Some more thoughts

For the last 6 months, I've thought that if West Ham get their fingers out and are in a half-decent league position, they will do their damndest in the next two transfer windows to sign Ashton. He is the closest English player in style to Sheringham, who surely can't go on much longer.

Failing that, Man City will be after him. Newcastle are a faint possibility as Mary Poppins will be retiring, but they already have Ameobi (LOL) and Souness is a total w**ker.

Trundle is too old; he has grown up far too late, by his own admission, and is firstly very loyal to his manager who seems to be a father-figure (He followed him to Swansea), and secondly, happy to be a big fish in a small pond. I'm not sure that the reverse would be true; he loves the limelight too much.

Eastwood, on the other hand, might be a good shout in an Ashton mode; lots of clubs have been circling but none have quite been prepared to take the risk on him performing at a higher level. Leaving aside whether he would want to leave, Southend would demand a pretty heft wedge for him (?750k+), and given the peculiarities of our squad and it's size, that would probably mean that at least one player would have to go, most likely Thorne or Henderson, possibly both.

I can see space in our squad for another midfielder (PLEASE, god, a right winger!) as I expect Jarrett to be listed come January. He'll go up north somewhere, ostensibly because he "Hasn't settled", but in reality because he has been a total disappointment. People complain about Worthy selecting Charlton over him; I think that says volumes about Jarrett's perceived abilities. In fact, I would imagine that Rossi Jarvis is probably overtaking him in the pecking order.

Davenport I think we will miss out on if the asking price is over ?1m. We need to replace Flem, not because he's losing it (Whichever side of the arguement you are on), but simply because he's getting older. At 34 (I think) he's probably coming to the end of his career, but the question is whether the Club will pay to replace him or wait for either Halliday or Spillane (Who Worthy is reportedly very impressed with) to mature.

Posted By: Iwan Husarmi, Nov 13, 11:18:59