It’s finally over, and I doubt any of you are anything but relieved. A transfer window that just underlined the vast, widening gap between the big boys and the rest of us.
Over £3billion spent by the Premier League alone, a record, and our contribution to that massive outlay was about £50million net. Last of the big spenders in more ways than one.
From our point of view, deadline day was another nasty reminder of how David Sullivan runs transfer windows. It seems we didn’t get the defensive player Graham Potter wanted, we didn’t get the desperately-needed striker the fans wanted either.
We got Prague heroes Emerson and Nayef Aguerd off the books, plus a quarter of Max Cornet’s wages as he went back to Genoa on loan. And, it seems, George Earthy had the opportunity to join Wrexham., I can only hope on loan.
It’s a transfer window that has divided fans. Some see it as a pragmatic reduction in wages and older players and an awareness of the financial plight we are in. Others see it as yet another window in which Sullivan has not grasped the chance to build, as two years of decline since Prague has concentrated a few more minds.
But new protests against the ownership will only become louder and stronger. Hammers United have a 10,000 petition to get the board out, they want fans to boycott the Monday, 20 October home game with Brentford. Don’t go, don’t put your ticket on the club exchange to sell on and make sure the TV audience see our discontent.
There’s a march planned to the directors entrance for the Crystal Palace game on Saturday 20 September from Stratford Station. The opposition to the board will grow and not go away.
It doesn’t take a genius to see we are not even in the same ball park as the big boys, with the vast quantity of European and English talent passing us by. It’s what you get, I suppose, when you block the Super League.
At the time we were all affronted by the big boys - and Spurs - wanting out. But with the huge amount of cash now flowing into the coffers of the footballing giants via prize money from UEFA competitions, TV deals, eye-watering sponsorship deals, ticket sales and the rest, we’ve now got a two-tier league - and it has wrecked the competition as a spectacle.
West Ham United can’t compete and we are not alone. There’s around six clubs who have the wealth to win the three major tournaments in England and mop up European qualification. We are left in a league of 14 fighting to avoid relegation. Maybe it would have been better in hindsight to let the Super League go its own way, and at least leaving us with a competition worth competing in.
Our own part of this carnage was painful to watch. We saw 26 players from all levels off the books and only got money for Mo Kudus (£55million), Edson Alvarez (£2million loan fee), Emerson (£866.000) and Nayef Aguerd (£19.9million).
We gave 13 players free transfers, there are nine out on loan, two loans were ended and we sold three. The five fees we paid for Malick Diouf, Mads Hermansen, Mateus Fernandes, Soungoutou Magassa and Jean-Clair Todibo came to around £130million. Add two free transfers in Kyle Walker-Peters and Callum Wilson, plus Igor Julio’s Loan.
There were ten incomings in all if you count Danny Cummings, the final part of the Jean-CLair Todibo deal and Dimitri Colau, a 19 year-old kid from Paris FC.
It all came in a rush towards the end. The first part of the 88-day window was dogged by the unveiling of our financial mess, problems with PSR, Sullivan insisting on selling before purchases and the ludicrous announcements via the usual grifters than everybody bar Jarrod Bowen, Cry Summerville and Aaron-Wan Bissaka was for sale.
We were left trying to shift half-a-dozen 30-somethings on long term contracts and high wages. A ridiculous scenario that told the world we were broke and we were open to seeing our squad being seriously degraded.
I think that was the negotiating position from Hell; whatever happened to keeping your mouths shut and not running a daily debate about our finances? Clubs were being invited to low-ball us or hike the prices. We were a sitting target. The Premier League always needs victims to push towards relegation, so much money now depends on staying in the top flight, and we were just inviting problems.
It’s reckoned we have slashed our wage bill by around £30million a year. Two of that FA Youth Cup-winning squad have gone, Gideon Kodoa and Pat Kelly to Luton and Barnsley respectively and four are again out on loan. But the good thing is that Earthy, Ollie Scarles, Callum Marshall along with Freddie Potts are in the first team squad.
What game time they get with no Europe and already being out of the League Cup remains to be seen. And Potter’s young midfield acquisitions and wing back Diouf does not leave many chances or much time for the youth cup boys to make their mark.
I suppose I started the window hoping Lucas Paqueta, Tomas Soucek and Bowen would still be with us at the end. They are, thankfully. And that brings me to the outstanding win at Nottingham Forest.
I refused to let the transfer window shambles deflect me from what was a great day out, and excellent all round performance. A new shape to the team and a level of diligent, organised defending not on show last week at Wolves or in the two previous league defeats at Sunderland and Chelsea.
And for those three goals to be scored right in front of the 3,000 travelling fans just made the day, as did Paqueta’s mobile phone mime and clearly throwing it away and with it all talk of his potential departure.
Much of that, I’m afraid, was agent-led and with plenty of help from certain sections of our club. Potter didn’t want him to go and I really doubt Lucas did. I do expect him to go next summer, a year older and fee reduced, but that would not be surprising.
I enjoy watching him, he’ll form a great partnership with the hugely impressive Fernandes and with that level of midfield pace and creativity. we could start pulling ourselves away from this dreadful start.
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