A cynic might well think so!
Personally I intend to suspend my reservations about signing Franco until the player has been given an ample opportunity to prove what he can do. His club record is not great with Villarreal, 14 goals in 81 matches, but his international goal to game ratio is better and he is currently in a rich vein of goal scoring form for Mexico in the World Cup qualifiers.
As in the case of Diamanti, he also actually wants to play for West Ham, having turned down offers from La Liga and the Argentinian league to join us. That must count for something? And he has the added incentive of the forthcoming World Cup finals to spur him on to impress.
I certainly think Franco probably has more left in the tank than Tristan did when he signed last season. Hopefully there will be no problem with raising his fitness levels, as was the case with Tristan! The biggest question for me is how he copes with the more physical nature of the PL? On the other hand, he certainly looks useful in the air and could profit from dangerous deliveries in to the box from Diamanti and Faubert?
I would far prefer to take a gamble on Franco than continue without signing a more experienced striker as cover for Cole. If he disappoints then there is (hopefully?) still the c.£8m from the Nesreko and Collins sales to spend in the January window!
It’s a case of lets wait and see I think! Who knows we may all well be pleasantly surprised?
SJ Chandos
I believe he will prove to be good signing, It deepens our cover and gives us a slightly different option in attack and does not make us too reliant on the youngsters coming through. Ideally I would like Hines, Nouble and possibly Dixon to come through and be so good that they limit Franco's appearances. However his signing gives us an experienced (though not in the Premiership)player and allows time for the youngsters to be developed.
Indeed you did Devo. And I believe it, seeing as it has come from such a reliable source.
"Allows time for the youngsters to be developed" has often proved to be "allows time for the youngsters to be wasted". I missed the chance to see Hines' debut but if he looks at least half that good as raved, I am the first person to be excited.
I did say he was marginally quicker than Tristan, SJ!
blmey, sj give us a chance to breathe!!!!
its nice to have more post but they are coming faster than i can comment!
i do think this guy will be a waste of space. he wont play unless cole is injured and cole rarely seems to pck up long term injuries (except oe 6 week lay off last year)
with hines, nouble, dyer, stanislas and dixon, maybe even ashton, we have emergency cover anyway.
cant wait till saturday! hopefully behrami and diamante will be stating, in virtually a sully fit squad.
Sorry all, I had some time off this week, so had more time to post. Normally I would be looking to post between 4-7 blogs a week, so it will bottom out from next week at probably 1 post a day over Monday-Friday.
no i lke having a lot of posts!!!!!!!
oh and on another note adebeyor only given a 3 match ban, personally i think that is pathetic from th fa, he tried to hurt van persie, stamped on his face!!! imagine the kids who saw that, will they replicate.
at least he is out for game against us, although i would have liked parker or noble to crunch the mooron in a tackle
Rob – the rules are set. 3 matches for violent coduct.
HOWEVER – still action to follow on inciting the crowd – expect another 1-3 games to add on top.
Jolly: I thought so too but this is from the BBC:
The striker, who apologised for his actions after the match, said emotions "took over me" and that it was "silly" to run up to the fans, but claimed he had been insulted for the whole game.
Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore said on Monday that these instances "don't do the image of the league or football in general any good".
Although Manchester United's Gary Neville was fined £5,000 for a similar offence, when he celebrated in front of Liverpool fans at Old Trafford in 2003, the FA does have the power to suspend players for such behaviour.
least a mk2 is meant to be an improvement on the first version, you never know he may be not too bad for us.
The encouraging points, he has scored recently for Mexico and he was at villarreal, and has scored for them, they are one of the better teams in spain so he may not be burnt out just yet!!
What has become obvious, though, over the first few games of this season is that if Cole has a bad game, West Ham has a bad game. We are far too reliant on Cole to perform and the team's whole system pivots around him. Franco will not only play when Cole is injured or suspended. He gives us another option in the CF role, and one that is sorely needed. It was obvious that Cole was having an off-day at Wigan at the weekend. Next time he is under performing, we now have a viable option to replace him with. Franco is not the best signing West Ham has ever made, but he's a good (and required) one. Probably better than we deserved at this stage of the transfer window (sic). Hopefully the carrot of the World Cup will spur him on and relieve some of the pressure that has built up on Carlton Cole (a self-proclaimed confidence player).
I have higher hopes for Franco than i ever did for Tristan who was a shell of his former self. In his defence Franco is actualy in form at the moment and was wanted by other, higher profile clubs than ourselves.
I also expect him to play a fair bit more than many believe. Despite the views of some posters, i believe GZ's prefered formation is 442, hence why he wanted 4 strikers before the start of the season.
Jolly Tristan's fitness never got to where it needed to be, but he had been without regular top flight football for a while when we got him and as all of us the wrong side of 30will testify the body wont always do what we tell it to.
I was at the Villa game and I will be honest I was thrilled to see him score for us. He was always a player who I greatly admired. His legs may have been gone but he still had a decent touch and good distrabution. He set up Nobes superbly against Blackburn and he and DDM combined brilliantly to rescue a bad LBM pass and end up allowing Boa to redeem himself in setting up Stan for a goal against Boro.
I think that given the lack of options up front I would actually have held on to Diego and given him the benefit of a full pre season. His hold up play alone could have been useful in the last 20mins of games.
I do agree that Franco is making all the right noises about wanting to play for us. I would point out thought that his move to Estudiantes fell through as under Argentinian he was too late to register for the club.
That said he certainly seems eager to prove himself to the club and the fans. He does provide a similar type of player to Cole but with a better aerial threat. It looks doubtful that he will be ready to be part of the squad for the Liverpool game so we may have to wait for the Citeh game to get a look at him.
I do think we can get a result against Liverpool. They are misfiring themselves at the moment and were poor last night against average opposition. We need to up our perfomance right across the board from last weekend. We also need to target Johnson as he is not the best defensively and we all know how much we can now benefit from free kicks around the area.
I still have no faith whatsoever in Cole but who knows, maybe Cappello will be at the game and he will get off his arse and put a decent shift in!
Living next to Mexico and all….all my Mexi-Mates really rate him. Not for what didnt happen at Villareal of course, but for his times in Mexico and for International duty. I'll say it all again what Ive been told about the fella, he is a real threat in the air, has a great distance shot, and is decent at being the hold up CF. Can dribble well….which is always a plus. Let's just see how fast he can mesh in the PL. The good news is he does fancy a spot for Mexico in the WC. Let's just hope he is out to prove something.
As bad as tristans general play was people do seem to forget that he scored 3 goals for us that accumulated in us gaining 7 points (Stoke home and away, Villa)!! If we can get as many or more from Franco's goals then I'll be happy. Also he will be a reserve striker, back up to give Cole a rest in the cups etc…
For me, he brings a different option to what we have at the moment, he comes free and wants to play football. In lieu of our current financial plight I would rather we took him than waste funds on the unknown.
Saturdays line up good be quite cheeky tho 4-4-2 or a 4-3-3 dependant on how Jiminez plays
Green,
Faubert, Upson, Tomkins and Illunga
Berahmi, Parker and Collison
Jiminez, Cole and Diamante
Gotta say tho SJ, you certainly make my day pass quicker out here in Helmand, ohh to be home next month
Tom it's good to know that you are safe and holding up well. We all hope that your last few weeks pass quickly and without incident and we can get you back to Upton Park soon.
My respect and admiration for you and your comrades knows no limits.
Stay strong and be safe
Seconded
Great to be of assistance Tom. Good luck and keep safe unil your return to the UK next month. Presumably you will get some leave when you return, hope you have some tickets sorted for a match?
Off topic (but hey who cares). I just read the interview with Nigel Quashie on the official site and I have to say it impressed me. It cant be easy to be at a club and know that baring a chatastrophic injury crisis you are not likely to play first team football. However he has been a model professional in how he has handled himself both on and off the pitch.
He seems to bring a steadying hand to the reserves and in the live commentary game I listened to he was singled out quite a few times for his efforts. I was surprised that he didnt leave before the window closed but I guess his salary could be a stumbling block for a championship side as he is reputed to be on £15K a week and that is a lot to walk away from when your career is in its winding down stage. He isnt likely to see that kind of money again before he retires. That said he seems to want to at least earn his money by being involved in the reserves and in helping out the young players and for that he should be commended.
I just read that article too CH and I too was impressed. I think it shows Nigel to be a very good professional footballer. Not everyone can be good enough to break into the first team, but a team is more than the eleven who go out on the pitch every week to play in the Premiership. it sounds as if Nigel has found himself a rewarding role in helping to bring on the youngsters and should be applauded for that.
It might be time to start thanking him for the work he puts in behind the scenes. If he can provide experience which helps to generate the West ham of the future which we're all anticipating he's palying as big a role as the first team squad is now.
Cheers Nige!
Potential coach in the making, anyone, or a slot in Mr Carr's organisation?
I said all this a while back, CH, you must have missed it!
If I did then I appologise Devo. I have again though I think the guy has shown a lot of class.
No problem – probably got lost in the "silly" period. I pretty much said everything you said after he had played in a reserve game with Davenport also playing.____A great credit to his profession – even when he was loaned out – not a murmer of dissention. Shame he never quite had the class to play in the premiership for us.
I can think of a few players who wouldn't mind £15k a month, Celtic, but I suppose old Doctor Grumpy can see where you are coming from!
What a shame he waited until he's in the last year of his contract to show what a nice guy he is! On another forum, I saw an article from one of his ex-girlfriends that was upset at being jilted almost at the altar where she actually said he was earning £25k pw at West Ham!
SJ decent strikers can not be found mid season unless for silly money. Chubaka will end up going to a better club, we missed the boat with him.
I'm not expecting much for a freebie but SURELY he cant be as bad as Tristan!?
Castel, I think Chamukh is more likely to sign a pre-contract deal with the gooners in January. I have already said that I do not believe that he will give up a lucrative Bosman move in June to join us in January. It does not make good financial sense from his perspective.
If we want him then probably the best we can hope for is to sign a pre-contract with him in January. However, it is likely that he is going to want silly money, which might just rule both us and the gooners out?
I have seen clips of the player and he clearly has potential, but his goals to games ratio is not great. 1 in 4 in the French league! We have potential in aces, what we really need in January is proven ability and you are right that it costs. Personally I would check Pandev’s position out again at Lazio, as I think he is a striker that would improve us. A deal in January or next summer would be ideal, although I am not sure how much he would want in wages?
I agree that January is not the ideal time to do major business, but the club needs to identify any potential targets now in readiness of a swift move early in the next window. Recent history proves that the longer it takes the club to do a deal in the window, the less likely it is to actually happen.
Don’t get me wrong, I would much prefer our current forwards to succeed and make business in January less impotant. However, needs must and if we have to do business then we will have to make it happen! Mind you, I am making a assumption here that the Collins and Nesreko proceeds have been ringfenced for January transfers – and that is yet to be confirmed?
Totally agree with comments made by celtichammer re Tom, don't know you guys moved to Brum 19 years ago but still a hammers fan, went to Wigan and Cole did have a mare but Diamanti looks quality lets hope Franco is as impressive !!
definately need to exploit johnsons defensive frailties on saturday. Is Ilunga looking likely to return?
Gabbs sound impressed with Franco, according to his twitstream. But then, most of you knew that already ;o)
I guess Quashie is a reformed character after he was caught playing away from home when he had such a bad toe. LOL
Nice to see some possitive comments on here,seen lots of negative comments on other boards,just because of one poor result! Lets give this guy a chance he'll only be back up and hopefully be fit seeing he only recentley played for Mexico.I think Coles got the world on his shoulders at the mo hopefully the two new guys can take a bit of pressure of him.
Obviously we will have to wait and see but I tend to be as underwhelmed as Rob. I already posted on the cmonyuirons site that at last Zola actually has somethinking to do in terms of his best attacking formation, with Diamenti into the mix as well as the fast emerging Hines, Stanislas and Nouble. Not really sure what options an ageing Mexican journeyman with no experience of the EPL actually gives us but, as ever, would love to be proved wrong!
Headmaster you and I can share a meal of humblepie when Cole and Franco both bag a brace to down Citeh next game!
blimey…….. we're damned if we do damned if we don't there is no pleasing you lot ay. first your all moaning we ain't got enough strikers then we get one in ON A FREE and your moaning saying we have hines daimati and stanislas plus nouble. make up your minds i think he's great cover for cole ….. he ain't like lurch as remember he wants to go to world cup so will try his hardist
sorry butthats not the case at all. I, like many others would have preffered to keep the money we will be spending on his wages, maybe chuck it in the transfer fund and just look for a bargain buy in jan, or we might not even need one. If dixon and ashton get fit by the new yar that will be like 2 new signings.
i believe this franco guy was a complete panick buy, but hey, hopefully im wrong!
Franco's in a rich vein of form for Mexico…. scoring regularly against Honduras, Panama and Guatamala – hey I'd love him to be a surprise package – but Mexicans and the PL don't seem to go together…
I have a question of all of you. We're always talking about needing a player who can link up with Carlton Cole, or needing a player who can be a back up for Carlton Cole. I was just wondering (as you can see from my profile I'm not confident about discussing tactics!) has CC spent too long up front with no one to play with? Are we confident that he can play WITH someone else? He seems to have mastered the art of holding up the ball and beating defenders without scoring, but does he have the instinct to play and link up with another striker? Maybe an aging Argentinian/Mexican is what we need. Undoubtedly CCs stature has risen, but in a lone striker kind of way. Do you think he has the awareness of who else is out there to support him?
This is a hesitant comment, but it's something I've been wondering about and I think discussion (even if it's destroying my concerns) would be interesting.
Aestivaria Cola actually hasnt done that well when paired up with another striker for us. Himself and Deano certainly didnt work. People will say that he and Bellamy did well but that was more to do with Bellamy than Cole. With DDM last year he had someone who was willing to focus his whole game on linking up with Cole and playing him in. To be fair and despite what some fans think DDM did that job very well. He acted as the link player between the midfield and Cole.
Finding someone else willing to be that selfless to make Cole look good will be tough. DDM was fulfilling the role the club asked him to play and trying to earn himself a contract that way.
Those who say he would do well with a little man striker along side him are forgetting that Cole doesnt win a lot in the air and his distribution is hit and miss at best. The fact of the matter is a 4-3-3 (4-3-2-1) suits Cole best as it gives him more support and more options when holding up the ball and laying it off as he has 2 attackers available instead of one striker.
Absolute rubbisg, once again, Ch regarding Cole. Cole wins plenty in the air and never has a player beyond him. He also rarely concedes possession, but CH will never see this, because he needs to justify his warped opinion of him.
He DID link up well with bellamy, as he has done with Defoe in the short time they have had together.
CB makes a good point. Cole has played the lone role so often, he may need to forge a partnership from scratch – I'm happy to see him to this with Hines.
His other problem and I'll keep on saying this until I'm blue in the face, is the lack of width and crosses for him to get on the end of. Any forward would struggle to score with the service he gets sometimes.
Yes, we all know he isn't prolific, but give the fella some slack for God's sake.
So much for not Cole bashing anymore.
Devo Cole has never won the amount of ball in the air for a guy his size and his positoning on crosses is utterly woeful.
Craig Bellamy may be a spiteful little mug but he can play alongside anyone and was by far the senior partner in their brief partnership.
As for my opinion, its far from warped.
I think that the poor guy has more weight of responsibility on his shoulders than any other striker in the Premiership. It would be brilliant to see him building a good relationship with someone along side him and scoring/contributing to a big tally of goals. Let's hope it happens with one of the youngsters.
Absolute rubbish, once again, Ch regarding Cole. Cole wins plenty in the air and never has a player beyond him. He also rarely concedes possession, but CH will never see this, because he needs to justify his warped opinion of him.
He DID link up well with bellamy, as he has done with Defoe in the short time they have had together.
CB makes a good point. Cole has played the lone role so often, he may need to forge a partnership from scratch – I'm happy to see him to this with Hines.
His other problem and I'll keep on saying this until I'm blue in the face, is the lack of width and crosses for him to get on the end of. Any forward would struggle to score with the service he gets sometimes.
Yes, we all know he isn't prolific, but give the fella some slack for God's sake.
So much for not Cole bashing anymore.
I learn quickly and it's clear CH does have a warped opinion of CC and does anything to put the guy down to support his passionate dislike of him. Cole can easily play with another forward and the only time he had trouble was when teamed with Ashton. Indeed, Cole needs to have help otherwise we will wear him out and ruin a talented footballer.
4-5-1 works fine when you have a Gerrard, Cahill or Lampard bursting onto knock downs. West Ham doesn't have that kind of midfield player and Jiminez isn't it either. Diamanti on the other hand is that type of player from what I've seen of him….COYI
Ah! A voice of reason. You are correct, Will, 4-5-1 only works when you have midfield players that go beyond the front man, I've said this so many times on here, I'm boring myself!!
I also agree that in Diamanti, we may just have that player, Jiminez can't do it -that much I've worked out in the limited time that we have seen him – he's more of a fabregas IMO.
I think we can agree on that DevoDevo.
Nice post. I was wondering much the same thing. When given an option to pass or take someone on I have noticed that, lately, he is more likely to try and go it alone. This does show his confidence level is up but I wonder if he'd settle in with a partner. As much as I love the possibilities in the current system it does rely on the big man up front and I recall that we got back to winning ways last year after we went back to a more traditional formation.
Way to many posts going on. We've gone from one extreme to another
He is keen and wants to do well. Has to try to impress or will possibly loose his WC place with Mexico. His goals on youtube are all from Mexico..years ago. He did very well at monteray, but not so well at villarreal against european defenders. He rarely scored headers or shoots from outside or edge of box. Most goals he did score were poached in the box (eg rebounds, or played through). People saying good in the air simply watched youtube, against small lightweight mexicans. He works hard and link up play is good. I think he can score goals for us, but is very much a confidence player. He needs to start well.__I have seen him play a lot in spain (live or full 90 mins highlights) because they are one of the local clubs to me and seen most of his games for villarreal.
He does fall over pretty easy and so we could get f/kicks for diamanti to score.
Thanks for that tonyjones. I respect opinions based on having seen players when most posters have seen nothing but a few You Tube clips. I'm not expecting much so won't be disappointed when we find out he's pony. If he's good then great but lets not kid ourselves guys
Whatever he's done and wherever he's been nothing will be like playing for West Ham in the Premier League. Time will tell if he can cut it.
He needs to play alongside cole to be seen to best effect. He is no replacement they are totally different, he is not strong enough to play as a lone striker. If the larger cole can knock balls on for him to chase it could work ok. But i think that role in a 442 would suit hines anyway just as well.
The problem on here really is between people like me, who want to play 442 with wingers and people who want to play 4321 or 433. Barca play 433 and you need the right players to do it, they play that way throughout the club and so everybody knows the sytem. For 4321 to work, the lone striker must be supported quickly and thats not happened in the last couple of games. The problem v spurs when cole confronted by two spurs players having pulled wide played it back infield to players who simply were not there to support him. It was unbelievable and cost us the match.
Can I just say I thought that I was reading something I had written because it completely mirrors my thoughts mate. Our squad is a 4-4-2 squad and we are wasting time and points persevering with 4-3-3. We went on a bad run last season when Zola changed things to 4-3-3 and only got back on track once we returned to 4-4-2. Zola is going to lose fans if he keeps playing this formation IMO.
I think he is going to do it again v liverpool. Quote 'we will try to limit them and then progress and play our football'. I can see a diamond formation from that, with a holding midfielder. That will allow the pool f/backs to get at our defence and chuck in crosses for torrres all afternoon. We will then try to break and get into the spaces on counter attacks. I think we are in a minotity oh here. I'm torn, i honestly support zola etc and believe in unity at the club…seen previous damage with split crowd etc….but im beginning to doubt his tactical abilities. But ill try to defend him till xmas and re-think then. We are not Barca (i know i watch them every week) you cant just play like that cos its fashionable…we dont have xavi(fantastic player), iniesta or messi. Even if system eventually worked, we could be in big trouble by then.
Least we've got someone,he's gotta be more mobile than Tristan.
Cole Hines Franco Diamanti,thats our four forwards for the season,well until Christmas anyway.
I like most on here want away with this 4 3 3.Cole Hines up front with Diamanti given a try on the left,If it dont work then Play him in the Hole,one way or another he has to start he looks like class to me.
neill on channel 5 now with his everton shirt!!
Lucash has signed at Everton. I guess they should start practicing their penalys!!
Lucash even in Australia people have questioned how greedy you are sincerely hope your Sydney Wanderers project costs you loads and you have to make a comeback to pay for it!However Robbie Fowler is looking mighty fit and scoring in the humidity of North Queensland a role model Lucash you have embarrassed your nationality that is not Australian!
I feel he cannot be judged until he has played 45 mins. It will take time for him to adjust to league.
Love your frequent posts. Brilliand SJ. Keep it up. Give us real info fast as you can. Saves surfing the net for info. At lease here we know the source.
10 out of 10.
i think this signing is very good cover and with our team at present with cole jimi and diamond as our attackers they canexploit liverpools defensive weakness such as johnson attacking all the time that will give jimi the space to run at caragher who is slow and wont be able to keep up with the pace of jimi.
however defence has to be solid as liverpool have a very strong attack with torres holding up the ball well upson has to be on top form and kuyt seeming to latch on to any ball faubert will have his work cut out for him but recent performances suggest he will do well and ilunga has to deal with benayoun freshly filled with confidence and most immportantly it is essential that parker behrami and colly need to triple team gerrard and destroy any chance of him playing as he is there back bone . round my area they call liverpool torrard fc which is quite right come on you irons
Personally I feel faily Happy we have signed him and look forward to seeing what he can do either as support for CC from the bench or alongside. I am aware of our very promising youngsters but they do have time on their side whereas I'm sure Franco knows it's now or never for him. Lets face facts. CC has improved greatly, but does he hit the net enough? He needs that final part of the jigsaw. Maybe Franco will show him how to do it! Really liked the brief viewing I had of Diamante by the way. Another Di Canio perhaps. God I hope so! COYI
Let,s go out and show some real football class and beat Liverpool really looking forward to it!
Franco, no doubt about it, he is 10x better than tristan.
For starters he has been playing football for mexico and has been scoring goals before he signed for us. Tristan lol, what did he do before he signed for west ham? I thought he had retired!
I saw his goal against the US and he has a good eye for goal. It was a good solid opportunistic goal where he made a good move on the defenders to open a sliver of a window to shoot from outside the box. I think the lad can score and he has good movement and a turn of pace. Every year a club finds a gem in the free market. Franco has the makings of one for us but time will tell.
Morning all,
Sorry to go off-topic but just finished listening to Alan Brazil interviewing David Sullivan on Talksport and it sounds pretty clear that the moment the Carsen Yeung takeover is complete (the next 14 days), Sullivan and the Golds will be heading our way AND they intend to bring Karen Brady with them!
I wonder how Dux will be feeling about that?
I'm not in favour of the Porno Trio taking over but I am becoming resigned to it. Maybe an offer may strir uo some rival biddders – either way I would expect us to be in new ownership before Christmas.
I'm not too excited by that prospect TBH. They kept Birmingham a yo-yo club all the time they were there and I see this as a return to the Terence Brown days frankly.
That would be an utter disaster for the club. We've at last got some stability in the club's structure after the turmoil of the last few years, so the last thing we want is these muppets coming in and shaking things up. Plus, as far as I'm aware, they don't have the money, so we'd be saddled with loans in the fashion of the mancs and scousers.
Not a good option.
Daveip…How on earth to you work out that we have financial stability?
The demise of our Icelandic friends has left us in a perilous position where our very existence appears to be in the hands of bankers who are desperate to extract the money owed to them ASAP.
I'm not keen on the Birmingham three either, but I don;t agree that they wouldn't have the money.
Gold, at least, has real West Ham credentials. He was born and educated in our parish and I think I read somewhere that he was on our books as a junior player.
Horters – What I mean is that finally the club's own finances are stable: low enough overdraft, income slightly ahead of expenditure, with forthcoming charges planned for. Our current owners need a solid, commercially viable enterprise if they intend to recoup their money. CB Holdings' position looks reasonably secure for the short-term, so I don't see a quick, highly-leveraged sale happening in the near future.
the icelandic courts have a date set (sometime in december) to review our previous owners finances. He has a lot of debts and we are his only asset (apart from his house etc). The courts will want his debts paid as quickly as possible and may order us sold on the open market (auctioned) to highest bidder. Other people will then become involved…two previous inquiries/offers were made in the region of 50 mill app. One from asia. If auctioned doubt sullivan would be able to outbid them. Birmingham sale reported about 80 mill, i read sullivan getting around 25 to 30 mill.
Previous owners bought us 125 mill approx plus 35 mill borrowed for purchases. CB holdings want to recoup as much as possible and they will argue against a auction and hope that the market recovers later getting them more, in time.
The club is being run properly now and our financial situation should be much improved in the next set of accounts.
Gold has said in a interview that he was once youth player at WHU..horters right. But if you read a article…poss daily mail…about the time at birmingham not all good imo. The only financial investment made was the initial purchase. Then the club operated within its means/finances. They did a lot of cost cutting incl youth setup, put prices up and upset the fans. It was run properly, but was it just a business venture to make profit. They dont appear that young and so may see us as a similar project, looking to sell on later for a profit….to the highest bidder. The biggest danger to us really is that someone buys us with loans…like liverpool and man utd…passing the debt onto us in real terms.
If they buy us with cash and run the club properly, we could not complain. The stability would be good and we would be free of the bankers atleast.
we have no say in it anyway!!!!!
On the plus side – this may mean that money is available to strengthen the sqaud in January?
What like they spent big at Birmingham you mean? No chance mate.
Even if they take over the only money we have, will be what we already have. They ran bcfc properly, but it was self funding. From article i read the only money they put in was the initial purchase money. They went on a cost cutting exercise, including getting rid of the youth team. The fans complained as the prices of everything went up. They got a good return on the bcfc investment in the end. They are not spring chickens anymore and will do the same at upton park, with a view to sell at a profit sometime in the future. They will try to use the bcfc sale money to buy us and thats not enough. So they may take out loans (which they will pass onto the club like liverpool,man utd owners).
They simply dont have the money to suddenly give zola loads of cash. The sale of bcfc was reported 80 mill. App sullivan getting 25 to 30 mill for his stake. CB Holdings want prob a minimum of 100 mill for us…they really want to recover the 125mill purchase price plus the 35mill of loans!!!
If they take us over we may be back in debt upto our eyeballs, it could be a disaster?
To lable him Tristan MK2 is a bit harsh, but I understand why you say that.
Lets be honest Franco was not the player any of us envisage coming through the door, but he is here now and as with Tristan and DDM I will support him in a claret and blue shirt, as i’m sure many others will.
On a final note, been busy with work and all but a belated congratulations to SJ. Your posts are always well balnaced and objective and I have no doubt you will make a great editor, top choice Iain.
Thank you very much Bob, I have had a good time this week writing the blogs, even if no one else enjoyed reading them! LOL.
On the title of the peice, you missed out the ?, which indicates that the issue is yet to be determined. And in the blog I am actually arguing that we should give Franco time to prove himself before condemning the deal.
I think he is good cover – I made the comment that he is marginally quicker than Tristan to highlight the fact that he isn't quick, but he has other attributes – he can finish with both feet and is good in the air. Trouble is, he won't work with Cole so its a take your choice scenario.
I think he will be used as a late replacement for Cole most of the time.
Then we will have a very unhappy player on our hands!!!
He needs to play to goto WC. He came here to play in a high profile league. He had other offers and to get his signing (club desperate) we may of made a lot of promises about his playing regular…just a thought.
Let us truly see if Gold is sincerely a Hammer .I reckon they have top business knowledge and this is an opportunity to flush out the other interested parties and find if the bankrupt bank want some of their money back!Sullivan was quoted as saying dealing with soccer players is the toughest but we will find out sooner or later,Sheik Mohammed please!
I would wash shiekh mohammeds camels daily if he agreed to buy us.
I have said the same on here before…he is a real sportsman and does nothing by half. If it wasn't just a dream hey!!!!
re coker fighting with martin oneil? joey barton has been replaced as engalnds no1 nutter.man thos guy needs a wet fish round the face.wake up and smell the coffee you over egoed muppet
This is from the official site: "Franco's arrival means an array of attacking options in the final third for Zola. He has in his squad England internationals Carlton Cole, Kieron Dyer and the injured Dean Ashton, new Serie A recruits Alessandro Diamanti and Luis Jimenez plus the exciting trio of Junior Stanislas, Frank Nouble and Zavon Hines."
I find it odd that there is no mention of Terry Dixon. Does this mean that his fitness level is even worse than Deano's? Hope not
I agree completely with all that. A diamond formation leaves so much space on our flanks. A lot seem to think Clarke does the tactical stuff but I don't think so. I believe he plays a full supporting role to Zola. Clarke probably persuaded Zola to change tactics when we kept losing early in his reign but I hope Zola learns a lesson but I don't think anyone could hate him in the same way a lot did with Curbs. Our playing record hasn't been any better though and a coach or manager can only do as well as the players he has…
Do you live near Barcelona then Tony to see them every week or is that just on the box?