West Ham Keeping Ashton
West Ham manager Alan Curbishley says that Dean Ashton will not be sold during the summer break. Curbishley is under orders to reduce the size of the West Ham squad but he insists the club won't be selling their star players.
"Every club outside the top four has this problem every summer. Even Spurs and people like that are going to come under pressure," said Curbishley.
"But since the new group took over West Ham we have tried to push forward and I don't see selling players as a way of pushing forward. The people who left last summer (Nigel Reo-Coker, Marlon Harewood, Yossi Benayoun) asked to go and we wanted to have a change around."I want to see certain combinations of players that I haven't had a chance to see. I want to play Craig Bellamy with Dean Ashton. I am enthusiastic about when we join up again."
posted by Keir Clarke @ 3:29 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
This is exactly right. Selling our best players is no way to move forward,and as such simply is not going to happen.
Let me put it to you this way. Why would the owner go to the trouble of employing a director of football if we were going to be getting rid of our major talents? It makes no sense. Also, how on earth cud Curbishley be expected to move the club from 10th or 11th up to 8th or 9th next term if we were to sell our best players? The an has been under ebough pressure already,so to deny him the services of players like Ashton and Ljungberg wud be effectively throwing him and the team to the wolves. Again, that simply is not going to happen. It would be a poor ,and ultimately very costly business decision in the long run.
So the press can bang on as much as they like,including normally reasonable members of the press such as BBC news,the Times etc, but they are going to look very foolish come august 31st. Because the vast majority of our better players will still be here- and any that aren t will be replaced by someone as good or better.
During the last transfer window ,Curbishley stated,almost too clearly, that we wud be buying nobody in that window. I thought at the time that he was just posturing,to keep the price of any new purchases down. It turns out that he wasn t lying,nor was he posturing. He simply was stating the facts . And now appears no different to me. He s not posturing ,nor exaggerating. He is laying out the facts as they are.
Any non-essential player will likely be gone. I d estimate that to be somewhere between 3 to 5 players. 3 of the possible 5 didn t even play one full match between them ,combined(Quashie ,Davenport and Reid). The transfer fees from selling these 3 may not be large ,but there will at least be a reduction in the wage bill by offloading them and perhaps a couple others
Im not surprised to see tabloid junk rags spitting out inaccurate nonsense,but it does surprise me to even the theoretically more responsible media outlets printing stories that simply defy common sense,and are not representative of the facts. It is stories of the kind we have this week that support the idea that there is a an anti-West Ham agenda in the press.
Anyone want to take out bets on who goes this season?
My picks:
-Quashie (because he's useless)
-Cole (because he's going to want to play week in and out and with Sears and Zamora in the wings and a healthy Ashton there's no reason for him to stay)
-McCartney (I think they are going to sell high on him)
-Solano (Just not enough room on a healthy trimmed squad with Freddie, Le TGV, Ethers, and possibly Reid)
-Reid (I think he's just Championship quality, my opinion)
Because of Davenport's injury, I don't think they can move him, maybe on a loan spell.
kxrojbAgree that Quashie will go, not because I think he s terrible, but he clearly is not what we need. Cole I think stays ,as I think he is on the up at the club, and over time ,I feel will outshine Zamora, tho I still feel Zamora will contribute. I don t see the emergence of Sears as threatening Cole yet,and I can envision the manager at times going with 3 up front, one of whom can be Cole.
I don t see McCartney going- he s done well and been consistent and solid. Solano is a tough one- I don t think it wud cost a fortune to renew his contract,and his goal vs Villa shows what he still brings to the table.
Reid I think goes, as he understandably is frustrated,but at the same time ,i don t think he is quite up to the standard we require. What u are saying on Davenport makes sense- I initially thought him a dead cert to be sold ,but it s hard to sell someone who has been out injured for so long. So perhaps your idea of a loan deal is realistic.
I can t see us hanging on to both Collins and Gabbidon- I see us keeping one or the other,but not both . Given recent comments by LBM,and given the way in which he was mistreated by some of our supporters ,I think he is now a realistic possibility to go.
I hope John Pantsil stays , as I think the guy is an excellent athlete ,and it s clear he feels something for the supporters. I have a nagging feeling that we cud lose him ,especially given his own individual lap of honor that he took on the last day of the season. Spector has taken a lot of stick, which I don t feel is deserved ,especially for such a young player ,and I hope we keep him ,as he can and does provide cover in various positions. But I m left thinking that one of either Pantsil or Spector will go.
To me ,the wild card is Neill. He was the player who under-performed the most this season,despite being captain. I don t think it s likely he goes, but it is a possibility, especially were he to lose the captaincy,which he may take umbrage at. I think he s capable of being an outstanding player ,as he showed at Rovers, and in the run-in to avoid relegation ,but I fear his best may be past him ,based on what we saw this season. Part of me finds that hard to believe,as he s 30, not 35 or 37,but he ll need to make an impression early next season to dispel the idea that he s no longer up to it.
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