January transfers are often strange and confusing

Since the introduction of the January transfer window managers have over-paid on deadline day to fill gaps in their squads. The most entertaining situations occur when you have a see-saw triangle situation where one player only leaves a club if another moves from his. It makes for some rather bizarre to-ing and fro-ing which fascinates yet frustrates at the same time.

This past window was no different.

So which players have settled in their new clubs, who hasn’t and what of the  future? I’m not going to pass my eye over everyone, just the select few who I can be bothered to mention. I shall not be talking about Dean Sturridge for instance because no one cares about Bolton.

Well starting with the hammers it looks like old Demba Ba has proven a right coup.

No you're a better signing... No you're a better signing... Stop it you two.

 Four goals so far and his enthusiasm and energy are paying dividends. No coincidence our fortunes seem to have improved since the Senegalese striker pulled on the claret and blue.

Wayne Bridge seems to have cemented his place at left back. Probably more due to his high salary and lack of competition then any performance-based criteria. The former England left-sider needs to pick up his game to win over the fans.

Thomas Hitzelsperger has been like a new signing and it is my opinion that it has been his contribution as much as Demba Ba’s that has heralded our resurgence. He allows West Ham to play three across the midfield and his deep-lying quarterback-esque pin-point passing has proved the perfect foil for Scotty (hero) Parker and Noble.

Elsewhere

A Chelski it doesn’t take a genius to see Fernando has flopped… so far. It’s obvious he hasn’t played well since before the World Cup. One might say what a waste of £50

I tried to find one of him celebrating but couldn't

 million but he’s still in his prime and if he starts banging them in the Blues will be laughing. At the other end of the pitch David Luiz seems to have settled in nicely. He seems a calm and talented defender.

At Liverpool Suarez looks to have settled in. Dangerous and tricky, shame I’ll never forgive him for THAT handball against Ghana (well mostly for having the gall to celebrate). I suspect he will do well - another reason to hate Liverpool then. It is my opinion that Andy Carrol is a lump. He’s not worth £35 million but he’s effective and as a piece of business Liverpool did well. Two quality strikers in exchange for one who hasn’t played well for more than a year? Regardless of the numbers involved that’s good business for anyone.

Who have I missed? Bent, Martins, Dzeko? let me know what you think.

I’ll leave you with the reason Suarez doesn’t sit with me. Or Uruguay for that matter.

ll do a job winning the ball in the air. Like a Peter Crouch who’s good in the air!

I do intend to go into a bit more detail about the Hammers’ outlook, especially as the business end of the season looms ever larger on the horizon, but here’s a bit of a brief summary. As always, let me know what you think.

Will Der Hammer be the one to lead West Ham to survival?

 Agree with me or not?

My pre-season relegation predictions were Wolves, Wigan and Blackpool. As the season progressed my situation became precarious. Not only were my predictions simply not panning out, what was worse was that it became obvious West Ham, were up to their necks in the relegation dog fight.

After a season thus far of anguish and considerable disbelief I can safely say I’m sticking by my guns. West Ham will stay up and Blackpool, Wigan and Wolves will go down.

Blackpool, while entertaining, have had their bubble burst. They were fun while they lasted but as far as I’m concerned the Tangerines can bugger off back to the Championship where they belong. I’ll miss old Holloway’s face and hilarious Bristol accent on MOTD – But hopefully he’ll be snapped up by a Premier League team in the near future.

I believe Man United will take the title, mainly by dint of being the least shite. In reality the top teams have been an utter dissappointment over the past two years. They’ve lost class players and replaced them with decent ones. To some extent the rise of City and Spurs has been aided by the decline of Chelski and United. Don’t get me started on Arsene Wenger’s Paedo army.

Anyhoo, I’ll be back with greater detail at some point.

I’ll leave you with one of my favourite moments from the funniest man in football (if you discount Peter Crouch). Laters

Super, super Scott

That’s right, after a lengthy sojourn the Descendant of Bobby is back.

It’s been a while since I last posted but stay tuned for updates, thoughts and opinions on everything West Ham and football based.

It’s getting towards the end of the season and things are getting a bit dicey down the bottom. I believe we’re playing well enough to beat the drop but the league is much tighter this year.

Regardless of the outcome I’ll be there watching, crying and tearing my hair out. Oh the joys of being a hammer. Feel free to let me know your thoughts.

Laters, DOB x

You can find my World Cup musings at the aptly titled messiwithyourmind blog.

For now I recommend watching this video, it’s enough to give you goosepimples.

Click for a larger image

The apparent wage bill: Probably not that far from the truth

West Ham instantly denied the validity of the documant, saying:

“West Ham United can confirm the newspaper article published this morning in the Daily Star, relating to alleged player and staff wages is not based on any club document, the figures contained within it are totally inaccurate and the document is a hoax.”

Nevertheless, it is probably at the very least a fair guess at the current wage structure. The document, false or not, was greeted with outcry and horror from many corners, but really, get serious, are there any real surprises? People who don’t know football should wind their necks in. Barring a few anomalies (Dyer, Gabbidon, McCarthy and Boa Morte) the majority of the players are recieving a standard Premiership wage. And some of the youngsters are on a comparative shoe string.

I’m not going into a debate about footballer’s wages now, simply saying this is how it is. Let’s have a look at the Manchester City, Chelsea or Real Madrid wages. What about footballing wages worldwide? I appreciate the comparison is slighlty extreme but if you’e going to take the anti-football angle then it is just money for kicking a football around.

Still…. £70,000 for Kieron fucking Dyer? Bloody Hell…

Sir Scotty Parker: Warrior extraordinaire

Gianfranco. How you still have a job I’m not sure.

This may seem bleak but let’s not fool ourselves. West Ham are a pile of crap at the moment.

The last two games we have had full teams and have not turned up.We have looked average going forward, causing a few problems, but at the back we look like we’re made of balsa wood. Bearing in mind we have an England international and an England U21 international this seems quite unbelieveable. Okay James Tomkins is still young but at the moment Matty Upson seems intent on playing his way off the plane to South Africa. Even myself, as biased as I am, would take Shawcross over him.

Madness: Allessandro Diamanti

When the defence is as shoddy as it is now the midfield cannot settle, Kovac spends the entire time looking over his shoulder and let’s be honest, he rarely inspires me with the greatest confidence. Scotty Parker is proving himself a real hero, aided by a few cameos from a few other players, he is our only real hope of getting anything from our remaining games. ‘Sir Scotty’ a possible  nickname? I never thought I’d say it but I wish we still had Lucas Neil, now that man could hand out a bollocking! No one else seems capable. Matty and Scotty aren’t particularly vocal. The only possibility would be Diamanti, and all you’d get from him is an isane half-Italian load of gibberish – The man’s a loon! (best left-foot in the league though).

It is my belief at the moment that we are playing the football of a championship bound team. I truly hope Zola turns it around but my hunches are normally fairly accurate. In my opinion (as over-inflated as it is) the only way we will survive is because somehow there are three teams worse then us. Seriously, in the league many self-obsessed people call the best in the world (deluded) there are three teams who are truly awful…….

Gianfranco, you’ve got the players please make them perform. That is your job after all. As nice a guy as you are I don’t think you are quite capable of turning on the hairdryer – and that maybe what’s needed. I hope you prove me wrong but I seem to be saying that on a lot of my posts recently.

Zola: Flanked by Razor Ruddock and Forrest Whittaker for some reason

West Ham go into the clash with Wolves tonight knowing it truly is that most horrible of footballing cliches – the six-pointer. God how I hate myself for saying it but this could mark our season.

Luckily we have a large proportion of our first 11 back from injury – a tad convenient Zola – and we really should see off the boys from the midlands quite easily. But this has been our problem all season. Good players; either injured or not playing nearly well enough. We’re beginning to look  like a Newcastle of yester-year – quality players underperforming on a considerable scale. Often to the hilarity of our closest rivals.

This can, and will if it continues, be attributed (or at least blamed) on the manager. Quite frankly Gianfranco, your time is running out. Performances outweigh ability to smile and be liked. I hope for your sake (because I like you) that your luck improves.

I hope tonight I’m eating my words but something tells me I won’t be…..

Come On You Irons!!!!

1. Tom Hanks – Forrest Gump – Blockbuster but outstandingly brilliant.

2. Ed Norton – Fight Club – Just shades Pitt.

3. Christopher Walken – Deer Hunter

4. Marlon Brando – On the Waterfront – NOT the Godfather!

5. Joe Pesci – Goodfellas

6. Joaquin Phoenix – Gladiator – Really creepy performance.

7. Jeff Bridges – The Big Lebowski

8. Denzel Washington – Malcolm X

9. Daniel Day-Lewis – Gangs of New York – Cheesey/ dodgy film but a fantasticaly played role.

10. Forrest Whittaker – Last King of Scotland

There we are…. Cue abuse.

DOB

As I have a bit of a ponder here are two lists lovingly prepared by a pair of film enthusiasts:

Simon Blackburn

Nuns: Mildly disturbing

1) Ed Norton – American History X
2) Heath Ledger – Brokeback Mountain
3) Philip Seymour Hoffman – Capote or Synecdoche
4) Anthony Hopkins – Remains of the Day
5) Robin Williams – Good Will Hunting
6) Tom Wilkinson – In The Bedroom
7) Mark Ruffalo – You Can Count On Me
River Phoenix – My Own Private Idaho
9) Tim Robbins – Mystic River
10) Sean Penn – Dead Man Walking

Definitely worth a look

Jack Levy – Jack the lad films

1) Bruce Willis – Pulp Fiction
2) Robert De Niro – Mean Streets
3) Steve Buscemi – Fargo… See More
4) Jeff Bridges – The Big Lebowski
5) Joe Pesci – Goodfellas
6) Leonardo DiCaprio – The Aviator
7) Jack Nicholson – Batman
Jonny Depp – Pirates of the Caribean
9) Al Pacino – Scarface
10) Charlie Chaplin – The Gold Rush

I’ll have mine up as soon as possible.

Feel free to dd your own lists to the post in the ‘comments section’

Nrcmoore

DOB

It was announced late last night that Davids Gold and Sullivan have taken a 50% majority in the club valued at £105 million. The two have enough liquid assets to take on the club’s debts. West Ham statement.

Scott Duxbury has stood down as chief executive with Sullivan and Karren Brady taking over the day-to-day running of the club.

David Gold and David Sullivan: lifelong West Ham fans

Zola has been told he has a future with the club and will be given money in the January transfer window to bring in new players. Despite this good news it is surely the backroom stability which is most welcomed.

Gold and Sullivan have outlined a seven-year plan to take West Ham into the Champions League and claim that they would not have proceeded with the deal had they not been supporters of the club.

“If this was based purely on business no one would have bought the club – it’s a mess,” Sullivan said. “We have a seven-year plan to take the team into the Champions League and make it a big club.” Sullivan said.

“Over seven years we plan to spend a lot of money and we hope to persuade the government to let us move to the new Olympic Stadium.“

Zola: has the backing of the new owners

The cynic inside me is always sceptical of new owners who overly voice their affection for a club, after all, football today is a business. But these two did a good job at Birmingham for 16 years and seem to be genuine in their ambition and resolve.

In my opinion gratitude has to be shown to former executive chairman Andrew Bernhardt and CB Holding who lead the club through the recent difficult times. This sentiment may surprise people but for the last couple of months we have essentially been owned by creditors. It would have been well within their rights to sell and recoup as much money as swiftly as possible. If they thought the quickest way to do this was to sell first team players left right and center then they could have done so. As it was we have emerged relatively unscathed and can now look forward to a more stable and prosperous future (hopefully).

DOB