Teasy

Hmm normally I'd question why we weren't interested in a player like Tuncay for free. But I trust Allardyce so I assume he's either not good enough or doesn't fit our plans.

Also don't forget that Barton is also costing us £5.5 million for the transfer fee, and Owen cost £17 million! That's £15.5 million total for Barton (if the rumoured wage is correct, which I hope it isn't since he's not close to being worth that IMO) and £31.4 million total for Owen (assuming 3 year contracts). Ben Haim for a total outlay of £10 million is a massive bargain in comparison IMO.

No way. Give someone like Ben Haim £70k, and when we do start going for the top stars, we'll be looking at Owen-style wages. To buy a player like him (quality, young and proven in the Premiership) would normally cost at least £5 million and even £45,000 a week for three years would then take the total outlay to £11.5 million. But you think we should pass up on the player for a total outlay of £10 million?... The simple fact is you have to pay players what they're worth in the market and that changes depending on the transfer fee. If another player coming in to the club can't understand that then tell him to take a hike.. Or we could simply pay Ben Haim £50,000 a week and make up the difference in signing on fee's and or bonuses (loyalty bonus ect). My main point was that IMO he's worth spending that kind of money on.

Considering its a free transfer I'd have no problem at all offering a player like Ben Haim £65,000 plus, £70,000 even.

Because they want him off the wage bill. Similar situation to Figo when he left Real for a nominal fee with a year left on his contract.

To be honest he's not even good enough to be backup. If we're going to challenge for the top 5 we need better backup then Baba. So yeah I want him gone, not lingering with the chance he might actually get in the team because of injury.

For me he has Ginola/Robert written all over him! Would probably become a typical french winger for us, make a great initial impact, then become a player who drifts in and out of games, scoring the occassional spectacular goal. Not syaing he isn't any good, as I haven't seen much of him (only Youtube clips), but Ginola/Robert is the first thing I think of. Really?.. Overmars is the first thing I thought of when I saw Giuly play.. I don't know what his temprement is like but from watching him in clips I certainly wouldn't liken him to Robert or Ginola as a player.

I certainly hope that's not the way Allardyce is thinking. If he thinks Brown is better he should go for Brown.. Going for an inferior player just to save a million or so is ridiculous, especially now..

Its around about the figure initially reported before the transfer went through (£8.5 million).

They aren't being sold, not as in a takeover anyway. This is just there current chairman and majority shareholder (Daniel Levy) buying some more shares and probably looking to own the club completely. But he already runs the club anyway so...

Giuly reminds me so much of Marc Overmars and we all know how well he did in the Premiership. I'd be very happy to see him here.

Hopefully its £7 million with addons based on appearances making it up to the originally mentioned £8.5 million.

I'm not a particularly big fan of Barton personally. However I trust Allardyce so the fact that he's got one of his targets has to be a good thing. If he is being paid £70,000 per week though I'd be extremely suprised and a bit worried. Hopefully that's just press talk.

I read somewhere that Ashley aims to make us a bigger brand than Man U, in like 5/6 years. That would be quite interesting if its true then. Would definatly mean that he would have to put money into the club to achieve that though. not sure that £45M a year for 5 years will do that...imagine it will restore us to a Top 6 side; with aspirations to challenge Top 4>>> I think it was £54 million per season which was based on £270 million and a five year plan. I think that kind of money could easily put us into a position of challenging for the Premiership title with the right manager (which I hope Allardyce is). Then again I think £45 million per season could easily do that as well to be honest.

Well I could see it making transfers slightly more difficult due to the current chairman's attention being focused on the takeover. But I honestly don't see why it would freeze any transfer money. Its not as if Shepherd would lose anything if he bought players before accepting Ashley's offer (or being forced out). After all its club money that's always been spent on players, not Freddy's money. He can't take it with him...

Check out the link Chez posted.

What a pile of nonsense the Sheff Utd chairman is talking! The very basis of there claim for reinstatement is that West Ham should have been docked points which would have meant they'd finish below Sheffield. Now he's suggesting that the best option would be to add another place in the Premiership so that both West Ham and Sheff Utd can be in! Doesn't he realise that if West Ham aren't relegated then there's absolutely no reason for his team to be reinstated?.... Don't get me wrong, I think West Ham should have been relegated which would mean Sheff Utd should have stayed up. But to suggest adding an extra place to the Premiership just doesn't make any sense.

That's probably quite unlikely though considering Ashley's got about 4 times as much cash.

Surely Dein is included in a vote for Ashley. Who are the jokers voting for Hunter and Xu Ming? Come on people give us your reasons, don't just vote anonymously.

If he was prepared to throw as much money at us as he has at the XBox brand then Bill would be very welcome I wonder what Sam would do with £4 billion to spend in the next few seasons But seriously, out of the people mentioned it has to be Mike Ashley. Does anyone actually disagree with that? EDIT: Apparently not, just seen the poll.

He is 26 and hasn't played in this country at all yet, I can't see how his experiences will get any broader staying in Germany. I think the broader point still stands. Just because you are English (or in Hargraeves's case plays for England) doesn't mean you should have to play there - and in fact the fewer players on England who play abroad the weaker the team will become. English players are not "wasted" playing in the continent anymroe than Owen is wasted playing for Newcastle. How does staying in the same league he's played in for his whole career broaden his Football experience?... If anything moving to England will broaden it.

Same as Sky Sports then What a rip off. Will not be subscribing to that, Sky Sports is bad enough. In fact I might cancel Sky, paying 44 quid a month and I hardly watch it, even the footy as I only watch Toon matches and ones that catch my fancy. Should all be free, every household in Britain would then get Sky meaning they'd make a mint via advertisers, which they already do anyway. Cancelling some of the things you watch least will save you some cash (trimming down the entertinament package and cancel movies maybe).

Apparently thought to be less by one guy on the West Ham forum who claims its £6.5 million. So far he's failed to respond to people asking him how he knows that.. Whether it goes any deeper then that or whether this is just Teamtalk reporting the word of some bloke on a forum is anybodies guess

Yeah I saw that just after I posted. Thor Björgólfsson is at 23 with £2.04B and Ashley is at 25 with 1.9B. Pretty close given its an estimation anyway. Still his father is the one who owns West Ham and he's not on the list (£600 million I think is his worth). Now if I need to wind up a west ham fan I can just tell them "your owner isn't even a billionaire in pounds so there!"

Just interest, I wanted to know who owned West Ham and what they're worth. The comment "more money then sense" got me wondering just how little sense the guy might have