Button Up Buttercups

"Button Up Buttercups", or an alternative much more 'industrial' expression, was the phrase first World War officers used as they tried to somehow encourage their subalterns to in turn convince their men that they had the courage to go 'over the top', that and a healthy shot of their preferred brew Gin, more commonly known as 'Dutch Courage'.

Well there is going to be the need for a fair amount of 'Dutch Courage' for West Ham United supporters in the coming season, it is difficult for fans to accept the fact that 'struggling' clubs are regularly able to outbid their own for players available, even those in the deepest of bargain basements.

Talks of trying to acquire players like James Tarkowski will give many fans a distinct and unpleasant feeling of Deja Vu, the club bid low, then increase their bid to just below that which is required by the selling club, only for another club to 'steam in' and grab the player. The hierarchy then 'bleet' "We tried our best to sign such a 'Marquee' player but were unable to complete the deal", heard that one before? You will have, and depending on how long you have supported the club, you might well have an 'archive' in your brain as to exactly how many times you have heard it all before.

Ironically, despite a frosty reception by the fans on his 'second coming', David Moyes has won a significant percentage of fans over, not only by the way he has saved the club from relegation twice now, but he seemed to be setting a decent base from which to progress. The sale of Grady Diangana, against his wishes, will have had a serious impact on the Hammers manager, firstly purely from a pride point of view he was made to look stupid by proclaiming Grady had a great future, and then having to oversee his sale.

Moyes is now in a difficult situation, having been compromised he could walk, it would cost him money but more importantly he is already in the last chance saloon as a manager and if he walked it might be the beginning of a one way journey to 'top flight' managerial oblivion. David Moyes is definitely financially comfortable, so leaving is an option in that respect, but the general feeling around the playing squad and the staff is that he has an enormous amount of support in his role.

David Moyes must have run over a couple of cats in his time, but he was compos mentis when he took the poisoned chalice of taking over from old red cheeks, and now he has the Bowl of Misery and a budget of zero to work with, it's shit or bust time David! - Ed