retired_exoticpanther33

kinda begs the question why did you predict 17th place?

blgstocks

haha prove me wrong :cool:....or go down and make me look good....i trust you'll make the right decision!

retired_hollieo

With the transfer window almost upon us, Murphy has empty pockets but he also has six points from his opening two games. Yes, the Premiership awoke this morning to see Birmingham sitting alongside Chelsea and Fulham as the only two sides with a 100% record so far.

Birmingham 2 - 1 Manchester United

Murphy's first game in charge at St Andrew's and the Premierships longest serving manager in Alex Ferguson was the first to feel the winds of change around the English Premier League. In an intriguing game, Mikael Forssell impressed everyone (especially Andy Nilsen) in a sublime example of top class marksmanship. The Finnish international scoring a brace to put Birmingham in charge, before Man Utd substitute Cristiano Ronaldo notched one with around 15 to go to set up a tense finish. For United, it was not enough. Tobias Hysen comes home with the man of the match award on his debut.

Middlesbrough 1 - 2 Birmingham

Off to the Riverside to face a Middlesbrough side that were also brimming with confidence after totally destroying Rick Boult's Manchester City 5-1 in their opening game at the City of Manchester Stadium. With Yakubu and the discarded City player Vassell up front, Middlesbrough's attack was full of pace and power. With Downing also on the left side we knew this would be a tough task especially as the first kick in the bollox of the new season saw Forssell was ruled out prior to the match for 5 days to 2 weeks. However we had a unlikely hero. Cometh the hour, cometh the Heskey. Grabbing the opener in the first half, then after Yakubu equalised for 'Boro, Heskey fired the Brummies back into the lead before HT which completed the scoring. Felt we were unlucky not to add a couple more goals as a good first away win is secured but was well satisfied with this win.


So 3rd after two games but the crunch is already here as a spate of early injuries see four top players booked in with the physio, including Forssell, Pandiani and Jarosik. With a fixture list featuring Everton, Chelsea and Arsenal in the next three games, I expect Birmingham to be back in their usual position of mid table quite soon!!

retired_espeon

Transfers In

Aaron Mokoena - Blackburn (2.5m)
With Goat buying thousands of players, I couldn't believe my luck when he agreed to sell me Aaron Mokoena. He
is comfortable either playing at centre-back or in defensive midfield, he's also capable of long range accurate passing which Viduka is sure to love.

Bjarne Ingebretsen - Lyn (500k)
A bargain at only 500k, Bjarne Ingebretsen is an exciting left wing prospect who'll only get better and is a player that will be one to look out for in a couple of seasons.

Danny Gabbidon - West Ham (P/Ex)
First signing of the season, Danny Gabbidon plus 500k arrived from West Ham with Henri Camara going the other way. Danny will add much needed pace to the centre of the defence which is going to need all the help it can get this season.

Eddie Gaven - Metrostars (1.5m)
Comfortable playing either attacking midfield or just off the striker, Eddie Gaven at only 18 years old has
plenty of potential to be a big player in a few seasons if he continues to progress the way he looks like he'll do.

Kris Commons - Nottingham Forest (750k)
Another good young player, Kris Commons was the best player in League One and I was delighted to get able to bring him to the club. He'll be on the left wing and will be terrorising defences with his tremedous pace running with the ball.

Ivan Hurtado - Al Arabi (750k)
Brought in to add some much needed experience to the squad, Hurtado also have a rocket of a shot on him so he'll be one to watch from free-kicks this year.

Mark Viduka - Middlesboro (2.5m)
Signed the day of the Bolton match, Viduka put in a transfer request at Middlesboro and I moved quickly to snap him up. I'll be looking to Viduka to score the 20+ goals that will give us half a chance of staying up this year.

Spent - 8.5m

Transfers Out

Henri Camara - West Ham (500k + P/Ex)
Matt Jackson - Colchester (250k)

Sold - 750k

13th August 2006
Wigan 2
Viduka 3, Teale 11
Bolton 1
Davies 78

Knowing that Bolton would be a tough side to break down, I was hoping for a good performance in the first match
as all 7 new signings were making their first team debuts. We got off to a great start after 3 minutes when
Baines swung in a cross to the far post which was taken down and blasted past the keeper by Viduka for his first ever Wigan goal.

Teale then made it 2-0 with a neat finish after being put through on goal by Mahon. We looked comfortable for
most of the match until Davies beat the offside trap and easily beat Pollitt to make it 2-1 to get Bolton back into the game but we managed to weather their late surge to secure the first victory of the season.

20th August 2006
Sunderland 3
Georgiev 3, Miller 19, Stead 66
Wigan 2
Hurtado 7, Viduka 90

After beating Bolton, I was feeling confident that we could get at least a point from the game against Sunderland. In a frantic first few minutes, Georgiev put Sundeland in the lead with a well-taken goal from a tight angle but Hurtado scored his first goal for us after blasting in a free-kick that somehow beat the keeper to level the scores at 1-1.

Miller then scored to put Sunderland back into the lead and they added further to their lead with an amazing goal from Stead who somehow managed to score when it looked highly unlikely to make it 3-1. I decided to try and push more men forward towards the end but only managed to score once through Viduka right at the death to make it 3-2.


Overall, 3 points out of 6 isn't a bad start but I'll be looking to tighten up the defence as we're looking capable of scoring enough but we could do without conceding plenty too. I'm confident we've got enough in the squad to stay up but it'll need all the players to be at their best for the whole season.

retired_sankanyo

what he was saying mark is that you said he would get relegated but 17th isnt a relegation position lol 20, 19, 18 go down

same old stupid french

blgstocks

lol i realise that now but i wrote that early in the morning having watched copious amounts of the A-Team and then jumping off the roof of my house for a bet so.......

retired_exoticpanther33

Shortly after taking charge of the club, I was informed by some kind soul (notably NOT the chairman) that the majority of my transfer budget had already been spent on the £2.5m purchase of Claus Jensen from Mark D'Ardenne's Fulham. I wasn't best pleased to say the least - Vukic was certainly set to be first choice in the more attacking central midfield role.

I decided that, since there was little I could do about Milan's little spending spree, I would look on the bright side - Jensen is a quality player, and I guess competition is never a bad thing at a football club - well, ALMOST never, as Pagi will find out.

With the little money I had left, I set about making what improvements I could to my squad

In the space of 4 days, between the 24th and 27th of July, 3 new faces were added to the Pompey ranks:

Kris Boyd
Boyd, a young Scottish striker, was brought in for the bargain price of just £250k from Kilmarnock. The player has already made his bow for Scotland, and will surely go on to make many more appearances for both the national side and for Portsmouth - he will provide mostly backup to Mbesuma for now - although look for him to crop up with the odd important goal if all goes according to plan.


Gary Kenneth
Another young Scottish prospect, Kenny (to his mates) is most definitely "one for the future", and I fully expect him to develop into a very useful centreback.


Ryan Nelsen
The New Zealander was snaffled from Blackburn for £1.4m, and will slot into my backline alongside the club captain Stefanovic. Nelsen will add some much needed pace to the centre of the Portsmouth defence, and is also very useful in the air.


Also brought in, ableit only on loan from Spurs, was left winger Andy Reid, to provide vital competition for places with Robert.

So, onto the season. Pompey had maintained a 100% record throughout preseason, including an impressive 2-1 victory against Sporting CP, but one glance at the fixture list gave me cause for concern as to how long that would last.

We had been given an absolute nightmare start to the season - the opening day would see us visit Arsenal at Highbury, followed swiftly by, of all teams, Chelsea's arrival at Fratton Park. A tough ask to get anything from these two games, but we'd certainly give it our all...


13th August 2005
Arsenal 2 - 1 Portsmouth
I made the foolish error here of playing Stefanovic, when the captain was not at full fitness, and was swiftly punished, Dennis Bergkamp slotting home his 200th league goal, half way through the first period.

Coming out for the second period, i replaced the tiring legs of Laurent Robert with Andy Reid, and Stefanovic with Nelsen. Whether it was this, or the words I said to the team during the break (or something else entirely), we came out a different side, playing some lovely football, and after about an hour, we got our reward - the equalising goal coming from Lua Lua, at the end of a beautifully flowing move, which had even the stars of Arsenal chasing shadows.

A few minutes later, and after more pressure, Zvonimir Vukic hit the bar when well placed in the Gunners box, and I was led to make my second mistake of the afternoon. I sensed blood, and decided to press forward more, in search of a famous scalp. Unfortunately, after another good chance went begging, we were hit on the break by Arsenal's legendary pace, and Lauren, marauding forwards from right back, was able to slot past Westerveld.

In the dressing room after the match, I did my best to console the lads - letting them know that their performance had deserved at least a point, but privately, I couldn't decide if it was 1 or 3 that we had lost.

The post match media rightly commented that Portsmouth would be disappointed to have lost a match which could have gone either way.


20th August 2005
Portsmouth 0 - 2 Chelsea
And so, onto the second match of our nightmare double header. This one, however also started badly. Within 7 minutes, we were two goals down, both from Eidur Gudjohnsen. Desperate measures were called for, and after some hastily shouted instructions, we managed to stem the Chelsea tide, and the rest of the half passed without incident.

After the break, Reid again entered the fray, as did Claus Jensen, making his debut in place of John Viáfara. Suddenly, the team was transformed, and playing like men possessed. Some of the midfield interplay had the crowd chanting "It's just like watching Brazil" - I had to agree, with one exception - Brazil score.

It appeared very much as if we would too - Andy Reid beat 5 men, on his way to unleashing a piledriver from the edge of the box, which cannoned off the bar and into the arms of a grateful Cudicini - surely a contender for goal of the season had the shot dipped a little more.

The Chelsea woodwork was not safe yet - indeed it would be rattled 3 more times, by Lua Lua, Mbesuma, and Vukic, as we ran the Champions ragged. Unfortunately, through a mixture of luck and judgement, they kept us out, and the game remained at a misleading 0-2, until the final whistle blew.

Several national newspapers later commented on the quality of our play, and on the fact that we actually had more possession AND more shots than our illustrious rivals. Unfortunately their multi-million pound strike force showed a ruthlessness infront of goal that we could not match.


And so, as I look back on the first 8 days of the season, we are - perhaps as expected - without any points, but with plenty of positives to dwell upon as we look to our next match - a potentially very interesting tie against Ben Jackson's Wigan...

blgstocks

[IMG]www.premierleague.com/en/images/club_normallogos_180x160/fulham.gif[/IMG]

Season goes on, but Fulham continue there excellent start;Illyas erects statue of himself outside the ground.

Yes currently 7 games into the league season and despite a few stutters, i lie in 4th position in the league, with goaty hot on my heals. Having won the first 2 matches against Newcastle and Danny kings West Ham, my next match was a tough game away at the Hawthorns. With Ligs absent yet again his team took all the points, even though they were somewhat undeserving, with both his goals coming from horrendous individual errors from my players. Anyway im sure i'll complain more in my match reports.

Anyway with the transfer window closing i decided not to supplement my squad but to wait until january when i will have a better idea where this team is heading. With cover across the board depth is not a problem...however there is a substantial difference in quality between my starting 11 and reserve team, im no Chelski :p .

So on to the Match reports.

Fulham 1-2 WBA(away)
2 horrendous errors gifted WBA the game, when it was really an even affair in that WBA dominated posession and i had the better of the chances. However WBA raced into the lead with goals from Inamoto and Earnshaw, which both came from sloppiness on the ball- first Reo-Coker passed the ball back to Knight but put too little weight on the pass and Inamoto made an easy interception and slotted past the keeper. Then Espen Johnsen was at fault as he dwelled on the ball and Earnshaw knicked it off him and put it into an empty net..at this point i was boiling over with rage and my monitor was in serious peril. With the 2 goal advantage WBA predictably sat back so i was forced to take the game to them. Which my team did admirably but could only get 1 goal back through the majestic john, for his first goal of the season.
At this point i presses everyone forward and John stole past the WBA defence and slotted home, but it was ruled out for offside ...it ended 2-1 to WBA.

Fulham 2-0 Charlton(Home)
With a tough game at home to charlton, against old rival Dave Williams, the points were won in a 5 minute spell in which John scored twice- with 2 clinical finishes. Williams had his chances but his strikers blew them or my GK rose to the occasion. With a shift to a more defensive formation Charlton could not break us down and the game finished 2-0.

Fulham 2-0 Man City(away)
Probably my best performance of the season as in Rick' absence City were swept aside with some truly quality football, with the goals coming from McBride and John taking there individual tallies to 4 goals each for the season. Wurtz was a terrier in midfield hunting down City playmaker Bautista with real venom, and when City eventually broke us down johnson was on hand to save the day. A pleasing performance allround.

Fulham 1-1 Aston Villa(home)
A tough game was predicted with Bouchards unbeaten Villa coming to a sold out craven cottage to witness the combat of the top 2 placed human managers in the league. I knew Baros would be there main threat on my goal as Bouma would be the main threat on my players shins! As it happened the game panned out quite evenly with Villa just shading the first half after the break my players began to assert themselves on the game but against the run of play Baros stole free and smashed home past my keeper. WIht Mcbride picking up a knock i withdrew him from the fray and introduced Briand making his debut for the club. He made a fantastic impact on the game with his direct running and slick passing immediately causing the villa defence problms. As it was he earned the penalty that got me back into the game as he broke through the villa defence once more and was scythed down by Bouma....John coolly stepped up and smashed the ball past the keeper 1-1, and thats how it finished. Unfortunately shortly after that Briand was again fouled and was stretchered off injured, tarnishing a good performance, redeemed however by some zealous Fulham fans pelting Bouchard with some chicken wings. (No Bouchards were harmed in the making of this report).

Fulham 5-2 Brentford
A one sided game made to look better by 2 well taken goals from the veteran marcus gayle. The fulham goals came from chapuis(on debut), Wurtz(first for the club), Stoica(on debut) and 2 for Collins John. Brentford sensing there demise decided to butcher my players with Mcbride and Boa Morte going off injured, and Knight taking a knock. To be honest the game could not be over soon enough.

Fulham 0-1 Liverpool(away)
Away at anfield my team put in a solid defensive performance, but on the day a moment of class from Gerrard took the points, smashing home from 25 yards after a slick move. John had a goal ruled out for a shove on Hypia(GIT), which was hotly contested by my players, and we pressed late on for an equaliser but despite some scintilating attacking football Liverpool escaped with the points...not a great end to the session but the performance was pleasing.

So 4th in the table and through to the next round of the League cup, and overall a good position that belies pre-season predictions of a relegation fight. However i am in no way suggesting that we can maintain our current form and just aim to avoid getting drawn into a tightly contested relegation battle.

The team is playing well at the moment but 3 players must be mentioned for sustained excellence- GK Espen Johnson who has despite a few high profile gaffs played well, Luis Boa Morte who has devestated defences across the land averaging above 8, and finally young Dutch striker Collins John who has 7 goals in 8 games, with rumours of a call up to Van Bastens Dutch squad.

So......more of the same please!

retired_hollieo

Birmingham stutter as key players are missing.

My rivals had a huge stroke of luck as Birmingham's impressive start stuttered in three very tough games against Everton, Chelsea and Arsenal...With main man Forssell ruled out of all three games and injuries also ruling out Pandiani, Jarosik, Dunn, Tebily and then left back Jamie Clapham, the very poor standard of reserves were cast into the limelight and naturally weren't good enough for the job.

Everton 1 - 0 Birmingham

Despite the heavy losses in personnel, we really should have had a point out of this game against a very physical Everton team with Ferguson and Beattie starting up front. Everton took the lead on 28 minutes through the impressive Beattie, but after that we played really well - with Heskey the hero against Middlesbrough missing two glorious chances to equalise. A late effort from outside the box from Julian Gray drifted inches past the post when on another day it may have sneaked in. Overall, I felt a draw would have been a fair result here but it just wasn't our day against a good Everton team.

Birmingham 0 - 1 Arsenal

Another narrow loss recorded against the high flying Gunners who are currently unbeaten in the Premiership. Overall, Arsenal deserved their win with most of our pressure coming late in the second half after Arsenal lost the services of Hleb (out for 5 months) and Senderos. We didn't create much against the Arsenal defence with Campbell looking after Heskey and Toure nullifying the threat of makeshift striker Tobias Hysen who lacks a physical presence.

Chelsea 2 - 0 Birmingham

Having seen Andy Nilsen's Blackburn fluke a last minute win here a few weeks previously, I was hoping for even a teeny weeny slice of the huge dollop of luck that Nilsen usually has in his armoury. On the day though we were a well beaten side with Joe Cole and Damian Duff having outstanding games for the defending Champions. At 2-0 down, Heskey had a great chance to bring it back to 2-1 and provide a good last 15 minutes, but when put through the big man hurriedly screwed his effort well wide despite being totally unmarked. ******.


Birmingham 2 - 0 Wigan Athletic

After a run of horrendous fixtures I was delighted to be inviting Ben Jackson's Wigan to St Andrews for my first head to head against one of the crew. Wigan have made a few impressive signings, especially the new £4.5m goalie (how I'd love to have such vast resources of money that Mr Jackson enjoys) and were hovering above us at this stage in the top six. On the day though Birmingham were too strong for Wigan and just before HT, the returning Forssell produced a beautiful cross that saw Heskey left unattended in the middle to head home from close range. As Wigan attempted to come back into the game the most pleasing aspect of the match was that we reduced them to very few attempts at goal. A scrappy game was decided when Oliver Tebily was able to turn in the box from a corner routine and fire home his first goal for the club. A much needed morale increasing win after three straight defeats. Wigan should stay up under Jackson's leadership.

League Cup 2nd Round

Watford 1 - 3 Birmingham

A first minute goal from Forssell made it an uphill task for the Championship outfit, who fought back to 2-1 after Pandiani had added a second goal. Any thoughts of a revival were quickly dashed when the returning David Dunn slotted home from close range to seal a 3rd round tie to Bournemouth at St Andrews. Big Cheerios were passed on though to Williams, Liggins, Boult and as usual in the cups, Mr Nilsen at Blackburn!!


Newcastle 1 - 2 Birmingham

Surprisingly Newcastle haven't had a great start despite an impressive squad but my lads did their best to change that with an absolutely horrendous mix up in the first minute . With no pressure on them at all, Jiri Jaroski and Matthew Upson managed to get themselves into a tangle just outside our box. Nobody bothered to clear the ball and Michael Owen forever sniffing out an opportunity, burst into the box, took the ball from the two Birmingham clowns, rounded Maik Taylor and slotted home. An atrocious start to the game as Murphy jumped out of the dug out and gave the lads a verbal lashing.

However, we came back well with Shay Given keeping Newcastle in the lead with a string of good saves before the main man took over the game...That being Forssell...With a good partnership being forged with Pandiani, the Finnish striker equalised in the second half silencing the forever biased and loud Geordie crowd. With the game petering out into a draw, Newcastle began a bit of time wasting - considering they were at home maybe its no surprise they are struggling - but it was to backfire as in the 92nd minute Forssell was put through one on one with Shay Given. As the Irishman approached, Forssell in a moment of magic associated with Murphy's sides, casually lifted the ball over his head and into the empty net....YESH!! Murphy went crazy on the touchline as this win puts us just three points behind the league leaders with many of the top sides already played. If we can push on in the next few weeks we could set ourselves up for a good season.

retired_utyorc

The Mission...

Save West Ham from relegation.


The game plan...

I haven’t got a clue apart from preying to Jesus.



What have I taken on here at West Ham???? A club that’s deep in debt with a 25 million pound loan and a back balance already in the red.
There can be little doubt that this season is going to be an education, and will be a long hard season trying to keep West Ham in the premiership. That said, after a relatively successful pre season and promising start, there is every reason to be optimistic that even if we do go down we’ll see some entertaining, attractive football. It begs the question, would be going straight back down be that damaging to West Ham Football club? I’ll make a rod for my own back and say no, it wouldn’t. For what its worth I’d much rather see us blood some of our youth team players, give them a season of first team experience and then take the Championship by storm next season as a tighter, younger, hungrier outfit.
Whilst I’m making every attempt to be positive, the national tabloids’ preview of the season hardly made good reading. Whilst another promoted team managed by Ben/ET have 11 million to spend on new players, West Ham have only 3 million to spend on new players. You can only wonder how much longer Danny King can be expected to pull rabbits out of a hat.

It’s only words, the Bee Gees once sang, and words are all I have. Words are all this club have and my, oh my, don’t they have a way with them. It’s not exactly difficult. Your club has just been promoted, you’re £25 million in debt and you face the prospect of balancing the books whilst your prime assets get tempted away by the lure of filthy lucre. What do you do? I may be an expert on football but what I wouldn’t do is hit the fans with a constant stream of negativity.

The first piece of business was to sell some players which would enable me to bring in new better players that would hopefully keep us in the premiership.



Players Out…


Matthew Etherington to Sunderland for 2.4 million.
With the formation I’m going to use there was no place for Matthew in my team and being one of only a handful of players with any real value I cashed in on the young winger.

Teddy Sheringham to Sheffield Wednesday for 190k.
The legend that is Teddy was earning 13k per week and with the board already on my back to reduce the wage bill I had to let him go with a tear in my eye. I would have loved to keep Teddy but the mind won over the heart.

Daniel Gabbidon to Wigan for P/Ex.
The only position where West Ham has any real depth is there defence so when I meet Ben/ET at service station on the M25 to talk about a deal for Henri Camara and he suggested that Gabbidon could be a possible part exchange I knew I had to let him go.

Shaun Newton to Crystal Palace for 850k.
Shaun was again another player who didn’t fit in my formation so with funds for new players still top of my list I was happy to agree a deal with Crystal Palace.

Tomas Repka to Messina for 325k.
Tomas was a main earner at West ham and was hmm basically one crap player who would give away penalties at a drop of a hat. What more do you need to know about this water carrier.

Jemel Henry to Aldershot for free.
Jemel didn’t look like he had what it took to become a premiership player so when Aldershot offered to take him of my hand for free I accepted.

Nigle Reo-Coker to Fulham for 3 million.
Yes one of the West Ham stars was sold off to help fund new players. I didn’t want to see this lad go but 3 million was too good of an offer for this young lad. I’m sure he will do a good job for Mark and Fulham.





Fans hit out at Reo-Coker sale

After the conformation that Reo-Coker was sold to Fulham the West Ham fans hit out at there manager Danny King and the West Ham board for letting such a young English talent leave the club to join a rival. Many managers couldn’t believe that King sold off Reo-Coker and the Birmingham manager Niall Murphy also added his amazement that King had sold the player.

King hit back by saying



With 6.75 million brought into the club I was able to buys some players who would hopefully take the club forward



Players In…


Henri Camara for P/Ex and 500k from Wigan.
Offering formidable attacking support to the forward line, Henri Camara is capable of breaking free from midfield to get in among the penalty box action and scoring those all important goals. The skillful striker - a houselhold name in Senagal after scoring his country's golden goal against Sweden in last summer's World Cup - signed a three-year deal to become my first signing

Demetrio Albertini for Free.
Albertini is a wonderfully composed midfielder who has bags of experience having played with Milan, At Madrid, Lazio and Barcelona and his country for many years. Apart from a loan spell with Padova Calcio in 1991 Albertini has spent most of his whole career with AC Milan, where he has picked up five League championship medals and won the European Cup in 1994. There are rumours his form may have dipped some what but despite his vast experience, he is still 34 and should help West Ham this season with his composure and passing abilities.

Daniel Fredheim Holm for 1.3 Million from Valerangs.
This was my main transfer target over the summer and I had to beat off tough competition from the like of Wigan and Blackburn but in the end working for a top class manager swung it in my favor. I’m hoping Holm will score the goals that keep us in the premiership.

Pablo Barrientos for 725k from San Lorenzo.
Pablo was another player I had to battle it out for. Charlton under the management of Dave Williams made a late offer for the player but again he picked the class manager.
Barrientos will be one for the future and will be the next generation of West Ham players.

Danny Mills for free from Manchester City.
Combative and committed, Danny made just two starts and five appearances as a substitute before the 2002 World Cup Finals but was one of the successes of the tournament for England, starting all five matches. I’m hoping he bring he’s battling qualities to the West Ham team and a big thanks you to Rick Boult for letting him go out on a free.

Labinot Harbuzi for 250k from Feyenoord.
Labinot was one of ET only good buys from FM05 and I’m hoping I can turn him into the same kind of start that Mr. Jackson did. Again he will be part of the next generation of West Ham stars but is unlikely to start too many games this season.

Lorenzo Amoruso for 100k from Blackburn.
Talented and uncompromising defender signed from Glasgow Rangers in July 2003 after six years with the Ibrox outfit. Started his career with home-town club Bari, before spells with Mantova, Pescavo and then Fiorentina. Enjoyed huge success in Scotland, winning three Scottish Premier League titles, and the domestic treble on two occasions but has found the going harder in the English top-flight. Underwent knee surgery in 2003 and subsequently needed another operation to correct a heel problem. Its true what they say you can always find a bargain at the goat shop and Amoruso is one of those at this price.

Pablo Vitti for 350k from Central
Again I had another battle on my hands trying to sign Vitti as Blackburn and Wigan were also in the hunt. I think he knew he would get more of a first team opportunity at West Ham. Pablo will be given the chance to shine this season if we are in a comfortable position but my have to wait until next season if we are in the expected dog fright at the bottom of the league.


So that’s 6.75 million received and only 3.2 million spent so at least the West ham board is happy because the fans are already on my case .



More to follow soon .