Graham Potter by now knows he exists in a parallel West Ham universe. On one side of the pond he has been knocking into shape a squad that’s constantly been told they are not good enough and are going to be shipped out.
On this side of the pond, chairman David Sullivan has the band back together, big time, the ringmaster of a transfer window circus - clowns optional - that we’ve all seen before and hoped had been consigned to history. Some hopes there.
Firstly the tournament in the US; two wins, a half-decent display against Manchester United and it was obvious to see that there were considerable improvements in all aspects of our play, team work and fitness.
Jarrod Bowen scored a couple of excellent goals as did Niclas Fullkrug, while new wing back Malick Diouf produced an array of stunning crosses from the flanks that are going to be a considerably weapon in the future.
What I sense we are seeing from Potter is the part of the job he likes most. I’ve got a lot of time for him, while many of our fans just remember the shambles at Chelsea. It didn’t work, he was bombarded with signings dropped on him by a haplessly out of his depth owner - which maybe prepared him for a future employer?
My awareness of Potter comes from hugely-impressed former colleagues and friends in Swansea and south Wales, where he made a massive impact. Frankly they loved him and his refreshing approach to the game.
Now we are seeing some of that at West Ham. The back end of last season was a painful mess and even now he has only managed to bring in one player of his own volition, Diouf. Frankly everything else we’ve signed so far has come from Sullivan and his pals.
Admittedly it’s early days, but Potter is heavily into social sciences and has set out to produce a squad of unity, a family atmosphere, friendships, loyalty and team spirit. And you can see that already from what had been a fractious, erratic squad from the mess left by Julen Lopetegui.
It may all be just a little too woke for some of our fans, but Potter has a degree in social science, and an Msc in leadership, personal and professional development focused on emotional intelligence.
I suppose that means he wants to get into players’ heads. It’s a studious, calm, controlled approach that could just work. He’s integrated Nayef Aguerd, Edson Alvarez and JC Todibo into the squad, has got Fullkrug fit, having lost weight and made himself the main man upfront with a big personality and character to match.
Quiet an effort has been made by the club’s media people out in the states to present Fullkrug in the best possible light, I suppose because of last season’s non-event when he arrived. I had no issues with his quality - you don’t play for Germany and Dortmund otherwise.
But it was a bad deal set up by Tim Steidten. Fullkrug had a terrible injury record, had been axed by Dortmund already and replaced by a young, quicker model. He was also carrying injuries. Steidten admits now he knew all that, but still went ahead with a very expensive deal that was wrong for West Ham at the time.
A £27m fee for a 32-year-old and a four-year contract that would cost us close to £10m? No way was that the right deal at the right time. Now Potter, in lieu of any front-line additions other than the ancient Callum Wilson, has little option but to go with the BFG and just hope it works.
And the bonus has been the lifting of that heavy cloud over Lucas Paqueta. H seems to want to stay and if we still have him on board after 1 September, it will give the fans and squad a huge lift. Of course Sullivan may not be able to stop himself from taking any decent, or even cheap, bid that comes along.
Potter has, incidentally, impressed folk around the club. He did a bullet-point address to every member of staff when training resumed and it went down a storm. He’s also had a relaxed, informative chat with senior journalists who cover West Ham and again impressed with his diligence and determination to succeed.
And there’s the rub and the other side of the parallel. Surely he must have known what to expect from Sullivan when he took over and very soon there was no technical director and a 76 year-old chairman from the dark ages in charge of transfers.
Not just accepting decisions from an expensively-acquired recruitment analysis Kyle Macauley, prised from Chelsea for a £1m release and a department to match overseen by Potter. But ignoring them and taking advice from an old school agent Willie Mackay, still based in Monaco I believe, and with a somewhat controversial past.
Potter and Macaulay want goalkeepers Sullivan thinks are too expensive, ignoring the fact that the Head Coach has already employed new goalkeeper coaches who have worked extensively with Mads Hermansen.
So we take a call from Mackay who says he has a 29 year-old Brazilian, John Victor,. who he can get for £10m from Botofoga. He's only previously played in Europe for a season. Let’s be clear, if you are still in Brazil at 29, you have been looked at by a multitude of European clubs and they don’t rate you. Sometimes you can’t make up this nonsense.
Sullivan, while Potter was away, surrounded himself with his three siblings: agent mate Will Salthouse, Mackay and the lovely old salt Barry Silkman, who when I was working for a living more than a few years ago now, was every journalist's mate.
The former Millwall and Spurs star, 73 now, was always good for a quote, a funny story, some transfer tittle tattle. What I find amusing that we have a handful of our social media sites who have discovered Barry over the last few years as the oracle for West Ham.
So if you were Potter and Macaulay, would you be a touch annoyed that your plans are being undermined by Sullivan and his pals? My view is that I hate the idea that a chairman and a few agents can overrule football professionals, who have worked tirelessly to identify targets. I wonder how long Diouf under review for? I bet it wasn’t a weekend in Essex on the phone to some old chums.
You sense that Potter has already flexed his muscles. It’s believed he didn’t want Wilson, although he has produced all the party line material about the new guy and what he can offer. But within hours of that deal being announced, Potter was brutally blunt in ending any thoughts of Michail Antonio getting a new contract.
Was Potter saying "if you dump Wilson on me, I’m not having Antonio"? In fact, the coach has even gone as far as to suggest that Antonio’s future could be in coaching or mentoring in the future.
So Potter and the boys are back from the States, with a clear need for a couple of young, vibrant midfield players. Potter’s minimum, I would suggest. And we are still being told there must be sales before buys.
The trouble is that the players we want to sell are under decent contracts and good money. If you are in your thirties, have two and three-year contracts and wages covering your contract of between £2m and £6m - and that applies to Areola, Aguerd, Rodriguez, Cornet, Alvarez,, Fullkrug, Mavropanos and Ward-Prowse - why would you want to give any of that up?
Now we have announced that we have no money and must sell, rival clubs are going to make low-ball offers because of those contracts.
I suggest that the two parallel West Ham worlds will collide this week and right up to the start of the season and the end of the transfer window. This will determine how much clout Potter has - and how Sullivan will react to being questioned.
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