Every now and then, I look in on Redmayne Bentley's recommendations on which stock to buy, which to hold and which to sell. Success and failure in the stock market hinges on timing. Buy at the wrong time and you are dead, sell at the right time and you can make a mint. Unfortunately, at West Ham we have excelled in getting it wrong over the years!
Look at the sale of Carrick, Johnson and Cole. How much did we bank for those three? A combined total of £15m! Carrick alone was sold for £16m when he joined Man Utd from Spurs, and Johnson, laughably in my opinion, cost Liverpool £17m! Did we even insert sell on clauses when we allowed our London neighbours to steal them away from us? Of course not, this is West Ham!
In the case of Cole and Upson, we have done the reverse. Not so very long ago, there were rumours of £15million bids for Carlton. He was looking good, scoring goals and was a fixture in Capello's England's squad. Did we sell? Of course not! Why sell when your stock is touching maximum value, let's wait until the value plummets and then let him go for a fraction of the price.
Look at Carlton now, he isn't in the England squad, isn't scoring goals and can't even get into our starting eleven. Who, apart from Woy, is interested in Carlton now? And when Woy is shown the door by Liverpool, who would buy Carlton then? I suspect that we would be lucky to get £5million for Cole now, a depreciation of £10million in the space of 10 months!
Upson is another prime example. The former England man might just command a transfer fee of £3million now, even with a long term contract. But with his contract running down, he will be available on a Bosman come next June. Like Cole, he has lost his place in the England squad, and like Cole he has been exposed as little better than ordinary.
I will put my hands up here and admit to being a fan of Cole. But, as highly as I have rated him in the past, I have always said that, at the right price, we should cash in. Instead we have played him out of form and missed our opportunity to bank enough funds to buy a high quality replacement.
Want an example of how we get it wrong in the opposite direction? Look no further than McBenni. Never mind the transfer fee, how much have we wasted on that guy's wages since January?
The question with past sales is not at what price or options we had on the sale but rather how much money were passed under the table and to whom!
ReplyDeleteWhat are you suggesting Sav? Is this a suggestion that Redknapp and Lampard did not build their property empires on the back of their £100 a week salaries as relatively poorly paid footballers in the 60's and 70's? Wash your mind out with soap! 'Arry has been investigated and, apart from some spiteful suggestions that he has evaded a modicum of tax, no mud has stuck has it? Bournemouth have gone into Administration, so have Southampton, so have Pompey and we came close. But that is all coincide obviously. Mind you, I expect Peter might have a Storrie or two to tell if not for the Fifth Amendment!
ReplyDeleteAre you trying to get me into trouble HF? Anyway, whatever happenned (and what incredible coincidence by they way about the demise of all these clubs you mention), remember, it is all tax free. What you can't see, you can't tax!
ReplyDeleteNow, let's not get Arry upset, remember what happenned the last time a reporter called him a wheeler-dealer?
'Rumours' of bids in excess of
ReplyDelete£15m are probably just that, runours. Anyone who seriously offered that sort of dosh for Carlton needs their head testing.
I think we allegedly turned down
£8m from 'pool in the summer for CC but again, is this actually correct? Certainly if we are offered that kind of figure in January, I can see SuGo doing the deal and I would say that they'd be right to do so.
LOL 'Arry, a whealer dealer? As if!
ReplyDeleteGreat article on the Daily Mail:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-1319318/Martin-Samuel-Picking-Kevin-Davies-crying-shame-English-game-.html
So much for praising the selection of Kevin Davies by HF! Finally, the naked truth about Davies and state of English football.
Let's see what happens if he is picked shall we Sav? The journalist in that article holds the Premiership to blame for De Jong's tackle that broke Ben Arfa's leg and for Holland's clogging approach in the World Cup final. Nothing about the Dutch themselves, I see. I criticised Webb's refereeing in that game but Holland had a role to play didn't they? And what was FIFA's response? A £10,000 fine for the Dutch F.A.! Brilliant!
ReplyDeleteHas it occured to you and the journalist that the reputation of Davies goes before him? I have seen Davies looking genuinely bewildered when shown a yellow and I have empathised with him. He gets battered from behind by centre backs all game; the first time he gives it back, he gets a yellow. The same happens to Cole. And you can see Carlton's frustration when it happens to him. Remember that red against Wigan? Neill's foul in the same game was ten times worse but he stayed on the pitch. And Neill has previous for breaking legs!
Yes Davies collects lots of yellows but so do Cole and Parker. Are they thugs or competitive? Tell me, when did Davies last break the leg of an opponent? I don't think I've seen him commit a foul like that of De Jong's or indeed to compare with that Kuyt two footed lunge against Everton two seasons back. Maybe the problem is the Dutch!
Does Wenger condone football thuggery? Apparently not and yet look at the way Vierra used to play when at Arsenal. Was that Wenger's fault or the fault of the Premiership?
I have watched Seria A football live. It is a terrible yawn because any contact buys a free kick. At times it is like rugby. You play for position, getting the ball forward to a striker who, receiving a slight nudge, falls forwards and wins a free kick. There is no flow in the game at all - it is whistle, whistle, whistle.
Football is a contact sport. Personally, I love the physical aspect. Not leg breaking tackles, not pulling players back as they go for corners, not cynical body checks - but healthy competition and upper body impact is great in my book.
I hope Davies plays and does well. I think he deserves his chance and I hope you have to eat humble pie after the game!
Yeah, It is the Dutch fault HF. Another brillian deduction. The Dutch being brutal on the field or not has nothing to do with the English game.
ReplyDeleteAnd no! I do not agree with you that football is a physical game. Football is a skill game. One can always kill the skill by stepping on the opponnent or breaking his leg or have him scared to try anything flarish with his skills because it may be the last thing he ever does on the pitch!
And it doesn't matter whether Davies plays with England or even if he scores a goal or two. The guy is a butcher. Allardyce brought him to Bolton to do a job and he is still doing it. Because this is all he is good for.
But by all means, continue to be in denial. Immersed in your own world. "We are British what do the rest of the world know about football for Christ sake, we have intented the sport".
Do you know why the best players do not want to play in England? Because they are not crazy! How long do you think Messi would last in the Premier League? That is why Kaka turned down so many offers to come. That is why Robinho understood the mistake he made and took a huge salary cut to get out of England.
If you think this is right, then I am not sure we speak about the same sport.
Did you count how many fouls Kevin Davies committed (including an elbow that got him a yellow card and one where he slided with two feet on the keeper) in the few minutes that he played today?
ReplyDeleteI don't think I am the one to eat humble pie here HF!
What an absurd thing to say after that game! The question you should be asking is how Montenegro kept 11 players on the pitch. Outside of Holland against Spain and the old Argentina (and Cameroon!), I have never seen a more cynical performance at international level! The body check on Young should have bought a red and the two footed foul on Ashley Cole was a disgrace! Davies was fully entitled to go for that ball in the six yard box and did not make contact. For God sake, the Montenegro keeper would have bought five minutes of treatment time if the opportunity had been there. And as for the "elbow", I didn't see it. I saw Davies jump , his arm slightly raised for leverage, and the Montypython go down like he had been shot. Magic the way he recovered so quickly! Did you see any blood? Absurd! Hoow many Montenegro fouls were allowed to pass without yellows?
ReplyDeleteLet me tell you, HF, Montenegro is a country smaller than Cyprus! This is the first time they play official international football. I think they matched England all the way. But please continue to be in denial. After all, since you haven't even noticed your hero Davies elbowing anybody. What can I say...
ReplyDeleteI'm not taking anything away from them Sav, but to pick on Davies after their thuggish tactics is absurd.
ReplyDeleteThere is probably no-one on the planet more thuggish than Kevin Davies. I am just surprised you don't know that yet!
ReplyDeleteIf you think that this guy exemplifies what is good about English football, then there is nothing I can say to that, except good luck with him! As far as I am concerned, it hurts my British background and identity to think that a thug like Davies is representing me on the international field.