Still think we should keep him, as I've said, he's versitile, a good Captain and gets stuck in. In my mind we have no natural replacement so unless we get someone in, keep him.

Exactly. With Neill in the defence, we have had our best back 4/5 for some time.

The last 2 comments are bang on. Terrific leader, and as has proven the latter part of this year, an extremely versatile defender.

BBC and the Official site are reporting Neill will no longer be a West Ham player. Shame but I spose the money will be better spent elsewhere, just home we can get in a good right back to replace him. Also if we now lost Upson its gonna be a bitch with our 2 most experienced backs gone. In any case, good luck to Lucas (though I dare say not everyone will agree).

"West Ham United can confirm Lucas Neill has rejected the offer of a new one-year contract after the release of the retained list of players for the 2009/10 season.

Following discussions in recent weeks which saw the out-of-contract defender seeking a one-year deal to take him up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the club made the 31-year-old right-back a significant offer to retain his services. However, he rejected that contract proposal this week and is pursuing other opportunities. West Ham United wish him well after two-and-a-half years' service and will focus on improving the first-team squad for the new season."




Meanwhile the club have stated that the we will still have the following players for next season Herita Illunga, Jack Collison, Mark Noble, Savio Nsereko, Freddie Sears, Junior Stanislas, Marek Stech, James Tomkins, Dean Ashton, Valon Behrami, Carlton Cole and Scott Parker.

somewhat scarily doesnt include Green and with the inclusion of Stech in that list perhaps they expect to lose him

The following are allowed to/have left the club: Diego Tristan, Lee Bowyer, Walter Lopez, Kyel Reid, Tony Stokes and Jimmy Walker, Jan Lastuvka, Radoslav Kovac and David Di Michele

Fuck Neil, He's easy to replace. Once again it all comes down to money and this coming from our captain? who knows the club are broke.
Fuck Him. I'm glad the club didn't budge.

He'll join Tottenham on a free.

Very worried about Greeno and Upson
Think we'll find a replacement for Lucas.

Shame we couldn't keep him IMO and I think he will be missed.

I guess Upson or Parker will be club captain, that's if Upson stays and a lot of good Parker will be from the physio room!

Easy to replace? With whom? And this is just as RB.
Let's say he is on about 60k a week which I seriously doubt. That's roughly 3mill/yr. Anyone we buy will be lucky to be less than 40k/wk which is about 2mill/yr. So who you gonna get for 1mill. Noone with experience. And we will need another experienced person in the backs. Even more so if Upson goes.

Lucas is also the only back who can hit decisive passes out of defence. Sure some get intercepted as all passes do time to time. But noone else can hit passes from the backline like he can.

As capt, who will that be? Not confident Parker or Upson (if he stays) would be able to gel the squad. Don't see them generally yelling around the field.

The list of players staying is pretty scary without Neill, Green and Upson.

And how with no money, would you encourage Upson to stay? Surely would want pay increase if made capt.

Think Neill out the door (still hoping not) could just be the first of the 3 above. We need to be bought out soon.
Can see us trying to put Faubert back at RB. Fuck, can't see any progression next year at this stage.

Mate, Lucas was the one who rejected the deal. I don't see how this has got anything to do with Green or Upson. They haven't left yet. The club are still trimming the wage bill. And If Lucas leaving means we can put Upson and Green on new contracts then it is well worth it. Regardless of whether we sign a replacement, Spector, Behrami, Faubert and Gabbs (if desperate) can play there. We went through this shit last year with Linda and now look at Illunga. As for captain? Upson has done the job when needed. Yes, he might want more money but the club have just saved themselves 60,000 a week and not to mention all the others that we have released and the loanees who have left.

Your right though, Neil can hit a pass out of defence, but none of our other defenders get stranded because they are to slow to get back.
And none of the others are as big of penalty risk as Lucas.

Green rejected his deal as well. And Upson has said he'd go if we didn't qualify for Europe, or if a top 4 side came for him, which is just a subset of the former.

Spector is a utility but not really a specialist RB and not good enough yet.
Behrami is best mid we have and should keep him there. Not so good as RB.
Faubert is not good at RB and maybe not good enough anywhere.
Gabbs is a CB and been out of the game for 2-3 years.

Green also said he doesn't want to leave, he just wants parity with the top earners and Upson we'll just have to wait and see cause I can't see a top 4 side coming in for him.
We do need to sign a decent replacement for Lucas all I was saying is that won't be the end of world if we don't.
Its going to be a long and crazy summer so who knows?
Next season we could have Trillionaire owners from Dubai and Sergio Ramos at RB.

i think it's a shame. He's done well last 6 months.

WHO are saying he has signed with Citeh?

Neill on tv this morning saying he has not left the club. He has had offers from other clubs but is not looking at them yet as wants to try to come to terms with West Ham. Offer from West Ham is still on the table and he would prefer to stay with us as likes the club and being captain.

All positive IMO especially as I want him to stay.

Good news IMO, hope he stays.