Sunday 6 June 2010

After The Signing of Der Hammer I'm Glad All Over


What is wrong with me? Do I need to see the doctor? Maybe it is the weather. But somewhere over the last couple of weeks, I've lost my healthy dose of cynicism. England? We're going to win the World Cup! West Ham? We're on the march after the signing of Hitlersburger. Avram? Great appointment. Sullivan and Gold...well let's not get carried away!

Now, if we look at this logically, this "Glad all over" feeling is just plain stupid. Hitlersburger arguably failed at Lazio after being shown the door at Stuttgart. He has been dropped from the Germany squad for the World Cup too. Are there not echoes of Luis Jimenez here? An early summer signing to boost the morale of the fans, a way of saying, "Don't worry, things are not as black as they appear"? We all know what happened to Jimenez of course, and we all know how his signing was a false dawn in more ways than one.

The hard truth, if you care to see it, is that Hitlersburger came in on a free and we are supposedly negotiating to sell Green, Upson, Cole and Noble at the moment. Now, if the funds generated are made available to Avram, then maybe this is fair enough, although isn't that rule coming in about having a certain number of home grown players in your squad this year or next? We shouldn't pack our team with foreigners for that reason alone. And anyway, Di Canio apart, our foreign imports haven't covered themselves in glory at Upton Park have they - Van der Elst is probably the second best and you have to go back a long way to get to him. Next best? Bilic? Then? Repka?

Logic screams, watch out, S&G are taking you for a ride! "Roll up, roll up, buy your season ticket and see Der Hammer!" But, for some reason, this weird gene keeps pumping optimism and good vibes around my body, forming this impenetrable barrier in my brain. Next season I am going to be cheering on a German on a football pitch for the first time in my life and, weirdly, I'm feeling glad all over!

So, after England win the World Cup, expect West Ham to finish mid table in the Prem and bring a Cup back to Upton Park. You heard it here first and I need to go and have a lie down: I haven't been that optimistic since...well I've never been THAT optimistic actually!

Come On You Der Hammer Irons!

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kanoute, Rieper, Hislop, Clyde Best, Schemmel, Tevez, Benayoun and thats off the top of my head without thinking. Call yerself a West Ham fan? Oh yeah Jonathan Spector..

Hammersfan said...

Kanoute did it in fits and starts. Rieper was Rieper. Grim. Hislop was ok but not as good as those I listed surely? Clyde goes back even further. I considered him believe me. Schemmel had one good season and then was crap. Yossi, yeah I would have him in fourth. Tevez was never a West Ham player, sadly. Ask our accountants who are still paying £25m to Shafting United in installments. What about Behrami? Call yourself a West Ham fan?

Dave D said...

I must say that I too am filled with positive thoughts for next season.

All I can put this down to is that as a club, we sank so low that anything is going to be better than last seaon, also the sun is shinning.

Did you forget about Ludo?

Anonymous said...

Fits and starts? now I know youre. talking out your arse. I'll lay money he has a better scoring than your mate Carlton who you keep bigging up. Schemmel has one good season? Behrami hasn't even done that.

DaDon said...

The greatest import of them all was in fact Ludo, but as 11.46 said, we've had loads who have done well for us. Berkovic anyone? And Tevez wore a West Ham shirt with pride so OF COURSE he was a West Ham player. The £25m doesn't alter that.

Shaun said...

Whichever way you look at it...it's a positive signing! 50 German caps and only 28?! That'll do nicely for starters! Sky said 'undisclosed fee' yet the broadsheets say 'free', but who cares?! I for one can't wait to hear the chorus of 'shoot! shoot!' when he gets the ball on his left foot!!

Like Anon 11:46, I was going to suggest Tevez, Benayoun and Kanoute...and how about Eyal Berkovic, Ludek Miklosko, Marc Vivien-Foe, Stan Lazaridis, Marc Keller, and of course...Samassi Abooooooouuu!!?

Hammersfan said...

But Tevez WASN'T a West Ham player, that's why we are still paying the blood money to Sheffield United. Yes he wore our shirt and yes we loved him, but West Ham never OWNED him and, had we never signed him, we would be much stronger now than we are. Tevez damaged West Ham. He only started 22 games for us and scored just SEVEN goals. His arrival destabilised the club and we are still suffering the ramifications. Just imagine how much stronger we would be if that £25m was available to spend on players; not to mention the £6m fine as well. £31m or 7 goals, which would you rather have?

Anonymous said...

By all accounts we have agreed a deal with Blackburn for Christopher Samba. Should be all tied up in the next couple of days.

Hammersfan said...

Carrick, Cole, Alvin Martin, Geoff Hurst, Dean Ashton, Alan Devonshire, Trevor Brooking, Tony Cottee, Frank Lampard, Senior and Junior, Julain Dicks, Ray Stewart, Tony Gale, Phil Parkes, Robert Green, Mark Noble, Geoff Pike, Billy Bonds...my point is that Brits have traditionally served us better than our foreign imports. You lot haven't mentioned Kovac!

Hammersfan said...

I forgot Peters! And of course loads of others!

Shaun said...

Hitzlsperger IN...Kovac OUT! 'Nuff said!
...and who was 'Julain Dicks'? Sounds like a French guy HF??!

Tom S said...

If West Hams website classes Hitzlsperger as being a "Major" signing, then what is the quality of the other signings going to be like. In my opinion The clubs that previously had Hitzlsperger didn't seem desperate to hang on to him, we got him for free or very little money, so how can that be classed as a major signing. I think we need to up the quality of the core members of our team, and not just replace average players with more average players. Early days yet, but I don't see that as moving forward.

Tom S said...

Hammersfan - not used forums before, not sure if the previous post/posts went through or were cancelled. Please only use 1 post as they were basically the same.
cheers

Hammersfan said...

Welcome Tom S. I hope you are wrong but time will tell. Keep looking in and remind me at regular intervals if Hitlersburger is a side dish all season!

Hammersfan said...

Fat fingers Shaun, fat fingers. I can't think of anybody less French than Monsieur Dicks.

Stani Army said...

“Men still have to be governed by deception”…

…that's probably Sullivan’s favourite quote. Machiavelli once wrote “[the] one who deceives will always find those who allow themselves to be deceived”, and unfortunately, Sullivan knows that in fans of football clubs he is always able to find such an attribute.

If you thought Duxbury was a snake, well let me tell you that the randy boys are no angels. One thing Duxbury did not do is squeeze every penny out of the supporters at every opportunity. Whether it was because he just wasn’t shrewd enough doesn’t matter. G&S are mugging us off at every opportunity and where there is no opportunity to do so, they’re creating them. I have signed up for the club emails and there is not a week that goes by without some kind of email selling me something which is totally useless but is a way of G&S making money.

They could have easily bought our club out right. They could have easily invested much more. They have the capacity to do so but they have not. Why? Because they are not the fans that they may have you believe they are. They are treating our club like any other business….in fact, like their other businesses. But a football club is not like any other business. West Ham was not the only club they looked at before purchasing. They looked at both Portsmouth and Crystal Palace which is why they knew so much about them. They are treating our club purely like a business.

Let’s take the recent hunt for a manager as an example of their deception. When reports started to surface that they had offered it to Grant already, G&S thought ‘we can’t be seen to be making an appointment without even having drawn up a short-list or spoken/interviewed other candidates’. So they play their media game (which they have done from day one) and release other names to the media just to make it seem as they they’ve been looking. Who are these other managers that were interviewed? Were Allardyce, Holloway or Jones interviewed? Was there even an interview process? So why are they fooling us and making us believe there was?

As for the Hitzlsperger signing; the first signing would have been the one they were wanting to set the tone with and it says it all that ours is an average player on a free. He’s a decent player, but surely if they wanted to give us a taste of things to come, we would be seeing someone better arriving? Then there’s the over-selling of him to us on the official site. What was the need to do so? We are not stupid David. I hope Grant is strong enough to make demands as now that they have got their man in, they will have to support him.

So let’s not have this subconscious resignation to G&S and stay wary of their every move and utterance. I would love for G&S to prove me wrong. The one hope I hold is that Sullivan is simply too dumb to get away with his games and will be seen for what he is eventually. So let him weave his tangled web.

TurdsOut! said...

Tevez was West Ham which is why he does that cross thing before each game against us - I remember kids like you at school thought they were clever until we flushed their heads down the loo - how we would have laughed if you'd been at Loxford

TurdsOut! said...

12:57 perhaps because there were more of them?!?! but sorry that shouldn't get in the way of your superior argument.

Hammersfan said...

Of course Tevez does the crossed hammer thing, he used us as a stepping stone to untold millions at Man U and then Unreal City. He's probably pocketed more from the deal than Sheffield United! I would feel deep affection for West Ham if I was in his boots. But that is irrelevant anyway. Address the real issue. Did we ever own his registration? And did he take more from the table than he brought to it, given the £31m in fines and compensation? Instead of silly insults, try to engage in debate for once.

MostovoiBoi said...

Frank McAvennie, where was he from ? I coundn't understand him !

Hammersfan said...

That's because his nose was always bunged up with something.

TurdsOut! said...

He played for West Ham - is that not enough for you? 16:36 not silly at all........

Hammersfan said...

Answer the point Turds Out. £31m or seven goals? Bloody hell, Torres only cost £20m!

Anonymous said...

Hmmm... still represents VFM - we stayed up didn't we?

TurdsOut! said...

20:50 thanks mate... of course you're right!