Forum | Non-Football Related

Manchester United striker Ashley Fletcher is under going a medical at West Ham ahead of a proposed move to the Olympic Stadium according to various media sources, the 20-year-old's current contract at Old Trafford expires this summer and he will be allowed to join up with 'Super Slav' and his boys on a free transfer. Well, not exactly free, if a deal is completed Manchester United will be due a compensation fee as Fletcher came through the club's youth system. Fletcher, who has represented England at U20 level will become Slaven Bilic's fifth signing of the summer following the arrivals of Sofiane Feghouli, Toni Martinez, Havard Nordtveit and Domingos Quina. He joined the red side of Manchester in 2012, spent the second half of last season on loan at Sky Bet League One side Barnsley and helped them secure promotion via the play offs by scoring their first goal inside two minutes against Millwall. Fletcher has scored two in two matches for England U20s and nine times in 27 appearances during his loan spell at Barnsley.
The confident youngster feels he can break in to the West Ham United first team, despite the current presence of Diafra Sakho, Enner Valencia and Andy Carroll as senior out and out strikers and the imminent arrival of one if not two others, one of which will probably be a 'Marquee' signing who will be virtually guaranteed a starting berth. One of the most significant reasons why Fletcher seems willing to take such a risk, is that the shadow of Jose Mourinho has descended on the Manchester United youth programme, and Mourinho renowned for rarely, if ever, using untried youths, doesn't represent a clear path to first team appearances, in fact his track record for bringing players through club's youth systems is appalling.
Should Fletcher sign will Slaven Billic give him his chance? Logic dictates that the club would not be signing him unless it was authorised by the manager as well as the co-owners and the recruiting team in place, in a way Fletcher is a bit of a cleaned up version of Ravel Morrison without the attitude, it is to be hoped that he fares much better under the tutelage of Slaven than Ravel did under Sam Allardyce. - Ed

Is Michy Batshuayi worth £35 Million? In the current cash sloshing world of not only the Barclays Premiership but also in the world of the massively rich clubs like Real Madrid and Paris St Germain, not forgetting the burgeoning Chinese Super League, yes he is! Is Batshuayi worth such a huge sum, added to by 10% because of the pound dropping in value following Bwexit (both Woy and the UK), to a club that has just about sorted itself out after years of fiscal distress such as West Ham United, who have been steered clear of disaster and possible expulsion by the financial guile of Baroness Brady and deep personal pockets of David Sullivan and David Gold? There are at least two train of thoughts on this possible massive investment, one is that Hammers have had a terrible track record of spending big (pro rata to the club's wealth) on players who get crocked, the list is endless but Stuart Robson, Dean Ashton, Kieron Dyer, Julien Faubert and Andy Carroll spring to mind instantly! Some say the disproportianate level of their injury bad luck was because of the old gypsy curse supposedly made when a compulsary purchase order on a site earmarked for the non eventual extension of the Boleyn Ground was made, much to the chagrin of the traveller family who had been trading in old reclaimed items from there for ages. An old grandma of the clan decreed that West Ham United will suffer more than their share of bad luck until they leave the area 'stolen by the pound' by them from the family, the club always argued that they had dealt generously with the family and well within the law both morally and legally. Of course Tottenham when faced with a similar situation just get people to burn the place down, so rumour has! A second track of thought is that West Ham United of London is about to become a truly global brand as the club moves in to the state of the art Olympic Stadium along with it's surrounding facilities, transport infra structure and entertainment and shopping complexes. Big money 'marquee' signings do generate huge interest and the image related sales of merchandise can go off the planet in the right circumstances, Hammers got truly lucky with the acquisition of Dimitri Payet, although even he succumbed to the Boleyn injury curse, if he hadn't been crocked mid season by Everton's McCarthy West Ham fans might have been experiencing Champions League football instead of Europa League. The chances of finding another player of Payet's value at the price the club paid, despite having to quickly offer better terms soon in to ensure his tenure, are second to none so the reality is that the club will have to take calculated risks, especially if the co-owners aspire, as seems very likely, to take the club to the next level where it can really give it a go with the big boys but have to come up with the commensurate resources. The recent Premier League season was unique and is unlikely to be repeated, Manchester United and Chelsea cannot possibly have seasons as bad as they both had again, so a top four spot could be seen as wishful thinking, a prudent and pragmatic season of consolidation is probably not what most West Ham fans want to hear, but realistically it is the best course of action, nobody wants to see West Ham 'do a Leeds United', but everybody has the right to dream if they want to dream! -Ed

At 2pm BST the Parc Olympique Lyonnais will be the venue for the France against the Republic of Ireland Euro Championship knock out match, a match which sees West Ham United team mates Dimitri Payet and Darren Randolph line up against each other. Surprisingly, apart from a cameo appearance by Angelo Agbona for Italyand some bench warming by James Collins for Wales, Payet and Randolph are Hammers only representatives at the Euro's, rather strange considering West Ham finished 7th in what is supposed to be the best football league in the world!
Perhaps England manager Roy Hodgson ignoring the likes of Mark Noble, Mikael Antonio, Aaron Cresswell and Andy Carroll might have something to do with the lack of the club's presence in France, they are the english core of a successful english side, have those who went instead of them justified Roy's decision to omit them from his squad? - Ed