Having witnessed Harry 'Mc'Guire' scoring Scotland's only goal in their 3-1 defeat by England, many fans who hadn't already asked the question "why on earth were Hammers pursuing the signing of the Manchester United ex-captain?" will now have had there answer!
It was plain for all to see just how awful Maguire is as a defender, clearly devoid of confidence the 30 year old failed to perform on the one platform where he HAD excelled, namely playing for a supportive manager in the form of England's Gareth Southgate who is known for the loyalty he shows players that have performed for him in the past.
Last night Maguire's performance 'stank the house out' from which there can surely be no return, either internationally, nor if Ten Hag has anything to do with it, domestically. Seeing Konstantinos Mitraponis's performance for Greece, the player Hammers snapped up instead of Maguire compared to the latter's performance for England was like chalk and cheese!
Hammers clearly dodged a bullet by NOT paying out an eye watering £30 Million for a 30 year old on a massive £130,000 per week who's form had dropped off the cliff and who would clearly have absolutely NO SELL ON value at the end of the three year contract offer that was apparently on the table!
Fortunately the players desire to NOT relinquish the remainder of his £300,000 per week contract (including his mandatory Champions League wage increase he was awarded) meant the deal didn't go through, hallelujah!
However we have to return to the question as tio why Maguire was targeted in the first place, or should we say 'Taggarted!" The answer does look a bit like a 'Scottish Detective' plot line, "who put the LSD in to the football manager's cup of tea?"
What else could explain the Hammers manager's almost psychotic pursuit of Maguire from the club that sacked David Moyes after he took over from Sir Alex Ferguson? If word is to believed, not only was Moyes to spend a third of the Declan Rice money onMaguire, but he was also willing to make him among the club's biggest earners AND hand him the captaincy!
Well, either Moyes had completely lost his marbles, gone temporarily insane or been slipped something very psychedelic in his tea! Perhaps when Tim Steidten arrived he recognised something in Moyes that was a 'bit off' and therefore decided he needed placating, so he fed him the James Ward-Prowse signing because he could see some value in it, but stonewalled the Maguire madness.
As the effects of whatever had been 'influencing' Moyes' poor judgement wore off he was able to sit down and rationally discuss transfer targets, the bulk of which eventually arrived just in the nick of time. Hammers and Moyes dodged the equivalent to a uranium depleted bullet by NOT signing Maguire....just be careful who you accept a nice cuppa from in the future Mr Moyes if it has come from ANY source connected with Manchester United! - Ed (posted on return journey from NY)
Comments
Slaphead
Didn't he want 15 mill pay off from the plastics?? No wonder the countrys in a state!!
The £15 million
Is what Maguire would lose by leaving Utd and taking a huge pay cut for us when he signed an £8.5 million a year contract in 2019. That's a heck of a lot of money even by footballer standards to chuck away and it's also not Maguires fault that another manager has come in and plays a high line game alien to his, shall we say, competence. I'd do exactly the same in his shoes and the performance yesterday, I'd lay the blame solely on the manager who picked him. Own goal apart, I don't think his performance was as bad as Nev has made out.
(PS> No, I didn't want him at Stratford)
Lol
Nice 1 DEL..
I didn't even know 'England C' were playing!!
I could not work out if it
I could not work out if it was the English fans or the sweatys that were making all the noise everytime he touched the ball. Even so I was pissing myself and when he scored the own goal, I said thats it, he's played his last game for England. Given how well Dunk had played and with Stones coming back.
He looked like Bambi on ice with 3 legs a blindfold and ear defenders on. Just about good enough to play for the cock and flatulist on a Sunday morning pub league outing. Thats after the 2 regular centre halves couldn't get out of bed as they were still pissed from Saturday night...
What a fall!
One minute you are Captain of Man U and IMO the best player for England in the WC now.. confidence shot and dont be surprised he will be having metal breakdown issues in the future. I feel sorry for the guy but also pleased we dodged that bullet!
Seriously Guys
Did we play the Sweaties?? I've been cocooned in me loft for 4 months..bloody great...Me,My Firestick ( ooh er HG!!) & My Reggie collection..COCKNEY TRANSLATOR ME DRUM OR ME YARD!!
Seriously Guys
Did we play the Sweaties??
Seriously Guys
Oh & some Decorating
Think every ones said it all
Definitely blame Neville for playing Harry in undoubtedly his last England Shirt may be he thought he was putting Harry in the shop window for the New Year's sales but I think he will definitely be in the basement sales. I don't think he will ever get over being jeered at by all the supporters- Scottish and English he looked like a Rabbit caught in the headlights. And what English supporter will ever forget the own goal definitely chumps football next season, Stay as long as you can at Manur run your very lucrative contract down because I don't think any premiership team will want you now, shame but nobody will take a chance on him now certainly not on £190,000 a week. And we certainly dodged a bullet there. When you think of it Man Utd have had some real disasters with their players and ex_players of late what with Pogba Drugs,Anthony sexual assault,Greenwood and now Maguire sort of brings a new meaning to the top 4
Maguires last game in an England shirt
Dont make me laugh Southgate loves him as much as Moyes does if not more were that possible.....and as the gameshow catchprase goes Maguire you are the weakest link goodbye....only Southgate wont and that will prove to be his achilles heel and cost the country dear when it comes to it....take the rose tinted off Gareth and see what we all see a player past his best and so low on confidence its laughable he's even picked for the squad yet alone played.....last nights atmosphere was perfect for trying out the young ones and see if they could handle it and i reckon they would of but another chance lost to experiment.
England's next game is
England's next game is November I think. After H's performance agst the sweaties no way will Ten Hag see any value in playing Maguire between now and then, which then beg's the question. With him completely not match fit will Southgate pick him again? With his contract guaranteed until after the Euro's next year, there's no risk to Southgate sticking with his tried and trusted. It's whether he sees form or friendships as the reason for the team
Harry
It’s sad to see him where he is. I remember him at The Foxes. He would do barnstorming runs and he was an intelligent footballer. Confidence has been destroyed, maybe forever. Southgate has a point, we should support our own. I hope he finds his feet again.