We're in the money!
Filed: Wednesday, 27th August 2008
By: Staff Writer
West Ham United have recorded a £10million transfer profit - thus far - in the current transfer window.
With less than a week to go until the window closes (1st September) the Hammers show a healthy profit in terms of transfer fees this summer. The sales of Anton Ferdinand, Bobby Zamora and John Paintsil have generated an estimated £14.3million - whilst the only major outlay so far this summer (and in the last 12 months) was the £5million purchase of Valon Behrami from Lazio.
These figures are in stark contrast to last year when the club recorded a deficit of £24.6million in the transfer market thanks to the purchase of players such as Craig Bellamy, Kieron Dyer, Julien Faubert, Matthew Upson and Scott Parker. The total outlay of (an estimated) £46.6million was however countered by a number of player sales - including Nigel Reo-Coker, Yossi Benayoun, Marlon Harewood and Paul Konchesky - worth approximately £22million.
Since the new Board took control of the club in November 2006, West Ham United have recorded a total transfer outlay of an estimated £14.8million (excluding player salaries) despite having received nearly £60million in prize money and TV funding.
The club's Icelandic owners, led by Chairman Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson have been forced to vastly reduce spending in this summer's transfer window thanks to a number of costly off-field issues.
United have reached out of court settlements with both Terry Brown and Kia Joorabchian, who were suing the club for £5million and £7million respectively with regard to contractual issues, whilst paying off Freddie Ljungberg's lucrative deal is estimated to have cost Gudmundsson somewhere between £3-6million.
Added to which is the impending decision relating to compensation for Championship club Sheffield United who recently took the Hammers to a court of arbitration in respect of their relegation from the Premiership two seasons ago.
Transfers - Ins
August 2008: Jan Lastuvka - loan
July 2008: Valon Behrami - £5m; Holmar Orn Eyjolfsson - nominal fee
August 2007: Nobby Solano - free transfer; Henri Camara - loan; Kieron Dyer - £6m
July 2007: Freddie Ljungberg - £3m; Craig Bellamy £7.5m; Richard Wright - free transfer; Scott Parker - £7m; Julien Faubert - £6.1m
January 2007: Matthew Upson - £6m; Kepa Blanco - loan; Lucas Neill - £1.5m; Nigel Quashie - £1.5m; Calum Davenport - £3m; Luis Boa Morte - £5m
November 2006: Gabor Kiraly - loan
Transfers - Outs
August 2008: Anton Ferdinand - £8m*; Freddie Ljungberg - free transfer
July 2008: Richard Wright - £500k; Bobby Zamora - £4.8m*; John Paintsil - £1.5m*
June 2008: Henri Camara - end of loan
May 2008: Nobby Solano - free
August 2007: Carlos Tevez - £2m*
July 2007: Marlon Harewood - £4.5m; Paul Konchesky - £2m; Yossi Benayoun - £4m*; Nigel Reo-Coker - £8.5m; Tyrone Mears - £1m; Teddy Sheringham - free transfer; Roy Caroll - free transfer; Shaun Newton - free transfer; Kepa Blanco - end of loan
January 2007: Javier Mascherano - free transfer
December 2006: Gabor Kiraly - loan ended
Totals
Expenditure 2008: £5m
Expenditure 2007: £46.6m
Total Expenditure: £51.6m
Receipts 2008: £14.8m
Receipts 2007: £22m
Total Receipts: £36.8m
Transfer Expenditure 2008: -£9.8m
Transfer Expenditure 2007: £24.6m
Total Transfer Expenditure: £14.8m
* Best estimates of undisclosed fees.
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by George
10:40AM 28th Aug 2008
''First we should get rid of all Curbs useless players who do not deserve to wear the shirt i.e Quashie, Boa Morte and Davenport then we should get rid of Curbs and his assistant Day and with the money earnt from the transfers bring in Bilic as manager and Di Canio as assistant. Oh, and get rid of the most unneeded man at the club, Gianluca Nani - anyone could do that job for a tenth of his salary, these Icelandic owners havent a clue about English football.''
by lawrence
09:20AM 28th Aug 2008
''We are not a top 5 club - we have very limited ambition (staying up) and we play bloody awful football with Curbishley in charge.
Our transfer dealings with Mr Curbishley (apart from one or two maybe) have been poor - injury prone players who will give you half a season at best.
£7.5m record buy does say it all particularly when we look at how much we are getting for players that we have sold.
Right we get rid of these: Boa Morte, Quashie, Spector (give them away) and Curbishley.
Bring in a football man who knows how to play proper football - choice of Brooking, Bilic or Harry or even Di Canio.
Thats a start and then maybe we can get football players wanting to come to our once great club.''
by Neil Copeman
08:53PM 27th Aug 2008
''We should use that £10 million to get rid of Curbs. I'm sick of going week in, week out to watch football as drab as his post-match interviews. His football is boring, unimaginative and void of any tactics. I would love if he could talk me through the system he is trying to play, as I am yet to see any in the whole time he has been at the club. What worked and satisfied at Charlton isn't good enough for this level. Even with the injuries of last season, the 11 man side Curbs put out were still professionals and should have been able to play to a system, but it continued to be directionless. A theme which has continued to the new season.
Get Curbishley out, a man considered to the most overrated man within football, and that's people who have worked with him talking.
''
by Kev
04:09PM 27th Aug 2008
''Don't forget they paid freddy 6 mill.
Be nice to get rid of the worst players first; Gabbidon, Carlton Cole, Boa Morte, Spector, Quashie (who is on 600000 plus a year works out 11,000 per week), Bowyer and last - but a must - is Curbs. ''
by Tony Cox
03:24PM 27th Aug 2008
''Is someone trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear here?
Regardless of transfer money in and out, that makes no difference if you're buying the wrong player (Boa Morte, Quashie, Neil)! I think any Hammer would've been happy if the board paid the £25m to keep Tevez and be in debt a little longer but then I don't think the board think about the fans or the passionate football we deserve for a change.
If this club is gonna stop being a selling club and want to push on in to the top 7, top 5, as it professes to, then they have got to start spending. That old saying 'speculate to accumulate' could never be put in to a more apt concept right now than at any other time!
I fear if good money isn't spent on good players pretty soon, we will all be digging in our pockets for the train fare to play Scunthorpe next season!''
by Tell it how it is Charley
03:11PM 27th Aug 2008
''This article may be some what misleading. Ferdinand's transfer may be the subject of capital gains tax at 40% Thus knock off £3.2m the club will have to pay in tax. The same applies to all other transfers if the player was sold for more than he was bought for.''
by Damien Lucas
03:08PM 27th Aug 2008
''Fair play to you guys for highlighting the complete overall LACK of spending since these Icelandic frauds took over our beloved club. Maybe it was a case of 'better the devil you know' with Terence Brown, at least we knew where we stood, there were no blatant lies on transfer ambitions and we knew every now and then he would sell off the crown jewels.
We are just the new Stoke City with these Icelanders. Signing the world's promising youngsters is a new brief apparently. Well I'm afraid Spurs are doing that, not us. The club is once again a joke, and once again it's nothing to do with its wonderful but now very weary and disgruntled fanbase. Our time of spending, being ambitious, not having to sell off the Academy players and finally being able to compete for top players lasted all of 6 months, during which time we didn't really sign any top players did we. I mean let's face it we had Yossi and Tevez/Mascherano as signings in previous seasons.
It'll be a record low attendance tonight for a good few years. Yes it will have something to do with the opposition (no disrespect Macclesfield because you are a PROPER football club) and the stage of the competition/ticket prices on top of extortionate ST prices but also to do with the fact we still are, and probably always will be a selling club with little or no REAL ambition.
I'm all for not wasting money and throwing away money on players but to still have £7.5mil as our record buy and the target of Europe is quite frankly embarrassing. It's about time we had a team, manager and style of play to be proud of. Because one thing's for sure, the vast majority of the club's fans never let us down. More broken promises, more lies and more plundering of our hard-earned money yet again.
Go away BG and jump in a geyser.''
