Update 21:44: Confirmation of Jelavic bid being rejected on SSN. Am told a new offer will go in though and that the player himself has threatened a transfer request to push the deal through. So much info flying about and also so much news Im being sent all the time. I personally can’t wait now for the end of the window. Has been incredibly frustrating for all involved, especially the owners. Credit to them though, they keep plugging away and are hopeful a deal can be sorted soon. Have also been told to expect a big announcement by the weekend. Honestly could be anything. Time will tell. Now then…time for a lie down!!!
Follow this forum for updates throughout today on transfer news surrounding Whu:
Early Update 7:15: “Negotiations for Jelavic are extremely close, DS is very hopeful he can conclude a deal soon” Received this info 1st thing this morning along with…
Early Update continued 7:16: “A bid is likely to go in for Snodgrass today after positive talks with LUFC yesterday”
Adzman ClungeWhu has just now tweeted: “Jelavic interview in Scottish press states he would join Whu no problems. Trying to encourage a sale.”
Followed by another tweet saying: “Rangers want him to put in a transfer request and the deal will happen. 7.5 mil fee will seal the deal”
Off topic I know but and probably old news now but you can follow Harry Redknapps trial live on Twitcher
This is the most sense that Warnock has ever spoken(talking about Jelavic):
‘I know what Rangers value him at. But whether they get anywhere near that is another matter.
‘I would be surprised if anybody paid that much and were not very impressed, if I’m honest. We watched him for a few weeks and he didn’t seem much to write home about.’
he added: ‘He has ability, no question. But I don’t know if anybody knows for certain if he is a Premiership player — and that’s the problem. If you are going to pay what Rangers want, then the player has to be proven as a Premiership player, haven’t they? You could get Jermain Defoe for £10m.
Ernie Gregory obit in The Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/903923…
Cheers for that Ade – a great servant to the club in many ways it was interesting to read more about him. RIP Big Fella.
Thanks for the post AdeCoker. RIP Ernie.
Many thanks for that post Ade Coker. I was a lucky young boy as my dad worked with a friend of Ernie. Subsequently we got free tickets from time to time and hence my allegiance to WHU was forged forever.
RIP Ernie from a very grateful supporter to a greater servant of West Ham Utd.
i can not understand why the board are going for players who we dont know can do it at this level or higher and bidding 7 million pounds for !!.
if you was chairman right now and your top of the league would you be thinking of spending 7 million pounds on one player ….i think not and why not bid 6 million pounds for maynard who we know can bang in the goals at this level and hungry for higher league football .
Why bid 6 mill for maynard ? He is out of contract at the end of the season and 2.5 mil is near the transfer fee being talked about to purchase him. We dont have much cash and cannot afford to throw it about like confette !!!
didnt know about his contract , to be honest im happy if we dont buy and big sam puts a rocket up the front line and says score some goals !!! .
our squad as it is should shine through from now on in this league if there all fit of course .
The problem with the Internet is that is has a great habit of fooling us all with gossip. Twitter for one is full of bull…..
I would be very surprised if we spent so much money on one player…..
On newsnow 'hammers legend…….london 24' (todays feed). Article by phil parkes and a good read on the current squad. He compares them to the 80/81 promotion side. He also thinks we only have x4 players good enough for the top flight….green, tomkins, m.taylor and m.noble.
Interesting read if you want to take a look.
You would have to agree with him.
Just look at the talent in that team.
Phil parkes – brilliant keeper
Ray Stewart, reliable and dynamic- amazing penalty taker
Billy Bonds- legend
Alvin martin – legend
Frank Lampard – legend
Just look at that for a defense- all had skill and could play the ball out but were solid in the tackle- and committed to the club
Alan devonshire and Trevor brooking- wow. 2 great gifted playmakers – paul allen wasn't bad either was he?
David Cross up front was a brilliant target man
I mean- who really can compare with that team?
Green, Tomkins perhaps…but that is about it. Hopefully we can go up and Collison and Baldock can show us what he can do but the rest of them? most of them have played in the premiership and not really done much.
Cole, Nolan, Noble, are all much of a muchness – I like noble but he's at snails pace most of the time and is not gifted enough to be called a playmaker.
so that's about it. The main mission should be to go up this year- ship out even more crud, and try to get some young hungry and talented players in, but its far more difficult in reality of course
Pjdpjd liked your last comment I wonder sometimes how gullible some supporters are about our half owners?
On the West Ham Official Website:
West Ham United are hoping to conclude at least one important new signing in the next 48 hours.
Joint Chairman David Sullivan says he and manager Sam Allardyce are working hard to make additions to the Hammers squad as the club continues its push for promotion from the npower Championship.
With the transfer window drawing to a close on Tuesday 31 January, the club are pulling out all the stops to strengthen after going top of the table at the weekend.
News of all new arrivals will be announced exclusively on whufc.com and the club's official twitter feed before anywhere else, so make sure you keep checking back regularly for any new updates.
"This has been one of the most difficult transfer windows I have ever been involved with in all my time in football," said Mr Sullivan. "However, with the window now coming to a close, we would like to reassure supporters we are still working tirelessly to bring in new faces and are hoping to make one or two important additions to the squad in the next 48 hours."
This is the only bit of news that i trust…..everything else is just pure speculation, some of which is made up to increase visitors to websites……I won't mention any names….
Why they release a statement like this? Only puts more pressure to sign someone. We are on the top of the table. Do we need players? Hell yeah. But we cannot have this pressure to sign someone on 48 hours, 24 hours.
Official Site claims that an important signing will be made in the next 48 hours. No doubt there will be plenty of speculation about who it will be but Jelavic has to be the favourite.
We have been linked with a Bosnian striker this morning but I have to admit I have never heard of him. Muslimovic or something like that. Anyone know anything about him?
Muslimovic…..sounds like his dad travelled the world from war torn Yugoslavia and ended up bedding an arabian princess
yeah he is 30 and looking for a retirment home, Rangers & Sunderland said no thanks, we don't need him we already have Piq & Carew
Let's hope the news of a signing and possibly more on the official site is enough to satisfy those amongst us that are beside themselves during this transfer window. I don't expect to be privy to all the details of targets and transfer negotiation but I understand that there are people working hard to improve this club.
C.O.Y.I
Yep very satisfied there working their ollocks off trying to buy top players like beckham henry neymar and all the others that never arrived only talked about which seem to be their trait at both clubs they have been involved with. Still im sure sam will stand for no – hit so maybe we will get some quality premier players this time?
Having done some afternoon research I would be very surprised if the bid we offered Rangers is anywhere near the £7m being reported, it doesn't add up and seems very over priced. The bottom line is the current squad haven't got out of second gear yet and here we sat top of the league. It ain't pretty, i don't like watching it and I am sure Sam will milk it large, however, at least he can spell, an accountant doesn't run his life, he knows how to txt and use a phone ….
Skybet has had big money go on Jordan Rhodes and Mr.Jelavic to join the Hammers?
BOTH? that's not gonna happen…The Rhodes deal is pushin up daisy's,
Jelavic Maybe.
That would be great business. But we are talking about West Ham?.
I think we'll be all proven correct Graham as it is looking like a couple of trialists, possibly Eder or the Serb lad ? If I am honest, I'd rather that than wasting millions on the Jellyfish chap
Mate, a big announcement within 48 hours?
I thought Sam did well in the summer, lets be honest, none of us really thought Carew and Piquionne would be so dire or that Faye, Demmel and Taylor would be so injured. That said if Montenegro is not good enough why hasn't he been returned and the same with Montano, let him go.
I do worry that the youngsters that looked hungry in pre season are going to get looked over for the typical Sam Allardyce old and bold pro.
I have a mate who works at D&R and he says Montano is very skillful but needs to bulk up a little.
Also, I don't think we can blame BFS for Piquionne. He pre-dates Sam's arrival – although he does insist on selecting him when, in truth, he should be putting the goalposts out.
Lol, on the OS about the latest transfer news.
Well………………………..there is NO news!!
Freebies as usual who are the targets.
We're hopeful of signing someone blablabla, that's all what we are getting.
In a normal job this won't get you anywhere, they want results and no talk.
They won't accept the words, "I am hopefull" "I am confident" "I am working hard to make something happen" if you don't deliver it won't get you anywhere.
I am already looking forward to hear from Gollivan after the january transfer window.
"We have worked very hard and we bought in George and Joe"
"we were unlucky and it has been difficult blablabla"
David Sullivan has been working on transfers for 24/7 the whole of January according to Mr.Gold?
Really, we certainly noticed that!
The mighty George John and Joe Dixon to the rescue!
They only have themselves to blame if we don't get promoted.
I will be surprised if any body comes in now!. If the ssn is correct the rangers bid has failed. Hope this is just bull sh.t reporting on behalf of ssn. Wait and see.
Once again we will sign at the last hour of the transfer window.
Some one will arrive,but with smoke and mirrors at work we may all be surprised as to who it is. If you like SA,DS or otherwise they are no mugs.the trick is now staying in the top two,and it's unlikely that there would be addition(s)that change what he must see as being a successful system so far,as ugly has it has been to watch i still feel that we need a creative wide player,but why would Leeds sell us Snodgrass?With West Ham i will continue to live in hope……..
Heres an idea…stop all the nonsense and play Rob Hall and Frank Nouble? Save yourself the money and us the hassle of wondering whose coming and/or going.
Yes +1 !!!
with tevez deal to milan (ac and inter) both reported in the press to be dead….after our earlier talks with man city about a loan till the end of the season be possible after all ? It makes no sense him sitting on his bum till the summer and this will not help any resale value. Maybe a loan to whu, may now appeal to tevez and man city….we can dream after all.
Also dos santos (spuds) transfer has fallen through to sevilla…..could we get him in on loan to offer some width, creativity and pace.
This last part of the window is when the action takes place and the rumours stop and we can all hope for a couple of signings to push us onto the championship title (hopefully).
Wouldn't that be awesome? I mean there is nothing for him to lose by coming here until the end of the season and just scoring for kicks and staying in form. But maybe CIteh would rather punish him by not letting him play at all. Who knows. It just doesn't seem impossible to me.
If Tevez came to us and we went up he then would be put on that boat with Gandolf , Elrond and Frodo to sail away from the land of mortals
Haha! Brilliant. I would love to see him back where he belongs. Come home Tevez!
Yes it would be great…. but do you think Tevez will be happy to sit on the bench waiting for Piq to grind to a complete halt before getting his chance to play for 20 minutes?
:D
But lets all take a minute and dream.
You mean Elves and Hobbits don't exist?
At this point yesterday evening, the official West Ham website announced, through Sullivan, that we are confident of "at least one important signing." So, that means that we should expect an "important" signing at some point tomorrow.
Of course we could define "important" but hopefully it means importance to the team – not to just make up the numbers.
Jelavic will not play for Rangers tomorrow due to "illness"
Mmm… coincidence?
I think yes
Yeah, Spartak Moscow are interested.
David Gold has stated on Twitter that: 'I believe Robert Green will be with us for many years to come'.
Perhaps the deal presently is that if we go up he signs on? Fair play to him if so.
Ilunga has been released
Ilunga is out. Official WHU website.
West Ham United have mutually agreed with Herita Ilunga to terminate his contract with immediate effect.
The defender moved to the Boleyn Ground on an initial season-long loan move on 3 September 2008, before making the switch permanent in the summer of 2009 for a fee of £2.25m. He made 73 appearances for the club in total, scoring three goals.
The club would like to thank Herita for his service and wish him well for the future.
Ilunga is gone!
Ilunga No longer!
Another 3 million down the drain. One of the most disgraceful performers ever to don the claret & blue.
Better than Piq
yeah to be fair, he done well in his first season…playing to earn the big contract. Once he got it however, different story!
I do agree with safhammer…Piq has been awful since day one.
Definitely better than PIq! He had a good first season when he was after getting signed and then he became lazy and a shocking few seasons followed. Very happy to see the back of him if im honest, but no hard feelings. I do agree with Bizro though, we should have tried to get a little bit of money from him just to help towards costs. Seems silly letting a player go for nothing. His wages were probably a big issue and the club may have decided to cut its losses rather than run the risk of paying his wages for a bit longer. Oh well, farewell Ilunga.
Bit harsh Devo. He did some good and as far as 3 million down the drain you need only to look at Freddie Llungberg and K Dyer to see he is not in the same league as a waste of money. We got 73 games out of him. Then I will finish off with one word if you think 3 mill is a waste. Savio.
I don't fully understand why we can't nick him for 1/2 mill to get some money to pay for wages or transfers though.
Cheers Ilunga, thanks for the 3 years of service. Your first year was fantastic and you played a major part in getting us to within 3 points or 1 win of playing in Europe.
I understand the next 2 years as nearly all of our squad went backwards in ability and technique when the next two managers were not up for it.
I hope you find the right team to see out your playing days.
He was going to go to Liverpool once..remember!
We were just a stepping stone for him then, he said.
That's why i get sick of these players with prem experience. They get played on that experience and reputation not form. The problem with us is we always want results and now and that has lead us to the position we are in.
Simply on form you would drop Piq and make him fight for his place. Whether he plays or not it is still 38k. Put the onus on him. He doesn't play he will not go back to the prem again.
In his place is a bloke called Robert Hall who wants to show the club what his got. They won't play him because lack of experience. Apparently that makes Piq a better player on the day for us.
As I recall, after his "Hammer of the Year" first season, Illunga was injured (broken cheekbone?) against Wolves, I think, in the first game the next season. It did not seem a serious knock at the time but as far as I can tell, he never recovered – he lost pace, skill and worst of all attitude. I wonder why? He was a real proud Hammer (his French blog was always very positive about WHU) – so what and why did it go wrong????
Great questions to know an informed qualified answer to.
It gets down to the 3 different ownership's and the constant changing of managers that has caused the agonising and damaging instability within the club at the same time losing a part of our identity and direction over the last 5 years.
This is where in the first part, our new owners I believe will restore most of the stability and direction. The second part is to work out if Sam is indeed the man to lead our club long term. Every time there is a new manager they seem to want to change the squad for the sake of changing the squad.
If Sam is serious about managing England then what is happening now is again short shortsightedness that will again lead to disruption. Let Sam get us up then look for a manager that has a vision of restoring everything that is West Ham. I hope that West Ham is more with the modern times whilst instilling tradition with every new player that arrives.
If Sam gets us up, them I thank him, but please move on somewhere else if you want to manage England.
To be fair to Sam – and I'm not his greatest admirer from a style point of view – he does seem to have sorted out a lot of off-pitch things at the club by bringing in discipline and organisation. This was something that was badly needed as the club seemed to be a total shambles throughout.
Totally agree Roy. Better than good job I say. That side of things with his input along with owners now can be maintained with ease. Now the on field side. Let's now get a balanced side together. The point is if he is not staying long term, when another manager comes in he will reshuffle the deck again.
If there is foresight and Sam admits that he won't be hanging around then the owners and Sam should be discussing what sought of manager the owners would ideally like to have and start recruiting to the next managers strengths. In no way am I having a go at Sam in respect to what he has achieved so far.
I hear your concerns mate and you raise some very valid points. I have had my worries about Big Sam's longevity and I still cant work out if he's been brought in to fix us up and move on, or for the long term?
I agree with Roy that im not always the biggest fan of how we play, but I am realistic and understand that he simply doesn't have the players to play creative football, which is what we all want to see. I also remember the incredible job he did at Bolton and the great players he signed. Djorkaeff, Anelka, Okocha etc. What incredible players they were! I would like to see what kind of team he would build if we were promoted and Sam was really given £30-35million. Personally I think he would build us a great team, but whether it would be a West Ham team im not sure. If it was up to me though, I would give him the chance. I dont think we can afford to get promoted (if we do) and then change manager. Not unless it was for a Martin O'Neil, Brendan Rodgers or Paul Lambert? But even then I think that would be harsh on Sam considering what he has achieved with us so far.
Clubs dont do well when they loose Allardyce. Bolton, Blackburn and Newcastle all suffered massively on his departure. Sam builds teams and motivates players. He instills belief and passion in players and always bonds his squads tightly. His organisation and attention to detail are legendary and currently I couldnt think of anyone that would be better for West Ham. Especially to rebuild the team, the club, the fans and get us back to the prem. Thats no easy task, not for any manager.
On the other hand, if Sam see's us a stop gap to a better job, then i believe the club will see out his 2 year contract and look for someone else. He will have one year to get us promoted and another year to stabilise us, then he would move on. If this were the case then Bizro's concerns become very poignant. If we give Sam £35million to build his team and he leaves then that could be a lot of money wasted. New managers always want their own players and to build their own team, so we might end up in a predicament. But even if that were the case I still trust Sam's judgement on players and think he would have added some great players to the club. Because he can definitely attract some top class footballers!
Its an interesting situation. One which I hope the board are completely in control of. Big Sam has always wanted to manage a big club and has shown longevity in all of his managerial appointments that im aware of (Newcastle dont count as it was their issue firing Sam) so why wouldn't he want to stay at West Ham and build a legacy? I cant see any bigger clubs than us going in for him and unless he gets the call for England, which in my opinion will never happen, then he could have great plans for the Hammers. And who knows, maybe even some good football along the way! I'm certainly hopeful!
COYI
Totally agree Jack. It is not his ability to take us past what he did with Bolton I question, it's his aspirations. Are they long or short. If they are long, then I back him all the way. I just hope if it is short that he is working towards a smooth transition.
I really don’t get this two years and his off bit? The only reason this was said is because for both parties two years is the max for getting us up again, and anything else is failure and a new manager is needed. Sam would go where after taking us up? England no chance that’s h that will have that one with fluent playing Style being played which brings back greenwood days. So unless Sam retires his here for the long term.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/erni…
Really good article on Ernie Gregory, who Phil Parkes describes as West Ham's Best ever servant.
What a top man he was.
Is there any reason why there hasn't been any updates to this site since Wednesday? Im never one to complain as I love this site, but it has been 3 days, and in the height of the transfer window and no one has updated? I think thats poor to be honest. If I was writing for this I don't think I could keep myself off the computer at the moment. Top of the league for the first time and with all the transfer speculation there is literally 100 articles that could be written.
Come on Iain or Braderz, we're all waiting in anticipation! Well I certainly am, can't say 100% for everyone else but id guess were in the same boat.
COYI
Yeah I was expecting to get some sort of update here.
We are top but I will be a lot happier about that if we can secure 3 points on Tuesday we need to open up a gap which will pressure on our contenders. The later we actually sign someone the less likely they are to feature on Tuesday.
I agree mate. Im beginning to worry a bit about this window. If the official website is correct then we should be announcing at least one new signing today. My concern is that we will get one of the many free agents we have had on trial the last few weeks. We should have got Sordell when we had the chance and he would have only cost us a few million. Now he's had a ripping game against spurs last night and the chances of us signing him are a lot lower. He's young, British, fast and has bags of potential, why didn't we sign him?
My biggest concern is getting in a creative wide player. We have no pace or creativity in the team. Taylor is our most creative player by miles and without him we haven't been scoring. I'll be eagerly awaiting any news on transfers today, praying that we sign someone good!
COYI
Yep we need creativity on both flanks, I like Taylor but seems injury prone (we do miss him!) and not sure if he will be up to the premiership next year if we go up. Sam obvioulsy does not feel the youngsters are good enough and to be honest they have not set the world alight when put out on loan. A lot of people seem to over rate our youngsters.
I have said on here before I think our priority is a wide player – looking increasingyl unlikely that we will get one and it may just cost us!
I agree mate. Taylor's injury problems worry me. I think he is one of the top 3 players in the Championship and he would probably still have a season in the prem left in him too. But only if he stays fit. And in the prem im not sure we could afford to rely on him as a starter.
We should be focusing all of our effort into securing wide players and creativity, but it seems we aren looking at that at all. Has no one stopped and asked themselves what the point of signing a new striker is when theres no one to feed him?
Im on the fence with our youth. I think we have a lot of talent, but none lately seem to be good enough to make the step up to the first team. Whether this is the club protecting them or not im unsure. They should definitely be given more of a run out, especially Hall. I guarantee he wont be any worst than Piq.. Guarantee!!
come on i need a transfer fix