ooberman

really? how much?? if he does go, we have to bring in someone just for strength in depth...

well if you like that, then another spin on it is that the guy who owns Corinthians (Kia Joorabchian) once made a bid to takeover West Ham The real deal or another false horizon? Evening Standard (London), Aug 18, 2005 by MATT HUGHES Kia Joorabchian is the Arsenal fan who wants to launch a Pounds 75m takeover bid for West Ham but the source of his wealth is a mystery AS AN army of claret and blue-clad fans converged on the East End to celebrate West Ham's return to the Premiership on a balmy summer's evening last May a potential new recruit was making his way to the office of chairman Terry Brown. Kia Joorabchian is an Arsenal supporter with his own box at Highbury but over the past few months he has been taking an unusual amount of interest in events at Upton Park. The 34-year-old British businessman, who was born in Iran but educated at Shiplake College in Henley, has prepared an outline package for a Pounds 75million takeover of West Ham and will decide whether to go ahead in the next few days. Joorabchian is meeting his fellow board members of Media Sport Investment, the mysterious Camdenbased consortium he heads, in London today to discuss the way forward but no one should doubt the seriousness of his intentions.

the bit with the chinese people in the corridor ' GENIUS!!

Mystic Goldfish

chaps - read this - what do you think!?!? Something Fishy About Tevez And Mascherano To West Ham Deal August 31st, 2006 by Alan Hylands And I'm not talking about the year's supply of jellied eels they've got in front of them either. The deal to take Argentina stars Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano to West Ham United hasn't officially been confirmed yet but football discussion forums are white hot with the news and the potential implications, not only for West Ham but for the premiership at large. What would attract two of the world's most sought after, young, talented international stars to Upton Park and the waiting arms of Alan Pardew? At first glance there is no logical explanation. West Ham had a great season last year after their promotion and surprised a lot of people (me included) with their classy football and solid defence that not only gave them a respectable league finish but also took them to the FA Cup Final. I doubt that their Cup Final defeat in one of the liveliest and most enjoyable Cup Finals in many years will have been enough to tempt the two Argies though and despite having a foot in European competition with the UEFA Cup, I doubt that's the real pulling factor either. My suspicions lead me to a somewhat shadier deal being cooked up between the players' club Corinthians, their owners MSI and another club with shady links to MSI and their owners. It's long been rumoured that Roman Abramovich is the money man behind MSI and the reason that a broke Brazilian club like Corinthians could afford players like Tevez and Mascherano in the first place. It leaves no doubt in my mind that Chelsea and Roman are behind this proposed season long loan deal for the two Argentinians to West Ham and it's only for one purpose - to acclimatise the players to London and the Premiership and see whether they are worth signing for Chelsea properly next summer. There can be no other reason for this transfer to take place. Yes, West Ham are a good, homely club with some good players but for a club to sign Carlton Cole this summer and turn around and also get Carlos Tevez, it leaves me wondering what the motives are. I think I've worked out the obvious answer and it doesn't bode well for the rest of the Premiership. We've seen Chelsea's strange buys and loan deals in the past with players like Smertin and Jarosik but this moves things to another level completely. Chelsea don't outright own these players or their club but their guiding hand can skew the transfer market that they can prevent any of their near rivals in the top five from having these players while they park them at a safe and respectable club, close but not too close, for a season to let them mature in the English game. Something stinks around here and the smell is increasingly eminating from Roman Abramovich's direction.

this is wrong i think, I hear Malbranque and Chimbonda are done deals for Spurs...

maybe it's VDM's dog?

i don't believe he exists

i don't think we've played that badly so far - ok, against blackburn for the first hour we were shoddy, but the last half hour we played as well as i've seen us play for ages!

my old sociology lecturer was called Robin Manser. He did a load of research (commissioned by FIFA if my memory serves me) and wrote a load of books. he was a really intelligent guy and was really down-to-earth - he was studying a subject that fascinated him. anyway, he's written some good books, so check him out!!

that game i was stuck in london (as i am far too often) but i watched it in some sports bar in piccadilly and was surrounded by manyoo fans. when dunc scored i went absolutely f**kin ballistic!!

yeah i agree - can't be blamed for not bringing him in, no one will take Wright and Nace cos they're gash, and the wage bill's too high

unfortunately I'll be at Secret Garden Party (festival).... I'm praying I'll be able to get reception on me phone to check the scores!!!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/t...ton/4783727.stm

let's be honest, it's just nice to have a few options for once. i still wouldn't mind having an experienced back-up for Johnson and beattie, but if you think about it we've got AJ Beatts Victor Vaughan and then we could also use Faddy so, five strikers really, which is more than i can remember for MANY a year!

he'll be fine. i never worry too much about preseason form anyway, i don't think it counts for ANYTHING. (apart from with Victor of course, who's gonna be amazing, based on his preseason form )

wonder if we'll show any interest? wouldn't mind taking him a squad player, even if he is a mentalist... http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/t...ers/5230772.stm

If in the unlikely event we found ourselves with 50 million to spend on players, I'd buy... A quality goalkeeper - not many about though - maybe Shay Given? (i'm a big fan) - probably get him for 4 or 5 million A decent utility full back - primarily as back-up for Hibbo and Valente cos I don't see the point of getting rid of them completely, but I'd be willing to spend about 4 or 5 mil on getting good cover. A good holding player - there's a few about - Vieira, Appiah being the ones I'm biggest fan of - maybe 7/8 mil A livewire winger - Ribery maybe? probably 14 mil which leaves about 10 million I think - which I'd spend on getting Nugent in for 4 mil and Gravesen back where he belongs

ah, it all becomes clear, you're "one of those"! anyway, bloody good news if it's true, haven't seen it anywhere other than that site so far this morning though, wonder if we might get a club statement today at some point>?

oooooooooh exciting....and it's from a reputable source for once. one question Adam, what are you doing reading ThisIsMoney?!?!

when i saw carsley in the team the other day against celtic i was thinking that i was really pleased moyes wasn't overlooking him - i think he's a great lynchpin in midfield. however, carsley may feel he's not gonna be first team next year, in which case fair play he may as well move on. it'd be a shame to see him go though, always gonna be a useful squad player

i thought he joined Celtic this summer? maybe i'm thinking of someone else

be a bit unfair on the rest of the league, and also not great for our wage bill if we sign the whole of Gravesend.....

to be honest VDM's the one guy who in this situation I would say 1.5 mil isn't enough. reason i say that is that IF he gets fit and stays fit, he could be a world-beater. if he was only ever gonna be as good as kilbane, I'd say now that we should cash in and get rid. but something's nagging at me saying he's gonna turn good and be amazing for us.... got my fingers firmly crossed on this one...