The stench of Abramovich wafts over the East End

Last updated : 01 September 2006 By Chris Parry
I mean it's obvious that two young players of the highest calibre, who have had at least two of the biggest clubs in the Premiership chasing their signatures, would opt to play for West Ham isn't it?

Clearly they're realising their life's ambition. At last they'll be able to parade their skills against Europe's elite clubs in the UEFA Cup - Why on earth would they want to play for Arsenal or Manchester United in the Champions League anyway?

I have nothing against the Hammers, but I suspect that the two Argentinians had never heard of West Ham until they were informed that they were to ply their trade at Upton Park by their Iranian/Russian paymasters.

Enough of the sarcasm - Suffice to say that today's event involving The Hammers (who don't have vast amounts of money), a shady company called MSI (who do have vast amounts of money - a percentage of it rumoured to be tainted and originating from the dodgy Russian we all know and love), and a bankrupt Brazilian club have left a lot of people wondering what's going on.

No doubt there'll be a lot of speculation in the media as to the motives behind this deal, but already the TV reporters from Sky seem to be dodging the main issues - I suspect that their lawyers are suffering from 'lasagna syndrome', fearful of upsetting someone rich enough to sue the pants off them or worse.

Abramovich is either using West Ham to 'park' the players for a season so that they become acclimatised to the rigours of the Premiership, or he has simply 'placed' them to avoid his main rivals getting a sniff of a deal.

Good luck to West Ham I say, however it's the fans I feel for. OK, so they will have the pleasure of watching these two lads parade their talents during the forthcoming season, but I can't help but suspect that in this case the money men view them as pawns in the game - The supporters simply don't matter any more and that's a sad but undeniable fact these days.

Football RIP.