What a disaster! I know Grant has his critics but, for me, the real damage was done by the undynamic duo. How much money was pumped down the toilet during their brief spell at the club? They took over a patient with a chest infection and left behind a terminal case with lung cancer. And somehow they personally trousered a wedge of cash in the process!
Love the illustration!!......But what you state is so true ,they were disasterous appointments that have produced virtual financial suicide.Having said that relegation has now given rise to a good clear out that can certainly go a long way in reducing the exorbitant wage bill.
ReplyDeletetotally agree, what a disaster they were. Most people in football are just in it for themselves without much regard for success on the pitch and this lot were textbook examples.
ReplyDeletesaying that its not like we made great signings before nani came in, ljungberg, dyer, boa morte, faubert all on 60k-85k!!!!
ReplyDeletei can only see nouble staying, young, english and not on much money.
illunga looks like he is moving to greece by next week, another 40k a week off the wage bill. things are moving along nicely
LOl Ilunga to Greece as Greece assumes the status of the sick man of Europe (Sorry Sav); how appropriate! Surely Dyer must join him?
ReplyDeleteTalking about players going, has anybody had a real good look at what's left? talk about getting out of the Championship; we'll be bloody lucky to stay in it at this rate. Have SuGo got a master plan? I certainly hope so because otherwise we'll be well and truly screwed! (or will we?) We've lost 17 players for less than 10 million so far and we'll be lucky to get much more than that for the ones who are about to go. Total Armageddon! (or is it?) Nolan is undoubtedly a good acquisition (and more importantly a bargain at 4 mil) and Faye; not so much but not bad (also inexpensive).
ReplyDeleteSuGo are no mugs in business. I always believed (though I didn't want to) that it was part of their master plan from the beginning to get us relegated; why else did they make all the untimely comments during Zola's reign and then consequently the unsettling of Grant in January when we were just starting to look like we might be in with a chance of surviving? why did they get rid of Zola immediately after he miraculously kept us up with no real help from them? Simple! because they were worried that with some half descent players in the squad he may just have improved the following season and on top of keeping us up again may well have finished in the top ten again (remember he was doing pretty well until he lost Bellamy; Di Michele; Collins and O'Neil).
So why then did they want us to go down so badly? top ten's OK for West Ham? NO, of course not, but the only reason for them was because they still had the massive wage bill that they inherited from the previous inadequates. That's just plain bad business for anyone!
Had we been relegated last season (as per plan): Zola would have been given another season (who else better suited to coach kids cuz don't forget that Tony Carr is far too valuable to SuGo as the "Golden Goose"); the wage bill would've been trimmed down a year ago; of course we would still have gone after the OS (the main & most important part of their money making master plan).
We still might of been in the "fizzy" this season but all of our cheap youngsters would be experienced by now and with the bargain old pros and the cheap talents scouted from the lower leagues we would be back up the following season for sure. Sure we've lost money going down but then we now have the parachute payments to offset that. Lucky that was (only) just introduced, fairplay to whoever thought of doing that; wait a minute wasn't that a certain David Gold.
Look at the wage bill of the players left - peanuts! Compared to what it would have been had we stayed up. Just think of the mark-up on our youngsters when we go back up plus the 50 mil for getting promoted. Then of course there's the money spinning little OS project. Fans, SuGo may or may not be, but mugs? definitely not!
Best prepare ourselves for two seasons in the fizzy, not one! But don't worry it's all accounted for in their 7 year plan. At the end of it they'll have their retirement nest-eggs and we'll have a club that can compete for the scraps of the top five or six. Just a shame it won't resemble the West Ham as we once knew it!
Love em or hate em (as we eventually will do) - Their 7 year plan is underway, it's bloody genius and there is nothing we can do about it!
2010/2011 SQUAD
GONE
3 BEN HAIM
4 GABBIDON
7 DYER
11 HITZLSPERGER
14 KOVAC
15 UPSON
17 Mc CARTHY
18 SPECTOR
21 BEHRAMI
21 BA
22 DA COSTA
32 DIAMANTI
33 OBINNA
34 KEANE
37 JACOBSON
36 BRIDGE
40 EDGAR
POSSIBLY GOING
1 GREEN (GK)
8 PARKER
9 COLE
20 FAUBERT
23 ILUNGA
HOPEFULLY GOING
13 BOA MORTE
REMAINING
2 REID
5 TOMKINS
10 COLLISON
12 BARRERA
16 NOBLE
19 SEARS
24 NOUBLE
25 STANISLAS
26 HINES
27 SPENCE
28 KURUCZ (GK)
29 STECH (GK)
30 PIQUIONNE (pensioer)
31 BOFFIN (GK)
32 O'NEIL
NOLAN
FAYE