Sam Allardyce

“When it comes to players being linked with West Ham, everyone is an expert”

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When it comes to players being linked with West Ham, everyone is an expert.

I have to hold my hands up and admit that following West Ham leaves me little time to watch much League One or Scottish Premier League football, so my knowledge of transfer targets Jordan Rhodes and Nikica Jelavic is limited. But if history has taught us anything, it is that January is the month when West Ham pay inflated prices for ineffective players.

In the transfer window of 2007, the Icelandic owners embarked on a spending spree that would bring the club to its knees. Eye-watering sums were spent on Luis Boa Morte, Calum Davenport and Nigel Quashie. Meanwhile, Lucas Neill was rumoured to be lured to Upton Park by wages of upwards of £60,000 a week.

None of these recruits played a key role in our survival. Instead, existing players - most notably Carlos Tevez, James Collins and Mark Noble - grabbed the season by the scruff of its neck and dragged West Ham to safety.

There is no reason why in 2012, we cannot similarly utilise the resources already at our disposal which, according to the latest annual report, cost us around £50m a year in wages. Matt Taylor’s return to fitness will solve the lack of width in midfield that has for so long stunted the team’s creativity. Meanwhile, if Carlton Cole and Sam Baldock can return to their pre-Christmas goals-per-game ratios, then promotion will become a formality.

This time last year, prudence went out of the window as Wayne Bridge and Robbie Keane were paid exorbitant wages to keep the Hammers in the Premier League. Keane contributed two goals. His open goal miss against Blackburn effectively sealed the club’s fate. Bridge’s debut against Arsenal was so disastrous, he made Herita Illunga look like a safe pair of hands. He never recovered and has not played again since the end of last season.

In fans’ eyes Keane and Bridge are figures of fun. But how many of us this time last year were urging the club to exercise caution? None of us, of course. As supporters it is not financial results that concern us. Given that just two years ago, the club was close to financial collapse, perhaps it is time to adopt a more frugal mindset.

If Rangers and Huddersfield really are turning down offers of upwards of £5-7m for players who can only be measured on how they compete against the likes of Dunfermline and Rochdale, then that to me sounds like the time to walk away from the negotiation table.

So to those fans tweeting David Gold, imploring him to spend whatever it takes to bring a new striker to the club, I say brush up on your history. Let’s not doom ourselves to repeat the mistakes of the past.