Friday 24 June 2011

The Great Clear Out - But will we have a starting eleven come August?

(Article submitted by Dave)
With all the talk about players going, has anybody had a real good look at what's left? Talk is all about getting out of the Championship but we'll be bloody lucky to stay in it at this rate! Have SuGo got a master plan? I certainly hope so because otherwise we'll be well and truly screwed! (or will we?) We've shed 17 players for less than 10 million so far and we'll be lucky to get much more than that for the ones who are about to go. Total Armageddon! (or is it?) Nolan is undoubtedly a good acquisition (and more importantly a bargain at 4 mil) and Faye; not so much but not bad (also inexpensive).

SuGo are no mugs in business. I always believed (though I didn't want to) that it was part of their master plan from the beginning to get us relegated; why else did they make all the untimely comments during Zola's reign and then consequently the unsettling of Grant in January when we were just starting to look like we might be in with a chance of surviving? why did they get rid of Zola immediately after he miraculously kept us up with no real help from them? Simple! because they were worried that with some half descent players in the squad he may just have improved the following season and on top of keeping us up again may well have finished in the top ten again (remember he was doing pretty well until he lost Bellamy; Di Michele; Collins and Neill).

So why then did they want us to go down so badly? top ten's OK for West Ham? NO, of course not, but the only reason for them was because they still had the massive wage bill that they inherited from the previous inadequates. That's just plain bad business for anyone!

Had we been relegated last season (as per plan): Zola would have been given another season (who else better suited to coach kids cuz don't forget that Tony Carr is far too valuable to SuGo as the "Golden Goose"); the wage bill would've been trimmed down a year ago; of course we would still have gone after the OS (the main & most important part of their money making master plan).

We still might of been in the N Power this season but all of our cheap youngsters would be experienced by now and with the bargain old pros and the cheap talents scouted from the lower leagues we would be back up the following season for sure. Sure we've lost money going down but then we now have the parachute payments to offset that. Lucky that was (only) just introduced, fairplay to whoever thought of doing that; wait a minute wasn't that a certain David Gold.

Look at the wage bill of the players left - peanuts! Compared to what it would have been had we stayed up. Just think of the mark-up on our youngsters when we go back up plus the 50 mil for getting promoted. Then of course there's the money spinning little OS project. Fans, SuGo may or may not be, but mugs? definitely not!

Best prepare ourselves for two seasons in the N Power, not one! But don't worry it's all accounted for in their 7 year plan. At the end of it they'll have their retirement nest-eggs and we'll have a club that can compete for the scraps of the top five or six. Just a shame it won't resemble the West Ham as we once knew it!

Love em or hate em (as we eventually will do) - Their 7 year plan is underway, it's bloody genius and there is nothing we can do about it!

2010/2011 SQUAD

GONE

3 BEN HAIM

4 GABBIDON

7 DYER

11 HITZLSPERGER

14 KOVAC

15 UPSON

17 Mc CARTHY

18 SPECTOR

21 BEHRAMI

21 BA

22 DA COSTA

32 DIAMANTI

33 OBINNA

34 KEANE

37 JACOBSON

36 BRIDGE

40 EDGAR

POSSIBLY GOING

1 GREEN (GK)

8 PARKER

9 COLE

20 FAUBERT

23 ILUNGA

HOPEFULLY GOING

13 BOA MORTE

REMAINING

2 REID

5 TOMKINS

10 COLLISON

12 BARRERA

16 NOBLE

19 SEARS

24 NOUBLE

25 STANISLAS

26 HINES

27 SPENCE

28 KURUCZ (GK)

29 STECH (GK)

30 PIQUIONNE (pensioer)

31 BOFFIN (GK)

32 O'NEIL

NOLAN

FAYE

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

We missed Bellamy & Collins - no doubt but DiMichele,do me a favour...if the "O'Neil" you're referring to is Lucas Neill then no,we don't miss him either,he was becoming an accident waiting to happen - good leadership (especially compared to Upson) shame about the tackling...keep the faith brother,long way to go yet till the start of the fizzy pop KO. Jonny Hammer

the headmaster said...

Good post, Dave. HF - 2 guest posts in a week!?!
Whilst I can see the economic argument and it certainly has some logic, I do not subscribe to the relegation conspiracy theory myself.
The other thing I'd say at this stage is that it is too early to start to panic about a starting 11. If we are still here in 3 or 4 weeks time I might be a tad more worried but let's face it, BFS has only just got back from his hols and the players don't return until next week. Still time, Dave, still time.

Hammersfan said...

Odd error. I've corrected!

Anonymous said...

Utter shit..

the headmaster said...

2353 - do what, HF?

Hammersfan said...

The error picked up by JH Headmaster.

the headmaster said...

00:18 - doing the country proud there son.
Just back from the pub or something?
Incisive and witty contribution tho fella.

Hammersfan said...

It might have been a joke based on "Clearout"!

USA Dave said...

Dave, in my newfound optimism over the goings on at Upton Park, I think your anxiety is unwarranted. Or maybe Im to tired to read between the lines.

We are dumping pure garbage at the moment. I have not been so excited about transfer rumors in years. How refreshing to read about young guns like Jennings instead of useless wankers like Dyer!

All is well I think.

Anonymous said...

Made up rubbish as normal on this site!

I spoke to DS just after relegation and he was heart broken and took it very personally. He blamed himself for employing Grant & felt he let everyone down.

Whether you like him or not he wears his heart on his shelve and relegation was never part of the plan.

However, I personally believe it will good for us clearing out all the 'big time Charlies' who sit on their arses earning tens of thousands but care little for the badge they wear. They are not fit to wear the shirt.

There are 30 left in the squad officially

http://www.whufc.com/page/FirstTeamProfiles/0,,12562,00.html

Some of the ones you mention haven't been sorted yet so there is still time for Sam to look them in the eye.

There will be plenty of average players on free transfers to replace the less than average players leaving.

I think Sam will create a new positive mental attitude at the Boleyn and to do that he needs to cut away the cancer which has been destroying us for several seasons.

Keep up the poorly researched articles! You do make me laugh occasionally ;-)

Hammersfan said...

Different author of course 0832. Perhaps you could submit an article on Sullivan having chatted to him. Were you trying to land your mum and sister a role in one of his movies? Joke! No malice intended! Genuiely would appreciate the article!

Dave said...

Headmaster and Jonny Hammer:

Hey guys listen - I have total faith that we'll go back up; just maybe though it won't be this season. The kids are to be our future under SuGo's 7 year plan and that's not entirely a bad thing. I just think that by the time they've made the grade it might be too late for this season.

As I said before SuGo's plan is 'genius' and makes perfect business sense. Those two have not got to where they are today by conducting their business affairs in the manner which they have done so since their arrival at Upton Park. Think about it for a minute... Look at what they've done so far? Lord Sugar would laugh them out of the board room...penny dropped yet? Everything that has happened so far is all part of that "7 year plan".

Over 7 years they will have taken a ship riddled with holes and sinking fast and turned it into a lean, mean, money making machine. More importantly though a very lucrative commodity. Their coup de gras will be to sell us to the billionaire who they recently made a cryptic appeal to. Make no mistake; They hold NO sentiment towards West Ham OR it's fans! (as 08:32 would have you believe)

Not that I'm complaining of course! The truth is we are all envious of what has happened at Chelski and City. By the time SuGo have finished with us it will be our natural progression to become the next PL super power (why else do you think their nemesis, daniel levy is so desperate to get his hands on the OS?).

So why the cynicism then, you may ask? Well maybe it's because I'm about to hit 50 and I have been kicked in the (metaphorical) balls once too often. Or maybe it's because I recently lived in another country for 4 years and I now see things for exactly what they are. I'm fed up of this country and us West Ham fans being manipulated by tyrants through their propaganda machine - the media! West Ham have become SuGo's "Animal Farm" (don't worry 00:18 if this is all going over your addled head - just bury back in your anonymous sand pit!) and it's fans? Well what does it say about us? The easiest type of person to manipulate is an optimist; Look up 'optimist' in the dictionary and you'll probably find it next to 'A West Ham Fan'.

This country and our club have become "comfortably numb". At the risk of sound over dramatic; We, through our greed have sold our soles to the Devil and God help us all!

There would have been riots on Green Street just as little as 18 months ago if SuGo had tried to marry us to Allardyce back then. They have cleverly got us into a position now where it has been accepted with nothing more than a whimper. The "happy clappers" are even starting to believe in him as our new Messiah (the same belief they bestowed upon Grant last season). Sure, he'll get us up and he'll have us winning more games than we lose. But at what cost? The one precious thing that links our past to our future; OUR HEART!

Thank God for Hammersfan and people like him! Yes, he is an antagonist! But more importantly, He is a realist! Like me, he cares about our Club and our country and he's not afraid to speak up and voice his opinions. I hate to admit this but most of the time he is probably right. We need people like him around, because that way there is still a glimmer of hope out there for all of us.

Keep up the good work HF and thank you for giving me a voice. The rest of you: 3, 2, 1... WAKE UP NOW!!!

Dave also said...

By the way I wrote the article but Hammersfan added the title (of course we'll have a full squad come Kick Off! Just that it might hold more resemblance to the old Bolton rather than West Ham)

I may have chosen for a title - Getting into bed with Old Nick and his side-kick!

John said...

Dave, to be a West Ham supporter you just have to be forever an optimist the alternative commit hara kiri

Hammersfan said...

Number 2 on the Newsnow Board thanks to the title mate!

Anonymous said...

"retirement nest-eggs" have you gone mad? if they're both still alive in 7 years time I'll be very surprised - I also think you can still retire on 500 million these days.... so why not retire now?