Allardyce lifts the lid on failed attempt to sign Blackburn’s Robinson

By Nick Wright Saturday, February 2, 2013
10:30 AM

Sam Allardyce says he knew before transfer deadline day that West Ham would not be signing goalkeeper Paul Robinson from Blackburn Rovers.

The Hammers had been hoping to seal a late move for the former England stopper, who worked with Allardyce during his time at Ewood Park and has fallen out of favour at the Championship club.

But while it looked at one point as though a deal could be struck for the 33-year-old, the West Ham boss says he had abandoned his interest well before the deadline.

“It never materialised,” said Allardyce of the Robinson deal.

“It looked like there was an opportunity but then when we looked at it and it never panned out to be a goer for us.

“I think it was dead before [Thursday]. We tried it a few days ago and it never came to fruition.”

West Ham signed Wolfsburg’s Emanuel Pogatetz on loan on Tuesday but Allardyce admits he was disappointed not to add a another defender to his squad before the deadline.

“We left [the Robinson deal] like it was and moved on to try and secure another defender yesterday,” he said.

“If I could have done anything I wanted to try and secure another defender and we didn’t manage to do that.”