Carlton Come Home

West Ham's lack of business was very much like an episode of Only Fools and Horses, going for the golden carat stars like Fabio Quagliarella and Demba Ba, and end up with the broken lawnmower of Carlton Cole. For three months, the objective for the Hammers directors has been to find a back up for injured Carroll after releasing Carlton Cole. Messrs Gold and Sullivan were 'working' hard trying to find a player for peanuts to keep in accordance with the FFP guidelines. Now, after buying nothing, the Hammers are left with the embarrassment of trying to re-sign Cole.

Starting with Carlton, is he needed? He is needed, after an abysmal display against Stoke, Cole is needed to keep possession, as the Hammers failed to penetrate the Stoke defence at all on Saturday. Sadly, re-signing Carlton is a positive thing, West Ham need a back-up striker, no one wants to man, and Carroll will be back so he can sit on the bench.

Moving on to Sullivan and Gold, they and Allardyce have illustrated their want for a new striker all summer long, but nothing panned out the way they were expecting it to. The guidelines of the FFP may not start until 2015, but the joint-Chairmen have tried to implement them into the club early. The Hammers have to be debt free before going into the stadium in 2016, so cutting costs are needed. West Ham may not want to be so restricted but they have to be for the long term future of the club. It may be frustrating, and they be left short in forward areas, but again survival is the key for the Hammers. As soon as West Ham are at 40 points, they can look towards top ten. If the Hammers can get away with just two forwards until January, it may look to be inspiring by the joint-Chairmen.

Looking onwards, the good news is Carroll is fit again, and should be in the squad to face Southampton. So Cole may not have to play at all this season, which would be nice. Carroll has been given a injury prone title after last season. He has not had many injuries in his career and last season was hopefully a freak season, although if he is rushed back, he may end up doing more damage. Allardyce has said it has been all healed for weeks, its only inflammation, which is a good sign. Hopefully West Ham will get to see Carroll taking on the Saints.

If the fans look at what Gold and Sullivan are trying to do long term, then it may not look so bad. Re-signing Cole may look terrible, but the Hammers do not want a repeat of 2003 on their hands, when Roeder failed to sign enough strikers, so Ian Pearce had to play up front and they were dreadful until January. Then Les Ferdinand was brought in, and the Hammers started to win. At least West Ham are bringing Cole in now, rather than leaving it to January.