Wednesday 8 August 2012

The Ghost of Relegations Past Haunt Corridors of Boleyn

Talk about fiddling whilst Rome burns! With three goals conceded in almost every pre season friendly played, and the team looking shapeless, toothless and spineless, there appears no urgency whatsoever at West Ham.

Two years ago, when we started the season with a game against Aston Villa, we got off to a dreadful start and never recovered. A decent points total from the first seven games, and even that Grant team would have stayed up, but for some perverse reason we waited until the final week of the window before we made our moves in the market - and it's looking as if the same absurd strategy is being employed again.

Of course it saves you a few pounds as clubs offload players they don't want, but balance that against the millions that will be lost should we go down and the strategy screams short termism of the very worst kind. Villa are likely to struggle this season so that first game is a potential six pointer, as is the match against Swansea. A six point start would set us up brilliantly, two defeats or a draw and a defeat will signal a season of terrible struggle.

In those circumstances, we should be moving heaven and earth to hit the ground running. Instead of arsing around "bidding" for players like Carroll and Tevez, we should have taken Warnock's approach at Leeds, farming who is available and who is affordable. There were, and still are, a host of players available on free transfers who would have strengthened the present squad, and certain key positions should have been covered at any cost. Defensively we remain horribly weak and there is still no width nor flair in midfield. Maiga may be the real deal up front but he is unproven in the Prem and Cole alone will not score the goals we need.

It is very, very worrying. Why the hell haven't we learnt from seasons past? Dear God, we nearly missed out on promotion last season because the screaming need for a Vaz Te was ignored until January, just as the screaming need for a left back was ignored until it was too late the season before - and even then we signed Bridge Over Troubled Waters! Just imagine if we had signed Ba in July!

Leeds fans visiting this site have mocked the signing of McCartney - quite rightly! Diame may be a good addition but Wigan struggled last season with him in the team. None of the goal keepers inspire total confidence and whilst Collins is, in my opinion, a good signing, he is not Jesus Christ despite his initials! 

Gold said that going up would cost us £20m but so far we have spent peanuts. That suggests two or three players could be on their way, but there's no point in boarding a Northern line train in Morden at ten past three when the game at Upton Park kicked off ten minutes before!

In my opinion we have already left it too late. The Villa players will be desperate to impress their new manager first game up, and Lambert must be licking his lips looking at the side he is likely to face for the big kick off. Even if we sign two or three over the next fortnight, what chance will there be of embedding them into the team?

Meanwhile, Jack Sullivan will no doubt be twattering that another sensational signing is just around the corner and the HUTBs will scream, "The window doesn't close until the end of August!" but that's like going to bed with your windows open and saying, after you have been burgled, "The windows aren't closed until ten in the morning!". The six points available before August 31st will probably decide which division we are playing in next season - the stakes are that high! - yet Allardyce has been left with a team and a squad that is patently not of Premiership quality.

Maybe, based on their products, the Bukaki Brothers are operating on the basis of what goes up, must come down, then go back up again, then come back down, then go back up again, then come back down then...yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! How much have we pocketed from the sale of the Boleyn exactly? Yeessssssssssss!

Enter a Ghost who says, "I will see thee at Barnsley." Sullivan looks up and replies, "Why I will see thee at Barnsley then."

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

You're an idiot of the highest order

daz said...

you do realise whoever stays up this season will get more tv money the year after for finishing bottom than man city won for winning the league last year. so next season nobody will be looking to yoyo, it would cost the club 70/80m! hence why people are spending stupid money trying to stay up.

think back to our last 2 relegations roeder and grant, is big sam up there with them two greats, has big sam ever ben relegated from the premiership, would bolton and blackburn of gone down if he was still in charge. if you come to the conclusion we want to go down and are not good enough to stay up anyway based on a few friendlies aimed to improve fitness then fair enough, but its a bit early to hit the panic button dont you think

Anonymous said...

have to agree
we are too passive during this window and sqad is far from complete.
No width and no flair are our major problems....and there is a leaky defence to crown things with!

Anonymous said...

I think the best way to deal with this is just ACCEPT you will be relegated that way the next 10 months or so wont be a disappointment after all. I know thats a bit defeatist but is worth it in the long run believe me. I know exactly what its like to have your saturday nights ruined and whats worse is we tend to take it out on the people closest to us. We all live in hope I suppose!

Anonymous said...

2 Reid
3 McCartney
4 Nolan
5 Tomkins
7 Baldock
8 Maynard
9 Cole
10 Collison
11 Maiga
12 Vaz Te
13 Henderson
14 Taylor
16 Noble
17 O'Brien
19 Collins
20 Demel
22 Jaaskelainen
27 Spence
30 Piquionne
32 Gary O'Neil
38 Tombides
43 Driver
44 Moncur
46 Hall
48 Potts
TBA Spiegel
TBA Diame
This 2012/2013 Numbered Squad from the official site is too weak for the premier league and with the current injuries also a poor start is sadly very likely. Some serious acquisitions are required in the coming weeks or a very difficult season is ahead for us all. It is interesting no goal keeper has been given the number 1 shirt!

Darrenharry said...

I sadly agree with this HF. I too thought Sam would have seen the need for urgent address in the summer months. Eeking out promotion at Wembley should have seen a change in policy to "ride the fervour" that created by signing some decent, young, hungry players. The critical areas such as RB, CB (competition at least) creative midfielder, pacy wide player and decent PROVEN striker would have set us up nicely. Again I agree that there are those that argue "But the window doesnt shut until blah blah" but the problem there is that, as far as I can see, our first 6 games are those that HAVE to be targetted as wins or draws. Of course no-one has the "right" to say that, but if we have no aspirations nor target setting we may as well head down now. Of course this may all be wrong and we find ourselves riding the crest of a wave as Nolan, Vaz Te and Maiga hit the heights in the early stages.....but 30 years of following us tells me not.....and history is something this current set up would do well to heed.

Anonymous said...

Do you honestly think it is lack of trying or in reality the fact no one that would improve the side actually wants to play for a newly promoted team that's unstable? I have no doubt that the austerity measures of Gold and Sullivan are in place and I agree that may be hindering in part the signing of players but why would anyone at this moment in time come to WHU if they can go to a more settled mid table side fighting out for a european place? I love WHU but am not blinkered enough not to realise that no matter what the efforts of the board are and make no bones about it, they will know what is needed no one that can strengthen the side that much will come to us. You will be bleating on soon about signing non prem players but why would the likes of Joselu come to us when he can be fighting for a German title? Carrol was never going to happen and neither was Tevez, so why mention little Sullivan when anyone with half a brain takes his tweets with a huge pinch of salt. A big dose of realism is needed for all WHU fans I am afraid and we simply are not the draw we think we are. Consolidate this year, get the injection of cash that is being spoken about (Westfield in my opinion when we get the OS)and move on in a year or 2's time but for now we need a BFS to play ugly and survive. Not what I want but what we need.

USA Dave said...

Im worried as well, but nobody knows what has been happening behind closed doors vis a vie signings. We hear rumors of this guy and that guy, and some may be close to the truth but most are probably not. Many supporters moan about Clyne, but do we have any clue what happened? No. For all we know the kid didnt want to play for Sam, didnt want to stay in London, liked a kabob place in the south.

And while this point is brought up all the time, it is still true. The majortiy of business happens late in the window. It sucks for us, but that is how it is every time.

Point is, we actually cannot be too critical of our transfer dealings up to this point because we dont know what happened and why certain players didnt sign.

Anonymous said...

Don't fret hf,we're still mocking you and Daz,It's "those two"not "them two". Now let's have a spelling test. Get a friend or warder to read these words out aloud, n i l, d e f e a t,r e l e g a t i o n, i've spaced them out to leave room for your finger.

Anonymous said...

No one in the premier league will miss you when you go down. You're vile travelling fans present logistical problems for local police forces and your standard of "football" is a disgrace. No one likes you and you don't care. You aren't even as big as Wigan or Norwich now. Let's see what dregs you can scrape up before the window closes.

Anonymous said...

Who gives a shit about West Ham and it's peedo fans?

Hammersfan said...

2034, I don't think any of our players have left to join Norwich recently; certainly not our captain and best player, seeking better opportunities than we were able to offer. If you are a Leeds fan, as I suspect, then you are a cracked pot calling the kettle black!

Anonymous said...

Scotty you are a twat.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps, yo yoing between the top two leagues is not all bad. A season of strife being the whipping boys is followed by a season of big time Charley behaviour as you burn your way through the ample parachute payments. Cup half full, cup half empty? You decide! After 8 years of austerity under Bates, frankly, I' d take either! Good luck Hammers.

Anonymous said...

20.34 here. Arsenal actually.

Anonymous said...

He's was Arsenal H F ! You're getting Paraniod that everyone who gives you critisism is a Leeds Fan!

I think one day you will be found in a trance in front of your Keyboard and on the screen will be the same line typed 10 thousand times... 'All Warnock and no play makes Jack a dull boy'...

Anonymous said...

on the contrary. I'd say it's a bit late.