The Payet saga is finally over, thank God for that! I am sure most fans will agree that the main positive in all this is that the guy is gone now. He gave us some lovely memories to cherish, some mindblowingingly beautiful goals and the tricks and flicks Hammers fans love to see in a player. But the more you read about the man the more I believe it was never really meant to be, Payet coming to West Ham was a happy accident, a bizarre twist of fate and it could never last.
I am slightly disappointed we gave in as much as we did on price which at first glance may seem like we simply caved in being faced with an unhappy player only willing to go to one club and one club only, a French club being a match for Sullivan in terms of negotiating and the less said about Payet’s agent the better.
At least we seem to have agreed a decent sell on fee which may result in a very welcome windfall should Payet leave to a bigger club than Marseille in future or follow the scent of the money to Chinese shores – I am sure Payet will be on the move again in a year or two.
We can now focus on the post-Payet era and this will most probably mean seeing more hearty and passionate performances from the lads who actually want to play for our club. In that respect I very much welcome the recent additions of Jose Fonte, Robert Snodgrass and Patsy, sorry, Nathan Holland. I would still like us to make one or two more shrewd signings before the window closes. A striker being top of my list.
Hogan of course comes with a bit of a risk attached to him in the shape of his previously badly injured knee. On the other hand he gives us something different, a guy who by all accounts makes intelligent runs while also being a natural finisher.
But if Bilic isn’t convinced we are unlikely to sign him and may have to look somewhere else.
I hope the club have been doing their homework in the background and have a few alternatives up their sleeves. Maybe also in the defensive department as I am not sure we can rely on Byram staying injury-free all season, not to mention his tendency to collect bookings like other people do stamps or vintage model cars.
Deadline Day as usual will promise much and deliver probably very little, it’s still good fun and it’ll be interesting to see if, how much and how wisely the board will spend the Payet money in the coming hours (or the following summer at least).
A very positive news item which seems to have gone pretty much under the radar is the tests currently being carried out for video refereeing in British football.
It has been confirmed that the use of video technology will be starting in the German Bundesliga as early as next season already.
It can only be a matter of time before the other big leagues in Spain, Italy, France and England of course follow suit as just like with goal line technology there simply aren’t any plausible arguments against it anymore.
As for Britain secret tests for the use of video technology or video refs have taken place this season, covering several Premier League games. The tests were not live though but rather ex-referees watching games in retrospect, finding out if and how a video ref might have been able to change certain decisions on the day.
Unsurprisingly the tests yielded between 2-4 instances per game where a video ref might have been in a position to overturn the decision of the referee on the pitch (or give support to the ref in order for him to get his decision right in the first place).
Rumours are that the use of video technology could be implemented in the Premier League very quickly now, probably even next season in tandem with the Bundesliga.
I have mentioned before that I see this as a measure long overdue to get rid of the vast majority of bad refereeing decisions affecting the future and livelihoods of clubs, players, managers and club employees too.
The introduction of video technology to football is one of my pet topics really and I shall be very glad when it’s finally part of our favourite sport too after being a successful feature in other sports like Cricket, Rugby, Tennis, Ice Hockey, American Football and Baseball. Better late than never! You can of course debate the details of it.
Do you give managers the opportunity to appeal to the video referee once or twice per game ?
Do you implement a rule that every single goal scored or red card issued will be automatically refered to the verdict of the video ref to rubberstamp the decision on the pitch ?
Or will we hardly notice a change because the video referee will be in the referees ear anyway during the game, making sure the decisions are the right ones to begin with ?
One things’s certain: The various offside goals given in Man United’s favour this season should be a thing of the past once video technology is up and running.
Just like with goal line technology it will be hard for managers or players of big clubs to intimidate or mess with a video referee sitting in a secluded office/studio which may not even be in the stadium but in a sort of headquarter covering all the games, like they do in Ice Hockey where the Toronto headquarters house a multitude of screens showing every game from every angle as it happens with the decisions being filtered through to the referees in the respective stadiums/arenas.
The next few days will be very interesting now of course, first Transfer Deadline Day, then a very exciting home game against Man City where we will hopefully witness our team showing spirit and togetherness again and maybe also get a glimpse at our new signings too. I for one can’t wait.
COYI!