West Ham Fire Sale

Kumb are today reporting that West Ham may accept a bid for Dean Ashton. They say the club's inability to offload the majority of the fringe players has led the owners to the decision that all players at the club now have their price. They may therefore accept an offer for Ashton.

Kumb say that Alan Curbishley was against the sale of Zamora and was unaware that Ljungberg was to be released until a couple of hours before it happened. Kumb read this as evidence of Curbishley's waning influence at the club. Kumb's interpretation has been supported by co-owner Asgeir Fridgeirsson openly criticising Curbishley today and blaming him for the fiasco over Ljungberg,

"It's the manager and his management team who are responsible for paying out the player’s salary. It is their judgment about how to use the money they paid to Ljungberg in a wiser way.

"We all have our personal opinion about Freddie and his efforts for this club."

This completely contradicts a statement by Curbishley this week that he has not taken any part in salary negotiations and that he merely tells the board of players he is interested in and they undertake transfer and salary negotiations.

Perhaps the bookies were right after all in naming Curbishley as favourite for the chop. Perhaps the new owners are fast becoming as popular as ex-chairman Terence Brown.

One thing is certain that selling Aston would be hugely stupid and probably bad economics. It would mean that West Ham would be reliant on the mostly injured Bellamy and a misfiring Cole and could quite possibly lead to a relegation battle.