Written by Malcolm Atkins – @malatk

I started this with by trying to send Ex a tweet, decided I had too much to say so went with an article.
To the few that have read my stuff or engaged with me on social media it is apparent I have been at the positive end in terms of views about the board. I remain of the view that they are a lot better than they are often portrayed on social media, albeit they do not always help their own case; however this transfer window standpoint is really winding me up.

Fans, board, manager, ITK’s all know fairly clearly where the main deficiencies are at the club. We need re-enforcements in central midfield and we lack pace. We also need to address depth in the defence. OK – let’s look at Burke and Oxford before buying a defender especially with Rice looking a real prospect. Midfield and pace though? No solution on the horizon – and we are eight days into the window, despite these issues being apparent for months. Ex has tweeted about the complexities of other clubs needing replacements before they sell, I respect Ex’s information and opinion but we seriously need to step up in filling these gaps and stop making excuses – time and again we have come into a window knowing what we need and still seem to be trying to plug the gaps by deadline day and this is because the board are haggling, negotiating, trying to get the best deal, the situation is too serious and the board need to accept that fees have moved on. Liverpool have just signed a centre back for 75 million quid, albeit knowing they were getting 150 million quid for Coutinho. Now I am not suggesting we can compete, but the much vaunted “next level” surely cannot mean we are looking to do deals for 6-8 million in this climate.

Our need is clear and acute – surely we can find a couple of players somewhere in world football in the 15- 20 million pound bracket that would address the deficiencies – if we pay a bit over the odds to get another 3-6 points in the next 3-4 weeks surely that would be worth it in terms of being safe and increasing prize money – especially as there will be an upside in merchandise etc. If for example they really want Jonjo Shelvey; is anyone seriously suggesting if they don’t up the bid by a couple of million quid that Newcastle, in their situation won’t do business? Money talks and if West Ham want to be considered a big London club worthy of 57,000 every other week then we need to up our game and we need to do it now.

David Gold and David Sullivan – it is time to step up.