A precise definition of the mythical ‘West Ham Way’ is something that has baffled scientists and football fans since long before James Collins could even grow facial hair.
But one phrase that definitely fits it quite well is ‘never doing things the easy way.’ And if West Ham are to survive in the Premier League this season – by no means a given – then they will certainly not have done it the easy way, and much of that will be self-inflicted.
In the Pub Talk section of the new edition of “Blowing Bubbles”:http://www.blowing-bubbles.co.uk/read-our-latest-issue.html , the magazine’s writers put their heads together to try and work out where it has all gone so – well, meh – this season, and Emily Pulham points her finger directly at the January transfer window as a prime example of how to make a bad situation worse.
“We keep selling players and ending transfer windows with less players than we started with,” she said. “We sold our joint top scorer to a relegation rival. We sold a centre back outside the transfer window and didn’t bother to replace him. We don’t even have a full team sheet, and it’s not helped by David Moyes making poor team selections from what’s left. We’re not future proofing the team, we are frogmarching towards relegation.”
David Meagher says the fact that the transfer window is being looked at to fix problems tells its own story.
“When you are relying on January to solve problems then you are in real trouble as unless you splash big money, most of the time you are taking another club’s problems. Our performance in the transfer window over the last two seasons has been terrible, and the proposed change in our transfer team is much needed.”
To read more from the pub talk crew, including their views on Andre Ayew and Jordan Hugill, pick up a copy of the new edition of Blowing Bubbles out now. There you will find exclusive columns from former Irons legends Phil Parkes and George Parris, the latest news from the increasingly tetchy stand-off between fans and the club’s owners, find out what the future holds in store for the Bobby Moore statue, and in a startlingly honest interview, Kieron Dyer explains why he will probably go down in history as West Ham’s worst ever signing.
All this and more can be found in the latest edition of Blowing Bubbles – “Out now”:http://www.blowing-bubbles.co.uk/read-our-latest-issue.html