Summer 2017 Transfer: The final countdown and the fallout

thornburyiron

Well they're being shown on Sky so maybe they are genuine.

tomkinsworldclass

Scarcely believable. For our managers (supposed) top target, we offer less than £8 million up front and try to boost it with near mythical add-ons like qualifying for the champions league and starting in 85% of our games. Such an embarrassing episode for the club.

Lukerz

This whole episode is a joke.

claretandbluesky

It is of course something which needs verifying but if legit it is embarrassing and an example of chancing your arm, as an offer such as that was highly unlikely to be accepted unless the selling club were desperate. It does however allow you to say you tried for a player and of course it doesn't usually get exposed as a virtual non attempt, If true I think the owners will have lost a lot of credibility. I have tended give the benefit of the doubt to our owners but I have never got away from a nagging doubt that they are just barrow boys done well and out of their depth in the Premier league football arena.

Lets see what transpires as this email could be made up. My doubts will still remain either way however.

baracks_a_hammer

I think what has happened here is that sporting lisbon's spam filter has identified an email containing both "West Ham" and "Champions League" and has routed it straight to junk mail.

So technically neither party is telling untruths. Can we all move on now please?

baracks_a_hammer

I suspect the Daves probably also bid for Mbappe

£5m (to be paid in instalments up to 2025) plus a further £2m in add ons provided West Ham conceded fewer than 10 league goals all season

Adam

Haha. I doubt that's legit. 'Or we'll be borrowing aplayer from PSG' is the giveaway for me.

IronHerb

So you ask for proof, they give you proof and yet they are still derided. ;lol

grey_til_I_dye

I don't think it is genuine, but I fail to see how, were this to be shown to be genuine, this embarrasses the club in any way.

MrsGrey

Adam said:

Haha. I doubt that's legit. 'Or we'll be borrowing aplayer from PSG' is the giveaway for me.

This. Or is this one of those times when 'Whoosh' is appropriate? ;biggrin

NEoldiron

You'd hope that Sully's English would be better than that ;hmm

secrethammersfan

For me, if it's a 'fake' email, written when SL asked for proof, then it's shameful.
If it's a real email, sent weeks ago, and that's how the director of a PL football club sends in his offers (the electronic version of the back of a cigarette packet), then it's shameful.

There is no third option.

MrsGrey

A spoof? You are ruling that out?

ASLEFshrugged

I just can't believe those emails are genuine, not even Sully could be that stupid



Could he?

sweepy23

This whole episode is nothing but embarrassing.

1) Why are we in a fight with Sporting? Irrespective who is right or wrong it paints the club in a bad light and others will be wary of doing business with us.

2) Why is the fight so public? If DS didn't shout his mouth off, any disagreements could've been dealt with behind closed doors.

3) If clubs have acted inappropriately they normally just get referred to Fifa/Uefa. Why has this become such a public slagging match?

4) If real, the offer email is a disgrace. The presentation and vocab is a joke. Do they know about attachments and letter headed paper?

5) If the owners are going to court, then keep your mouth shut until the case. For me this proves they will never go to court and are trying desperately to save face.

6) Sporting are now reporting us to Fifa for tapping up the player, which supposedly will force all correspondence into the public domain.

7) If we were serious, where are the other offers? There would have been negotiations. I remember reading that other offers were put forward and that we were only 3m euros away from their 35m valuation. I also remember reading that they wanted nearly all of it upfront. Was this all just spin to make the fans think we were trying when in fact we weren't?

8) Again if the email is real, DS supposedly works 24/7 on transfers. The email looked like it took all of 2 minutes to write.

9) DS should just be a grown up and pick up the phone to Sporting and deal with this privately.

10) Why are email addresses blacked out on the email?

I'm sorry but this whole episode is a such a damning indictment of West Ham and the world of football in general. The amount of money, the global reach, the customers involved, wages being paid less than the minimum wage, the pretense of professionalism, when you really know it is still a lads club, run by people who make dodgy deals, hide money, lie and are complete chancers. It is a billion dollar global industry, being run like a market stall.

MrsGrey

On 1, Do you think it would paint the club in abetter light if the owner was called a liar and worse, and that was just left unchallenged. In what way would that give other clubs confidence to do business with us?

2,3 and 5. When did DS shout his mouth off? In what way is it a 'slanging match'? He made a short and fairly uncontroversial comment about why the Carvalho deal didn't go through, indicating it was his choice not to proceed in the circumstances. The Sporting president came out and called them names in public. DS hasn't responded in kind, he has kept quiet apart from a simple statement repeating that they did put in a bid for the player. The only thing that has been said publicly is that Dav Jr has stated that Sullivan will be taking legal action. Since then, there has been no public comment by DA (so, as you say, he is keeping his mouth shut.)

And if the emails are just spoofs/fakes?

PS, what money have they hidden? Do tell!

billybondsbeard

The problem for me is - I believe that the emails are genuine by the way - is that Sporting are quite rightly making this public, and exposing Sully for the embarrasment that he truly is.
He makes a real low ball offer, fairly early in the window, of only £8m down on a player with a £40m release clause, and has probably not sent it to SL, but to an agent (hence the redactions ? )- a prima facie case of tapping up and unsettling a player to add to Sportings ongoing woes.
He then has obviously not followed this up, saying things like "the balls in Sportings court/We made a substantial offer for the player/Sporting are difficult to deal with "etc When he had done no follow up at all, or he would have surely produced further email evidence. The OS has not dismissed the emails as from a fake account. The silence from Brady is deafening as well.

This is the next level we were promised....

Yeoldhammer

Those letters surely cannot be real why would you ever refer to the club under WHU in an official letter of intent for a player. Surely it would be West Ham United Football Club.

Then you would write in a letter you are borrowing a player from PSG if this does not happen.

The letters seem like complete fakes and to stupid to even consider real. Im sure DS has enough business nous to know in matters like transfers a more professional and legitimate letter would be produced and i imagine it wouldn't come straight from David Sullivans e-mail, surely there would be an official West Ham United e-mail account to deal with such dealings as Transfers and the such.

MrsGrey

For me, if they are genuine, I think the language and presentation (and lack of proofreading) is unprofessional.

I have no issue with making an opening offer of a lower price than the club claims itwants - everybody does it. eg, Everton/Sigurdsson, Roma/Mahrez, Sampdoria/Wilshere, Man City/Mendy. It's not 'embarrasing'.

I also have no issue with the proposals to spread the fee over 3 years. Again, that is quite normal. All clubs do it.

billybondsbeard

Yeold
Thats why I think that the e mail is to an agent, rather than an official bid. I dont believe there ever was an official bid.
The language is more casual.
If it was to SL official email address, why redact it? That would prove he was telling the truth. Instead, in a ham fisted attempt to prove he'd done something, he has provided SL with the evidence to show to FIFA that he was tapping up Carvalho .
I believe the E mails are genuine, because they are just bad enough IMO.

sweepy23

MrsGrey said:

On 1, Do you think it would paint the club in abetter light if the owner was called a liar and worse, and that was just left unchallenged. In what way would that give other clubs confidence to do business with us?

2,3 and 5. When did DS shout his mouth off? In what way is it a 'slanging match'? He made a short and fairly uncontroversial comment about why the Carvalho deal didn't go through, indicating it was his choice not to proceed in the circumstances. The Sporting president came out and called them names in public. DS hasn't responded in kind, he has kept quiet apart from a simple statement repeating that they did put in a bid for the player. The only thing that has been said publicly is that Dav Jr has stated that Sullivan will be taking legal action. Since then, there has been no public comment by DA (so, as you say, he is keeping his mouth shut.)

And if the emails are just spoofs/fakes?

1. This has come out because of the way the club have conducted their business. If you treat people you do business with, with respect. When things go wrong, it doesn't come out in public. The fact that this has come out in the first place is in itself an example of how we conduct ourselves. Whatever the mechanics it is embarrassing that the club are going through this.

2,3 and 5. When has he not? From the get go he was stating that we didn't sign Carvalho because SL came back too late in the day. He was already blaming the other side. Blaming SL for coming back late or Slav for not wanting two other players as a reason why we didn't sign anyone, isn't acceptable for me. He's just giving excuses. If he'd just keep his mouth shut and apologise for not getting any other deals over the line none of this would've started.

I'm sorry but whatever people say, this is not positive for the football club. If responsibility doesn't sit with the owners then where does it sit?

It's a shame seeing West Ham constantly in the press for the wrong reasons. It would be nice to be able to have a sense of pride and honour back into our football club.

Now they are saying they will go to court. What a load of lies. Watch this space.

MrsGrey

Maybe they'll settle out of court in private. That would be your preferred option, I take it?

OutcastLondoner

I know sports journalism isn't the best but I don't think Sky Sports would be publishing them if they hadn't verified them - it's not just a transfer rumour, it would be bad for them if they got it wrong.

If they're fake, Sky Sports are stupider than I thought.

sweepy23

MrsGrey said:

Maybe they'll settle out of court in private. That would be your preferred option, I take it?

Yes it would be my preferred option, but unfortunately it will now be a lose lose for both sides. The rumours will just escalate.

However I feel that SL will take this to Fifa and we won't go anywhere. We will try and sweep it under the carpet.

Yeoldhammer

Hope it goes to court any more reason to unravel this clubs finances is fine by me. The figures don't match up.

sweepy23

I actually hope I am completely wrong, that the club are indeed correct and do take them to court and win. I hope that we are the better party here.

I just can't see it.

billybondsbeard

On a lighter note, on the back of the rather rude nickname our owners seem to have aquired, I believe there are plans for a lot of interestingly shaped inflatables and other naughty items that are being considered for passing around the crowd or throwing on to the running track for the benefit of the Sky cameras on Monday night. Should be fun, although pre watershed - tut tut ;wink

brookingsirons

Its all deflecting away from the fact we were never bidding anywhere near SL
valuation of the player and lets face it they wouldn't sell him to us in January now if we was the last team on earth ..

True or not why does this always happen to us ?

Circus is the word i feel today .

Moojor

brookingsirons said:

Its all deflecting away from the fact we were never bidding anywhere near SL
valuation of the player and lets face it they wouldn't sell him to us in January now if we was the last team on earth ..

True or not why does this always happen to us ?

Circus is the word i feel today .

If we were the last team on earth, SL wouldn't be a team and he could join us on a free. Not sure there would be much point though, because it's not like there would be anyone for us to play against.

Slaven_Cups_His_Beard

This is more interesting ;biggrin