Times are changing at West Ham with big-money transfers … and ticket prices

What a summer it has been at the Olympic Park in Europe’s finest capital city. No, we are not talking about ripped athletes throwing javelins or people who only need to perform for less than 10 seconds to achieve glory. Of course, our focus is on the complete renovation of West Ham United. David Moyes is gone and he has been replaced by a former Real Madrid manager who has made some impressive signings in the window, splashing a load of dosh to do so. Luis Guilherme, Maximilian Kilman, Crysencio Summerville, Niclas Füllkrug and Guido Rodríguez have all rocked up in Stratford, bringing plenty of on-pitch optimism with them.

Julen Lopetegui will be ruddy excited to get going after being able to bring in players of such quality. They even had a nibble for N’Golo Kanté but had to make do with World Cup and Copa América winner Rodríguez, who cost them nowt. Considering they are picking up such bargains, they must be able to give back to their fans by dropping ticket prices rather than, say, whacking on a 7.5% increase and preventing new concessions in the most expensive parts of the ground, making it extortionate to go as a family – but it’s good news for day-trippers.

They will be allowed to spend up to £120 to witness the visit of Manchester City and there’s not a concession ticket in sight. If you want to come to the Füllkrug, you gotta pay top dollar, otherwise he will refuse to perform. A petition opposing the price rises and concession changes has been signed by more than 15,000 people. These are folk who know the risk of losing ageing fans who find enjoyment in the team they have loved for decades and the dangers of losing a generation of younger supporters who will find more cost-effective fun than witnessing a weekend pummelling by Bournemouth.

“It’s an [eff]ing liberty but it’s the way of the world today I’m afraid,” actor Ray Winstone geezered to coinpoker.com. Even those who can afford the whopping top whack £1,720 season tickets will need to take their binoculars because everyone is so far away from the pitch at the London Stadium. Did we mention the taxpayer built it? Anyway, good news about spending £40m on Kilman.

One of my first meetings with the squad was about the amount of goals we conceded last year with the defensive line very high. We are not working on defensive lines so high. It’s a habit from last year, or years ago, I don’t know. We are trying to drop the defensive line a little bit, usually about four or five metres, just to have some advantage. Last year, we already conceded many goals with this problem. Hopefully we can solve it very soon” – he’s not even taken charge of his first competitive game and Enzo Maresca is already blaming his predecessors for Chelsea losing another pre-season match in the USA USA USA. It was against Real Madrid, mind.

The image of the Brazilian toilet doors (yesterday’s Memory lane – full email edition), opens up all sorts of wonderful possibilities for footballing toilet door pairings – how about the Glenn Hoddle/Eileen Drewery pairing with Ray Parlour who never played for England again after asking Ms Drewery for a short back and sides appearing on a third door. Or perhaps a dangerously combustible pairing of Mick McCarthy and Roy Keane (Micah Richards could complete that triptych as Keane’s bodyguard). I was going to suggest a John Terry/Wayne Bridge pairing (with Anton Ferdinand maybe making up a three) but Terry will presumably photobomb (paintbomb?) every other pairing fully kitted out ready to claim his rightful place” – Charlie Ashmore.

Re the quickest way to Fulham from Arsenal (Football Daily letters passim), I agree with Neil Baynham’s recommendation not to get on a 220; there will be a wait at Hammersmith for the bus to leave and the almost certainty of sitting in traffic on the Fulham Palace Road with no means of egress (not like the old Routemaster, but we won’t go there). However, changing at Earl’s Court for Putney Bridge involves a shlep up to the District platform (by which time you’d be at Barons Court on the ‘dilly), then waiting for a Wimbledon train (I’m now leaving Hammersmith station, then a 15 minute trip to Putney Bridge. While Neil’s exiting Putney Bridge, walking from Hammersmith I’m taking the equally scenic riverbank route with fine views of Hammersmith Bridge and the old Harrods depository, I’m just beyond the River Cafe. By the time he hits Bishops Park I’m on the last stretch, although of course I’m not because the Crabtree. Reckon I could neck a pint and be in the ground, chugging a plastic pint, while Neil is still in Bishops Park” – Mark Dawson.

Publishing a letter about London public transport, a subject dear to many a pedant’s heart, is bad enough. But to then publish a reply with odd spelling (‘toe-path?’), a subject that inevitably brings out all the worst pedants from their basements? In my best Charlton Heston voice: ‘You Maniacs!’ – Kristian Karamflies.

Re yesterday’s Football Daily and a ‘statistical reminder of a system that doesn’t care’. Are you saying Conor Gallagher is the one in 10 as per UB40?” – Robert Pinkevitch.

Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s prizeless letter o’ the day winner is Charlie Ashmore. Terms and conditions for our competitions can be viewed here.

Big Website’s top, top, cartoonist David Squires has a new book out soon – it’s called Chaos in the Box and looks as good as you might expect it to be. Taking us from 2018 to the 2024 Euros, Squires tackles the big questions: is Emo José Mourinho doing OK after his latest ride on the managerial carousel? How many more teams will be lucky enough to be bought by “benevolent” billionaires? Will Manchester City ever let anyone else win the Premier League again? And how does Fifa continue to be laughably inept in almost every way imaginable? You can pre-order a copy in the Guardian Bookshop for a reduced price of £11.99. What are you waiting for!?

Rangers gave their Big Cup hopes a boost with a late equaliser in their third-round qualifier against Dynamo Kyiv. Cyriel Dressers popped up in injury time to cancel out Andriy Yarmolenko’s opener. The second leg will be played next week at Hampden Park.

Liverpool could be about to make their first move in the summer transfer market after identifying Real Sociedad’s Martín Zubimendi as their top midfield target, but they’ll have to part with £51m to sign the 25-year-old.

Álvaro Morata and Rodri have received one-match bans from Uefa for chanting that “Gibraltar is Spanish” after beating England in the Euro 2024 final.

USA! USA! USA! will take on Brazil in the women’s football final at Paris 2024. Emma Hayes’s side advanced thanks to an extra-time goal against Germany from Sophia Smith, while the South Americans gave Spain a bit of a shooing.

And even though Manchester United have big plans to build a 100,000-capacity stadium, they will not forget their history, insisting Old Trafford will be kept for the women’s team and academy but they will decrease its size.

In the latest edition of our sister email Sophie Downey looks at the upcoming Big Sports Day final between Emma Hayes’s USA USA USA and Brazil. Spoiler: she reckons it will be perfect. You can sign up for Moving The Goalposts here.

Who should your club sign? Ben McAleer looks at a potential new boy for every Premier League side. Part II coming tomorrow.

It’s been a quiet window for Liverpool under new boss Arne Slot but they are heading for a crescendo in August, writes Andy Hunter.

The latest edition of The Knowledge is out to tell you all about Mars bars being thrown on to the pitch.

And we have the latest batch of Premier League previews. Brighton and Chelsea are next up for scrutiny.

It’s 30 years since USA 94, a tournament for which all four British nations failed to qualify. The Republic of Ireland made it and famously beat Italy 1-0 in their opening game before eventually going out to the Netherlands in the last 16. Their off-field activities included a trip to Universal Studios, where their central midfield pair of Roy Keane and Andy Townsend posed with a Flintstones impersonator. If only there was a record of Keane’s internal monologue as he slowly raised his thumb and cracked a smile; it certainly wasn’t “Yabbadabbadoo”.