Wallace

It seems strange that they sit down to discuss our transfer plan in the second week of January. Surely all the work should have been done and they know who their prime targets are - whether they plan to move for them this window or they are the back up if they lose a player. They give the impression that they are making it up as they go along. I still think they need to get a striker in this window so they can get them bedded in for next season otherwise we are going to need at least 2 in the Summer and the prices will probably be higher as the Premier League clubs will be seen as a cash cow for the European clubs because of the TV money.

They have to become more cute about the message they are relaying to supporters because at the moment, what is the incentive for the rest of the season - for fans and players alike. If we continue to drift along to get a top 10 finish, performances and results could suffer but do too well and then there is Europe to worry about. It is only the French players who should have some motivation to do well. I do think fans will start to stay away. The amount of cheap deals and increasing desperation to flog tickets in the days up to a match shows they are struggling to sell them. Why should fans buy season tickets when they end up paying more for tickets than if they buy them on a game by game basis? One of the main reasons for buying season tickets used to be to get away tickets and hopefully enough points should we ever get to a Cup Final - if we are not doing cups then why buy?

There does seem to be a disproportionate level of concern for West Ham in the media. It's a contrast to the NE media (including those working for the nationals) who seem to universally despise Allardyce. I did hear that if he is sacked, he is entitled to a large payout but if they get relegated, he won't get anything.

Can imagine a winter break will be a permanent fixture after this. It will probably mean at least a break of a couple of months from the league because countries will need a couple of weeks to prepare and then post tournament will need another pre-season. Not sure whether players involved will need a break post tournament as well.

Can't see Ashley caring about the style of football so long as the results are OK. He rarely goes to the games these days.

We already knew they failed(or would have anyway), it was in the media at the time and they are spending a fortune upgrading the whole training facilities as a result. does this mean we wont get CAT 1 until the new facilities are complete? From the minutes above: SH: "Did the club's Academy achieve the highest category status? The board confirmed that a further update will be made available in due course. I guess they never got CAT 1 status otherwise they would have said so.

A couple of damning match reports in the Journal and also the Chronicle.

Also further down that page, it says Munchengladbach want Debuchy!

Yet another sub come on and scores within a couple of minutes against us. This seems to happen rather a lot.

If he has flown to Marseilles then I would assume it is to visit family as his wife is from the South of France. He went there at the end of August as well when he missed the internationals which co-incided with the arrival of their baby (and the rumours of a move to Monaco).

he didn't go off injured but did get caught with a late tackle on his ankle He stayed down for a while at the time but I never know if he is just doing it for effect because he didn't get the free kick!

Heitinga would be a weird one unless they are planning to get rid of players as other areas are more of a priority. Surely West Ham would pay much higher wages than us. I cannot believe we would pay anywhere near £60k a week to him as that would make him one of the highest earners and surely he would be a squad player at best.

The interview he gave to the website was through a translator.

I quite enjoy the more in-depth interviews that e.g. Caulkin does with a player and that tell you something you don't know. Player interviews pre and post games are a waste of time - same old soundbites and towing the party line. I wonder when the club want to promote something such as their Wonga deal or anything that promotes the club in a more positive light whether they might find a lack of interest from the newspapers.

What page is it on? Page 59

There is an article in today's Journal (not online yet) saying that NUFC have written to all national newspaper editors offering them packages for exclusive access to interviews for a fee. They have told reporters from the nationals working in the NE that they will no longer be given access to players between matches; such access will only be given to those organisations that pay for the privilege. There are 3 packages for different levels of access. One of the nationals has already said no. I wonder if this also extends to the French media and SD News. One of their grievances which was raised with the recent ban was that they felt their charity work did not get the publicity it merited although the papers listed numerous articles covering such events. Surely, there will be less inclination from the media to cover such events in the future.

Really hope they keep him and get relegated. Sick of all the media claiming that teams would never have have been relegated if only they had kept Fat Sam.

What unrealistic optimism? All I hear is fans talking about the inconsistency of the team and wondering what side will turn up. Maybe expecting a top half finish is unrealistic now. For a manager who likes to portray himself as being in touch with the fans, he couldn't be more out of touch if he tried.

I see SD News is pushing for him to move to Arsenal in January for £15m.

Pardew said in his post-match interview on Radio Newcastle that Shola would definitely be starting against West Brom.

I will be delighted if he stays to the end of the season as I was worried that he might leave in January which would cause us problems as when he plays well the team tends to do well. He should be motivated enough to keep performing for the rest of the season for both the World Cup and to ensure a move to a Champions League club. His was poor last season and no doubt this put clubs off. From the outset, I never really expected him to stay for more than 3 years because by the time his contract would up for renegotiation, his age would be a factor for Ashley.

I wonder if Ashley has any involvement with SD News? They do seem to flesh their transfer stories out with reasons why the player should leave, what his options and how much we will want for them whereas most transfer gossip stories are a just paragraph saying club x are monitoring player x. Supposedly under Llambias, the club would regularly contact newspapers over all the spurious links - but maybe that was to do with agents using papers to say we were interested in players rather than when we were trying to sell them!!

I think we need to get a striker in otherwise we might get ourselves in a difficult situation come the Summer with potentially Gouffran as our only striker if Remy decided to go elsewhere and Shola moves on. Not sure what will happen with Cisse but I can imagine him leaving if he continues to struggle.

Still not sure if he will be here after January but hopefully the World Cup will keep him here until the end of the season as he knows he needs to play regularly to keep his place and that is the one thing we can guarantee him which the top teams can't.

That's true and I don't expect anyone thinks for one minute that the club would offer any explanation. However the facts show that until Ashley took over, the club was able to generate a lot more revenue that it seems able to now (and at a time when virtually every other Premier League club has greatly increased their revenue outside of the TV money) and for the club to plead poverty and an inability to compete with most other clubs is disingenuous. It seems to be a deliberate policy but for whose benefit. It is fristrating and misleading when I hear representatives of the club say we can't compete when in my opinion it is a case of choosing not to compete. Too many have bought the club's line that Ashley saved us from being another Portsmouth or Leeds so it is good that these observations are now becoming more public. I think supporters need to be aware of where their money is going so they can make a choice. If Ashley is working on an exit strategy, then a plus point for potential buyers is there would be a huge opportunity to expand the "brand" as they would be starting from such a low base - providing Ashley does not have everything tied up in all sorts of binding contracts.