Everything comes to those who wait
- by Paul Walker
- Filed: Thursday, 26th June 2025
It’s not a popular view, but you can’t help feeling a little sorry for Graham Potter as this painful transfer window has unfolded.
He must have known about our perilous financial state when he was interviewed, but he was promised money in the summer - and so far there’s not been a cent. And he seems to have got it in the neck a little too much.Times, though, seem to be changing as we enter July, with the players back in training in the next couple of weeks and the three-match trip to the USA coming up from 26 July.
Here we were being constantly told that the cash issue was all about us being right at the top of our PSR limit, despite the fact the football finance experts insisted we were some £95m short of any punishment and the seventh healthiest club in this respect in the Premier League.
The grifters were out there telling us we had to sell to buy, no option. Kyle Macaulay and Potter have been diligently going about their business it seems, but more than a few targets have been lost to rivals.
Sullivan, with some justification it hurts to say, could have wanted to redress the balance a bit from last summer’s spending bonanza, which failed miserably and saw the axing of Julen Lopetegui and, eventually, Tim Steidten. It has to be pointed out, though, that Sullivan signs the cheques and is ultimately responsible for who we employ.
And guess what? The long list of players we wanted to get rid of has failed to produce much interest. Clubs are not stupid, they can spot a wounded animal a mile off and were never going to help us get out of this mess.
It’s not as if they didn’t know that Mo Kudus had a two-week window in July where the big bucks release clause was in operation. Anything after that was just the market force, so clubs were obviously going to wait to try low-ball offers.
There have been very few bids generally. Tomas Soucek made it clear he didn’t want to go anywhere and nobody was prepared to pay £65m plus for Kudus, now with a new agent and a single-minded approach to his future, which did not mean being hived off to the Saudis at 24 for the £85m release clause, no doubt much to Sullivan’s disgust.
Next week all bets are off. The ten players we have released, including some European heroes, will all officially leave when their contracts are up on 30 June. Some £2m a month coming off the wage bill should give Potter some wriggle room.
And then there’s Nayef Aguerd, who should return to training from his successful loan at Real Sociadad. He’s said he won’t be back, so the need to find a buyer is even more acute. Ad of course the Lucas Paqueta saga is vexing everyone, with no conclusion and therefore no possible transfer fee in sight.
Meanwhile the plan to sell Edson Alvarez won’t be helped with him still playing for Mexico and due a statuary, contracted two-week break when he does return. So, once again, the desire for early cash slips further away.
So here are with no money—cash flow now seems to be the villain (where have we heard that before?)—and our wonderful board have seen the light and are prepared to stump up some loot so that Potter can do his job properly, otherwise we have a severely reduced squad, experience being shown the door, and the need to put together a squad that does not have ‘relegation candidates’ stamped right through it.
As it is now clearly a cash flow issue, this could have been done weeks ago to aid Potter’s revamp. The idea has been floated this week here and with several other sources with no sign yet of our own football version of Lord Haw Haw to knock down the idea.
To be fair, this has been a complicated window. Split into two and ending on 1 September when the season has already started is not ideal. There have been World Cup qualifiers everywhere you look, the Club World Cup distracting everyone, plus the European Under 21 finals in which we have a few targets, it seems.
The window, however, should be seen in perspective. It has been slow. Manchester City and Liverpool have spent big, but that’s expected, they have the money and the pick of top level Champions League players.
But five clubs have not bought anyone yet, six if you include us and the completing of the Jean-Clair Todibo deal. Another seven have bought just one player. So it’s not just West Ham United treading water.
It has brought the club to a point where a new approach surely is imperative. They should be considering cash injection from current board members, new investment from outside and a share issue.
In the midst of all this there are those writing meaningful articles wanting Potter sacked. There’s also been near-libellous criticism of his recruitment mate Kyle Macaulay, someone clearly doubting his professional ability.
It’s been the window from nowhere, going nowhere. Fans have been enraged by the lack of transfer activity and pointing the finger—quite rightly—at owner Sullivan and his vapid board.
Potter received plenty of stick last season for the embarrassing fade-out, and the knives have been out again this summer, before he’s even bought a player! And as for Macaulay, one of the more excitable fans’ sites allowed someone—no named quotes obviously—to question our Director of Recruitment's ability to close down transfers.
This being the guy who we had to pay Chelsea £1m to release, who they had kept on after axing Potter. Macaulay came to us with an excellent reputation in the trade for his analytical excellence at identifying young players. He didn’t deserve the level of abuse he got.
Fundamentally, with a story of that serious nature maybe someone should have thought long and hard about publishing, and wonder if the source had an ulterior motive.
What followed was a death threat, it seems, for the guy responsible, and that’s where you should draw the line. That was outrageous; way, way out of order. This is only football chat. The perpetrator should be ashamed of him (or her) self.
As for the Potter axe nonsense, Sullivan would never sack another manager in such short time, he couldn’t afford it. Potter will need time to get his major refit into operation, so many changes we are told, so many young players to integrate.
The fact that we play only 13 Premier League games in the first four months of next season—there are international breaks in September, October and November—it could well be Christmas before we see the whole plan gelling.
So with potential new money in the pipeline and the pre-season kicking off properly next week, we may see some new faces soon. I still believe Potter knows what he is doing and will revitalise the squad.
Mohamadou Kante, the 19 year-old from Paris FC and Scottish striker Daniel Cummings, both become fully fledged new signings next week. One of KUMB’s more diligent members has kept a list of players linked with us this window, and it’s 132 and rising. Surely Potter can get half a dozen from that lot?
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