Friday 16 July 2010

Before Avram Signs Tal Ben Haim He Should Read This


(With thanks to Al who emailed me this!)

From when TBH was at Chelsea and, To Be Honest, didn't rate Avram!

'Tal Ben Haim, signed by Mourinho last summer yet a peripheral figure since his compatriot took over, is under no doubt as to the cause of Chelsea's recent failings.

"Jose Mourinho is the reason I came to Chelsea," said Ben Haim, "and if I knew Avram Grant was going to be the coach I would have signed for another club.

"It was Jose who brought me here and no one except he and I know the conversation we had when he tried to sign me the first time a year ago last January.

"The fact is while Jose was the coach I played most of the games and people who know me know that I would not have come here to be a reserve.

"I knew nothing good would come for me with Grant as Chelsea coach." '

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/2297506/Pressure-mounts-on-Chelseas-Avram-Grant.html

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Who cares

Dave D said...

I hope I am wrong....but

Are we just signing this fat benni so that our other fat benni does not look so fat?

Feste said...

And the rain it pisseth down every day.

Hammersfan said...

Looks like we've signed him!

Stani Army said...

Barrera's signing was complete a while back but they delayed the announcement to soften the blow of signing two relegated players.

Anonymous said...

Didn't quite a few teams sign our relegated players when we went down, what is your point exactly Stani Army?

Hammersfan said...

If we have signed anybody of the quality of Kanoute, Cole, Johnson, Carrick, Sinclair and Defoe, I will be pretty chuffed! Sadly, Ben Haim is closer to Breen than any of that lot!

T.I.S said...

If you had a new job and the current employees gave you no chance whatsoever, how would you feel? Pathetic, the lot of you!

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Really?

Hammersfan said...

You mat feel it but should you say it to the press TIS? Is he a tem man? Would you want him on board in a storm?

Anonymous said...

I think your all being a little harsh. This is the first time i have seen the news that we had signed him (or will be) but i dont think he is that bad a player, would imagine we are getting him pretty cheap and are desperate for a bit of a lump at the back to do what collins used to do, head the sodding thing from danger.
AppyAmmer

Stani Army said...

Forgive me Anonymous2235. By relegated, what I really meant to say was rubbish. If you're happy with a goalscorer who doesn't score and a defender that can't defend then that's fine.

How Grant became manager and has now purchased Piquionne and Ben Haim should not be brushed under the carpet but should concern us all. Neither the manager or the two aforementioned players were meritocraticly appointed, but rather by a mixture of cronyism and ethnocracy, they find themselves in cushy jobs.

West Ham United: Jobs for the boys.

Anonymous said...

stani mate - you should stop coming here - it's really starting to rub off on you - you never used to be like this..... it's a sickness you know and by god it looks like it's catching too

Stani Army said...

Like what Anonymous? I never change!

Anonymous said...

Stani army, translating my comment into chinese doesnt make me chinese, and pulling clever words from the dictionary does not make you clever. Of course Grant was appointed "meritocraticly". Champions league runners up! FA cup runners up! International manager (albeit only israel) and has a good working knowledge of the EPL! Piquionne scored 15 goals last season (incl the 4 he bagged before Pompey). That surely proves he can score and more than merits a punt for a mere 1mil. To my knowledge Ben Haim hasn't even signed yet, but even if he does he will be FREE for fcuk sake. Potentially he could regain his early form from Bolton (spit!) and be a good signing. Thom Hitz & Pab Barrera - pure quality! Probably the two best players in our squad now by a mile. Heres the best bit, all 4 for around 5mil means that we dont have to cash in any one decent to fund them. This is excellent business from G&S! "cronyism", really Stani? If what we read in fanno's post about Ben Haim's rant on AG I hardly think adding him...

Anonymous said...

... to his squad resembles anything near "ethnocracy". You are suggestting that there is a master plan to turn west ham into the new yids of the prem. I wonder if Sully will convert as well as the rest of the squad? Get a clue! Or go support City (spit!) if all you want are big money signings!

Anonymous said...

*sorry i meant to say...To his squad resembles anything near "cronyism". That just leaves us with "ethnocracy", you are suggesting...(first post)

Stani Army said...

Anonymous1237
Piquionne and Ben Haim can only be said to have been bought on merit if our ambition is to buy average players with no potential, because then they certainly qualify under that criteria, hence merit being purchased.

As for your reasons on Grant being appointed on merit: Anyone could have gotten Jose Mourinho's team to the Champion's League final. Staff at Chelsea said that Grant's coaching techniques were '25 years behind the times'. This is from an unnamed Chelsea player:

"Chelsea deserve a bigger coach than him. Grant does not have the quality to coach a team like this. When we play big opponents we will suffer because of him." http://tinyurl.com/572t96

Now he clearly knows better than you and me, having worked under Grant. Even Grant's friend, Mr Abramovich, had to eventually get rid of him. As for the FA Cup final, its just a cup competition. Cardiff got there in 2008 under Dave Jones, would he merit being a West Ham manager? A cup run proves nothing.

You're using Piquionne's poor goalscoring record to argue for him but you ignore the fact that we have given a 3 year 40k a week deal to a striker who will be 32 in December. Put those arguments on the scales and you tell me if he merits being purchased.

As for Ben Haim; it was argued above that our relegated players were also purchased by clubs when we went down but ours were young with potential. I do not see the potential in a 28 year old defender who is currently not very good. Believe me when I say that he makes more mistakes than Tomkins. This we will see at first hand, unfortunately. He dithers and is consistently bullied off the ball.

Barrera will bring quality but I intimated this when I said his signing was cleverly delayed to soften the blow of Piquionne and Ben Haim. I disagree that Hitzlsperger is one of the better players by a mile. He is a solid reliable type and we should not make him out to be more than he is.

Grant knows Piquionne and Ben Haim from previous clubs, and since I've dismissed the merit argument above, it must be cronyism then. I have said nothing of a master plan, but you tell me why Grant was appointed without any other manager being interviewed?...or why Ben Ham seems to follow Grant EVEN when he speaks against him. The bond of 'blood is thicker than water' is not broken by a few critical words.

Big money signings? Once again you assume things. I have never said that and you obviously have not been following me on this blog closely. I am primarily concerned with the sanctity of my club, and am deeply sensitive when the fans of this great club are taken for fools.

I am not saying I am clever, I never would. If there was another, simpler way of saying what I said above, I would have taken it. I am firmly in touch with my inabilities and in realisation of my place in the grand scheme of things, that I am barely a grain of sand on the beach, a drop in the ocean, if that. I know how stupid I can be. Only God is great.

....and if I was being clever by using big words, what was you being by swearing? Hmmm.