Charles Kettering the former head of research at General Motors once said “You can’t have a better tomorrow if you’re thinking about yesterday.” I mention this because West Ham’s summer transfer window under the de facto Director of Football David Sullivan seems to resonate perfectly with Kettering’s words. Sullivan I’m sure if asked would say it was a summer where the club invested in quality over quantity having learned from the mistakes of the previous two windows. Actually scrub that, I’m not sure Sullivan is capable of owning up to his mistakes. What we do now know with things going continually from bad to worse on the pitch is that the new signings are sadly proving so far to be yesterdays men. Once great players with huge pedigrees in the English game seem ghosts of their former selves and even the most pessimistic of Hammers fans can barely cling onto a hope of a better tomorrow right now.
“You can’t have a better
tomorrow if you’re
thinking about yesterday.”
I want to start by looking at Joe Hart. At the time of writing he remains England’s number one but I for one would argue that had Stoke City’s Jack Butland not suffered from a spell of injuries in recent times that he would have cemented his place between the sticks at international level. I’m not going to say that during Hart’s spell at Manchester City pre-Guardiola that he didn’t deserve the fine reputation he had because he did. What I will say is that in his prime he had the likes of Vincent Kompany and a younger Pablo Zabaleta in front of him marshalling the City defence which would give any Premier League goalkeeper a distinct advantage in being able to keep a clean sheet. Secondly I’ll add the fact that during his loan spell at Torino in Serie A last season he was quite frankly pony and added to that with his current form it’s not hard to work out why Pep didn’t fancy him as his number one choice when he took over and I don’t think it was just down to his ability or lack of with the ball at his feet. Maybe ask Wayne Rooney his thoughts after another gift wrapped present of a goal had been presented to him midweek following on from a Hart howler.
David Sullivan, a man who
I envisage types with one
finger jabbing at a keypad
like a Gorilla trying to
unwrap a Cadbury’s Crème egg
Now I know it’s been 15 years since Channel 4 pulled their coverage of Serie A from terrestrial TV in the United Kingdom but we live in an age now with something called the internet. Even David Sullivan, a man who I envisage types with one finger jabbing at a keypad like a Gorilla trying to unwrap a Cadbury’s Crème egg can surely know that you can access the highlights of pretty much any game from Europe’s top five leagues on demand. Do you think he watched any of Hart’s performances from Serie A last season when he signed him on loan this summer or am I right in assuming he went after the City player simply because he somehow remained England’s number one? I suspect if you polled all the West Ham fans the majority would surmise the latter answer to be the right one out of the two. That doesn’t mean it is true but let’s say it certainly sounds the more plausible.
So Hart had a bad season by all accounts and that should have been a simple warning sign right? Let’s not beat around the bush either, the choice of goalkeeper is critical to any teams success or lack of on the pitch. Maybe you take a chance on Hart if the financial numbers stack up and you feel you’re getting a bargain deal from City just like Torino did last season. They paid a £55,000 per week contribution towards his wages and secured his services without paying a loan fee with City making up any deficits on the deal. If West Ham got a better deal or even the same one then maybe you could suggest that with his experience alone it was worth the gamble even if his form wasn’t what it once was in his prime. Before I compare the two deals season on season maybe I should add some stats from last season for you;
Hart’s first clean sheet in Serie A last season came 20 games in against Sassuolo who finished tenth in the table one place below Torino. I mention their final league position because this was the highest placed team Hart managed to keep a clean sheet against.
In all Hart managed five clean sheets all season. The first against the aforementioned Sassuolo, then against Genoa who finished 16th, Crotone 17th, Pescara who finished bottom in 20th and fellow relegated team Empoli in 18th. So in six games home and away against three relegated teams he manages just two clean sheets in total. Torino finish the season with the fourth worst defensive record in Serie A having conceded 66 in 38 games. That’s two more goals than the Hammers conceded during the same amount of games in the Premier League which I think you can argue is the more testing league and the then manager Slaven Bilic’s side spent a large majority of the season on the ropes its fair to say. Hart twice conceded 5 in a match, home and away to Napoli and AS Roma knock 4 past him at the Stadio Olimpico.
Put simply it’s hard not to argue that Hart isn’t the goalkeeper he once was. So the deal must have been good for West Ham right? Surely the club wouldn’t strike a deal worse than the one which took Hart to Italy right? Well no of course not and maybe now this is another example of what now is the West Ham way. If I was to say it so myself fast enough out loud it still sounds bad so in print it reads even worse so my apologies. If reported figures are to be believed and these are from those quoted in the local Manchester press at the time of the deal rather than from the red tops, the Hammers are paying Hart directly £140,000 a week – yes that’s right £85,000 a week more than Torino. To compound matters further the deal includes a £2million loan fee and let me remind you again that Torino paid a loan fee of exactly two million pounds less than that. That’s fucking insane right? Working with rough figures Torino would have paid a little over £1.75 million for Hart’s services during his loan spell (based on figures for an eight month season). By way of comparison even with City chipping in with an extra £2 million on their part this season, the Hammers are looking at a total outlay of – actually I can’t bring myself to write it down because frankly it’s too depressing. Already Hart has conceded 30 goals in 14 league games. I’m guessing he can’t play against his parent club this weekend which is probably a good thing on current form though it wouldn’t surprise me if City knock six past Adrian on Sunday if he takes the Englishman’s place in goal. I wonder if there’s another part of the Hart deal which states West Ham have to pay City a penalty fee for every time Hart doesn’t appear between the sticks. I’m guessing if Adrian were to keep a clean sheet on Sunday and Hart came back for the games against Chelsea and Arsenal it would confirm any suspicions I have though I don’t hold out any hope of the Spaniard not jarring his lower spine from suffering repetitive strain injury at the Etihad in picking the ball out of the net.
West Ham were reportedly
paying the Republic of Ireland
international goalkeeper
Darren Randolph a
paltry £6,000 a week.
So that’s one summer transfer deal that maybe doesn’t even look right for today. It certainly as it stands hold any weight for the future. Remember not once when asked the question about where he sees his future after this one has Hart stated that it would be with the Hammers. And on current form I for one am glad. Oh one more thing to add to this summer signing; If wages reported in the press are believed to be true then West Ham were paying the Republic of Ireland international goalkeeper Darren Randolph a paltry £6,000 a week. Yes he had his faults but knowing the two sets of wages, even allowing for a massive wage increase on the part of Randolph had he have stayed, which of the two would you choose for the number one slot now had Adrian say gone to have Palace when he had the opportunity in the summer? The disparity in wages of the two goalkeepers is staggering to say the least given the displays on the pitch don’t have much between them. Hart certainly isn’t 23 times the goalkeeper Randolph is if you base it on wages alone. Randolph finished last season with 7 clean sheets and of course you’d hope Hart could get another 3 clean sheets at least in the next 22 games between now and May discounting the two against his parent club to level the record. For me though if you’re going to make your goalkeeper the second highest player in your squad I’m going to want at least ten clean sheets from the next 22 games. I won’t be betting the family heirlooms on that happening that’s for sure.
To be continued…
Two nil & we f**ked it up 