With the vultures hovering over the Boleyn Ground following West Ham's relegation from the top flight, Bristol City are hoping to be able to sign young defender Jordan Spence.
England U21 international defender Spence impressed during a loan spell this season and with the Hammers looking to slash their wage bill, Keith Millen will be hoping to take the youngster on a permanent deal.
Spence made his full debut for the 'eastenders' in last weekend's relegation defeat at Wigan, but turned out eleven times for the Robins as Millen's City went from strength to strength.
West Ham may though decide to keep hold of some of its lower earners though and much will depend on who replaces Avram Grant at the helm and what his plans are. However, should they decide to off-load Spence, his good showing at Ashton Gate will put City in pole position.
News from across the city at Rovers is that midfielder Chris Lines is being touted for a move to crystal Palace. Lines suffered more than most this season from several changes in managers and only really looked comfortable when Stuart Campbell took on the job.
Lines played numerous games out of position during the campaign and was also made a bit of a scapegoat by many of the fans when things were going badly. I wonder whether the abuse he got at that time will be a factor when it comes to him making a decision on his future?
I've set up this blog (Monday-Friday) to give extra coverage to teams I cover for the national press. Any views and opinions are all my own. Best wishes, Jeff. Follow me on Twitter and I'll update you each time I blog. http://twitter.com/JeffTaplin P.S. During the summer break I reserve the right to ramble on about anything and everything!
West ham over past 5 years spent too much time trying to act like big club `well your not if west ham would concentrated on home grown players with few stars then this season would be more about just missing European places instead half your team will be gone no manger with good chance been stuck in championship for 2-3 season so much for Olympic stadium
ReplyDelete@Anonymous...
ReplyDeleteIf you took your time to actually see what has happened, then you would know about football, which I don't think you do from reading your comments. Go and take a look at the 'big clubs', see who they have in their sides, then see just how many of them are from their own youth squads... Maybe two or three of them. Granted if we had have been able to have held on to a number of our previous youth squad, we may well have been in a better position than now. But it doesn't matter who you have on your books if the board you have are only interested in making a big, fat profit for their own pockets. This is the reason behind us selling our youth player, our ex-board! Yes we will sell quite a few of the current squad, but with the way they've played this season good riddance to them. They were over-paid, under acheviers if you ask me! Managers can be replaced as can players. Hopefully we will be back in the PL next season. Who knows... But you're comments just show you are bereft of any ideas on how football actually works, and are probably just a blinkered, armchair fan...
West Ham could do worse than take a leaf out of Newcastle's book - get rid of most the big earners and mercenaries and build a squad around home grown talent and players that care. Oh, and they could also appoint a manager capable of creating a good team spirit. Hang on. Isn't former Toon boss Chris Hughton available?
ReplyDeleteHammered sorry disagree west ham were doing ok until they decided to take on likes of spurs , arsenal and Chelsea as for home grown issue spurs do better than most buying young developing and selling on ......... wasn't it way back in 2005 that west board said they weren't going to do anymore business with London club that back fired and so will your move trust me i know little about football west ham will end up moving to colchester or brentwood
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, I trust you.. you do know little about football...
ReplyDeleteIsn't it every teams aspirations to start challenging for the top. Or is that just for the like of the current top 4 teams? Which doesn't include Spurs BTW... I thought the idea of developing young players was to take the cream of them and make them 1st teamers, not sell them on as soon as you get a decent offer for them. If that were the case West Ham would be doing very well indeed. But the problem was that that is precisely what our old board used to do! You do indeed have a very blinkered view.
It was around 2006/7 that our board stated they wouldn't deal with Spurs and that board was the Icelandic ones, not our current ones so unfortunately you fall flat on your face AGAIN!!!
Yes indeed you do know little about football, as you have quoted... :)
Anonymous: West Ham are a big club mate. What team do you support? Can't wait to see you back track when we are a premier league team playing in the OS with a fantastic team and academy.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous: West Ham are a big club mate. What team do you support? Can't wait to see you back track when we are a premier league team playing in the OS with a fantastic team and academy.Some people are just jealous of our academy and name.
ReplyDeleteSaw this on KUMB and it tells it perfectly
ReplyDeleteThis is the tale of how the club that did things right, the traditional football club, the home of Brooking, Moore, Bonds, Lyall and Greenwood, decent honourable men who honed a reputation of innovation, craft, entertainment but above all else fairness, how their club has been cracked, torn, frayed and tarnished … but is it irrevocably broken?
Arnold Hills intentions for a working men’s club, founded by industrial grafters, from clerks and boilermakers to foremen, was rooted in the hard work of the East End and went on to become a proud institution to those who inherited it. Hills and Dave Taylor, the fathers of the club could never have foreseen the heritage, the traditions and culture that it would eventually become and instil in those who became a part of it.
The ground works had been laid, and they were built upon with genius, thoughtfulness and determination by first Ted Fenton, and then the culture ingrained by West Ham United’s greatest individual Ron Greenwood. We need not go over those years in any great detail other than to say that the sons of West Ham and the East End; Moore, Hurst and Peters are folklore of England, not just our own.
But West Ham went on to be much more than this, more than the holy trinity, more than even Greenwood and Lyall … it was the culture and legacy that they gave us as our inheritance. It was what the fans became to understand was being West ham, what following West Ham was about and eventually it became the fans as well. It was what set us apart from all others, and it was almost an in-joke, something no other club’s fans would ever get, and we didn’t want nor need them to get it. We knew. We know.