Forum | Non-Football Related

There have been so many players supposedly on Hammers radar that fans must be feeling like air traffic controllers, as they sieve through endless drivel about targets 'linked' with the club. Interesting expression 'linked', it can be used ubiquitously in order to mask a multitude of nefarious information, it usually preceeds this well known phrase which is taken from the West Ham hierarchy's coat of arms "Habent, habere possent, ut".

Roughly translated it reads: Could have, would have, should have and it just about sums up the club's current transfer activity, the latest in the ridiculuosly long line of players to become unavailable is the highly praised Manuel Locatelli. The Italy midfielder who scored twice for his country on the way to the Euro 2020 final last month, arrived earlier today at the Juventus training ground to complete his medical ahead of a move from Sassuolo..

Locatelli was a long shot, and perhaps would have done what is known at the London Dome as an 'Anderson' upon joining. Having had it's fingers napalmed during Pellergini's reckless profligacy, the club simply cannot afford to take risks with it's miniscule transfer budget, all of which will have to be be generated by loans.

You may ask what about the Haller money? The brutal fact is. that NO money was generated from the forward's sale to Ajax, only the liability to have to pay the next instalments of the player's astonishingly ludicrous £45 Million transfer fee. Even that went wrong, with Hammers risking being banned from European competition by UEFA for rescinding on payments due.

Eventually it was necessary to borrow the money to pay the money that was still owed, so essentially Hammers got absolutely zilch for Le Sulk! Talk of David Moyes having the £25 Million (sic) received must have brought a sardonic smile to the manager's face as he was constantly probed as to what he would do with the 'cash that never was'!

Supporters of other clubs will look at the 'Hammers Experience' and think how drôle to see all the money that was wasted and how crippled the club's finances are now. However their schadenfreude should be tempered by the caveat that it 'could happen to you', and we're not talking about a lottery win, far from it, more the complete reverse.

It only takes one narcissistic owner and one manager hell bent on spending money via his pal, and you have a club on it's knees, forced to accept whatever is placed, where ever and by whoever! -Ed

It is pretty obvious to most fans that Hammers transfer business, if any, is going to be conducted on or around the last day of the transfer window. It really will be a 'last turkey in the shop' situation, except this is the summer window, but the jeopardy remains the same.

Waiting to pick up the scraps from the top table is a 'grounding' experience for fans who expected the club to push on as a result of last season's excellent campaign, one which saw the club finish ahead of Arsenal and that other team in North London.

Many excuses have been 'floated' as to the lack of action in the transfer market, either from within the club or from outside slightly more scurrilous sources. The PAI(n) in the brain bid to oust David Sullivan et tout has played right into the owners hands, they were of the opinion that no one could be more despised than them, however despite their continued loathing of GSB fans know a bit of dodginess when they see it, after all they have had plenty of practise!

Pai(n) have effectively 'shielded' the current owners by exhibiting a complete lack of knowledge when it come to the club, Gold and Sullivan may be pariahs to most Hammers fans, but they look like the chuckle brothers compared to the people behind the PAI(n) bid.

Of course now that the flaws in PAI(n)'s bid have been exposed via various platforms, including the 'shredding' Simon Jordan gave to PAI(n)'s 'Air miles' Phil Beard on Talk Spite yesterday morning, the paucity of Hammers recruitment has again begun to reveal itself like an outgoing tide, the wreckage remains the same, it was just hidden.

The grim reality is that David Moyes is going to have to wait until the closing minutes of the transfer window to see if ANY of his targets are actually attainable. The wait will be a bit like the old Harrods sale days, when people would camp out for days to get a bargain, only to get caught up in the crush as the doors opened and ultimately miss out on the bargain they craved because everyone else wanted to grab a bargain as well.

Waiting until the final day of the sale can be rewarded with amazing snips, but it can also be a path to slashed hopes and despair...so we would suggest it is better to expect little and maybe there will be a 'Moyes Toys' surprise in the offing. - LN

Tottingham or at least their agents, phone tappers included, seem to know an awful lot about Hammers transfer targets. Perhaps the Hierarchy at the London Bowl should organise a security sweep for hidden devices, after all it's not unheard of for a bit of 'sneak listening to be sanctioned by certain parties is it?

Almost every time West Ham express an interest in a player, the conference cup team from North London suddenly show up! No wonder David Moyes has issued a 'D' notice regarding transfers, he must be fed up with being gazumped on a regular basis by Danny Boy and his cronies.

According to Sky Sports, Tottenham are now interested in signing Chelsea defender Kurt Zouma, who’s also of interest to Everton. After missing out on Kurt Zouma and failing with a bid for Nice stopper Nayef Aguerd, Hammers Milenkovic orchestrations felt like a light at the end of the tunnel. However Spuds are now looking to hijack the deal, just as they look to hijack virtually every deal Hammers try to put together, so why?

Well one reason can be discounted, it cannot be West Ham's 'efficient' transfer system can it? It appears that Daniel Levy has never forgiven West Ham for acquiring the London Bowl instead of him, the fact that as a result of the Irons getting the white elephant, he was forced to build his own, albeit a far better one, has constantly wrangled with Chairman Levy.

Now saddled with enormous debt due to his gin palace being empty for the duration of the Pandemic, Levy is hell bent on revenge, and how better way is there than to wreck Hammers chances of new signings? We guarantee Tottingham will 'express an interest' in ANY player David Moyes looks at just to be spiteful, talk about kindergarten!

Levy's actions help neither Hammers fans nor those from North London, and he doesn't look as if he is willing to bury the hatchet ant time soon which doesn't bode well for either group of fans, mind you, it could be worse...you could be an Arsenal fan! Spuds have to begin in their Europa Conference League campaign with a tie against Portuguese side Paços de Ferreira on Thursday, Arsenal aren't even in the two bob cup! - Ed

Nigel Winterburn's name is synonimous with Arsenal football club, which is enrirely understandable given that he played nearly 500 games for the Gunners, however he also played 94 games for West Ham after joining the club in 2000 before eventually retiring in 2003.

We in conjunction with Betway, spoke with Nigel about how it was to be a combative defender during his time as both a Gooner and a Hammer. In Nigel's time defenders had a different role to play than those of the current day, this is what he had to say“ The way that teams are playing out from the back, modern defenders and full-backs have got be very comfortable on the ball because they're often in advanced areas,” he continued.“But we were always judged by what we did defensively under George (Graham). “Down my side I could go and play, but you knew that Lee [Dixon] would have to tuck round alongside the other two centre halves and vice versa if Lee went.“Yes, we did play it out from the back at times when Arsene Wenger took over, but as soon as the goalkeeper got the ball, it’s up to the halfway line and you’d play from the knockdowns.I think the whole ethos of the game, particularly how quick it is, has changed.“When I first started, the game was a lot slower. You think about the conditions, very rarely would you get a green pitch after Christmas.”The quality of the pitches has certainly made a huge difference to defenders’ ability to play out from defence."

The nature of the challenges that defenders come up against has also changed, back in the day there were some 'brutal' exchanges that would be classified as 'horror storys' in the current climate. There was no such thing as a ‘false nine’ in the 90s, while it was normal practise for teams to line up with two strikers rather than one. Consequently defenders were in for a potential battering every time they stepped on the pitch. Players like Wimbledon's Fash The Bash and Mick Harford saw it as their duty to rough up centre halfs and intimidate them.

There are few, if any, 'full force' tackles that were 'commited' then that would be allowed today, indeed Hammers legend Billy Bonds was renowned for being able to send players way over the advertising hoardings and into the crowd as a 'welcoming' gesture, usually within the first few minutes of a game, how things have changed?

It's impossible to go back in time and although many fans view the past era through rose tinted classes as the halcyon days of the sport, they should remember how atrocious the pitches were AND how rampant hooliganism was as well as the endemic racism that was associated with the game at the time.

We miss the hard tackles, but not the career ending injuries, the Racism or the risk of getting a kicking on the way home from grounds, especially as a visiting supporter! - Ed