Forum | Non-Football Related

The on off transfer of James Tarkowski from Burnley to West Ham will more than likely end with an off! The difference between the sellers asking price and the buyers offers is virtually unbridgeable, IF the deal did go through for Tarkowski, then his arrival would swiftly be followed by the departure of Issa Diop and possibly that of Declan Rice from the London Stadium.

It is common knowledge that Felipe Anderson, Manuel Lanzini and Jack Wilshere have all been put in the shop window, but there are NO takers, so either the 'crown jewels' or at least part of them will need to be pawned before any deal like the proposed one for James Tarkowski could proceed.

Mindful of the groundswell of hatred their recent actions have generated, the Board is unlikely to sanction further 'fire sales' as was the case with Grady Diangana, therefore the manager's pursuit of defensive reinforcements may well come from elsewhere, and to that purpose the club have made an as yet undisclosed bid for Shakhtar Donetsk defender Mykola Matviyenko.

24 year old Matviyenko is a Ukraine international who has 26 caps, he made 39 appearances for Shakhtar last season and has already won two league titles and four cups with them. In six Champions League appearances last term, the 6ft 1in centre-back averaged 1.2 tackles, 2.5 interceptions and 5.8 clearances per game. He also won an average of 1.8 aerial duals per game.

Acquiring Matviyenko, who can play at right back and left back as well as in central defence, could well be a 'realistic' transfer and one that would leave something in the kitty to get another full back in as well as another striker, possibly on loan, possibly Michy Batshuayi from Chelsea, although there is a bit of bad blood due to the player rejecting West Ham THREE times in the past!.

Matviyenko and fellow eastern European Tomas Soucek could be the Irons salvation in what might be a bleak 'Siberian' winter, at least Mykola Matviyenko might actually arrive at the Bowl of Misery, and as a Brucey Bonus' he can keep Yarmo being there! Boom Boom - Ed

Due to Governmental pressure the Barclays Premier League and it's broadcasting partners have agreed that ALL top flight matches will be screened live during September, consequently West Ham United's fixture against Newcastle United originally scheduled for a 3pm kick off on Saturday has been moved to an 8pm kick off on the same day.

In a similar arrangement the away fixture against Arsenal on the 19th of september has changed it's start time from 3pm to 8pm, the EFL cup game against Charlton will kick off at 7.30 pm on tuesday the 15th of september. The Premier League fixture against Wolves is currently unchanged but may be rescheduled from it's original 3pm start on Saturday the 26th of september to a different time but still on the same day.

It however should be noted that all televised fixtures are subject to change right up until the day of broadcast, as the providers do their best to squeeze a lot of extra games in to their schedules within a very short period of time, fortunatel;y they have already had quite a lot of practise given what happened at the end of last season. Ed

Having been on the receiving end of a letter from Henri Brandman in the past, we know just how 'picky' the club can be over certain issues. Henri Brandman & Co have represented West Ham since around the time of Alan Pardew's departure as manager and before, they are very efficient, so it should be noted they 'minded' West Ham way before the 'unholy trinity' were in place. In fact our little contretemps with the club's lawyers who have represented stars like Wayne Rooney, Michael Barrymore and Jim Davison as well as high profile criminals like Ronnie Knight, was during the Pardew era.

Not wishing to fall foul of Mr Brandman again we must state certain things in a certain way, rumour has it that as the West Ham squad were preparing to play against Bournemouth in the Betway Cup last Saturday, Karren Brady tried to force her way into the team’s dressing room in an attempt to explain the recent sale of the highly thought after Grady Diangana.

An obviously disgruntled David Moyes refused her entry which led to the pair shouting at one another through the door, Brady allegedly screamed “you’re sacked!” within earshot of the assembled West Ham players. Then having thrown her toys out of the pram, Brady raced off in her blacked out windowed Limo only emerging much later at the London Stadium. This might well explain why David Moyes did not do his post match 'presser', but more importantly it could go a long way to explain why the team's performance against Bournemouth was so woeful.

NOBLE AND MOYES NOT SO HAPPY CAMPERS

Apparently joint chairman and majority shareholder David Sullivan later approached Moyes to apologise for Brady’s outburst, but there is a distinct feeling at the club that the situation between Moyes and Brady has become untenable, and that their positions at the club are under review. Brady is a non share holding director of the club and would be entitled to a huge severance payment if she was 'dismissed', that eventuality seems unlikely given the 'skeletons in the cupboard' that she is undoubtedly aware of.

All this 'disrythmia' at the club during a time when everyone needs to be pulling in the same direction, is not going to help in any way, and seems very pre contrived. If the club is really as broke as has been surreptitiously declared, then why not be honest and come straight out with the facts instead of hiding them with smoke and mirrors? The vast majority of Hammers fans are pretty level headed, and are intelligent enough to know how things work in the 'real world', even at this point in time, a little bit of honesty can go a long, long way. Honesty builds trust, and trust builds confidence for the future, if the owners want to move forward then they need to rebuild the trust first, and the rest will follow, either that or they should hit the highway!-Ed

Supposedly West Ham are ready to make another improved offer for Burnley defender James Tarkowski who has long been a target of David Moyes, the Irons manager is keen to add experience to his back four, but the figures being banded around for Tarkowski will surely mean Moyes will need to sell again before he can buy. The obvious casualty is going to be Issa Diop, hot on the heels of losing the incredibly promising youngster Grady Diangana to Premier League rivals West Brom, a decision that prompted Mark Noble to tweet “As captain I’m gutted, angry and sad that Grady has left, great kid with a great future.”

Incredibly unpopular Co-Owners David Sullivan and David Gold already under fire this week, may have looked to ease the unrest and discontent at the club by pursuing the acquisition of Tarkowski. However selling another of the club's increasing in value assets in the form of Issa Diop to fund the move is like going two steps forward and three steps back!

The sale of academy graduate Grady sparked outrage among fans, some of whom are planning a protest outside the stadium for the game against Newcastle on Saturday, the sale of Diop will spark further fury. Media reports that an offer of around £30m plus add-ons could be enough for Burnley to sell do seem wide of the mark, the figure is likely to be far higher and Leicester City will almost undoubtedly 'swoop' to buy the England International.

Tarkowski has two years left on his contract at Burnley and is a top player, he was part of the WhoScored.com European team of the season and although the line-up is based purely on statistics from the top leagues in Europe, the Burnley player made it alongside Virgil van Dijk in central defence, not a bad accolade considering Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Robert Lewandowski were also in the team.

With such an obvious, nay glaring need for at least one additional full back why on earth is the club 'bankrupting' it's mediocre transfer budget in one hit, just to replace a player who is only going to get better and hence more valuable? Chaos, disorder, disparate and desperate, it's the West Ham way! - Ed