With Grant having reached the Champions League final with Chelsea before inspiring a traumatised Portsmouth side to the FA Cup final, Irons fans will be hoping that he can weave his magic at the Boleyn Ground. The online betting suggests the side could be in the relegation mix again, so there’s work to do.

By reportedly offering talisman Scott Parker a new £20 million five-year deal to keep him at the club, Irons fans have seen owners Sullivan and Gold send out their clearest message yet that they are prepared to spend the necessary cash to back Grant.

While spending the summer assembling his squad and backroom team, the new boss has realised that Irons fans will demand an improvement on last season’s points haul of 35, a total that left the Irons only one place outside the relegation places. The football betting suggests they should do better this time, but not by much.

Having been able to keep hold of key players such as Carlton Cole, Robert Green and Matthew Upson, despite these individuals being put up for sale by the club’s owners, Grant has been able to keep the backbone of last season’s squad intact and has also identified areas to improve.

So far, pre-season results (four wins out of four) suggest Grant has found a winning formula and his new signings seem to be settling in well. However, Grant will be well aware that pre-season friendly wins don’t equate to Premier League points and will realise that the Irons will need to be at their best to ensure a solid start to the season. That could be easier said than done, though, with early matches against Championship hopefuls Chelsea and Manchester United.

Should Grant manage to get a few early points on the board, Irons fans could well look forward to a season in which they aren’t worrying about relegation, and are instead looking to build for the future.

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As not everyone uses the forums over there, I figured I’d share here too….assuming they are real (they certainly look it), Macron have more than exceeded my expectations with these two kits. First time in a long while I can say I’ve been delighted with both shirts for a season

Update: Of course, the new kit has now officially been launched…..for pre-order. Get it from the official site

IRRRONS!

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So how do you rate the signings so far and what do you think of the names we’ve been linked with? Rate them below.

10 = you are delighted with, or would be delighted with

Signings so far:

Strong Rumours:

Others

Your Suggestions
(obviously these have been added later, so the vote count won’t be as high as the others above)

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The Jewish Chronicle who originally published the story about Ben Haim failing a medical has now retracted that report, saying that he did in fact “pass the tests at Upton Park. However, any possible deal remains incomplete as Ben Haim has yet to sign a contract due to the player and club failing to agree a salary” [sic]

I apologies for misleading you all.

(for the “player and the club failing to agree a salary”, read: “Ben Haim wants more money because he thinks he’s the dogs. And that he thinks he’s better than £30k a week. Because, frankly, that’s no money at all. Really.” – this player is trouble.)

And, as a friend of mind just mentioned, did we all really believe players could actually fail medicals at West Ham now?

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“The Israel defender looked set to be reunited with manager Avram Grant, whom he worked under at Portsmouth, but it is believed that a groin injury that kept him out for two months towards the end of the season has not fully recovered.”

I’m not sure what all your thoughts are on Ben Haim, would be interested to hear – but I see it as a saving of £30k per week on a fairly average player. Of course, if people do leave then we’ll need to replace – but so far I’ve not seen many people leave…

For what it’s worth, these are Ben Haim’s comments about Avram Grant when he was at Chelsea (2008):

“If I knew Avram Grant was going to be the coach I would have signed for another club. It was Jose who brought me here and no one except he and I know the conversation we had when he tried to sign me the first time a year ago last January. The fact is while Jose was the coach I played most of the games and people who know me know that I would not have come here to be a reserve. I knew nothing good would come for me with Grant as Chelsea coach.”

Oh.

Update: Turns out the Jewish Chronicle were basically just making stories up. I apologise. Here’s an updated post

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According to reports, Alessandro Diamanti and Radoslav Kovac are likely to leave the club as they are surplus to requirements.

Both players could be set to join Greek club Olympiakos as West Ham need to reduce their £90 million debt if they want to bring in new faces to Upton Park. The Premier League betting suggests the club will struggle again, so it’s clear a fresh approach is needed.

There is also increased speculation Scott Parker could be on his way, despite the fact the owners indicated he was the only player not for sale at the end of last season.

Aston Villa are reportedly interested in signing their star asset and there could certainly be some unrest among West Ham fans if Parker was sold before the Premier League season starts again.

Although players are set to leave, it seems there could be two new faces coming in within the next few days.

Mexican international Pablo Barrera could be arriving at West Ham for £4 million from UNAM Pumas after an impressive World Cup, and Grant recently said he was a “very good player”.

Fans will be hoping he’s the kind of player who can help the side upset the football betting odds and claim points against the big sides.

Another potential new face is Loic Remy, who David Gold and David Sullivan seem determined to spend £12 million on.

The pair have travelled to the south of France to push through a deal for the player, so it looks increasingly like he could be in a West Ham shirt when they kick off their Premier League season against Villa on August 14th.

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There’s no doubting the huge impact his motivational skills had on Portsmouth last year – he took a side which could have fallen apart under the massive strains they were facing and moulded them into a unit which fought their way to an FA Cup final and strived to avoid relegation long after they looked doomed. The best odds for Premier League games made them long shots, but they still pulled off the odd shock.

However, although Grant’s hands were tied financially it should be remembered that the club’s previous excesses had left him with a rather talented squad, when he was allowed to play them.

True, he still had a lot of work to do, but that was made easier by the players he had at his disposal. Passion is a factor, but as long suffering England fans will tell you it’s not enough to win anything.

Speaking to Press Association, Grant said: “What happened in Portsmouth needs to be at West Ham in the way that the players show to the fans that they gave everything.

“I am sure if they see that the players give everything, then they will show a good spirit, the fans will support them even if we lose games.”

Which is perhaps true, but then things are a little different here than they were at Fraton Park last season. Admittedly, our financial situation isn’t ideal, but we aren’t facing the kind of battle that will see fans get behind the team no matter what.

More passion on the pitch is definitely needed, but so is more skill and unless Grant gets round to making some astute signings soon it seems unlikely we will see a massive improvement on last season’s showing. The latest football betting odds suggest this will be the case.

Actions speak louder than words, and although Grant is saying the right things, the owners need to back him to ensure he is able to follow through on them.

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“If Manchester City pay Aston Villa £50m for James Milner then Aston Villa have that £50m and are going to want to replace Milner.”

Are we to read from those from David Gold quotes that Parker  actually is available, despite SuGo quite clearly stating that he wasn’t for sale?

That, quite naturally, leads us onto the subject of potatoes and the following story about Frederick the Great of Prussia….

Incidentally this change of tune also comes after the deadline date for season ticket renewals. Strange.

“Frederick the Great of Prussia saw the potato’s potential to help feed his nation and lower the price of bread, but faced the challenge of overcoming the people’s prejudice against the plant. When he issued a 1774 order for his subjects to grow potatoes as protection against famine, the town of Kolberg replied: “The things have neither smell nor taste, not even the dogs will eat them, so what use are they to us?” Trying a less direct approach to encourage his subjects to begin planting potatoes, Frederick used a bit of reverse psychology: he planted a royal field of potato plants and stationed a heavy guard to protect this field from thieves. Nearby peasants naturally assumed that anything worth guarding was worth stealing, and so snuck into the field and snatched the plants for their home gardens. Of course, this was entirely in line with Frederick’s wishes.”

(for all your potato based historical desires, check out this site)

My point is this, by categorically saying that Parker is not for sale you will only serve to increase interest in him. Now some people are actively expressing interest, and money, SuGo are changing their tune a little. Is this exactly what SuGo wanted or would it be silly to suggest so?

Incidentally this change of tune also comes after the deadline date for season ticket renewals. Strange.

The flip side of the potato story is that if we actually wanted to sell the rest of the side (who were “up for sale”) then maybe a more suitable approach would have been to have said we’re “negotiating new contracts with them”…because I don’t know if it’s slipped anyone’s attention but there’s hardly been a wholesale shakeup that we were lead to believe there would be.

There’s every chance that we’re reading too much into this but if Villa want Parker enough then I’m sure we will end up selling him. I can’t imagine this will leave a great impression on us as fans – being lied to again, that is. Tread carefully.

I want to finish positively though. The new kit is quality and if the deals for Barreara and Remy go through then they would both be shrewd bits of business.

It remains to be seen.

COYI

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Miroslav Klose had a poor season with Bayern Munich, bagging just three league goal in 25 appearances. At the age of 32, it seemed his time at the club was at an end and, if David Sullivan is to be believed, he was set for a move to East London.

That was before things kicked off in South Africa, where Klose hit four goals as Germany came close to pulling off a massive World Cup betting shock and it is this that seems to have put the mockers on any deal with West Ham.

Sullivan said: “We had a deal in place before the World Cup, after he had a bad season in Germany. However, as a result of what he has done at the World Cup, it’s unlikely to happen.”

It seems that after his good performances, Bayern have decided they want to keep a hold of him, even though he was increasingly thought of as a fringe player at the club.

If true, the story is unfortunate but it’s certainly not disastrous. After all, free transfers are always more expensive than they sound, there’s the signing on fee to be paid and, of course, the wages.

And it’s not certain a player like Klose would have been able to do a job in the Premier League. His four goals in the World Cup came for a side playing excellent counter attacking football, and it’s doubtful this is a system West Ham would be able to employ next season.

That means Klose, at the age of 32, would have to adapt to a new league where time and space are at a premium, not easy to do at that age. He may have dazzled at the World Cup, but it’s far from certain he would have done at West Ham.

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They have already signed Thomas Hitzlsperger, while the likes of Juan Roman Riquelme, Sylvain Marveaux, Vincent Enyeama and Loic Remy have all been linked with possible moves to Upton Park.

Brazilian Santos club confirmed this week that they had rejected a £12 million bid from West Ham for their striker Neymar, as it seems that the Hammers are looking to beat the likes of Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Manchester City to the forward’s signature.

The football odds suggest West Ham could struggle again next season, but new faces should secure their Premier League position.

Although the club have been looking at spending in South America, it also seems they are also determined to land their transfer targets closer to home as they have had an increased offer for West Brom midfielder Graham Dorrans turned down by the club.

The Scottish player was highly impressive in helping his club get back into the Premier League and West Ham had already made a bid back in April, which was promptly turned down by West Brom.

West Brom sporting and technical director Dan Ashworth has sent a message to West ham by stating he wanted to “make it clear again that Graham Dorrans is not for sale”.

Despite the fact that West Ham keep having their bids turned down, it could be seen as positive that they are willing to spend to attract high calibre players to Upton Park.

However, it seems that some players could be on the way out. Matthew Upson, who was part of the England side which failed to live up to their take of third favourites in the 2010 World Cup betting, has been linked with a move to Sunderland.

After a Premier League relegation battle to forget last season, a few fresh faces are likely to be welcomed by the majority of fans.

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