There goes Julen!

[Lycan]

Definitely got something to do with Mendes though as he was involved in the talks when Fosun took us over.

I think when he was Real Madrid manager there was some kind of dressing room split between the Mendes clients and non-Mendes clients as well. Although that might've been Mourinho now I think about it...

 

[Wolvensam]

I think Mendes was the one involved in the talks getting him here post-Sevilla, but that could just be a Fosun thing I suppose. I’ve read different things - some say it’s Mendes, others say it’s Carlos Bucero.

 

[Kenny]

Definitely got something to do with Mendes though as he was involved in the talks when Fosun took us over.

We employ Jorge to do stuff like that though don't we (or did). We have signed and sold non Mendes players but he as been involved on our behalf

 

[Tony Towner]

Mendes often leads the negotiations on big deals on behalf of smaller agents and takes a drink. It was him trying to get Lop into Utd when they appointed OGS

 

[Kenny]

Lop has said no to replacing Nuno.

 

[1986]

Wouldn't you wonder how many points we'd have now if J L was in charge .

Probably something similar or more , but you'd wonder if we would have the same spirit in the squad . The 5 - 0 and the 6 - 0 do display a lack of togetherness - a kind of a throwing in the towel when the first two are scored .

I'd imagine JL would be in constant arguments with officials as well re those penalties , getting himself into trouble no doubt .

It's one of those ones where we will never know the answer , but anyone who shipped out that quickly was probably going to leave anyway once a top 6 club or even less than that came in for him .

 

[Kenny]

The 6-0 an 5-0 whilst not brilliant., come with reasons about visiting a beach. JL had got the players united and fighting and when we crossed that safety line, it was a classic relax and not give a shit.

He would have also done a rebuild if Jeff/Fosun had stuck to their word or even allowed him to sign a few others off his own Plan B list which would have allowed him to do what he wanted. He wasn't here to fight relegation or be happy with 14th place ahead of this season.

As you say we don't know what would have happened but they were looking good in pre-season under him (as much as you can in a pre-season) but if he really didn't want to be here and had stayed on, then its likely he would have struggled to motivate himself, never mind the players but if he had stayed on, it would have meant he had got at least Plan B out of Jeff/Fosun and the make up of the team is different.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Pretty sure Ait-Nouri would have left and he wanted to replace Sa if possible.

Not sure he'd have got the returns out of Hwang that O'Neil has.

 

[Sniffer]

Some wag on Talkshite on Friday night stated that Loppers should have been jailed for considering selling Ait-Nouri and signing Aaron Creswell. Whilst I'm not quite sure on the legality of such a move, I'm quite glad that we still have a young exciting full back in our squad rather than a soon to be 34 year old that West Ham would have happily let go.

 

[Alan]

Fuck Lop and all, but wasn't being linked with the likes of Cresswell part of why he left?

 

[Sniffer]

Fuck Lop and all, but wasn't being linked with the likes of Cresswell part of why he left?

My understanding was that he was happy to sign him but we couldn't agree a fee.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Yep I think he was a legit Lopetegui target. While he was here there was 0% chance we were signing first team players above his head.

He definitely wanted Antonio too and he's back in his dog chasing after a balloon phase after a brief good spell.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

Sam Johnstone too.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Sam Johnstone too.

Think ideally he wanted better than that. Johnstone only got linked when Forest were supposedly looking at Sa (before they got the Greek lad from Benfica).

 

[Jinky]

Fab says Lop is “holding out for a PL job”. Er, Julen - you had one and you walked away from it a week before the season started.

I was fully behind the Lop-train when we announced him. Now I think the blokes a bellend.

The signs are it’s worked out well for us, so that’s all I care about, really.

 

[YoungWolf]

He’s gonna have to be quite patient I think! He obviously thinks he has “unfinished business” in England but I don’t see many jobs that he’d be interested in coming up. And there’s quite a small pool who would also be looking at him.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

He’s gonna have to be quite patient I think! He obviously thinks he has “unfinished business” in England but I don’t see many jobs that he’d be interested in coming up. And there’s quite a small pool who would also be looking at him.

He's not young (57 now), doesn't speak very good English, wouldn't appeal to top 6 clubs on anything other than basically an interim basis, doesn't play attacking football and evidently has no interest in anything approaching a relegation scrap. Clearly an absolute pain in the arse when he doesn't get what he wants.

Doesn't leave many. Probably waiting for West Ham to not renew Moyes' contract and that's it.

 

[sycophantia]

Bit a pointless exercise trying to decide whether we'd have been better or worse under Lop but I'll have a punt. I suspect we'd have been more or less where we are now. Maybe have won a few more of the 'easy' games but would he have been brave enough in the other games?
Obviously this is based on the money he was allowed to spend, if he had been given at least what he was promised (the second time) it would be a different story.

 

[Jinky]

He’s gonna have to be quite patient I think! He obviously thinks he has “unfinished business” in England but I don’t see many jobs that he’d be interested in coming up. And there’s quite a small pool who would also be looking at him.

Exactly! If he didn’t fancy it here, he’s not going to fancy an Everton, or Palace, or Forest (unless the profile doesn’t matter to him - but the evidence says otherwise). West Ham? Can’t imagine they’ll get rid of Moyes any time soon.

No top 6 side will want him. Maybe he thought he might get a look in at Villa, but they’re flying. There’s genuinely no where. And the bloke comes across like damaged goods when you look at his history.

He clearly thinks very highly of himself is all I can say.

 

[Tom Hark]

Fab says Lop is “holding out for a PL job”. Er, Julen - you had one and you walked away from it a week before the season started.

I was fully behind the Lop-train when we announced him. Now I think the blokes a bellend.

The signs are it’s worked out well for us, so that’s all I care about, really.

Harsh but fair, I'd say