No way are those figures accurate. We wont spend £15m on Scott Parker, nor will we pay him £75k per week. I can see us offering what we paid for Woodgate, if it isn't accepted then forget about it. I'd rather take a risk with Hargreaves on the cheap than spend that sort of money on a squad player.

Wouldn't mind Carrick back as we would get him cheaper than £15mil

Great call, I would "love" Carrick back at the lane

Parker is too injury prone for me

Harry is right in that we made our bid confidentially and it was West Ham who went public to show they were Billy Big-Bollocks.

Hargreaves? Are you mad? we have ledley and woody as it is....

West Ham owners have always maintained that Parker is the only one NOT FOR SALE in their squad. So if we did put a bid in (however informal at first), they have every right to feel annoyed. Especially if the bid was nowhere near their valuation for the player anyway. If someone puts a bid of over 12 mil and Parker then declares he may be interested in the "last big move of his career etc etc", they would have a far more difficult situation there.

They would see this is as unsettling of their player, which could set the ball rolling against them.

Having Carrick back, we actually could play 4-5-1:

Modric/Kranjcar Wilson Carrick/Hudd Sandro Lenny/GDS

What d'ya think?

Hopefully we'll be involved in some 60+ games, so everyone will get a shout-in.

If i remember right, Levy was teling red nose that Berbatov was not for sale, even when the tosser was being driven to old trafford on deadline day.

We approach them 'is Parker for sale' .. they say 'No' .. reporter askes who we are interested in, harry says 'well i know the chairman has approached west ham over Parker' .. Parker learns of Spurs interest, head turned, we have done things the right way, they play hardball but thjey have to sell.

Its all a game, some you win, some you lose but if a bigger club comes calling theres little the other club can do sometimes.

If Parker is a upgrade on our first team squad then i think Harry has lost it we should be aiming higher than Parker and Carrick

Parker is definitely an upgrade on Jenas. And is on a par with O'Hara.

If both Jenas and O'Hara leave, then maybe there's a need for Parker. But I'd much rather sell Jenas, Hutton and Keane and use the money towards buying Dzeko.

Just a shame Harry didn't spot Dzeko when he was a boy...or we'd be quids in!

Thats not what will have happened here though. I agree with you that we've gone about this the right way, but the key issue here, as Harry pointed out, is that West Ham are the club who have made our interest public, not us. Therefore we cannot be accused of tapping him up through the media as it is West Ham who brought the bid into the public domain. Therefore, if Parker's head has been turned it is David Sullivan's fault for talking about it publically.

There is therefore a school of argument that, the only reason Sullivan has made the bid public is because he is open to doing business at the right price, but needs to be seen by West Ham fans to be dead against it. Therefore he makes the bid public, turns Parker's head himself, and then if Parker hands in a transfer request Sulivan can hide behind, "the player wanted to go and we only want players 100% committed to West Ham". On the other hand, if we don't go to the price they want, then Sullivan can claim a victory over us and has shown the West Ham fans that they 'mean business'.

Sullivan is either being very clever (if he has thought of all this) or monumentally stupid (if he hasn't and is just shooting his mouth off).

If Harry really wants Parker then I'll be delighted if it happens regardless of how much we pay.

....and we could re-sign Darren Anderton.

We need to upgrade our squad. The players we buy aren't just about improving our absolute best first XI.

On a par with O'Hara?? Did you actually see Parker play at all last season? He was one of the best midfielders in the league.

Harry said he would only buy to upgrade our first 11, anyway if you upgrade a player in the first 11 for EI say M Sissoko, then Wilson or the Hudd would become your squad players, so you end up with a stronger squad rather than buy somebody on a par with a player already in the squad