OLAS V Astra

Hands up, who's missing Big Sam, come on there must be one of you. Ok it's early doors yet and with Billic being so well known to all hammers fans over the age of 30 and with the appointment of Julien Dicks, one of the greatest leaders of men West Ham has had in the premiership era, the good ship West Ham is sailing into exciting times. It is as if the last 4 seasons of football drudgery has been washed away and the new dawn the owners have promised for so long is starting to materialise. Problem is, Slavens start has not been that great football wise and the club can market and push the brand all they like, they can convince you we will be that great big club, they can convince you that despite fact from next season some of you will be watching football equivalent to sitting on the Barking Rd, Green St or in the living room of a flat behind the Sir Trev Stand that the view is better but what they can’t really control is players and the way they play. A manager can say all he like, but if the player when he crosses the white line has a bad day, as everyone at work does, then all those adverts and tag lines account for nothing . The club is selling a dream to the fans, “This time next year we will be a big club”, New stadium, new badge, new players, new fans. Problem with dreaming is sometimes you just end up like Dell boy repeating for years that it will be next year. While at times it is good to dream, when you wake up and realise it was just a dream the disappointment hurts even more.
As someone that never gets carried away I can't say I share the sentiments of those that believe we are about to gatecrash the top 6, the signings so far all seem decent, but as I don't play championship manager nor FIFA 15 computer games I can honestly say I have never heard of any of our signings & I'll wait till I've seen them play before I will contemplate either pulling them apart or bestowing greatness on them. I do find it funny though that many of the same people wary of Slavens return as manager, down to his lack of premier league experience, are welcoming with open arms players who have never played in England. Last season of the foreign new signings only Sakho really excelled, Valencia is hit or miss too much of the time, Song had the experience all ready. Our best signing came from the Championship in the form of Cresswell and Jenkinson on loan was a great coup, and one I hope can be renewed, the problem with buying British is it's mainly overpriced and no better example of that is Jarvis, 10 million for him shows you the pitfalls out there and they get more highlighted when looking at the Andy Carroll deal, you can now see why DS prefers to shop abroad, Yet the club is losing its identity with the local area, how many foreign players have we seen come and use us as a gateway to better things, and prime example of that is our new manager, how will he be able to convince players into staying at the club when he failed to do the same when he was a player. Don’t get me wrong, I think Billic was the right man for the job, just seeing foreigner after foreigner being brought in, with the chance they will push out the likes of Tomkins and Noble from the team is not one I find comfortable.
Of course it's very early days, while our season has started all the others are just getting back into training and formalising their squads, and the only time we can sit back and say we've had a good transfer window is once the window is shut and we can compare our squad with those around us and see how we are performing. I have seen far too many false dawns at this club to ever think, this could be our year.

As for Big Sam leaving, bit of a circus really, right down to the fact Sam was preparing to announce his resignation straight after the Newcastle game only to find that, mistakenly, it was put on the clubs website at half time that he wasn't getting a new contract, the mistake was quickly noticed and the statement was taken down, but just 3 minutes after the ref signalled the end of the game, the statement was again released. Sam was beaten to it and this in a way shows you exactly how the relationship had deteriorated between Sully and Sam. I was disappointed in a way we didn't get to hear his resignation speech, and regular readers will know I loved to hear Sam sing, so I've have combined his resignation speech with the song "don't cry for me Argentina"
So for the last ever time, BIG SAM SINGS,

"Don't cry for me West Ham United"

This won't be easy
You might think it strange
When I try to explain how I feel
That I never got your love After all that I've done
You won't believe me
All you will see Is a man you didn't know
And that I didn't follow the West Ham way
Was all that concerned you all

I had to leave you
As I couldn't change
Couldn't stay all my life down south
Looking out of the window & seeing the Sun shine
So I chose to leave you
I'd took you as far as I could
And nothing impressed you at all
But I never expected it too

Don't cry for me West Ham United
The truth is I never loved you
All through my bad games
Our stale existence
I kept my promise
Now keep your distance

I've made a fortune at this club
Though I never invited you in
Though it seemed to the world, we are all friends now,
It's just an illusion
They're not the solutions they promise to be
The answer was here all the time
I don't love you and know you don't love me

Don't cry for me West Ham United
I know you never loved me
You ignored my good games
I ignored your criticism
I cupped my ears
Now keep your distance
But Now I’ve said too much?
There's nothing more I can think of to say to you
But all you have to do
Is look at me to know
That every word I say is true.