I've heard the term "a moment of clarity" used many times in various scenarios.
Since my brain tends to gravitate towards the less intellectual side of things, I couldn't help but remember that amazing scene in Pulp Fiction where Jules tells Vincent that he is leaving the life of crime that they are both immersed in.Jules says he had "what alcoholics refer to as a Moment Of Clarity" right after a bunch of bullets whizz by their ears and Vincent subsequently blows Marvin's face off with a shotgun in the back of their car. I wanted to find a more clinical definition of the phrase, and this is what I've found.
"A moment of clarity is when you suddenly get a deep understanding of some truth that's been out of reach for you".
Deserved or not, The David's have a reputation among many West Ham United supporters of being not exactly the most ambitious owners in terms of buying players. They point to their history of being relegated four times, three times with Birmingham City and once with us.
They claim that our board make derisory bids, knowing they will be rejected, just so they can claim to have tried. And to get us linked with tons of players to help drive ticket sales.
One particularly vocal, and sometimes vulgar, guy on Twitter goes on endlessly about that fact. Any time we are linked with a decent player he will scream that it will never happen, that all we will ever get are "loans, freebies, and cheap foreign imports".
But in the past few days, even THAT guy has been offering praise to his sworn lifelong enemies. I wondered if his account had been hacked I was so shocked.
I'm not saying that I believe they do all of the squirmy things described above. I have no idea. But by the same token, I can't say that they don't manipulate the media and the fans to accomplish certain goals. Nothing in big money business surprises me anymore.
But look at our window so far. All five players are of sufficient quality or value that the minute their names came up alongside ours, none of you can tell me that you were not only concerned something would go wrong, you expected it to. But each one have come over the line.
Mauro Zarate
When he signed, I immediately called an Argentine friend of mine. He was pretty clear. We got a very good player, he told me. I wrote about it elsewhere if you want to have a look.
Cheikhou Kouyate
It took about five seconds after the first round of rumours that people took to Twitter saying they would be over the moon if we pulled that off. In many cases it was followed by a second Tweet saying they were sure it would never happen, it was a season ticket ploy, yada yada yada.
Aaron Cresswell
A slight exception here, only because his name came up so quickly we didn't have time to become anxious. That's probably one of the reasons some supporters have taken to Twitter recently to criticise the move because it scuppered a deal for another highly rated back from Nice with a painfully difficult name to spell. But I'm pretty sure if we had been linked with the left back named to The Championship Top 11 for a few weeks, doom and gloom would have reared its regularly scheduled head.
Having never watched either player, I'd go for a top defender from a league where tough defense and physical play is the standard over a top defender from a league not exactly known for its defensive play. Oh, and Cresswell was a lot less expensive than that Kolo guy.
Diego Poyet
I can only judge by the people criticising the kid for coming to us when other "bigger" teams were interested in him that this is a good deal for us.
Enner Valencia
Our latest arrival. Usually when a player bursts on the scene during the World Cup like Valencia has it's the teams that print their own currency that take the high priced risk. 18 goals in 23 games for Pachuca, three goals at The World Cup. OK, Harry. Come and get him. Or will Everton kidnap him? Maybe a club in Spain?
So why the shift in the paradigm?
I'm thinking fear ignited our board's Moment Of Clarity. As terrified as we all were at times last season of being relegated, you have to believe they were absolutely soiling themselves from terror. The Olympic Stadium, Andy Carroll's contract, the new television deal. Not to mention the extremely competitive nature of The Championship threatening to grab hold of us and not let go for a very long time.
Somewhere, somehow, they realized they had to alter their plans and their way of thinking. The rewards were too great, the risks too dire. By adding a little more creativity to their transfer window approach, along with a little more money, they could make their lives a lot easier.
And anybody still against the Olympic Stadium move, ask yourself this question. Do you think the owners used the Olympic Stadium as a selling tool to convince these players to choose West Ham? Of course they did. Would they have been able to sell West Ham as a team with a brighter future than present if we were staying at Upton Park? I seriously doubt it.
Obviously the ultimate judgment on these moves will come on the pitch. For all I know these guys could be sequels to the Maiga and Diarra horror movies. But to my way of thinking, there would have been little to no chance to see this play out if David Sullivan and David Gold hadn't taken a long hard look at themselves and decided these old dogs need to learn some new tricks.
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