Summer Transfer Window 2025 | Official Thread

[stubbo-admin]

May as well get going with this since with Sullivan at the helm, season ticket renewals slow, and the football vacuum to commence, this will soon be all the "news" there is.

Can Potter and MacCauley pull multiple rabbits out of the hat, or will Sullivan 'try really hard' with all of them before grabbing a few aging bargains from Big Willie Salthouse?

Window this close season comes in two parts:

Part 1: 1st June to 10th June
Part 2: 16th June to 1st September

Rumoured Outs...most of the squad

Let the "Rumoured In's" commence. 

------------------------------------------------------------

Player | Position | Club | Fee (GBP)

Rumoured In

1. Daniel Cummings | ST | Celtic
2. Koni De Winter | CB | Genoa
3. Morten Frendrup | DM | Genoa
4. Richard Kone | ST | Wycombe
5. Aaron Ramsdale | GK | Southampton
6. Caiomin Kelleher | GK | Liverpool
7. James Trafford | GK | Burnley
8. Kyle Walker-Peters | FB | Free Agent
9. Taylor Harwood-Bellis | CB | Southampton
10. CJ Egan-Riley | CB | Free Agent
11. Josh Brownhill | CM | Free Agent
12. Albian Hajdari | CB | Lugano
13. Lucas Høgsberg | CB | FC Nordsjælland
14. Ardon Jashari | CM | Brugge
15. Raphael Onyedika | CM | Brugge
16. James McAtee | AM | Man City
17. Mario Struykens | AM | Anderlecht
18. Mathias Kvistgaarden | ST | Brondby
19. Clement Bischoff | LB | Brondby
20. Mika Biereth | FW | Monaco
21. Barış Alper Yılmaz | AM | Galatasaray
22. Evann Guessand | ST | Nice
23. Lucas Stassin | ST | Saint Etienne
24. Marcus Taverner | FW | Bournemouth
25. Soungoutoo Magassa | CDM | Monaco
26. Valentin Atangana | CM | Stade Reims
27. Mads Hermansen | GK | Leicester City
28. Hamza Igamane | ST | Rangers
29. Yeremay | FW | Deportivo La Coruna
30. Adama Bojang | ST | Reims
31. Rocco Reitz | MF | Borussia Moenchengladbach
32. Dominic Calvert-Lewin | ST | Free Agent
33. El Hadji Malick Diouf | LB | SK Slavia Prague
34. Oscar Mingueza | RB/MF | Celta Vigo
35. Tyler Morton | CM | Liverpool
36. Harvey Elliott | AM | Liverpool
37. Zion Suzuki | GK | Parma
38. John Victor | GK | Botofogo 
39. Jacob Ramsey | MF | Villa
40. Mateus Fernandes | CM | Southampton
41. Nga Makou | CM | Lille
42. Quinten Timber | CM
43. Hayden Hackney | CM | Boro
44. Yves Bissouma | CM | Spurs

Rumoured Out

1. Nayef Aguerd | CB | Leverkusen, Marseile
2. Maxel Cornet | FW | Genoa/Others
3. Guido Rodriguez | DM | Betis/Espanyol
4. Tomas Soucek | CM | Everton
5. Michail Antonio | ST | Free Agent
6. Mo Kudus | FW | Chelsea/Newcastle/Arsenal
7. Lucas Paqueta | AM | Man City
8. Andy Irving | CM | Celtic/Wrexham
9. Emerson | LB | Marseille

Confirmed In

1. Jean Clair Todibo | CB | Loan To Perm (32m)
2. Daniel Cummings | ST | Celtic (Free Agent...Tribunal)
3. El Hadji Malick Diouf | LWB | Slavia Prahia | 20m
4. Kyle Walker-Peters | RWB | Free Agent
5. C****m Wilson | ST | Free Agent
6. Mads Hermansen | GK | Leicester (18m)
7. Mateus Fernandes | CM | Southampton (38m + 4m)
8. Soungoutoo Magassa | CDM | Monaco (17m)
9. Igor Julio | CB | Brighton (Loan)

Confirmed Out

1. Aaron Cresswell | LB | Free Agent | 0m
2. Danny Ings | ST | Free Agent | 0m
3. Vladimir Coufal | RB | Free Agent | 0m
4. Lukusz Fabianski | GK | Free Agent | 0m
5. Kamari Swyer | AM | Free Agent | 0m
6. Kurt Zouma | CB | Free Agent | 0m
7. Carlos Soler | CM | PSG | End of Loan
8. Evan Ferguson | ST | Brighton | End of Loan
9. Brad Dolaghan | Released
10. Dondre Abraham | Released
11. Mehmet Halim | Released
12. Muhammed Judus |stroppy| sp*rs| £55m
13. Michail Antonio | Released
14. Kieran Casey | Swansea | Loan
15. Edson Alvarez | Fenerbache | Loan with Option
16. Emerson | Marseille | £1m
17. Aguerd | Marseille | £20m
18. Max Cornet | Genoa | Loan

[southbankbornnbred]

Apologies for typos.

Wrote that in a hurry on the tube!

[southbankbornnbred]

I think, in our current setup, Steidten would be perfect. Potter talks to Macaulay, they identify what they need, suggest some names, Steidten either gets them or unearths a better alternative. If Sullivan had kept him on and stayed out of it from here, this is a system that could really work. As an old school manager, Potter is useless but as a Head Coach who can talk to his pal about identifying areas for improvement, his pal doing the ground work on the data side and then The Pearl Diver making the deals, you might see Potter's expertise in player development and tactical team building turn into a winning team.

I think there's a good team leader inside Potter somewhere deep down, but he's going to look a complete mug at West Ham bringing a tactical philosophy we're not ready for and with no club infrastructure to build a team in his vision. And when it fails due to not having the missing piece of the jigsaw that Steidten would have been and putting Sullivan at the top of the player identification and purchasing tree, they have their scapegoat lined up because he has Macaulay.

What a mess.

“Potter's expertise in player development and tactical team building?”

Genuine question: where does this come from?

He’s 50 years old and has one top-ten finish in the Premier League to his name: 9th with Brighton, who finished with 51 points that season - a total that often sees you finish outside the top ten.

His average finishing position in the Premier League is 14th, even with that outlier year included.

He managed Chelsea, with their unfathomable riches,  to 12th place and was sacked within 7 months.

He does not have the track record that he, and many others, think he has.

He is the epitome of the emporer’s new clothes. His best position/finish is below Glenn Roeder’s.

I just don’t get why people think he has a record to speak of. Nobody else was in for him. Almost nobody at West Ham wanted him. He’s Mr Below Average.

I'm a bit of a stats nerd, and what he did at Ostersund was nothing short of amazing. Having those accomplishments on his CV with a budget starting at zero and building it by making the players he inherited better, selling them and buying underrated players to improve and either sell at profit or better the team makes him a great Head Coach (but not a manager). It's what got him the Swansea gig to get back into this country then overachieve at Brighton.

I didn't want him because I think he belongs in a club whose stature doesn't come with any expectation whereas we are big enough to expect and demand more. I wanted Amorim, but at that time would have preferred Potter over Lopetegui. Then we got Lopetegui and wanted to back him but wasn't sure what the project was and we kept shipping tons of goals. I didn't agree with getting rid of him but given where we were, was begrudgingly accepting of Potter given his record of team building rather than buying success. However, since we are a much bigger club than the sort of club who needs a man with the Potter expertise, you'd want a recruitment team around him so that he can get on with what he's really good at. This is why he didn't succeed at Chelsea, too many irons in the fire. 

Give him a mate to deal with transfers (Macaulay) and an expert in making the deals or finding an alternative (Steidten) and I reckon we have a good, solid Head Coach who will identify his own areas for improvement and not have to deal with any interference from noisy fools. Sadly, we have lost that bridge between his team and the board with Steidten gone and the noisiest fool in the division is his boss, and the one making the deals.

It ain't gonna work, and he's going to look really bad when it goes tits up.

Enjoyed that thoughtful post, Gank: an antidote to the historical perception of WHO!

Potter's early work in Sweden is indeed impressive when taken in isolation. But it really is not a strong league. It's the Championship without resources.

So, I find myself coming to a very different conclusion about him as a manager. For me, Potter is less the pragmatic, problem-solving type that top-level English football often demands, and more of a theoretician: someone whose ideas and processes seem convincing on paper but rarely translate into practical, hard-edged success on the pitch.At every stop in his managerial career in England (even Brighton), the same pattern has emerged: the talk of “projects” and “journeys,” of long-term visions that require patience before they can be fairly judged. It all sounds great, and of course it sounds appealing.

But in the Premier League, that luxury almost never exists. You’re required to manage the problems you inherit straight away, stabilise, adapt, and win points in difficult circumstances. Potter, in my view, has struggled consistently in that area - precisely because he prefers to build slowly from a blank canvas rather than repair or adapt what’s already in place.

The problem with that approach in the Premier League is that it is just as likely to relegate you, as make you thrive (albeit not at the very biggest clubs in ££ terms).This, I thin  his managerial style and the reality of elite-level football. At a big club, you can’t keep citing time or external noise as reasons for underperformance; sooner or later you have to show you can deal with chaos and pressure head-on. That, to me, is where he consistently falls short - not in intelligence or methodology, but in pragmatism and resilience. So while I admire the qualities you outline, to me Potter's emblematic of a modern trend of managers who rely heavily on theory and process, but who often leave themselves armed with excuses when reality bites. He may well be a fine coach in the right environment, but for clubs with expectations and demands - even at our level - I think he’s the wrong fit. Watch how it will unfold quickly.

Naturally, I'd love to be wrong - because I always want us to succeed and don't really care which manager we succeed under. But I would not have picked Potter in a million years - precisely because of the circumstances he faces at this club.

[Fauxstralian]

I guess Potter & Macaulay identify the likes of Fernandes & maybe even tell Sullivan what they think he is worth
Sullivan then puts on his Russian hat & calls Southampton to offer 28 + 2
When Southampton come back & say they want 60 he goes back in again at 30 + 2
WE TRIED 

Then puts a bid in for a player showing no interest in leaving Barca
WE TRIED

Follows up with a bid for Mukau of Lille presumably under their quoted 20m Euros
WE TRIED … but not too hard

[threesixty]

I think, in our current setup, Steidten would be perfect. Potter talks to Macaulay, they identify what they need, suggest some names, Steidten either gets them or unearths a better alternative. If Sullivan had kept him on and stayed out of it from here, this is a system that could really work. As an old school manager, Potter is useless but as a Head Coach who can talk to his pal about identifying areas for improvement, his pal doing the ground work on the data side and then The Pearl Diver making the deals, you might see Potter's expertise in player development and tactical team building turn into a winning team.

I think there's a good team leader inside Potter somewhere deep down, but he's going to look a complete mug at West Ham bringing a tactical philosophy we're not ready for and with no club infrastructure to build a team in his vision. And when it fails due to not having the missing piece of the jigsaw that Steidten would have been and putting Sullivan at the top of the player identification and purchasing tree, they have their scapegoat lined up because he has Macaulay.

What a mess.

“Potter's expertise in player development and tactical team building?”

Genuine question: where does this come from?

He’s 50 years old and has one top-ten finish in the Premier League to his name: 9th with Brighton, who finished with 51 points that season - a total that often sees you finish outside the top ten.

His average finishing position in the Premier League is 14th, even with that outlier year included.

He managed Chelsea, with their unfathomable riches,  to 12th place and was sacked within 7 months.

He does not have the track record that he, and many others, think he has.

He is the epitome of the emporer’s new clothes. His best position/finish is below Glenn Roeder’s.

I just don’t get why people think he has a record to speak of. Nobody else was in for him. Almost nobody at West Ham wanted him. He’s Mr Below Average.

I'm a bit of a stats nerd, and what he did at Ostersund was nothing short of amazing. Having those accomplishments on his CV with a budget starting at zero and building it by making the players he inherited better, selling them and buying underrated players to improve and either sell at profit or better the team makes him a great Head Coach (but not a manager). It's what got him the Swansea gig to get back into this country then overachieve at Brighton.

I didn't want him because I think he belongs in a club whose stature doesn't come with any expectation whereas we are big enough to expect and demand more. I wanted Amorim, but at that time would have preferred Potter over Lopetegui. Then we got Lopetegui and wanted to back him but wasn't sure what the project was and we kept shipping tons of goals. I didn't agree with getting rid of him but given where we were, was begrudgingly accepting of Potter given his record of team building rather than buying success. However, since we are a much bigger club than the sort of club who needs a man with the Potter expertise, you'd want a recruitment team around him so that he can get on with what he's really good at. This is why he didn't succeed at Chelsea, too many irons in the fire. 

Give him a mate to deal with transfers (Macaulay) and an expert in making the deals or finding an alternative (Steidten) and I reckon we have a good, solid Head Coach who will identify his own areas for improvement and not have to deal with any interference from noisy fools. Sadly, we have lost that bridge between his team and the board with Steidten gone and the noisiest fool in the division is his boss, and the one making the deals.

It ain't gonna work, and he's going to look really bad when it goes tits up.

 

 

His early career work seems good. I think the big difference at this level is that you have to tell millionaires who probably have far more money than you do, what to do. Some were better players than you ever were, some have won more than you ever did etc. On top of that you are scrutinised by everyone, fans, press, pundits etc.. day in day out.

Thats why top level management is a whole different thing compared to management lower down. You might have great ideas, but can you get that across to the players? 

You do need a level of ego and its a psychological war as much as its about tactics and training. Some have the right recipe and others dont. I'm not sure Potter has the ingredients for this stuff tbh. Saw it at Chelsea. He just doesnt know how to deal with the scrutiny properly to give anyone confidence that he knows how to solve anything. I have zero confidence in him right now. I'm just hoping he does well, I dont believe he will.

[twoleftfeet]

Mex you could be right but I thought Sullivan wanted Steidten out. Bringing in Macaulay and promoting him to Head of Recruitment was a second step. It may indeed have meant Steidten going but yhe real driver was Sullivan who used the sacking to get the optics right and make last season’s poor perfirmance look like it was all down to Steidten.  

Sullivan wanted to get full control back and pit himself in the “gatekeeper” on transfers again. Job titles are perhaps used again for “optics” but dont necessarily man what they say. Macaulay has akways been an identifier of talent via data analytics etc so not experienced in the many of facets of recruitmenf.  The title now suggests Macaulay identifies the players and makes contact with clubs, the player and his agent, works on the trrms and conditions of the deal and fees etc.  I dont think that is the case in reality. He comes up with targets and possibly sounds out players, talks to agents and even the selling club initially but its Sullivan making the offers, shaping the deal, its terms, fees, conditions like add ons.  Before an offer us made he also gets approval of other board members because I believe any expenditure at West Ham above £1 million requires that.

In other words, Macaulay and Potter can come up with great targets but ultimately its Sullivan that controls “ gate” on who goes and who comes in and its Sullivan that can make or break a transfer.

The whole process above including having get sign off by board members makes us slow and cumbersome in deals and the Sullivan derisory bids and ridiculous terms etc makes us hard to deal with. Hence the reason every transfer feels so painful and happens one at a time.

Modern, successful clubs have a fully empowered DOF, working to a long term plan / strategy, with clear goals and objectives like buying a percentage of players that might have to be sold to generate funds, keep PSR at bay.  DOF given a budget, “his” recruitment team produce targets matching profile of players that align with the football identity or philosophy in the ling term plan and the DOF uses experience and skills, know how to get the player asap. 

[Sir Alf]

Mex you could be right but I thought Sullivan wanted Steidten out. Bringing in Macaulay and promoting him to Head of Recruitment was a second step. It may indeed have meant Steidten going but yhe real driver was Sullivan who used the sacking to get the optics right and make last season’s poor perfirmance look like it was all down to Steidten.  

Sullivan wanted to get full control back and pit himself in the “gatekeeper” on transfers again. Job titles are perhaps used again for “optics” but dont necessarily man what they say. Macaulay has akways been an identifier of talent via data analytics etc so not experienced in the many of facets of recruitmenf.  The title now suggests Macaulay identifies the players and makes contact with clubs, the player and his agent, works on the trrms and conditions of the deal and fees etc.  I dont think that is the case in reality. He comes up with targets and possibly sounds out players, talks to agents and even the selling club initially but its Sullivan making the offers, shaping the deal, its terms, fees, conditions like add ons.  Before an offer us made he also gets approval of other board members because I believe any expenditure at West Ham above £1 million requires that.

In other words, Macaulay and Potter can come up with great targets but ultimately its Sullivan that controls “ gate” on who goes and who comes in and its Sullivan that can make or break a transfer.

The whole process above including having get sign off by board members makes us slow and cumbersome in deals and the Sullivan derisory bids and ridiculous terms etc makes us hard to deal with. Hence the reason every transfer feels so painful and happens one at a time.

Modern, successful clubs have a fully empowered DOF, working to a long term plan / strategy, with clear goals and objectives like buying a percentage of players that might have to be sold to generate funds, keep PSR at bay.  DOF given a budget, “his” recruitment team produce targets matching profile of players that align with the football identity or philosophy in the ling term plan and the DOF uses experience and skills, know how to get the player asap. 

[Eerie Decent]

I did some research courtesy of TransferMarkt.co.uk earlier this week but sadly binned the spreadsheet.  I'm not sure how accurate the numbers are but let's assume they are correct for the same of this exercise.

Since moving to the London Stadium we have spent a fraction over 1bn (euros) on transfers.

We have sold around 550m of those players, but we only received about 350m back on the sales, which equates to a loss of 200m.

We have about 450m worth of players left in the current playing staud.

There is a very good chance we'll make a big loss on them too as there is no way we're going to make a profit on the likes of Kilman (47m), JWP (34m), Fullkrug (27m), Emerson (15m)

The numbers don't account for :
- players we purchased prior to the LS move and have since sold.
- players that cam through the academy that we have sold (eg Declan Rice)

But this is just an illustration of how poor our transfer actitvity has been but there are some real standout transfers:

- Felipe Anderson bought for 38m and sold for 3m (-35m)
- Kurt Zouma bought for 35m and released on a free (-35m)
- Sebastian Haller bought for 50m and sold for 22.5m (-27.5m)

I know that making a profit on players is not the most important thing, but if you don't make a profit out of them, you at least want to get some value out of their transfer fee in terms of their services to the club.

But it is very clear that we are as shit at selling players, as we are at buying.  

It's not just transfer fees with us, it's also the ludicrous wages we weigh out.

Danny Ings, for example, cost us around £30mil overall. 5 goals in 3 seasons.

[Massive Attack]

Part of the problem was churning over Managers in quick succession at the London Stadium. New ideas, new players, out with the old, in with the new and to hell with working with expensive players brought in by the previous manager. Selling Anderson for £3M and lose more than half on Haller are fucking ridiculous losses that should have been avoided at that level of loss.

[scott_d]

I did some research courtesy of TransferMarkt.co.uk earlier this week but sadly binned the spreadsheet.  I'm not sure how accurate the numbers are but let's assume they are correct for the same of this exercise.

Since moving to the London Stadium we have spent a fraction over 1bn (euros) on transfers.

We have sold around 550m of those players, but we only received about 350m back on the sales, which equates to a loss of 200m.

We have about 450m worth of players left in the current playing staud.

There is a very good chance we'll make a big loss on them too as there is no way we're going to make a profit on the likes of Kilman (47m), JWP (34m), Fullkrug (27m), Emerson (15m)

The numbers don't account for :
- players we purchased prior to the LS move and have since sold.
- players that cam through the academy that we have sold (eg Declan Rice)

But this is just an illustration of how poor our transfer actitvity has been but there are some real standout transfers:

- Felipe Anderson bought for 38m and sold for 3m (-35m)
- Kurt Zouma bought for 35m and released on a free (-35m)
- Sebastian Haller bought for 50m and sold for 22.5m (-27.5m)

I know that making a profit on players is not the most important thing, but if you don't make a profit out of them, you at least want to get some value out of their transfer fee in terms of their services to the club.

But it is very clear that we are as shit at selling players, as we are at buying.  

[dealcanvey]

ExWHUemployee says we are bidding for these two...

Both look decent. Look like they could handle the physicality of the Prem. Both though have played very little football it seems. Cisse not even 20 games?

always a gamble buying from abroad. Need guarantee a player can come in and improve what we have instantly.

id like us to sign Hackney. Over 100 games already. Talented player. 

[Massive Attack]

Yep, was never going to happen, nor could I see it working between them hence why they wanted him gone. Steidtens signings have mostly been a disaster, especially for the outlay. 

Fullkrug - Injury prone Striker that struggles to score

Mavropanos- The Greek Tragedy

Twenty-a-day Todibo - Can never last 90 mins with suspect attitude 

Alvarez - Disciplinary liability 

Guilherme - Failed to make any impact last season

Kudus was his only real success but even then he was another with a poor atittude. Due diligence was never Steidtens strong point. 

That's over £170M budgeted with little to show for it on the pitch.

[Mex Martillo]

But I understood Steidten was pushed out by Potter and Macaulay. Macaulay was considered to be Steidtens replacement. Was there any consideration that the 3 should work together? Sounds good, but was never a possibility.

[John Drake]

You are 100% wrong about the Premier League not being an attractive investment proposition. Club valuations will only increase over time as more is squeezed out of media rights – which may include the PL setting up its own TV channel with direct subscription.

Although it’s true that owners cannot buy immediate success under existing PSR rules, they are still able to improve year on year by increasing revenues through investing in the squad, development and attracting more high-profile sponsors (including associated parties). You can see this happening at Newcastle where revenue growth has rapidly outstripped West Hams. And the existing PSR rules may well be replaced in the next year or two.

What is needed is for someone to consolidate the shares held by Kretinsky and the Gold family so that Sullivan is forced into a minority shareholding.

It would be ludicrous for any owner to get their side relegated on purpose.

[RBshorty]

Calling it here folks. We're being prepped for the drop. A lot of names will be thrown about by the ITK's. And Brownhill will be the only body through the door. Razzle, Dazzle. Bait and Switch. Or plain old Bullshit. It's just noise. This time in twelve months we will be in the Championship. And someone different in the big chair.

COYI.

To suggest Sully is doing a Brewster's Millions with the club is a bit mental, it's pure ineptitude for sure. I think we'll get two midfielders but one of them might be Brownhill, who I actually welcome on a free for a role off the bench. He'll be alright. Fernandez and Mukau would be the ideal for me. Not much chance of that though.

 

 

V. Take the football club out of any Sullivan decision. Investing in us was always a gamble to get the OS. Now that ain't happening. We're a burden to him. He never has been a football person. (Agents have always filled in the gaps.) And nobody going to take it off his hands at Premierships prices. (Who at this moment in time is going to buy a team. When the richest owners on the planet. Can't even invest in the playing squad. Newcastle anyone.?) After 15 years. Both him and the Gold estate have made money on their investment. Just not as much as they would have hope for. West Ham United is now a Distressed- Asset. That's why other people in the boardroom are here. Anyone we bring in will be sold next summer. Or be good enough to get us out of The Fizzy Pop. At the first time of asking.

[Gank]

 
The “Sullivan Effect” is in overdrive right now.  He will not get the signings Potter and the squad needs is where Im leaning as we have seen many times before. Steidten may have not been perfect but could get a deal over the line

I think, in our current setup, Steidten would be perfect. Potter talks to Macaulay, they identify what they need, suggest some names, Steidten either gets them or unearths a better alternative. If Sullivan had kept him on and stayed out of it from here, this is a system that could really work. As an old school manager, Potter is useless but as a Head Coach who can talk to his pal about identifying areas for improvement, his pal doing the ground work on the data side and then The Pearl Diver making the deals, you might see Potter's expertise in player development and tactical team building turn into a winning team.

I think there's a good team leader inside Potter somewhere deep down, but he's going to look a complete mug at West Ham bringing a tactical philosophy we're not ready for and with no club infrastructure to build a team in his vision. And when it fails due to not having the missing piece of the jigsaw that Steidten would have been and putting Sullivan at the top of the player identification and purchasing tree, they have their scapegoat lined up because he has Macaulay.

What a mess.

“Potter's expertise in player development and tactical team building?”

Genuine question: where does this come from?

He’s 50 years old and has one top-ten finish in the Premier League to his name: 9th with Brighton, who finished with 51 points that season - a total that often sees you finish outside the top ten.

His average finishing position in the Premier League is 14th, even with that outlier year included.

He managed Chelsea, with their unfathomable riches,  to 12th place and was sacked within 7 months.

He does not have the track record that he, and many others, think he has.

He is the epitome of the emporer’s new clothes. His best position/finish is below Glenn Roeder’s.

I just don’t get why people think he has a record to speak of. Nobody else was in for him. Almost nobody at West Ham wanted him. He’s Mr Below Average.

I'm a bit of a stats nerd, and what he did at Ostersund was nothing short of amazing. Having those accomplishments on his CV with a budget starting at zero and building it by making the players he inherited better, selling them and buying underrated players to improve and either sell at profit or better the team makes him a great Head Coach (but not a manager). It's what got him the Swansea gig to get back into this country then overachieve at Brighton.

I didn't want him because I think he belongs in a club whose stature doesn't come with any expectation whereas we are big enough to expect and demand more. I wanted Amorim, but at that time would have preferred Potter over Lopetegui. Then we got Lopetegui and wanted to back him but wasn't sure what the project was and we kept shipping tons of goals. I didn't agree with getting rid of him but given where we were, was begrudgingly accepting of Potter given his record of team building rather than buying success. However, since we are a much bigger club than the sort of club who needs a man with the Potter expertise, you'd want a recruitment team around him so that he can get on with what he's really good at. This is why he didn't succeed at Chelsea, too many irons in the fire. 

Give him a mate to deal with transfers (Macaulay) and an expert in making the deals or finding an alternative (Steidten) and I reckon we have a good, solid Head Coach who will identify his own areas for improvement and not have to deal with any interference from noisy fools. Sadly, we have lost that bridge between his team and the board with Steidten gone and the noisiest fool in the division is his boss, and the one making the deals.

It ain't gonna work, and he's going to look really bad when it goes tits up.

[Barty888]

ExWHUemployee says we are bidding for these two...

They got pretty decent stats...

[Vexed]

Calling it here folks. We're being prepped for the drop. A lot of names will be thrown about by the ITK's. And Brownhill will be the only body through the door. Razzle, Dazzle. Bait and Switch. Or plain old Bullshit. It's just noise. This time in twelve months we will be in the Championship. And someone different in the big chair.

COYI.

To suggest Sully is doing a Brewster's Millions with the club is a bit mental, it's pure ineptitude for sure. I think we'll get two midfielders but one of them might be Brownhill, who I actually welcome on a free for a role off the bench. He'll be alright. Fernandez and Mukau would be the ideal for me. Not much chance of that though.

[RBshorty]

Calling it here folks. We're being prepped for the drop. A lot of names will be thrown about by the ITK's. And Brownhill will be the only body through the door. Razzle, Dazzle. Bait and Switch. Or plain old Bullshit. It's just noise. This time in twelve months we will be in the Championship. And someone different in the big chair.

COYI.

[southbankbornnbred]

 
The “Sullivan Effect” is in overdrive right now.  He will not get the signings Potter and the squad needs is where Im leaning as we have seen many times before. Steidten may have not been perfect but could get a deal over the line

I think, in our current setup, Steidten would be perfect. Potter talks to Macaulay, they identify what they need, suggest some names, Steidten either gets them or unearths a better alternative. If Sullivan had kept him on and stayed out of it from here, this is a system that could really work. As an old school manager, Potter is useless but as a Head Coach who can talk to his pal about identifying areas for improvement, his pal doing the ground work on the data side and then The Pearl Diver making the deals, you might see Potter's expertise in player development and tactical team building turn into a winning team.

I think there's a good team leader inside Potter somewhere deep down, but he's going to look a complete mug at West Ham bringing a tactical philosophy we're not ready for and with no club infrastructure to build a team in his vision. And when it fails due to not having the missing piece of the jigsaw that Steidten would have been and putting Sullivan at the top of the player identification and purchasing tree, they have their scapegoat lined up because he has Macaulay.

What a mess.

“Potter's expertise in player development and tactical team building?”

Genuine question: where does this come from?

He’s 50 years old and has one top-ten finish in the Premier League to his name: 9th with Brighton, who finished with 51 points that season - a total that often sees you finish outside the top ten.

His average finishing position in the Premier League is 14th, even with that outlier year included.

He managed Chelsea, with their unfathomable riches,  to 12th place and was sacked within 7 months.

He does not have the track record that he, and many others, think he has.

He is the epitome of the emporer’s new clothes. His best position/finish is below Glenn Roeder’s.

I just don’t get why people think he has a record to speak of. Nobody else was in for him. Almost nobody at West Ham wanted him. He’s Mr Below Average.

[Gank]

 
The “Sullivan Effect” is in overdrive right now.  He will not get the signings Potter and the squad needs is where Im leaning as we have seen many times before. Steidten may have not been perfect but could get a deal over the line

I think, in our current setup, Steidten would be perfect. Potter talks to Macaulay, they identify what they need, suggest some names, Steidten either gets them or unearths a better alternative. If Sullivan had kept him on and stayed out of it from here, this is a system that could really work. As an old school manager, Potter is useless but as a Head Coach who can talk to his pal about identifying areas for improvement, his pal doing the ground work on the data side and then The Pearl Diver making the deals, you might see Potter's expertise in player development and tactical team building turn into a winning team.

I think there's a good team leader inside Potter somewhere deep down, but he's going to look a complete mug at West Ham bringing a tactical philosophy we're not ready for and with no club infrastructure to build a team in his vision. And when it fails due to not having the missing piece of the jigsaw that Steidten would have been and putting Sullivan at the top of the player identification and purchasing tree, they have their scapegoat lined up because he has Macaulay.

What a mess.

[Barty888]

We aren’t doing jackshit so news from elsewhere

Was reading that Eze to Tottenham is close … but that Arsenal have come back in late & he’d prefer to join them
That’s got to hurt

Of course we could have bought Eze for £20m when he was at QPR but went for Benrahma on loan & subsequent purchase
Usual cock up

And we could have signed Ekiteke from PSG for 15 million ca but Moyes did not want him

[eusebiovic]

Even as a fan you have to laugh at the total ineptitude of the situation.

I know Kretinsky & Smith aren’t football people but they are serious business people. They must just sit back & think ‘WTF is going on here’??

I would say they know exactly what they are doing. 

Neither will be subsidising his crass stupidity any further so it's simply a waiting game. How long can the he hold on for now that they have withdrawn their advice and support which he has just taken for granted and pissed up the wall?

I suspect they must be seething about it... it's the straw I'm grasping at this late stage...there is some logic to it

[Fauxstralian]

We aren’t doing jackshit so news from elsewhere

Was reading that Eze to Tottenham is close … but that Arsenal have come back in late & he’d prefer to join them
That’s got to hurt

Of course we could have bought Eze for £20m when he was at QPR but went for Benrahma on loan & subsequent purchase
Usual cock up

[Vexed]

I wonder what Sully's record is for consecutive wrong decisions is? He must have smashed his PB this window. Everything you could possibly do wrong to do with transfers this cսnt has done it. Yeah I think this two million will make all the difference! Meanwhile, time, patience and alternatives drift away. When we get beat by a hatful on Friday they'll be everywhere saying there going to step up their efforts - aka showing everyone how desperate they are now. Helicopter fireball please baby Jesus son.
 

[El Scorchio]

Carlos Bacca

Don't joke. He's 38 and still playing....