for oblivion.
any other ideas apart from spending money we dont have? instead of complaining about this or that does anyone really believe they can do better than the chairmans? have you the blogger taken on the debt? the supporters?
are you trying to run the club on very limited resources? can you magic upworld class players just like that? as i have mentioned before fasten your seat belt and hang on for at least a five year journey back to financial stability. and its not going to be fixed in six months wherupon all the best players in the world will be beating a path to our door and we will be challenging for the european cup. i know reality can be scary stop pining for the future utopia a lot of fans are already living in and get back to now the real world-its less painful.
are you ready to wait at least five years?or five minutes?you work with what you have not havenot got.dont forget if it gets to much lie down in a dark room and take deep breaths-it works ive tried it.

Anonymous said...

its about time west ham showed some ambition. because how fans deserve it. not many teams would get the crowds we do if they had to put up with the crap with had to over the years. lets be honest. west ham are lucky to have such great loyal fans like us. just give us something back for a change. not to much to ask for is it. WAYNE THE HAPPY HAMMER