Why did we sign them?

“Why the hell did we sign him?” I am certain 100% of football fans have asked themselves this question at some point.

When it comes to football transfers you can have huge successes like Paolo Di Canio or expensive, multi-million pound flops like Freddie Ljungberg . Everyone is envious of Newcastle’s ability to unearth world class players at ‘Sports Direct’ prices, to do that consistently requires judgement rather than luck.

One of my favourite 80’s cheeseball comedy’s is Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, for those of you that haven’t seen the film Ferris was the master of winging it and blagging his way through life, Ferris was a classic cheeky chappy with the type of personality that could sell ice to an Eskimo.

In Hollywood movies everything turns out peachy for characters like Ferris Bueller. In reality life’s chancer’s eventually get found out for what they are. When we look at some of West Ham’s least successful singings you might wonder if a Ferris Bueller type character was calling the shots on these transfers.

Frederick Piquionne

At times in his career Freddie Piquionne has looked a useful player demonstrating a fair amount of skill, pace and heading ability, most of the time during his West Ham career Freddie Piquionne played like an absolute spanner.

Freddie has never been a prolific goal scorer but he did use to be a highly effective front player. Freddie is a classic example of right player, wrong time. Had we signed Freddie Piquionne 5/6 years earlier I am certain West Ham fans would have fond memories of him. As it stands we signed him just as his age finally caught up with him.

Why did we sign? Because Freddie used to be good and we didn’t account for the fact that some players in their 30’s are susceptible to a rapid decline in ability.

 

Sam Baldock & Nicky Maynard

Are Sam Baldock and Nicky Maynard Premier League class? That is a different debate for another time.  What is not in any doubt is that Nicky Maynard and Sam Baldock have the goal scorer’s instinct.

Why was Little Sam was purchased though. West Ham clearly set up in a 451/433 formation with a big guy occupying the central striking position? It baffles me why we purchased him as Little Sam was never going to get the opportunities he deserved in the system West Ham played. It does not make any sense for Allardyce to sign a small striker.

I make exactly the same case for Nicky Maynard. His attributes do not fit the profile of a burley Sam Allardyce central striker who can hold the ball up.

Why did we sign them? I would estimate Sam Baldock was not an Allardyce signing and Nicky Maynard was brought in as a short term fix to nick a few goals. Unfortunately it didn’t work out for either player.

John Carew
My fondest memory of john Carew is watching him for Lyon versus Real Madrid in 2006, Big John absolutely dominated the Real Madrid defenders who bounced off him every time they tried to make a tackle. Big John scored a back heel in the game and left an imprint in my memory that he was a world class player.  Unfortunately by the time he arrived at West Ham for the 2011/12 season Big John was a shadow of his former self. He wasn’t even championship class and only made 19 appearances (mainly due to injury of other strikers).

Why did we sign him? John Carew had the ability to dominate uncompromising Championship defenders however that ability had long since diminished.

Yaniv Katan

Yaniv Katan was competing with Harewood, Sheringham, Zamora and Ashton for a starting place in Alan Pardew’s West Ham side and Katan had similar qualities to his striking peers e.g. Sheringham’s lack of pace, Harewoods lack of composure, Zamora’s lack of dribbling ability, Dean Ashtons lack of creativity.

After 5 minutes of Katan’s debut I turned to my friend and said “Mark my words, Yaniv Katan will never be a West Ham regular, he is going to be a flop.” Whoever decided West Ham should sign Yaniv Katan should never be allowed to make a judgement call on player transfers ever again.

West Ham paid a modest £100k for Yaniv Katan which was about £999,999 over the odds. Katan made a total of 6 appearances for the Hammers before re-signing for Maccabi Haifa.

Why did we sign him? God only knows!