Great Expectations, anyone?

Just wondering how the rest of you were feeling about the season in prospec,as I must admit that I am feeling rather downbeat.
We made hard w**k of getting back out of the Chumps despite having what was to all intents and purposes a Premier League squad, and the poor home performances really depressed me. Over the season all our strikers struggled to score goals - I try to persuade myself that it might have been a collective loss of form, but I fear that it was a lack of real creativity in midfield which is, as yet, not addressed,and scoring goals will be twice as hard back in the Prem.
Even with PL money rolling in again we are still carrying a massive backlog of debt,and the Daves' first priority is to get the club financially sound again, no arguing with that. But our ambitions as I see it will not really go beyond keeping out of that bottom three, and what money we spend on signings will not go beyond building a squad that is hard to beat and hopes to grab a few goals. We've got the right manager for that, I was really unenthusiastic when he was appointed but must admit he's the right man for the club in present circumstances. Who knows, BFS may yet make himself a West Ham leg-end, at least he won't be eyeing the England job for a while.
I'm trying to get into the mindset of taking every point gained as an achievement, and not expecting very much in the hope that I might be pleasantly surprised. Anyone with a bit more optimism?? I'm willing to be fired with a bit more enthusiasm, just can't quite manage it myself at the moment...

We are going to win the league!........................

Your thoughts are just about spot on for the way I feel about the coming season SOI, the line at the top was an attempt at optamism, but it only lasted as long as it took to write, then reality kicked in. Staying up will be a result, and one I would be happy with.

West Ham, like England, are on a slow but steadily improving path. I feel optimistic for the coming season; although I don’t expect us to be pulling up any trees I don’t expect us to end the season in a relegation battle. The fixture list has been kind and the early points gained will be invaluable for giving us confidence. The managerial merry-go-round gives us a distinct advantage with clubs that would have been on a par with us taking time to get used to the new bloke.

COYI

Suzanne Claret wrote:West Ham, like England, are on a slow but steadily improving path. I feel optimistic for the coming season; although I don’t expect us to be pulling up any trees I don’t expect us to end the season in a relegation battle. The fixture list has been kind and the early points gained will be invaluable for giving us confidence. The managerial merry-go-round gives us a distinct advantage with clubs that would have been on a par with us taking time to get used to the new bloke.

COYI

That last bit is very true, there will be a lot of people starting from scratch and at least we are settled with a manager with loads of Prem experience. I'm feeling more optimistic already

What was that old Ian Dury song called? " Reasons to be Cheerful"? C'mon folks, there must be some more...

SemiOldIron wrote:

Suzanne Claret wrote:West Ham, like England, are on a slow but steadily improving path. I feel optimistic for the coming season; although I don’t expect us to be pulling up any trees I don’t expect us to end the season in a relegation battle. The fixture list has been kind and the early points gained will be invaluable for giving us confidence. The managerial merry-go-round gives us a distinct advantage with clubs that would have been on a par with us taking time to get used to the new bloke.

COYI

That last bit is very true, there will be a lot of people starting from scratch and at least we are settled with a manager with loads of Prem experience. I'm feeling more optimistic already

What was that old Ian Dury song called? " Reasons to be Cheerful"? C'mon folks, there must be some more...

Of course that last bit is true dear, I said it

I’m hoping we stay up without having to sweat out the end of the season however to do this we need some new players who are better than we have at the moment.

Which players are no good Charlie? I reckon we have the basis of a fairly good squad. We only need:
1) a top striker ( pay plenty and get the best)
2) a solid cb to be backup to Tomka & Reido
3) a good holding mid
4) another fullback, not sure if a left or right
Cheers

manurewa hammer wrote:Which players are no good Charlie? I reckon we have the basis of a fairly good squad. We only need:
1) a top striker ( pay plenty and get the best)
2) a solid cb to be backup to Tomka & Reido
3) a good holding mid
4) another fullback, not sure if a left or right
Cheers

well MH although I don't claim to be a mindreader I'm pretty sure that "Pay plenty and get the best" is NOT the motto of Gold and Sullivan, " Pay as little as possible and make sure you don't buy crap" might be more like it. They are building a squad first and foremeost to consolidate our position in the Prem; new signings will by and large simply be experienced, competent, reliable and agree to be paid a sensible wage. I really don't expect any flashy big-name signings at all, anyway we have had our fingers burnt far too many times like that.

manurewa hammer wrote:Which players are no good Charlie? I reckon we have the basis of a fairly good squad. We only need:
1) a top striker ( pay plenty and get the best)
2) a solid cb to be backup to Tomka & Reido
3) a good holding mid
4) another fullback, not sure if a left or right
Cheers

Not saying present players are not good enough but they do need some help to stay up.
You yourself have mentioned 4 position where you would like to see replacement players brought in.
I would like to see 6 new players brought in on top of what has already been brought.

I think we have a squad more then capable of staying in the premiership this year and we have a decent manager aswell who I know I have slated for his football etc but he has made us a very hard team to beat and seems to only sign players who will improve us not come just to make up the squad numbers ! The areas I want to new players coming are :

GK:Would like one more decent keeper to back up jussie and Henderson
CB:Maybe one or two new CB`s to cover Reid and Tomkins
LB:Persuming we do get McCartney on a permentant deal would like one more LB for cover
CF:Would like one or two decent goal scorers as It still remains to be seen wether Maynard and Baldock will do well in the prem ( I think Both will well IMO )
I would of said a CM aswell but now we have brought in Diama we dont need more midfielders IMO