I always like a player who gives an honest and fair assessment of things. when asked where we should aim to finish next season, he replied it all depends on who we bring in. he identified the striker issue, saying we've got andy and sakho but then no one. with this in mind, whats the hold up? from what I've heard hernandez is happy to come and has asked for 140 k a week. lets face it, he would be a great addition, he's got prem experience and has done the business in the bundesliga too. whats the prob? are we doing an arsenal of a few years ago and pricing ourselves out of deals due to a 'wage structure ceiling'? if so then look at what it did to arsenal. in modern football you can't move forward if you limit yourself. its all about money for players, then club position etc. in the case of hernandez if he can make 140k somewhere else, why would he come to us for 100k? people say we are not a good 'option' for players, we can't attract anyone….but i think its far more to do with what we are offering players. people are moaning about Hart and his fee etc. Why? if the club are finally prepared to stump up some big dough to get a quality keeper then why are we moaning? because we can spend it on a striker? surely the aim of the game is to get as many quality players as possible? i can't see why we can't afford to do so, we're not back in the billy bonds days of having no funds. for me its not a case of not being able to afford the players or not being able to attract them, its more that we're limiting our chances by stalling on players wages. i even believe we could sign mahrez if we were serious. bigger clubs are avoiding him now because he had a rubbish season last year. he could have gone for 50 mill when they won the league. now roma offerering 20 mill for him….30 mill would prob get him if he began rocking the boat for a move. wouldn't he be a good replacement for Payet? its all gone a bit quiet about that….if we had held onto him like people had said and sold him for the same 25 mill, right now we'd be looking for a replacement no? so why aren't we doing so now? snodgrass is his replacement? hmm. something doesnt sound right. i'd say Mahrez could be looking for a fresh club to revive his form. i also think he could play up front in a di canio type role. but if we're not prepared to pay players big wages (as much as i think they don't deserve them) then we're not going to get anyway. we're in mid july now and we've made one signing, a free one. yes theres time left, but so far we've passed on defoe, iheanancho, given up on giroud…..sound like the bacca, lacazzete of last season?

fellow orgers i am seriously worried for bettys health his blood pressure seems to go through the roof when ever anyone dares have a say on anything that is west ham which does not fit his vision...it appears my latest article "chelski" set him off yet again...most of us would think pff shite post or banal stuff and not comment but this orger cannot keep his inane thoughts inside and has to explode at the slightest mention of anything that is not his view on west ham....last season it was the Right back situation and now it appears g/k/def/midfield are not allowed to be mentioned....transfer tittle tattle has also set him off this summer you have to ask why? i hope he gets the help he needs because if he takes this way to seriously you have to wonder why....

so chelski splashing the cash we can only dream of but i cannot help but think we may have missed the boat on a couple of there fringe players mainly loftus cheek now on loan at palace and chalaboah who has signed a 5 year deal with watford...two young midfielders who like it or not are never going to be first team regulars at chelski...palace have done great to loan loftus cheek and watford as well whilst the latter still needs a bit of prem experience i think we have missed a trick by not trying to get cheek to help freshen up our midfield he IMO is a very good player who just needs more game time....something neither would of gotten at chelski

his goal scoring record is dire but..........seriously though this is a good signing for me. imo hes better than what we have. people say adrian is better but I cant see it. I also believe hes high profile and that in itself helps to attract players. no complaints from me. an england keeper in goal for hamners once again.

He's gone to some Mexican club.... undisclosed fee. Why undisclosed, did we get peanuts for him?

when you read that what seems to be holding up some transfers we might do is how much the player wants in wages and that the club has a structure in place and does not want to upset other players at the club by paying one or two players a lot more than other squad members get...well in the wide world of work most of us experience I am damn sure people doing the same job as you and me may get paid more for many differing reasons from productivity to ability and so forth so why should football be different....a reg prem player I am certain has a level of wage which most clubs gauge and adhere to but when you get a player who is of a better standard then of course you have to pay more...its like headhunting you don't go looking for a top employee only to say look we know your far better than anyone we have but your pay will not reflect that as we do not wish to upset others who have nowhere near your ability....any player who has a problem well buck your ideas up improve your game and get rewarded otherwise what someone else gets paid is really nobodies business except the club and the player

so next up is arnautovic. 15 mill bid rejected. dont know about the rest but id rather have carlton cole. his scoring record is utter pants, but arnautovic's is worse.

A lot of what I read on here and see elsewhere about West Ham and football in general is pure misery. Fans continually torment themselves over what is in effect out of their control. Which fans are happy? Real Madrid, Chelsea, maybe Man U? Arsenal fans are never happy, Spurs fans are sort of content but still really unhappy. Then there's the like of Bournemouth or Burnley fans, maybe they're always content because they've been invited to the party. It doesn't matter that they go home alone and don't pull, at least they got an invite. It just see,s to me that football as a sport just serves up misery. There's not much gratification, just for a very small minority. So does the odd beating of Spurs to scupper their title chances really make up for months of dross and disappointment? Or are we so engrossed in this mad football bubble that we actually enjoy all the moaning?

Well with the striker saga ongoing it was good to hear tonight that mr pedro obiang has signed a new contract with us...he was excellent for us last season and hopefully now recovered from injury he will pick up where he left off....

Sullivan had done deal between clubs and player but bilic has vetoed deal as bilic thinks the lads unproven.....baring in mind bilic was determined to get zaza last season and look what happened there well his heads well and truly on chopping block now