Dependent upon which 'newspaper' you look at, BR ready to offer players and cash for Sinclair. In case you haven't read it yourself, these players are: Solano, Lee, Dabizas, Barton.

Doesn't say if it means ALL of them for Sinclair or just one!

Dabizas though? We're not exactly brimming with great defenders although I suppose O'B is doing well and maybe he could promote Caldwell.

Wish this story was about a bid for a central midfield player though. Can't see what Sinclair will bring to the team.

-- Anonymous, October 29, 2001

Answers

this has to be rubbish. sinclair is 29 decidedly average and a right winger. to my knowledge solano is way ahead on assists and goals and Dabz has regularly hit the prem team of the week, barton is past it and lee is just about spent. IF there is some truth in it then Bob, it would seem, has indeed gone POTTY!

-- Anonymous, October 29, 2001

No solano news in the spanish papers. Whyt when we have two wingers at last do we want to sell one?

-- Anonymous, October 29, 2001

Ananova reckons Roeder is in for Speed.....

That'll please a few of you.....

http://www.ananova.com/sport/story/sm_436587.html

-- Anonymous, October 29, 2001

Sorry, but losing Dabs would be a mighty cock up at present.

-- Anonymous, October 29, 2001

It seems clear to me that Br has decided he cannot continue playing with two lightweight wingers who are unable, or unwilling, to defend as necessary. He presumably believes this is our main problem in m/f.

So, he appears to have decided to off-load Solano, who he has had other problems with, and buy a right-sided m/f player who will get up & down the line, defending as necessary and supporting his central m/f colleagues - leaving Robert to do his thing on the left.

There is no other logic for him apparently looking exclusively at right-sided midfielders rather than a central ball-winner.

-- Anonymous, October 30, 2001

This is all very strange. WHam have two of the country's most promising youngsters in midfield - Joe Cool and Michael "Stotty" Carricks. They also have Trevor Sinclair who seems to be attracting envious glances from us and the Mackems, plus a few other clubs. So WTF would they want Gary Speed (or Rob Lee)? I could perhaps see them wanting Nobby, but not certain. In fact it is so bizarre, it will probably happen.

As for Dabs, I could see YBR using him as part-ex for Sinclair. Andy O'Brien has been a revelation this season and we have Distin, Hughes, Caldwell (x2) all vying for a place in the back four (or three??). If YBR wants Sinclair then I reckon he'd be willing to sacrifice Dabs to get him. Oops, I forgot - we've also got another CB who has vowed to fight for his place. See - we're spoiled with riches.

-- Anonymous, October 30, 2001

I think you're probably right Clarky....YBR probably feels that the central midfield guys need a bit more support from the wingers and they are never gonna get that from Nobs or Robert.....who then does he play.....Robert cost more and is playing better than Nobby....

-- Anonymous, October 30, 2001

sorry boys but in my opinion Dabizas is far too valuable to cash in on. Sinclair is not the answer. Speed and Acuna represent the real problem. A decent midfielder would do it NOT an ageing winger cum whatever. solano is a magic little player, GIVE him the platform...2 hard bastards who can pass...

-- Anonymous, October 30, 2001

Sinclair is a workaholic who can beat a man, shoot and score. If we could get him and off load any or all of Speed/Lee/Barton I'd be ecstatic.

But really, really the role Sinclair plays at WHam isn't one we're are desperate to fill UNLESS you intend to bolster the middle of the midfield by helping them from the wings. The best solution is to bolster the middle of the midfield by having decent players there, not by buying a stronger right winger. West Ham do have the answer to the problem in Michael Carrick.

I think if Ferguson was staying at Old Trafford he'd be buying Carrick before next season as the replacement for Keane. He has always seen that role as key and been happy to replace Bryan Robson with Ince then Ince with Keane when most everyone else would have waited until the incumbent player turned into Robert Lee. Keane has lost his edge and Man U need Carrick before Arsenal get him to replace Viera.

-- Anonymous, October 30, 2001

I'm not sure. Bobby has always said that we have some money for that final player so I think the CM issue is separate from the Nobby- Sinclair issue. Personally, I can't see why giving WHam three of our best players when they already have a better first eleven than us is an answer.

-- Anonymous, October 30, 2001

if we could persuade Zidane that the toon wouldn't make him depressed...

-- Anonymous, October 30, 2001

Didn't say it was my opinion Swifty....just trying to second guess YBR's thinking.....Nobby is STILL my favourite player.....

-- Anonymous, October 30, 2001

seriously though the problem is midfield where the two wingers get no service from and any type of passing is poor. replace Lee NOT Nobbs.

-- Anonymous, October 30, 2001

funny no ones mentioned Izzet, does he compare to Speed or Acunatilde?

-- Anonymous, October 30, 2001

surely a better right winger than Sinclair is that tricky little guy who seems to score a lot, er Solano...

-- Anonymous, October 30, 2001

Sinclair isn't as bad as you make out Swift....he's very hard working and tricky himself....has bags of pace and a reasonable eye for goal....IF I was going to replace Solano then he's the type of player I would go for....

-- Anonymous, October 30, 2001

The right wing is not a big issue, definitely not the biggest issue we have. For me problems in order are 1. no central midfield players of note, 2. lack of dominant centre half, 3. totally static centre forward, 4. unconvincing full backs, 5. manager in desperate need of assistance. The midfield one can only be fixed through buying.

The centre half one we get away with.

A return from injury for Cort may help

Full backs we will have to suffer

The lack of assistant manager/coach needs urgent address.

-- Anonymous, October 30, 2001

gavsy, i don't think Sinclair is bad, i just don't think he'll add anything special. he's certainly no better than Dyer but as Softie says theres little chance he's a long term prospect! Sinclair isn't either, he's nearly as old as you mate!

-- Anonymous, October 30, 2001

i would say ray parlour is a better player and can fit neatly into central mid.

-- Anonymous, October 30, 2001

Swifty - I've gone on about Izzet on here. The trouble may be the price tag.

The weird bit about all this to me is Dabizas. First-team regular and not because of a dearth of CB's, no sniff of transfer talk as far as I'm aware, he seems happy, playing pretty well, been praised on occasion by BR - well, alright, Dabidas has been praised on occasion by BR - why's he been brought into this? Nobby + Barton or Nobby + Lee (this seems to be the story as I understand it, ie it's Barton or Lee = the other two) I could live with, but chucking Dabz in? Sinclair's not that good, and neither is our defence. The only other positive consideration would be a cut in the wage bill.

-- Anonymous, October 30, 2001

Yeah but he's nearly as good looking as you ;))

-- Anonymous, October 30, 2001

That should have been a + not a =. :@)

-- Anonymous, October 30, 2001

i once saw Sinclair strolling down St James's Square in a Chris Eubank style country gent suit. Was this an omen? Will he live in Hexhamshire?

-- Anonymous, October 30, 2001

Cant really see Solano wanting to join West Ham, can you? Someone suggested before that Bobby were going to sell Solano and use the money to buy a cental m/f and use Dyer on the right with Lua Lua (and Gavilan???) as second option.

-- Anonymous, October 30, 2001

read the sly fox thread...

-- Anonymous, October 30, 2001

I divn't care who we put forward, Solano is better than Sinclair and always will be in my eyes unless he suddenly makes a major improvement - aka doing a Bellamy.

-- Anonymous, October 30, 2001

Just thinking about why it is unlikely that West Ham would take 3 or four players from us in exchange for Sinclair. Sinclair is probably on about 15K a week. How much do we think Solano, Dabs and Lee plus Barton are on? West Ham couldn't afford that wage hike.

-- Anonymous, October 31, 2001

Of course they couldn't afford the wage hike, as the story IMHO is utter bollocks. Probably made up by some journalist trying to unsettle some of our players. The Dabizas bit came all out of the blue, but still no quotes, apart from Glenda who says that the story isn't true.

-- Anonymous, October 31, 2001

In fairness, Solano, Rob Lee and Barton are omitted from the 2002 calendar (unless, and this may be the case, I'm getting selective blindness)..

-- Anonymous, October 31, 2001

Maybe that's how the rumours started?

-- Anonymous, October 31, 2001