You Can't Always Get What You Want But If You Try Sometimes.....?

You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you might find you get what you need - These old Rolling Stones lyrics pretty much sum up where West Ham United are in the great scheme of things, not tragic in any way but not where they were supposed to be. The issue of course is that compared to their European rivals, Barclays Premier league clubs are cash rich and therefore even relegation candidates are able to chase player targets that in the past would have been completely out of their reach.

Even the most grudging of Hammers fans will agree that the board did finally push the boat out for Manuel Pellegrini by substantially backing him in the transfer market, their fear is however that this was a one off and that the board will revert to their 'cheapies and loanees' policies of the past. The idea behind bringing Pellegrini in was to break the shackles of being an also ran club and become genuine top six contenders, unfortunately there are a whole host of 'mid table' clubs with exactly the same aspirations.

Through a virtual default the club has learned about relying on one particular player, Arnautovic's 'Chinagate' situation may well have been a blessing in disguise, as Pellegrini seems content to confine 'Arnie' to the past and look forward to utilising players that HE has signed, not strop heads that he inherited. So it seems that unintentionally Hammers discovered the way forward, no longer will one player dictate what happens, rather a collective, a team, not a one man show. Fans may not be getting what they hoped for, but maybe this relative stability is what they need, for the time being. - Ed