@WestHamFootball Blog

ICF (I Chuck Fruit)

2012-02-06T14:35:00.001Z

The West ham v Millwall match was mainly trouble free with just two arrests. One man was arrested for afray before the match and one for assaulting a police officer by throwing a missle after the match. There were no arrests inside the ground.

More people have been arrested over Tottenham's spy gate probe on the Olympic stadium bid.

All local pubs were shut and remained closed until 4pm in the afternoon.

Met Police Chief Supt Vickers said: “I would like to thank fans for their behaviour for what has been a largely succcesful operation

Police are investigating a large bang heard just after the final whistle when a Millwall fan is believed to have let off or fired a firework at West ham fans.

Since 2009 when Westham last played Millwall, West Ham has seen very, very little disorder. It has the lowest arrest rates of any London football club and the lowest ejection rates as well.

However there was one small almost comical stand off as the police escorted Millwall fans to Upton Park Underground station along Green St. Police forced West Ham fans into the fruit market.

This was captured by ESPN Brazil which can be seen below on Youtube.

You can see fruit being launched into the air which resulted in someone on twitter saying ICF should now stand for I Chuck Fruit ;-)

Anyway the video is quite humerous, Enjoy !

Big Sam's List of 25?

2011-12-30T15:00:00.000Z

Much has been spoken about Big Sam's list of 25 targets for the January transfer window

The tabloids, twitter, facebook, West Ham forums and blogs have speculated on what names might be on the list.

I thought I would join in with this speculation and release my list of 25 targets I expect to be on Sam's list.

The names come from a combination of paper stories, forum rumours, blog articles, twitter, insider Clunge and some wishful thinking.

There are 9 defenders, 9 midfielders and 7 strikers in the list!

Kane Ferdinand          Defender/Midfielder from Southend
Liam Ridgewell           Defender from Birmingham
Andy O'Brien              Centre Back formally for Leeds before going on strike
Danny Simpson          Defender/Right back from Newcastle
Vedran Corluka          Right Back/Defender from Spurs
Ricardo Costa             Defender from Valencia
Sébastien Squillaci     Defender/Centre Back from Arsenal
Sol Bamba                  Defender/Centre Back from Leceister City
Moustapha Bayal Sall Defender from St. Etienne

Craig Noone              Midfielder from Brighton
Mervan Celik            Midfielder from GAIS
Jonjo Shelvey           Midfielder From Liverpool
Ryan Hall                 Midfielder from Southend
Andros Townsend     Midfielder/Winger from Spurs
Peter Whittingham    Midfielder/Striker From Cardiff
Albert Adomah          Midfielder/Winger from Bristol City
Victor Moses             Midfielder/Winger from Wigan
George Baldock        Midfielder from MK Dons (Brother of Sam Baldock)

Jordan Rhodes         Striker from Huddersfield
Andy Johnson           Striker from Fulham
Bobby Zamora          Striker from Fulham
Billy Sharp                Striker from Doncaster
Nicky Maynard         Striker from Bristol City
Wilfred Zaha            Striker from Crystal Palace
Ryoichi Maeda         Striker from Jubilo Iwata

Feel free to shoot some of these down and/or replace some of your own names

Why Jordan Rhodes is unlikely to come to West Ham!

2011-12-29T09:47:00.002Z

There have been a lot of rumours about Huddersfield's Jordan Rhodes on twitter and the Hammers forums that West Ham have made enquiries & possibly a bid for the 21 year old Huddersfield goal machine.

He has scored 20 goals in 20 appearances this season which has put him on the radar of Spurs, Celtic, Liverpool and Newcastle.

Yesterday there were rumours that West Ham had made an official enquiry and Huddersfield Town had put a price tag of £4 million on him. Another rumour had West Ham making a £3.5 Million bid for him.

West Ham insider Clunge confirmed an official bid was in for Jordan Rhodes but as of 9pm on Wednesday 28th December it was not accepted or rejected!

The Sun also printed a story today 29th December saying we had bid £3 Million but it had been rejected

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/4025060/West-Ham-bid-3m-for-Huddersfields-Jordan-Rhodes.html

However Huddersfield Chairman Dean Hoyle interview puts some doubt that they would part with his services on the cheap.

“We have no intention of selling and we are not going to,” said Hoyle, who says the club are braced for another round of speculation over the striker’s future.

“We could sell Jordan, but where’s that going to get us?

“If we let him go we would have to find another striker in his place and, let’s be fair, we won’t find one as good as him to come to Huddersfield Town – so straight away our chances of promotion would be decreased.

“This club needs to get promotion to be more self-sustaining, so selling Jordan would be short-term gain for long-term pain.

“We need Jordan Rhodes and all our other very good players to win us promotion.”

The boardroom chief added: “Whether Jordan is in League II, League I, the Championship or the Premier League he will score goals, because nearly every chance he gets he finishes.

“He will put the ball in the back of the net and, that being the case, if we get up into the Championship he will be worth even more money.

“So what I’m saying is it doesn’t make any sense – both from a football point of view and economically – to sell one of our very best players in Jordan Rhodes at this point.

Of course his words might mean nothing as everyone has their price, but with Liverpool, Spurs and Newcastle interested I doubt we would be able to compete with their spending power. Sullivan & Gold will not get in a bidding war and pay over the odds for the youngster.

One story says Liverpool could pay as much as £9 Million for Rhodes services.

Time will tell whether I will have to eat my words or not but I am afraid I don't expect us to land him in the transfer window.

Huddersfield Examiner Story http://www.examiner.co.uk/huddersfield-town-fc/huddersfield-town-news/2011/12/22/why-jordan-rhodes-will-not-be-sold-in-january-huddersfield-town-chairman-dean-hoyle-86081-29994272/#ixzz1hummx2Ur

Early January Target Rumour List (Out & In)

2011-12-14T17:51:00.000Z

Roundup of the early rumours of who is targeted and who we are targeting for the January transfer window.

Outbound:

Freddie Piquonne will leave if any sensible offers are received

Freddie Sears will leave if anyone offers his vaulation of 2 million

Frank Nouble will be released or sold for a modest fee

Carlton Cole is wanted by Sunderland. He will only be sold if he hands in transfer request, offered a price significantily above his valuation or we buy someone better.

Rumoured that Mark Noble may go to Fulham and swapped for Bobby Zamora. Sam does not want to swap. Mark Noble will commit his future to the club & in return be offered a new contract.

Sam Baldock to Chelsea after rumours surfaced of being watched by Chelsea Scouts on three occasions. Don't see it myself.

James Tomkins to Newcastle. Pardew is interested in Tomkins but the West Ham board say he is not for sale at any price.That said there is little we can do if he puts in a transfer request. West Ham will put a new deal on the table before January transer window opens.

Inbound Targets:

Andy Johnson remains our top target from Fullham

Bobby Zamora from Fulham but not as part of a swap deal.
Liam Ridgewell from Birmingham remains a target. Birmingham are dire financial straights but. However a number of premiership clubs want him too.

Kane Ferdinand remains a target from Southend United

Wilfred Zaha from Crystal Palace is a target and said to be valued at £5 Million by Crystal Palace

Alex Rodrigo Dias da Costa from Chelsea was rumoured to be a target. West Ham did look at him have decided his wage demands were too expensive.

Nicolas Anelka . Big Sam confirmed he did speak to Anelka but his wage demands were too high. We could not complete with Chinese team Shanghai Shenhua

Andy O'Brien from Leeds could still be a target. He will be off loaded by Leeds in January.

Mervan Celik from Swedish clun GAIS is said to be a target

Ryoichi Maeda is a japense striker who plays for Júbilo Iwata is said to be a target

David Gold Twitter Question Time v Clunge

2011-12-01T10:00:00.000Z

In this week's Moore Than Just A Podcast Episode 13 we covered David Gold's week of answers to West ham fans as well as inside information from Clunge.

Clunge News

Last Tuesday I said that Big sam confirmed that Matty Taylor will start on Saturday
if he comes through 45/60 mins today in reserve match.

I got this one wrong as they didn't want to risk him for the whole 90 minuites. He did come on though

A Westham insider on ESPN website confirms james tomkins not for sale and will be offered a new deal even though he still has 3 years left. Wonder who the insider is and where they got that from then ;-)

Leeds may still sack O'Brien and if so he'll sign for us

Henry lansbury hopes to be back for the boxing day game away to Birmingham.

David gold confirms we will buy players in jan and not sell our important players

Very strange rumors that chelsea have had sam baldock watched on 3 occasions and may bid for him in the transfer window.

Carew may be fit for saturdays game vs burnley. Still 7k tickets left

Winston reid out for a further 5 weeks. Baldock hopeful no more than 3 weeks.

As baldock is also injured whu will decide if they will recall hall from oxford.

David Gold confirms he hopes to sign 3 players in Jan. Andy Johnson is Sam's main target but blackburn also want him. No chance with Zamora.

David Gold Twitter Question Time:

@rpburton: how many hammers fans are coming to boro tuesday night?”

DG: 1,500 dg

@jaydorgan_96: how are derby away tickets selling? Can't wait..

DG: 4200 tickets available just over 1000 sold so far. DG

“@Andrew_whu: you going Reading on the 10th David?”

DG: Yes I will be there DG

@DaniGood How long will Sam Baldock be out injured?

DG: I don't no how long Sam Baldock will be out, we will have a better idea on Monday but hope its only a grade one torn hamstring DG

@DBernstein1 Will be be top of the league by christmas holidays?

DG: A draw on Tuesday and a win at home to Burnley would leave us in a great position. However that's easier said than done dg

Fan: What fo you think of Karren Brady's comments on football racism?

DG: I am not defending Karren Brady she is very capable of doing that for her self but she did not say WH fans threw bananas at Clyde Best dg

@Tommy_Ernest If you had to pick the best thing about being a west hanm

DG: Loyalty and passion for West Ham United plus a sense of history. DG

@Jaws2home I remember seeing Clyde Best when he first played for West Ham in 1970 and there was racism at that time. DG.

@JoeAppleby95: David , how long will it be till Winston Reid is fit?

DG: 4 to 5 weeks before he will be available for selection dg

@Centrallinedan: Do we still have Bentley & Lansbury

DG: Bentleys contract has been terminated Lansbury is with us to the end of the season dg

@OSBORNE1973: @DavidGoldWHU what is the best vibrator on the Market?”

DG: Rampant Rabbit from Ann Summers dg

@1andrewlee i paid good money for season ticket but it seems like I'm getting bad deal as the deals for games work out cheaper

DG: It's cheaper to buy a season ticket and you get to choose you seat dg

@ScardSanity What percentage are you confident of promotion at this stage?

DG: We are still the bookies favourites for promotion dg

@Mister_Kirby Hi David, what are your views on safe standing - would it be poss in OS or redeveloped UP? Thanks.

DG: I am in favour of small areas of controlled safe standing dg

@richielevis if the OS goes pear shaped are you going to go down the bond scheme? I love this club and trust you 100%

DG: thank you for the trust dg

@tekkers84 in business would you say if you don't put your balls on the line you ll never get anywhere??

DG: Adam i wouldn't put it quite like that but you do need determination perseverance and most of all courage good luck dg

@whu647580 Is it true that Ba refused to sign for us without a relegation clause.

DG: that's true without the clause he would not have signed and we didn't think we would be relegated .... Mistake dg

@Sam1993WHUFC: @davidgoldwhu can you see many incomming players in january?

DG: I hope to see some new faces dg

@JonNewsham: @DavidGoldWHU do you pay for tickets?

DG: DS and I receive no salary or expenses but we do get a free seat. DG

@ClaretNBlues I am mortified if you or any West Ham fans believe I would renege on a promise. Doubt my judgement but not my integrity dg

@dandadon21: @DavidGoldWHU are we looking to further strengthen the squad in jan or do we need to sell 1st?

DG No need to sell dg

@HP14WHU: @DavidGoldWHU Do you go to every match? Would be great if you do!

DG: I go to every match home and away dg

@robwood4: @DavidGoldWHU @westhamchef Do you fear the mighty BORO.

DG: No but I respect them they are a good side. DG

@davym66: @DavidGoldWHU hi david, is there any chance of Sam Baldock being sold in january? thanks.

DG: Extremely unlikely dg

@Coxy25 Is there any truth in the rumour that you once tried to style your hair like Alan Titchmarsh in an attempt 2 fool a librarian?

DG: Good evening Coxy dg

@clem132: has Marek signed a new deal and fee been agreed with old club he was back on the bench on Saturday

DG: No new deal has been done dg

@lukemullen2: As a West Ham fan I would like to know where WE will be playing our football in Two years?

DG: It will be at the OS or UP dg

@harris2011_s: why did we get rid of hines and stanislas though they were decent young players

DG: Sams decision must say I agree DG

@tekkers84: would you be interested in Lansbury should we go up and should he be available?

DG: Lots of "shoulds" it's Sams call DG

@Coxy25 David, have you ever walked into Argos and pretended to be Rod Stewart in an attempt to get a free Fireman Sam

DG: what do you mean Coxy "pretend to be Rod Stewart" I am Rod Stewart RS

@TalltreesCarp: is there any sort of clause in Scott Parkers contract for us to be able to buy him back if we are promoted?

DG: No dg

@GeorgeWestHam: say no to the oylmpic stadium! The atmosphere will be poooor!”

DG: I'm not sure your right dg

@Kevo0982: are you planning to add to the squad in January? Have you thought bout making beckham an offer?

DG: We are looking to strengthen dg

@JoshSnow1: when will Gary O'Neil be fit enough to play?

DG: I hope he will be available in early February dg

@PetersNick: @DavidGoldWHU Do you currently enjoy the style of football west ham play?

DG: I want to get back to the PL. I enjoy winning dg

@paulturner67 Do you think west ham fans should be balloted on the move to the OS?

DG: There is a consultative committee of about 120 West Ham Season ticket holders who are involved in the process. DG

We covered both on our West Ham Podcast at http://moorethanjustapodcast.podbean.com

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West Ham Record Breakers

2011-11-30T19:19:00.001Z

Last night (Tuesday) we broke Middlesbrough unbeaten home record, in fact they were unbeaten for16 games at the Riverside since losing to last season's league leaders QPR in February this year.

Apparently it was also Big Sam's first management career win at the Riverside also which is surprising considering the teams he has managed.

It bought West Ham's consecutive wins to four but also a record of six wins and one draw out of seven totalling 29 points from a maximum 31 in our last 7 league games. Only the mighty Bristol City have held us to a draw recently.

The last time we won four league games in a row was the great escape of 2007 when we won our last four games of the season with help of Carlos Tevez and a last gasp win at Manchester United away.

Before than it was the last time in we dropped to championship in 2003 when we won 4 league games back to back early on in the season.

If we continue the winning streak to five games by beating Burnley this Saturday we will be heading to towards our 2006 run of 7 back to back wins between January & February.

Beyond that we enter boys of 1986 territory. They won 9 back to back games between October and December 1985. They also had another run of 6 back to back wins in the same season.

It still it seems a strange feeling winning the majority of the time but a feeling I could get used to.

Come on you irons

Karren Brady doesn't know what she is talking about!

2011-11-27T23:16:00.001Z

On Saturday Karren Brady commented on football racism on her Sun football diary.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/3961083/Karren-Bradys-football-diary.html

She says:

'WEST HAM didn't win much (anything) last season until the PFA came along and rated us highest of all the 92 senior clubs for players doing anti-racism and disabilities work.

I am proud of this — immensely. Proud of all of the other people at the club, who helped the players make this so.

When you remember that East London was once a hotbed of racism, and a rain of bananas used to greet Bermudan Clyde Best when he first played at Upton Park in the 60s, you understand exactly why the club is so committed and will remain so committed.'

Many West Ham fans have got upset that Brady seems to be accusing the East end for a hot bed of racism and even seems to suggest that West Ham fans used to throw bananas at Clyde Best in his early days.

While Clyde Best confirms he saw bananas and peanuts thrown on to pitches he has always maintained it was always away fans.

In 2009 Clyde Best gave this interview and insight to his time at West Ham

'Adored by the West Ham fans, the centre forward suffered constant racial heckling from opposition fans – monkey chanting and the hurling of bananas and peanuts at the pitch'

“You just had to get on with it,” says Clyde. “I just ignored it and concentrated on playing the game for West Ham"

“Sure, the supporters pay their money and are entitled to their opinions, but sometimes people cross the line"

“You will always come up against nutters in your life, but you can’t let these people see they are getting under your skin. All you can do is just get on with your job – in my case, scoring goals – and do all your talking on the pitch.”

He adds: “I never had any trouble with the West Ham fans. All I felt from them was love. East End people are good people and they will always love somebody who gives their all. I always tried my best for them.”

http://www.echo-news.co.uk/echofeatures/4013989.A_pioneer_on_the_pitch/

I usually have time for Karren Brady and have backed her in the past. I believe she is highly intelligent and has a great business brain. On this occasion she has let West ham fans down and the quicker she apologies for the misunderstanding the better.

Big Sam's use of SaberMetrics at West Ham

2011-11-25T21:30:00.001Z

Using statistical analysis to recruit players rather than rely on the subjective judgement of coaches and scouts, sabermetrics was an idea developed by American baseball fan Bill James.

It was an idea put to the test with some success by the Oakland 'A's general manager Billy Beane and author Michael Lewis wrote the book "Moneyball" about the story, which has been made into a film released this month starring Brad Pitt.

Sam Alladyce has been a long fan of this and went to America to meet Billy Beane to be one of the first to pioneer a Football 'SaberMetrics' system at Bolton.

Sam using a company called Prozone to provide much of this data & statistics.

This what Sam said of Prozone http://www.prozonesports.com while manager of Blackburn

"I have been using and helping Prozone to develop over the last nine years. It is without doubt one of the most important pieces of information in modern day football. We simply can not do without Prozone to help us be the best we can be."

Big Sam has embraced the use of technology throughout his career and is one of the pioneers to integrate the use of sports science and specifically performance analysis into the coaching process. He first installed Prozone at Bolton Wanderers at the start of the 2000/01 season and shortly after achieved promotion to the Premiership after a three-year absence for the Lancashire club. Blackburn & Newcastle has since seen Sam Allardyce utilise Prozone there also.

"The system provides a vital source of information for our coaching staff to draw upon including a mass of statistics and the unique animation, which means nothing is missed during the game."

Although I can find no official confirmation it is a safe bet that Sam is using his old friends Prozone again at West Ham.

When I met Big Sam last week he spoke frequently about statistics and what he learnt in America. He also explained that West Ham players wear GPS vests in training. I assume these are sourced from GPSports http://www.gpsports.com

These GPS vests have the capacity to measure distances, speeds, heart rates, bodyloads and impacts all in real time. Information is sent in real time to a laptop.

About Prozone

Hidden in the stands at most games in the Premiership and Championshipare cameras belonging to sports analysts Prozone. These cameras trackevery element of each player’s movement, distance covered, high-powered runsand defensive positioning.

The overall mileage of players is no longer a key stat for the men lookingto find the extra percentages between winning and finishing second.

Clubs are increasingly enlisting the services of these analysts tocreate profiles of potential transfer targets

Analysts at football clubs are interested in a player’s ability to reacha threshold speed of 22ft per second.

They also want to know the number of chances a player creates, hissuccessful pass percentage in the final third of the field and his recoveryrates from sprints. If they can put all this information into one equation,then pub arguments may well be over.

Clubs download data from Prozone the day after a game, in the form ofExcel documents or in video format. Prozone provides the video evidence, andfootball data supplier Opta offers statistical analysis and breakdowns.

Clubs are increasingly enlisting the services of these analysts tocreate profiles of potential transfer targets.

Englishfootball clubs are using companies such as Opta and Prozone (as well as,Scout7, WYScout, Sportstec and Amisco) to supply information that should helpthem do for football what Sabermetrics has done for American baseball.

I did a Skype interview with Mike Parry on Sports Tonight TV LIVE on SaberMetrics & Big Sam which is available on YouTube here.

David's Gold Twitter Question Time

2011-11-22T12:43:00.001Z

David Gold is the only football Chairman to my knowledge who interacts with fans to answer so many questions.

Yes, he picks and chooses which questions to answer but he is pretty honest.

It can sometimes be hard to keep up with the amount of Questions and Answers.

Below is a transcript of the interesting questions and answers over the last few days. Saturday, Sunday and Monday. We also covered this on Moore Than Just A Podcast Episode 12.

Fan: Is there any truth in QPR's interest in Tomkins?

DG: It's academic, he's not for sale for 3m

Fan: Surely he should not be for sale full stop

DG: We will do nothing that will jeopardize our promotionbid DG

Fan: How do two clubs agree ticket allocations for away daysdo you have to negotiate with the other club or is it a set number

DG: They must give a minimum of 10% of there capacity mostclubs give more, police also have say dg

Fan: How many have you sold for Middleborough away?

DG: We were given 3000 sold 1500 so far DG

Fan: Could you name five players from every championshipclub?

DG: No dg

Fan: Great result yesterday. I hope you will be winding JackCollison up for missing that sitter?

DG: I already have but he is a good lad DG

Fan: Would it be possible to build a ground in anotherlocation on the Olympic park

DG: I don't see that as a possibility DG

Fan: with such great away support, do you ever wish you werestanding in with the away fans at a game?

DG: I did for many years DG

Fan: Do you plan to sell any of young players in January

DG: don't be so negative there is no plan to sell our goodyoung players. DG

Fan: How do you feel about Spurs getting government fundingafter complaining Newham were giving us 'State Aid'?

DG: Some would say ironic DG

Fan:why Demel wasn't even on the bench yesterday?

DG:Mangers decision lacks match fitness dg

Fan: We need to concentrate on our own games and keepwinning instead of worrying about Southampton, agreed?

DG: Yes of course DG

Fan: do any of our current squad have a clause in theircontract that lets them leave 4 free if we fail to get promotion?

DG: No

Fan: do you believe we can still catch Southampton? COYI!”

DG: Yes I do, beat them at UP and it's all to play for DG

DG: It must be remembered that the previous governments planfor the OS to remain as a

25000 seater stadium after the games was flawed DG

Fan: Would you take second now or go up as champs?

DG I would take 2nd place now but I would love to go up aschampions

DG For over 40 years we have sold our best players we mustfind a way to reverse this

process, and compete at the top level DG

Fan: We are not playing at are best again but geting the result, the league should bescared when we hit top form.

DG: I agree DG

Fan: Do you like the 4-5-1 formation?

DG: I hate 4-5-1 too but we must trust Sam DG

Fan: Will any players be sold?

DG: Please, we must be realistic, remember Ronaldo "wasnot for sale at any price", went for 80m and MU went on to win the PL. DG

Fan: any idea whenmatt Taylor should be back? Missing him in The middle #hammers”

DG: He will be available next week

Fan: what your view on sepp blatter comments

Dg: Most unfortunate comments, a honourable man would resignDG

We covered many of these David Gold Questions on Moore Than Just A Podcast Episode 12

You can listen to Episode 12 of Moore at http://MooreThanJustAPodcast.podbean.com or search ITunes for Moore Than Just A Podcast

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Clunge Question and Answer

2011-11-21T23:30:00.001Z

West ham insider codename Clunge has been revealing lots more West Ham inside information all week including a two hour Q&A session via Adam Jackson @Adzman89 in twitter on Saturday between 9am and 11am .

George McCartney will be offered a permanent deal in the summer whatever league we are in. Big Sam is very impressed with him.

West ham will bid for Kane Ferdinand in January. Big Sam has told the West Ham board he needs 3 players in January and if we get them wewill go up.

West Ham has promise big sam a decent transferbudget of several million in January if required. All sales if any will also behanded to Big Sam. The West Ham board are backing Sambig time.

Number 1 target in Januray is Andy Johnson.

Still just over 6000 tickets left for homematch vs derby. Derby have sold 940 tickets only for Saturday's game.

West Ham tell Marseille Carlton Cole not forsale after approach last Thursday. French club will put in a 4 million bid in Jan still though.

Carlton Cole happy to stay and does notwant a move.

West Ham speaking with Leeds united today over adeal for Andy Obrien. Ex fat sam player. O'brien on strike at leeds to forcemove

Freddie Piquionne will be allowed to leave injan if we land another striker. Sears too could be out.

Clunge can confirm story in the sun whustill trying to loan arsenal centre half sebastien squillaci. Arsenal want tosell

With regards to Liam Ridgewell, 3 otherPrem clubs in for him so now doubtful we'll get him BUT we will try our bestand u never know

Clunge watched the Coventry game onSaturday from a corporate box but this is their Q&A Session on way to the game.

Do we have any chance with Mervan Celikwith Parma sniffing around? What do BS think?

"Hopefully yes"

Zamora? Any truth in this rumour?

"Unlikely as international premierstrikers rarely drop down divisions"

What really happened with Bellamy leavingus? "We needed the money, we forced him out - Icelandics"

Is Robert Green signing a new contract, hetold me West Ham are stalling negoiations when I met him in a pub "His contract been on the table for months.He won't be negative to a fan will he?"

Why did Ludo leave? "Let's just saymedical grounds"

Does Sam have any chance with Anelka againif not getting a game at Chelsea? "Absolutely no chance"

Could we get Nicky Maynard at a morerealistic price than quoted in the summer. "yes out of contract soon butbeen poor"

Who looks most eager to get away from theclub at present? "Green & Faubert"

Are we really trying to sell sears?"We'll accept the right offer. Somewhat disposable"

Will SA be applying for the England job?"That is his ultimate ambition and we respect that"

When will contract talks be opening withthe likes of green and tomkins? "Green on table. JT v.soon"

How come we ended up agreeing so little forParker? "He DEMANDED to go Spurs only. We were held to ransom"

Will we sell Tomkins? "We do not wantto sell Tomkins at any price"

Are any bids expected/anticipated for ourplayers in January? "Of course, we have class players"

Will SA be sacked If we only make theplay-offs, if so before of after? "No. Who doesn't love the playoffs?!"

Where does the debt stand? Obviouslysignificantly reduced from £100M+ "Approx £75m"

Does Clunge know if we will ever fix theclock at the Bobby Moore end? "No as we have a big scoreboard"

How much wages are we still paying forIlunga? "We paying 90% of his £38k pw

Can you confirm how much Robert Green is onper week? They were rumoured to be £30K "£28k (plus bonuses)"

We have 3 very capable young reservekeepers but obv they need 1st team footy. "Stech preferred. Jury out onBoffin"

What's our ultimate intention with thecurrent 'surveillance' case with Spurs? "Justice and honour"

Wage bill was £50 million last year, whatis it this year? "approx £35Millionwith the likes of Dyer, Upson, Ba, Parker gone'

Do you know if Julien Faubert will besigning a new contract. "Another refusing 2sign new deal. Likely free

What are our January targets? Andy Johnson & LIAM RIDGEWELL

Whats going on with the training ground?"Depends on resolution with OS. All options open"

Why was Stech recalled? Will we ever paythe additional fee due so he can play. "Yes, he expected to be on bench

Clunge can we bring Julian dicks back inany way? "Totally upto SA. We know JD be a massive popular choice

Any news on a new contract for Rob Green?"Refuses to sign new deal. Will asses in the summer"

Question for Clunge. Is the Pavon deal off?"Pavon released as wouldn't sign short term deal"

How much is Karren Brady paid by West Ham?"Nothing. G&S pay her wages out of their own pockets"

How much are we paying Lansbury? "£10kfrom us, £10k from Arsenal"

Is retractable seating a real option orjust PR? "Genuine option. Issue will b resolved or we don't go"

What provision is there in place of one ofthe chairmen die? "Club will be well looked after in a worst case scenario"

If we go up, what will our transfer budgetbe? "75% of Sky money as a provision"

Are Gold Sullivan any closer to buying the cluboutright? When will Straumur b gone? "Straumur gone by 2013

What bonus is Big Sam on for promotion?£1m+, plus contract offer extension and basic pay rise"

How much is Nolan paid per week"Highest paid at club. £60k+

Who is the best player we have comerelatively close to signing recently bar Tevez? "bid for Henry b4 he wentto MLS"

What did you think of avram grant."Lovely man but not for us (!) In running to get N.I job"

Who and when are we taking a new CB?"Pavon has turned down deal. Demel can play CB, Reid back 4 wks

Whats the story with Mervan Celik? #Clunge"Hoping to do perm deal In Jan. Parma also want him"

We covered many of these Clunge stories on Moore Than Just A Podcast Episode 12

You can listen to Episode 12 of Moore at http://MooreThanJustAPodcast.podbean.com or search ITunes for Moore Than Just A Podcast

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Retractable Seating: What can be learnt from Stade De France

2011-11-21T10:00:00.000Z

Perhaps the most well known stadium to use retractable seating is the Stade De France. It is the national stadium of France which hosts Football, Rugby and Athletics.

The retractable seating accommodates 25 000 seats. It is reached by the level 1. It may move 15 feet to reveal all of the running track and jumping pits. It then retains 22 000 seats. The movement takes 80 hours using 40 people.

However there is one fundamental difference between Stade Du France and the Stratford Olympic Stadium. The Stade Du France was designed from concept with retractable seating in mind, the Stratford Olympic stadium has not, in fact only 25,000 seats were designed to be permanent. This was a massive oversight and failure by the Olympic Park Legacy Company.

Redesigning the stadium to accommodate retractable seating will not be simple. Put simply it means dropping the running track and pitch by as much as 15 feet or the seating by a similar height. Both would be costly. Not to graduate seating would seriously compromise sight lines.

The second obstacle is the roof which does not cover the running track. Extending the roof within the current design or adding a retractable roof would be difficult and costly. We may have to accept that any retractable seats would have to be wet seats open to the elements.

In the old days we had uncovered terraces and recently I attended a league 2 at AFC Wimbledon in the front row where I got drenched after a sudden down pour. People pay to get wet at places like Sea world in Florida so you never know it may become an attraction.

There are no simple solutions and while it is good that David Gold now says retractable seating is an integral part of any move to the Olympic stadium I believe it will both difficult and costly to achieve.

Stade De France configured for a football match with retractable seating in place

Stade Du France Retractable Seating

Stade De France for Athletics Event with

Virtual Tour of Stade De France on Youtube

West Ham's Fantastic Away Support! Thank You 36,086 times

2011-11-18T10:00:00.000Z

This season's West Ham away support has been amazing!

We have won 5 games on the road, drawn two (Millwall & Palace) and only lost one (Southampton) narrowly.

We have pretty much sold out every allocation given to us by away teams.

I went to Southampton away and the atmosphere was amazing even though I was in a corporate box overlooking the 3,168 West Ham away fans.

At the Southampton match we helped break the stadium record attendance. St Mary's stadium opened in 2000 have had Manchester United visit so to break the record on a cold mid week evening was no easy feat.

West ham fans sang 'You are only here for the West Ham' and 'We filled your ground for you'

Every away game you can hear the West Ham fans out singing the home support with bubbles often being heard over radio and TV commentary.

This weekend comes another record with 6,313 travelling to Coventry, another sell out! There were rumours we asked for more, as many as 10,000 but told the police were not keen to allow an increased allocation around 6,500.

It will be the biggest travelling following for West Ham United since the 9 May 2004 trip to Wigan Athletic when 7,400 away fans were present.

My fellow season ticket holder, podcast presenter and regular away supporter George (@georgewhufc) on twitter is going to Coventry, he offered me a spare ticket but it is my son's 5th birthday that weekend so I had to decline, but I would love to be among the 6,300 plus crowd.

I am going to Reading away on the 3rd December with 4,221 fellow West Ham supporters which is another sell out of our away allocation. Again we asked for more but were turned down.

David Gold has already paid tribute on his twitter to the amazing West ham fans who travel week in week out to support our push for promotion.

David Sullivan hailed the support. "It's totally amazing," he told whufc.com. "I've never known such amazing away support so early in the season.

"The club is so proud of our travelling away supporters. Not only do they make a massive amount of noise, but they are impeccably well behaved. Every one of them is a true ambassador for the club."

These are the away attendances or sold away tickets for this season.

As you can see an amazing 36,086 by the time we play Reading on 3rd December.

Doncaster 3,211
Watford 3,736
Nottingham Forrest           2,696
Millwall Away                    1,883
Crystal Palace                  4,356
Southampton                    3,168
Brighton                            2,401
Hull Away                         4,100
Coventry                          6,313
Reading                           4,222

Total Away Supporters      36,086

Come On You Irons

Insight into Big Sam including transcendental meditation

2011-11-16T22:16:00.001Z

Today I met Sam Allardyce (Big Sam) at the London Business Forum in Southwark, London

The business seminar entitled The 90 Minute Manager gave a great insight to Big Sam the football manager and the person.

He described himself in the middle of the West Ham management structure but a person who is very good at managing upwards. He expanded that managing upwards is critical but also he has to adjust to each owner's ways. He was none too complimentary about Mike Ashley at Newcastle who he said ran Newcastle like his Sports direct empire in the beginning.

He said whether he is sacked or leaves West Ham on his own terms he hopes he leaves West Ham better organised and better structured when he finally walks away.

He said his first job when he joined West Ham was to stop the football back room staff redundancies. He said that too many back room staff were being cut by the senior management. He made it clear it had to stop and he would decide the level of back room staff.

He suggested the back room staff needed to increase which did not go down well but he agreed to take one less player in the squad if that was required to get the right level of football related support staff.

He explained that proper communication and managing people was crucial in football management and it wasn't just about football experience.

When he joined he said the support staff were very demotivated but highly skilled, he interviewed every player and asked them outright whether they wanted to stay.

He hinted several big players wanted out but changed their minds later.

He said recruitment is massive priority in football but there was no recruitment policy or data when he arrived at West Ham.

He bought four year's of personal data on players with him when he joined the club.

He said he believed physiological profiling of players was useful. He appointed former footballer & manager turned sports psychologist Lee Richardson to back room team who he described as a crucial member of the team.

He said the average life of a championship manager is 12 months or 1.4 years for a premiership manager. Anything above that you are doing well as a manager.

He said it is important that the players want to work for you, building relationships with the support staff and players is crucial, everyone must get respect and feel comfortable in their role in the club. Everyone is important, even Pete the kit man. Some times the kit man can see a perspective no-one else sees.

He joked he encourages ideas, opinions and openness as long as they come round to his way of thinking in the end. The players need to trust the manager but they also need to trust the support staff. Players will quickly find out the manager who doesn't know what he is doing.

When asked about coping with pressure and the media he said Alastair Campbell was a good friend and had coached him on handling the media.

The spin doctor told him to answer tricky questions with a different answer to confuse the journalists.

He said 'Big Sam' is a deliberate brand he created and he plays to that Big Sam brand image.

He said he now enjoys tricky media questions as he prepares for them in advance.

When asked about the England job he said he needed to get West Ham promoted to stand any chance of being considered for the England manager's job.

On recruitment he said most managers do not recruit back room staff well, they mainly recruit their mates rather than the best people for the job.

He was asked about work/life balance in light of his previous health scares.

He said it was important to take time out, his tan was testament to that!, to delegate well (Wally Downes was running training in his absence) and to keep blood pressure down as that is the real killer.

He confessed he uses transcendental meditation and has his own mantra which takes 30 mins.

He claimed his mantra is as good a 9 hour sleep.

When asked about young English players he blamed Maggie Thatcher and her government change in Sports Education policy in making England way behind other countries in developing young talent. He said that policy harmed English football in being too diverse in the sports disciplines which need to be covered.

He also said parental commitment was very important, he said his son drives his grand son to Manchester United several times per week but this would be very difficult for single parents.

He said you have to brave enough as a football manager to say you were wrong but joked he rarely is.

He said his job is to create a stable environment for the West Ham players at the training ground away from the craziness of the media. There is no over reaction after a disappointment just a discussion.

There is analysis of what went wrong but it is important not to over react as it is self defeating.

He said it is equally important not to over react to success and get complacent.

The players must have some anxiety and a little fear before each game to keep that edge.

He doesn't agree in knee jerk reactions to please the media, owners or fans.

He said athletics and speed has increased in recent years with an average player running 2.5Km more every match.

He said each West Ham player wears a GPS tracker on his neck during training which supplies live data to a laptop so his staff can see who is not working hard enough, who is unfit and sometimes this can pinpoint early illness like colds and flu.

He said he found it bizarre that FIFA did not embrace new technology and suggested goal line technology and GPS live data should be brought into the beautiful game.

His final question was what 3 things make a great Football manager.

1) Ambition: He claimed his ambition is greater than any club he has managed.

2) Job Satisfaction: A team that delivers what has been targeted by owners and fans.

3) Publicity: Someone who feels comfortable in the lime light and media pressure

I was very impressed by the man and can see why the two Davids gave him the job.

Olympic Stadium Legacy: Learning Lessons from Barcelona

2011-11-16T10:00:00.001Z

Barcelona’ssecond football team Espanyol has a lot in common with West ham United.

Espanyol wasfounded in 1900 the same year Thames Iron Works reformed as West Ham United.

Espanyol hasexperienced early glory and Real Madrid’s record defeat remains 8-1 againstEspanyol in 1930. They have been runners up of the UEFA cup twice.

Like West Hamthey have struggled to recapture glory of former years and are dwarfed byanother club in their city namely Barcelona FC.

Espanyol reluctantly sold their previous ground at Estadi de Sarrià in 1997 to wipe out the club’s debts.

Espanyol moved in as tenants and played for 12 years atthe Olympic Stadium in Montjuïc which was previously used in 1992 BarcelonaOlympics. The stadium has a capacity of 55,926 down from 67,007 during the 1992 Olympics.

Espanyolaveraged crowds of 20,256 in their last year at the Olympic Stadium while theirneighbours Barcelona averaged 67,428.

Many commentatorssaid the home crowd often looked ‘lost in the big stadium’ and the runningtrack created a gap which many Spanish football fans did not like. Many saidthe stadium lacked true atmosphere for football.

As few as14,000 fans attended some matches which could the stadium look a lonely placesince it could accommodate over 55,000.

Espanyol hasstruggled in the last couple of years to compete with the richer teams in theSpanish league having already made the commitment to build a new 40,000 purposebuilt football stadium called Estadi Cornella-El Prat.

Their firstgame on their new stadium was against a friendly against Liverpool in August2009. It was a sell out 40,000 crowd.

Since movingto a new stadium they have increased their average attendance to 27,900 but regularlysell out all 40,000 seats against Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Espanyol fansclaim their have reclaimed their soul again.

Their oldhome The Barcelona Olympic Stadium has returned to its original purpose andbecome an athletics stadium again in 2010 to host the 2010 European Athletics Championships.

The Barcelona Olympic Stadium as it looks today as Athletics Stadium again

Espanyol New 40,000 Stadium which opened in 2009 where fans are close to the pitch

Olympic Stadium Legacy: Learning lessons from Bayern Munich

2011-11-15T13:00:00.000Z

For the 1972 Olympicsthe City of Munich, Germany built their own Olympic stadium. The stadium,renowned for its architecture, was inaugurated in the last Bundesliga match ofthe 1971-72 season when Bayern Munich played in the stadium.

Like it is proposed withthe 2012 Olympic Stadium Bayern Munich didn’t actually own the stadium.

Their first match in Olympicstadium drew a capacity crowd of 79,000, a total which was reached again onnumerous occasions. The stadium was, in its early days, considered to be one ofthe foremost stadia in the world and played host to numerous major finals, suchas that of 1974 World Cup.

In later years the stadium underwent severalmodifications, such as an increase in seating space. Eventually the stadium hada capacity of 63,000 for national matches, and 59,000 for internationaloccasions such as European Cup competitions. #

Many fans, however, began to feelthat the stadium was too cold in winter, with half the audience exposed to theweather due to lack of cover. A further complaint was the distance between thespectators and the pitch, the stadium betraying its track and field heritage.Modification of the stadium proved impossible as the architect Gunther Behnish vetoedmajor modifications of the stadium.

The German giants quit theOlympic Stadium in Munich after more than 30 years to move into a purpose-builtfootball arena in 2005.

Since Bayern moved, they haveseen crowds almost double in their new home the Allianz Arena with the groundsold out for every game.

Club spokesman MarkusHoerwick believes fans want to be as close to the action as possible and thatmeans building football stadiums without an athletics track.

Hoerwick said: "Arunning track separates fans from the footballers. Supporters want to be asclose as possible and with a running track you cannot provide this.

"The Olympic Stadium inMunich holds almost 70,000 but our attendances were around 35,000.

"In the Allianz Arena,attendances have gone up to 69,000 because we can cater for the demands of thefootball fan.

"The OlympicStadium has been good to Bayern but it was open and cold. It had littleatmosphere and the fan experience suffered

The Olympic Stadium in Munich as it is today

The Championship & West Ham Football Finances Explained

2011-11-14T10:00:00.000Z

Back in 2007 the BBC & Sky completed a deal to buy thedomestic TV rights for the football league for £264 million over 3 years.

Under the deal BBC gets first choice of 10 Championshipgames but cannot pick one team more than twice. Sky get 65 matches in the football league 45 of which come from theChampionship.

This deal will expire at the end of this season to bereplaced by a new Sky only deal worth just £195M over the next three seasons.

In response to a twitter question I recently wrote to theFootball league to ask them how TV rights, overseas rights, prize money, facility payments andpremiership solidarity rights are distributed throughout the league and inparticular the Championship.

Hopefully many of you will know that a new parachute paymentdeal which came in this season means a team like West Ham will receive £16Million per year parachute payment from the Premiership for the first twoseasons followed by two further seasons at £8 million pound per season. Thisnew £48 million package per relegated team was ratified last season and is mostgenerous of all parachute deals to date.

The Premiership alsopay a solidarity payment to other teams in the league outside the premiershipbut this excludes those receiving parachute payments like West Ham. EachChampionship club receives £2.2 Million per season up from £830,000 in theprevious deal.

As for the Sky/BBC money, the £88 Million per year is splitaccording to rules in the League articles of association section 7.1.

http://www.football-league.co.uk/regulations/20110629/section-7-broadcasting-sponsorship_2293633_2125733

The first £33 million of revenue is allocated 59.6% to theChampionship, 23.9% to League 1 and 16.5% to League 2

Between £33 million and £67 Million the revenue is spilt 80%to the Championship, 12% to League 1 and8% to League 2

Above £67 million the revenue is spilt 90% to theChampionship, 6% to league 1 and 4% to league 2.

If you do the calculations as I have then each Championshipteam get £2,740,000 per season from the BBC/Sky deal of £88 Million. Thismeans the 24 Championship teams share £65,760,000 of the £88,000,000 revenue.

If your match is chosen by BBC or Sky then you receive an extra facility fee worth £100,000 for the home team and £10,000 for the away team.

Overseas broadcast rights add another £7 million per seasonwhich using the 90% to the championship rule as extra income means that each championship club picks up another £260,000 of income per season.

This means each championship club receives £3M per season inTV rights plus facility fees for each match shown on BBC or Sky.

Unlike the Premiership, Championship merit payments for league position are extremely limited. The winners of the league receive just £50,000 and the runnersup £25,000. I guessing promotion to the premiership is prize enough and so theprize money is slightly irrelevant.

There is a reduction in TV rights revenue for the football league from £264 million to £195 million from next season after Skywas the only bidder for the rights. The £69 million short fall will mean domestic TV rightsfalling to £1.88 Million per season for each Championship team with £250K ofOverseas rights. This adds up to just over £2 Million nearly a £1 Million drop per clubon previous seasons.

As for West Ham finances looking at their 2010 accounts

http://www.whufc.com/page/FinancialReports/0,,12562,00.html

The West Ham accounts filled in 2010 while we were still in thePremiership showed a turnover of £71.7 Million pounds with a Wage bill of £50.3 million. Compensation payments for loss of senior management were £4.4 Million and admin/running costs were £20.4 Million. This left us with a £3 Million loss for the year.

Our wages accounted for 70% of turnover which was a lot closer tothe average 67% of the premiership than previous seasons under the biscuit baron.

Income in our last year of the premiership from season tickets and match day tickets raised £16.9 Million.

Broadcast rights and sponsorship added £38 Million.

Commercial activities contributed £12.7 Million

Season tickets sales fell from 23,100 to 22,475 in that yearand average attendances were 91.7% of capacity of the Boleyn ground.

Premiership documents show West Ham received the 3^rdleast revenue last year after coming 20^thbut earning above average £7.7 million of facility fees. The total was worth £40.7 Million poundswhile Manchester United received the most at £60.4 Million for that season.

The full figures can be found on the Premier league website below.

http://www.premierleague.com/staticFiles/fe/72/0,,12306~160510,00.pdf

The massive gulf between the two leagues is easy to see, dropping £40.7 Million by coming last in Premiership to £19 Million at the top of the Championship. The drop means a massive short fall of £21.7 Millionwhich is why David Gold and David Sullivan needed to inject £25 million intothe club this season and will need to be the same again next season if we arenot promoted.

If we remain in the championship for a third season an extra £33million will need to be found and after 4 years that rises to £41 million per season gap. You cansee how important it is to get promoted at first attempt or very worst second attempt!

We can and have cut the wage bill but if you want getpromoted you have to compete with everyone else in championship often atpremiership level wages.

I think the two Davids should be congratulated for putting their hands in their pockets!

Sources:

Football League Finances Source: Email from Football League dated 1st Nov 2011 & Articles of Association Section 7 http://www.football-league.co.uk/regulations/20110629/section-7-broadcasting-sponsorship_2293633_2125733

West Ham Finances Source: 2010 Accounts from WHUFC.com
http://www.whufc.com/page/FinancialReports/0,,12562,00.html

Premiership Finances Source: Premier League Press Release for 2009-2010 accounts
http://www.premierleague.com/staticFiles/fe/72/0,,12306~160510,00.pdf

Remember the 37,404 West Ham Pals killed in the first world war

2011-11-13T10:00:00.000Z

This Remembrance Sunday at 11am please remember the 37,404 West Ham Pals killed in the first world war.

One of the reasons why the First World War was so traumatic an event to British society was that so many of the new infantry Battalions formed to fight in the trenches were the so called "Pals Battalions". Where men could serve with local friends, neighbours or workers.

The West Ham Pals were officially called the 13th Battalion of the Essex Regiment.

Unofficially they were West Ham football team supporters who joined on mass with their mates and whose battle cry (and bayonet charge) was “Up the Irons”.

The Battalion fought in some of the worse battles in the War and suffered in total 37,404 causalities killed, wounded or missing. The impact of all these deaths and casualties in battle on the local community was therefore immense.

When you imagine more than a packed out Boleyn ground home crowd being slaughtered you begin to understand the enormity of the whole thing and how many West Ham fans lost their lifes.

The West Ham Pals website can be found here http://westhampals.blogspot.com/

Two years ago Sir Trevor Brooking unveiled a plague at the Boleyn ground to remember the Pals.

http://www.whufc.com/articles/20091108/sir-trevor-leads-ceremony_2236884_1845298

West Ham players took time out from their morning session on 11/11/11 at 11am to take part in a a nationwide silence for Armistice Day.

http://www.whufc.com/articles/20111111/hammers-honour-armistice-day_2236884_2512966

David Gold's Question Time

2011-11-12T13:18:00.001Z

David did a radio interview on Talk Sport Radio this week with Andy Gray and Richard Keys

You can listen to the 28 minute interview on the link below

http://www.talksport.co.uk/radio/richard-keys-and-andy-gray/blog/2011-11-09/david-gold-sam-allardyce-olympic-stadium-and-west-hams-future

Following the radio interview David Gold's claimed several media outlets took his comments out of context in claiming he had doubts over West Ham moving to the Olympic Stadium.

http://www.cityam.com/sport/gold-has-doubts-over-west-ham-olympic-stadium-move

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/09112011/58/london-2012-west-ham-doubt-olympic-stadium-move.html

http://www.tribalfootball.com/articles/west-ham-owner-gold-not-sure-about-olympic-stadium-move-2128911

This resulted in WHUFC.com releasing an official statement here

http://www.whufc.com/articles/20111110/olympic-stadium-update_2236884_2511778

Personally I think It good that David Gold has said he will consult the fans and I personally back the move if the view and atomsphere of the new stadium can be resolved.

I am one of around 75 members of the West Ham Fans Advisory Board on the Olypmic Stadium Committee. We are waiting for a date in January or February next year when we will meet West Ham to hear their plans and hopefully view the stadium.

On our West Ham podcast we also had our own David Gold question time although David Gold didn't come into our studio himself.

We summarised his many informative tweets from the past week answering West Ham fans questions.

The latest podcast episode can be listened or downloaded from

http://moorethanjustapodcast.podbean.com

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A Day in Hull with the Tigers

2011-11-08T20:00:00.000Z

Last Saturday I watched a foreign satellite broadcast of the Hull City v West Ham match but David Gold confirmed that 5,000 supporters made the 300 plus mile round trip to the City of Hull.

Two of these fans were Ben and James who filed match reports for MooreThanJustAPodcast West Ham podcast http://moorethanjustapodcast.podbean.com

Both Match Reports are below:

Ben Surdeau's Report

Hull City v West Ham

First Half:

From the kick off Hull City looked more likely to score although we did create a couple of half chances. It was clear that Carew wasn't having a good day. His hold up play wasn't what you'd usually expect and there was at least once chance where he should have troubled their goalkeeper (in the end I think he fell over to try and buy a penalty). Baldock seemed to be playing out on the wing. Sam Baldock is not a winger and we looked exposed when they were in possession. We rode our luck throughout the first half with Faye and Green making some crucial blocks. Faubert looked okay at right back but got caught out on a couple of occasions. We were wasteful with our possession. Nolan didn't support Carew properly and nor did Baldock because he was out on the wing. Overall we were quite solid defensively and survived the half. We had a couple of chances but 0-0 at half time was the best we could have hoped for.

Second half:

Carew unsurprisingly didn't emerge for the second half and was replaced by Carlton Cole. We also seemed to alter our shape somewhat. Nolan played deeper with Diop and Noble pushed forward. Baldock also seemed to get infield more from his wing. The change in shape improved us immediately - it was great to see Big Sam applying some tactical nous and changing it at half time - it was a positive early substitution that our previous two managers would have bottled out of making. Baldock won the corner that set up his goal. Brilliant to see him dropping off his marker at the back post in anticipation of a flick on. He looks like a great poacher. For the second goal it was nice to see the West Ham old school combine for a very tidy goal. Carlton beat his man neatly and played the ball through for Collison who was steaming in from midfield. Collison had actually been pretty quiet for the game but that was a great way to add to his contribution. We looked to hold onto the lead from that moment. After the 2nd goal for the vast majority I thought we restricted them to shots from distance which was pleasing. There were a few opportunities but Rob Green made 3 world class saves and we saw out the game.

We were well worth the win overall. MOTM is a toss up between Green and Faye who were both outstanding against what is a very good team at home. Honorable mention to Carlton Cole for his impact. He looked quality and played to his potential. I understand some peoples frustrations with Carlton but on his day he can run rings round the opposition. Today he got the support he needed to do just that and wasn't expected to hold up high balls all afternoon (although actually his hold up play when it was required was brilliant).

Worst player: Kevin Nolan. We carry him and for me, Mark Noble does Nolan's job as well as his own. I want nothing more than for Nolan to play to his potential but it's not happening yet.

We haven't lost a league game in which we've scored a goal this season. We're no longer the team who goes 2-0 up and Wigan and then loses 3-2. I for one am grateful to Big Sam for giving us a bit of grit. We've won 5 on the road, thats the sort of thing that makes driving home from Hull a lot more bearable!

All in all a quality day, very friendly locals who let us into the Walton working mens club before kick off and even played Bubbles for us on the stereo.

Atmosphere first half was useless, Hull were louder than us by a long way. It got better after half time when we scored. It's almost like the away fans this season are quieter because we are expecting to win a few this season...very odd.

Bizarre moment of the afternoon*: 2 Hull fans were near to the away end with their baby in the pram at the front so some of the West Ham started singing: 'That baby's not yours, that baby's not yours, who is the father, that baby's not yours'. This was followed by 'does she take it up the a**e?' sang to the baby's mother at which point the guy went up behind her and mimed having sex with her whilst she was looking in the pram. For some reason the stewards then threw the bloke out and the mum followed, giving the away end the finger on the way. Charming couple, I'm sure they will be very proud telling their child about their first Hull City match...

James Catlin's Report on the Cost of an Away day in Hull

I am West Ham fan originally from Romford but now live in Liverpool.

Left my house with my mate (also from Romford) at about, 10.30 am Stopped of at a 'Welcome Break' on the M62 for 10-15 mins then carried on to Hull. Got to the Stadium around 12,30. Parked up at a local Car park which cost £5. Found a Local fish and Chips bar, which cost £6 each for Large Fish Chips and a Drink.

As the first was playing I didn't think we played too well only created the odd chance and could of gone in 1 or 2 down easily. I think Hull was the better side in the first half, and we didn't like the way they played. They made it very difficult for us. Kevin Nolan was anonymous in the first half and didn't lead the team by example. John Carew also didn't perform as well as we've seen him. His first touch was awful.

The second half was more brighter, we created more, and we didn't play 'Long Ball' as much, we passed it around and it was good to watch. The atmosphere in the away end didn't seem as good as it has done, but when Sam Baldock broke the dead lock it gave all the fans a lift, and the atmosphere was suddenly great. The second goal was fantastic, a proper team goal, and the build up to it was immense. Great finish by Jack Collision.

We looked tired towards the last 15 mins, and we went back to defence football. If your 2-0 up away, the home team will put huge pressure on your defence with 15-20 mins to go. We was playing too deep, and they was taking advantage of that, and if it wasn't for Green's save in the last 15-20 minutes could of easily been a draw.

I'd give the overall performance a 6/10 by the team

Unless its because the 'Expectations' are high this year, the atmosphere at games dont feel the same as last year, I remember Birmingham, West Brom, Blackburn, Tottenham, Sunderland, Blackpool, Stoke, and Wolves away last year and the atmosphere was rocking. This year it seems a bit different! If it is because of the 'Expectations' then it must be boring to be a Man Utd fan ha.

Ticket - £15

Petrol (full tank) £68.79

Food - £6

Bet - £3

Programme - £3

Total - £95.79 WELL WORTH IT :)

Thanks to Ben and James for their reports.

I did an interview on Sports Tonight TV on the game which can be found below:

We also covered the game on episode 11 of MooreThanJustAPodcast which can be found below.

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A Tale of 3 Cities! (Leicester, Bristol & Hull)

2011-11-04T12:13:00.002Z

First Came Leicester City at home, we played well for 35 minutes and went two nil up after 22 minutes, the remaining 55 minutes were a nervous watch as Leicester City came back into the game. A win was win and we accepted all 3 points gratefully at the end of the match.

Next came Bristol City for our midweek evening game, many season ticket holders around us in the Sir Trevor Brooking Lower stand said it was our worst performance of the season. It was a very painful watch. Bristol City set out their bus and seemed set on a draw from kick off.

However once they hit the post after a Green and Tomkins mis understanding which involved in argument between the pair afterwards then Faye cleared another Bristol shot off Robert Green's goal line. In some ways I thought we were lucky to escape with a point. We had a good spell for about 15 minutes in the second half but we didn't take our chances.

Frédéric Piquionne was by far the worst player on the pitch and missed three clear cut chances to put us in the lead. The biggest disappointment was when Big Sam took off Sammy Baldock and replaced him with Carlton Cole. This act was greeted by many boos from much of the crowd. Carlton Cole did no better and fired shot after shot sky wards 20 feet over the cross bar.

A disappointing and frustrating evening for all those who went. But as Big Sam says we must respect the point. I am starting to feel about Piquionne as I did about Ilunga.

The only small element of excitement was Amy Childs appeared at half time with West Ham announcer Jeremy Nicholas. I must admit I had no idea who Amy Childs was or what TOWIE is until some mentioned it stood for 'The Only Way is Essex'. He confessed she is a big hammers fan and it is rumoured she will model West Ham ladies wear for the West Ham store. She certainly looked good in her tight West Ham shirt although not sure I go for the orange tan, caked on make up and false bits and pieces myself.

I also did another Interview on Sports Tonight TV LIVE http://www.sportstonightlive.com about the Bristol City Match and the Boo's from West Ham fans at the game.

It also covers the story of Sam comments on the boos at the game as reported in the Sun

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/3908989/West-Ham-0-Bristol-City-0.html

ed

The final of the 3 Cities is Hull City away this Saturday which could be a tough test

Hull City won nine of our 36 league meetings with them. The Irons have won 13, with 14 drawn.

This is our first clash since both were in the Premier League in the 2009/10 season. West Ham scored three goals in each of the last two meetings.

West Ham have only recorded three league wins on Hull turf. The most recent of those was 1-0 in September 1954!

Hull's 2-1 defeat to Barnsley on Tuesday ended their nine-match unbeaten sequence.

West Ham are yet to beat a top seven club.

The Hammers need to score three times on Saturday to total 2,000 league goals away from home.

Hopefully John Carew will return from injury and could be available for selection on Saturday. Winston Reid will be out for 6 weeks and Sam is looking at bringing in the highly rated Nedem Onouha on emergency loan from Manchester City.

My prediction is a 4-5-1 with a 2-1 away Victory

Come on you Irons

9 points out of 9? Review of Leicester & Preview of Bristol

2011-11-01T13:01:00.002Z

Saturday was another great day at the Boleyn with another home win. We really must stop singing 'How shit must you be were winning at home' as it seems daft now.

I thought we played well for the first 35 minutes, We welcomed back Robert Green, Carew was on form, Faubert and Noble had a great game and Baldock proved again worth the investment.

We even passed the ball around on the floor and resisted the long ball.

Two nil up after 22 minutes I started to relax but then Leicester came back into it but our back four stood firm.

The second half was more uncomfortable with memories of Brighton away flooding back.

First we conceded to go to 2-1 only for Baldock to make it 3-1 then conceded again late to make it 3-2. We both hit the wood work, Baldock for his hat trick and Leicester for the equaliser.

It was a very nervous last few minutes but whether skill or luck we survived and it was another home win and 6 points out of 6.

Here is a youtube clip of songs we sang at the Sir Trevor Brooking Lower Stand on Saturday including two new tame songs about Sammy Baldock at the time. We need a proper song for Baldock.

Also here is my Sunday Interview on SportsTonight TV http://www.sportstonightlive.com

As for tonight at home against bottom of league Bristol City. Simple on paper but as we know we sometimes slip up against the easy opponents.

West Ham have won 16, drawn eight and lost four of 28 league and cup matches against Bristol City.

They have not gone played each other since the 1992/93 second level league campaign, when West Ham did the double with a 7-1 aggregate score and went on to gain promotion.

Westham are looking for a fourth successive victory over Bristol City, and are unbeaten in eight league and cup games against them (W5, D3), since a 2-1 top-flight reverse at the Boleyn in February 1978.

We are one place and three points off the pace, are looking for a ninth win of this league season, and a third in a row. Can we really achieve 9 points out of 9? Could this be a dream?

Our return of 27 points in 14 games is our best start to a league season in 21 years and one point from David Gold's target of 2 points per game for automatic promotion. A win tonight would give us 30 points from 15 games and match the David Gold's target.

We have scored 26 league goals which are shared between 13 different players - the longest goalscorers' list in the Championship.

Bristol City gained their first win under Derek McInnes, last Saturday with a 2-1 away win over Barnsley. It followed five straight losses and a 10-match win less run in the league.

My prediction is a 4-4-2 formation and 3-0 home win with Baldock and Carew on the score sheet again.

We will be podcasting Episode 10 of 'Moore Than Just A Podcast' tomorrow (Wednesday night) with George @GeorgeWHUFC, John @WesthabJB and Reece Jones @ReeceJ100 and myself Sean @WestHamFootball

Please send in any questions for the episode to @WestHamFootball on twitter

It can be downloaded from http://MooreThanJustAPodcast.podbean.com or just search for 'Moore Than Just A Podcast' on ITunes

Come On You Irons!

The Good (Blackpool) Bad (Southampton) & the Ugly (Brighton)

2011-10-26T14:35:00.000+01:00

Three games have gone by since I have properly blogged last and I got to thinking they can be described as the Good, the bad and the dam right ugly games if you will excuse the pun.

Luckily I have been able to watch all three games even though two of them were away.

Let's start with Blackpool for the good.

I can't remember a more pleasing day at the Boleyn back on Saturday 15th October. The sun was shining, the beers were flowing, the crowd had great expectations and the team certainly delivered with a 4-0 trashing of Blackpool. I did an article for the Blackpool Gazette before the game and I must admit even I wasn't that optimistic!

Everyone played their part in the game, we passed the ball around and played attractive football but Baldock and Carew stood out for me as the men of the match.

Below are some of the songs we sung in the Sir Trevor Brooking lower on that afternoon

Next came the Bad (Southampton Away)

I was lucky enough to be invited into a corporate box for the game and stayed overnight in Southampton sampling the south coast hospitality ;-). The Southampton people looked after us in the box and kept us plied with food and drink all night. The West Ham away support was fantastic with 3,500 fans out singing the home fans. It was announced it was the stadium capacity record that night so we sung 'It took us to fill your ground' and 'your only here for the west ham!'. The west ham fans sung their hearts out all night. Despite setting up an ambitious 4-4-2 formation we never looked the better team. Southampton passed the ball around well and we didn't really start playing for the first 35 minutes. We started playing in the last 10 minutes of the first half, which is when we conceded the only goal. We defended well all night and this was a rare lapse in concentration which cost us dearly. I must admit I was drunk by the second half but I thought we played well in the second half and were unlucky not to get an equaliser. I thought we could have easily got a draw, whether we deserved it was another matter. We hit the post twice and their keeper made some excellent saves worthy of Robert Green.

Fair play to Southampton, as I have said before I don't mind being the second best team in the league as long as we come second and many Southampton fans said the same back to me on that night.

Hard Life in the Southampton Box

Finally there was the Ugly at Brighton.

This was a game I really wanted to go to but season ticket holders needed 6 priority points to get a ticket and my away games (non corporate) are limited these days with a young family. I visited Brighton with the family last weekend and we went past the impressive Amex Community Stadium. Luckily the game was on Sky Sports so we all got to watch it.

What can you say?, it was a horrible watch in horrible wet weather and the one goal came from a mistake from the defender, Dunk and the goal keeper Harper should have done better against his former team mate Nolan.

Big Sam says it was all part of the plan and a great fought victory! Yea right! I think we just got lucky.

However lucky teams win automatic promotion so I won't moan too much and gladly accept the 3 points with a big smile on my face.

I did some Skype video interviews for Sports Tonight LIVE TV during the game and after full time which can be found below. Onwards and upwards to Leicester on Saturday.

We have just published Moore Than Just A Podcast Episode 9 (Diouf Off) which covers the Southampton and Brighton Games. It can be found at http://moorethanjustapodcast.podbean.com and on ITunes (Just search for 'Moore Than Just A Podcast')

My Diouf offensive history post can be found here!

http://westhamfootball.blogspot.com/2011/10/controversy-potted-history-of-el-hadji.html

COME ON YOU IRONS!

The Controversal Potted History of El Hadji Diouf

2011-10-21T22:16:00.000+01:00

Diouf's professional career has been overshadowed by controversy. During his time Rennes, France he was convicted for driving without a licence, and was involved in a car crash. The French courts sentenced Diouf to community service.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/2850093.stm

During the start of his early Premier League career in England, Diouf has been involved in several incidents where he has spat at football fans and opposition players. In 2002 he was accused of spitting at West Ham Fans fans whilst warming-up at a sub for Liverpool during a game at Anfield.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2002/dec/09/newsstory.sport8

On 13 March 2003, whilst playing for Liverpool, he was involved in an incident when he spat at Celtic fans during a televised UEFA Cup quarter-final. His club fined him two weeks' wages, UEFA gave him a two-match ban, and Diouf was charged with assault. He later pleaded guilty, and was fined £5,000.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2003/may/10/newsstory.sport2

Whilst he was on loan at Bolton, Diouf was charged by the police for spitting at an 11-year-old Middlesbrough fan during a 1–1 draw in November 2004.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2004/nov/16/newsstory.sport9

Then, on 27 November 2004, Diouf spat in the face of Portsmouth player Ajan De Zeeuw. He was fined two weeks' wages by Bolton and was banned for three games by the FA after pleading guilty to a charge of improper conduct.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/diouf-apologises-for-spitting-incident-as-bolton-impose-fine-534897.html

On 20 September 2009, Diouf was questioned by police after allegations that he had made a racist slur to a ball-boy during a match at Everton, telling him to "fuck off, white boy".Diouf defended his actions by saying that the ball-boy had thrown the ball to him "like a bone to a dog" and that Everton fans were racially abusing and throwing bananas at him; police found no evidence of this.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1214946/El-Hadji-Diouf-racially-abused-ball-boy.html

In April 2010, Diouf was arrested and charged with motoring offences in Manchester.

http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1202955_el_hadji_diouf_charged_with_driving_offences

On 8 January 2011, following Blackburn's 1–0 win over QPR in the FA Cup third round, QPR manager Neil Warnock accused Diouf of taunting Jamie Mackie whilst the latter lay on the pitch injured with a broken leg and referred to Diouf as "lower than a sewer rat".

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1346961/El-Hadji-Diouf-QPR-liars-Jamie-Mackie-incident.html

On 2 March 2011, Diouf was one of three Rangers players sent off in the Old Firm Derby, after an altercation at the touchline with Neil Lennon and dissent to the referee at full time.Diouf was fined £5000 in April 2011 and warned over his future conduct by the Scottish Football Association.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/rangers/8445741/Rangers-duo-El-Hadji-Diouf-and-Madjid-Bougherra-fined-and-warned-over-Old-Firm-fracas-but-escape-bans.html

On 14 July 2011, it was reported that Diouf had not joined Blackburn Rovers for a pre-season tour of Austria and that his whereabouts were unknown.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/3705702/Blackburn-rap-for-AWOL-star-El-Hadji-Diouf.html

On 21 October 2011 he started training with West Ham. You know what will happen next!

Is this a guy we want pulling on a West ham shirt? You just know it will end in tears!

My preview of #WestHam v Blackpool

2011-10-14T18:00:00.005+01:00

So we play the Seasiders on Saturday at home which I am looking forward to. Hopefully one team that will not treat the day like a FA Cup final and will play openly. I not sure Ian Holloway knows to play any other way. I am told Blackpool returned most of their ticket allocation so it may turn out to be the smallest away fans of the season so far with less than 1,000.

There is a possability that Winston Reid who has recovered from a hamstring, Mark Noble with a problem toe and Matty Taylor with a calf injury could all be passed fit and available for selection for the game.

David Bentley has returned to Spurs after his operation and will not be seen in a West Ham shirt again and Guy Demel is pushing for a start after recovering from a hamstring problem.

West Ham have won 21 of their 51 competitive matches against Blackpool, with the Seasiders winning 17, and 13 drawn.

The Irons are unbeaten in six league clashes with Blackpool, winning four and drawing two since a 2-1 defeat at Bloomfield Road in March 1966.

It's 77 years since Blackpool last took away maximum points from the Boleyn.

West Ham's 18 points after the first 10 games is our best for eight years.

Sam Allardyce began his league managerial career with Blackpool for two seasons from July 1994.

I have done an interview for the Blackpool Gazette about what Blackpool fans can expect on Saturday ;-) http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/

Prediction is an open game but I think we will edge it 3-2!

We will be recording Moore Than Just A Podcast Episode 8 on Monday evening to review the Blackpool game and look ahead to Southampton away.

http://moorethanjustapodcast.podbean.com

The truth about the Olympic Stadium

2011-10-13T21:39:00.005+01:00

There has been a lot of crap written about the original Olympic Stadium bid, why the bid collapsed and the new tender process. I thought I would share what I know to dispel some of the myths.

In the original bid a stadium holding company jointly owned by West ham and Newham council would own the Olympic Stadium and pay the estimated £5M per year running costs.

The cost to convert the stadium from 80,000 to 60,000 would be £95M with £35M from the original Olympic budget plus £20m from West Ham and £40m from the local authority, Newham Council.

West Ham would rent the Stadium from the holding company on a 125 year lease. However it was hoped revenue would also come in from Essex Cricket Club, NFL, Concerts and other sports to contribute towards the £5M running costs and paying back the repayments and interest on the Newham council £40M loan.

West Ham's liability could have been as much as £5M per annum to pay both rent and help pay back the Newham council loan.

Newham withdrew their £40M funding after Spurs, Leyton Orient requested a Judicial review and an anonymous person made a complaint to the European commission saying that Newham's £40M loan amounted to state subsidy which is forbidden within Article 87 of the EC Treaty (as well as Chapter 1 of the Competition Act 1998), which states:

“any aid granted by a Member State or through State resources in any form whatsoever which distorts or threatens to distort competition by favouring certain undertakings or the production of certain goods shall, insofar as it affects trade between Member States, be incompatible with the common market.”

It is believed the OLPC, Newham Council and the Mayor of London secretly agreed to call Spurs, Leyton Orient bluff by cancelling the original bid and retaining ownership of the stadium in state hands.

Amusingly this same article 87 may also scupper a £17M loan from the Mayor of London to redevelop White Shite Lane.

Anyone can make an anonymous complaint on-line about proposed state aid. Here is the link if you want you get your own back on Daniel Levy.

http://ec.europa.eu/competition/forms/sa_complaint_en.html

Most including the London Mayor Boris Johnson believe West Ham remain the only viable football tenant for the new tender process. Spurs have almost committed to redevelop White Shite Lane and some still say their OS bid was a big ploy to get their own way with regards to planning permission & government support. Leyton Orient say they would consider a ground share with West Ham or reduce the stadium to 25,000 as originally planned. yea right! dream on Barry. He thought his club would be paid off as part of a bargaining deal.

So under the new tender process West Ham are believed not to be required to contribute £20M and only pay £2M per year as a football tenant.

This has huge potential savings for West Ham in the tens of millions and removes the liability of finding other tenants to fulfil the running costs and find other tenants.

Many of suggested we would no longer have an asset. Well the Boleyn is worth £20M at most and probably a lot less the way land & house prices are going in that part of East London.

I would rather pay £20M off the £75M debt than have the old fashioned view that we must own the deeds. The richest club in world Manchester City do not own their stadium and rent it from the council. If it is OK for them it should be OK for us.

Some have suggested we might only get a short term lease of 5-10 years and Spurs could move in later after 2017. David Gold has dispelled this myth on twitter and claimed we would be looking for a 250 year lease on the stadium to play football.

The only big loser in all of this is the tax payer who will be stuck with the extra re-development costs and potential short fall in running costs.

Well done Levy and Hearn you must be very proud of yourselves!

More can be found out in Newham's FAQ here

http://www.newham.gov.uk/2012games/olympicstadiumbidfaqs.htm

Also below is an interview I did on Sports Tonight LIVE on Tuesday 12th October on the OS Debate

Moore Than Just A Podcast Episode 7 & Belated Eagles v Irons Match Reports

2011-10-06T13:58:00.000+01:00

Crystal Place v West Ham Match report from Matty Hill @MattyHill84 on twitter

After Hearing once again that we were to revert to 4-5-1 after Tuesday's slip up to Ipswich I was quite relieved seeing as our away form so far had been the main source of our current league position.


A starting debut for diop, and loanee almunia there was a fresh outlook but looking at the programme it was clear to see that big fat sams ideal starting eleven would be a team full of John coffees (like the drink only not spelt the same) after a good attacking start from both sides their first goal went in and Faye and Jimmy Tomkins were left looking lovingly into each others eyes.

Soon after though bentley worked the right really well (like he did for most of the game) and a cross came in that met Coles flailed shot that the palace keeper saved but only to land at nolans feet, for our off form captain to draw us level, he finished well considering.

Lansbury looked once more like a youngster aiming to amaze as he was dashing all over the back four, a few failed crosses from mcartney (whom I really rated until today) and some good attacks from the palace youngsters took the game into half time.


During which I had a foot long hot dog to console myself whilst preparing for another 45 mins in the Holmsdale stand far from my west ham brothers who were drowning the place out with corus after corus of bubbles.

The second half began an unchanged west ham we hadn't left the starting blocks and were punished after a few mistakes by faubert (who had been looking better until today) and much needed tackles wernt made, goal number two for the home side went in. 
2-1

Time dragged and so did bottom lips as from about the 60th min palace decided time wasting was a good tactical option to take.

A few more long range efforts from bentley and Lansbury saw our first substitutes of the game and a change of formation (4-4-2)off went an unfit,slow jack (proving taylor is missed on the left) and a fatigued cole and on came a massive Carew/Bigfoot and a hobbit/baldock after a few good moves I already felt comfortable with baldock in a no.7 shirt. Carew went straight forward and centre on the last man and let baldock do all the leg work after 10mins it paid off as their back 4 stared to stretch and a well crossed floater from Lansbury met Carew's head to give us our well deserved equaliser. A few more chances went astray one brilliant one from Carew that would of resembled the other. Sears then entered the field of play and bently made way with an applause from the west ham fans. Followed by a corus of "where winning awaaaay " but with the words replaced to mark our recent loan inquiry for a familiar little argentine. "he wants to coooommee home" and carlos's name was all I gathered. Then! The 4th official held up the board to say 4mins stoppage time added on ( 4mins from where nobody knew!) which triggered something I hadnt seen from my claret and blue for a while. A sense of urgency, fight and passion filled every man wearing the badge, something that we lacked last season! At the heart of this emotion filled 4mins was our captain proving that even though his ability might still be on it's way from Newcastle but his spirit is deffinatly thriving through the veins of the other players.


Final result 2-2 against a young fit palace side I was happy with a point.

Henry Lowe's Crystal Palace v West Ham Match Report @HJLowe6 on twitter

I think I speak for most west ham fans when i say that we were all going into this game against 9th place crystal palace with optimistic views of a big win at selhurst park especially taking into account our recent away form under the "Big Sam" regine. With big wins at both watford and nottingham forest under our belts everyone at west ham was going into this one believing that we could continue our outstanding away form against a crystal palace side who although swept away a strong brighton side at the amex had not been using the flashes of class that they had shown in that game in their previous encounters with leeds united and blackpool. However as we had been defeated by an ipswich side who had made a slow start in their championship campaign there was perhaps a doubtful thought in some west ham heads that this would be a tougher challenge than we first anticipated.

The day started well as there was a lot of noise being created in the surrounding streets of selhurst park where west ham fans were living up to the name that they have always had. I had gone to this game on my own as most of my friends actually support Crystal Palace. Spirits were high in the lead up to the game with both sets of fans walking within metres of eachother and not a sight of trouble anywhere near the ground. Selhurst park has always been one of those grounds that if you didnt support a london club you most likely wouldnt make the effort to visit. Dont get me wrong the set up is good and it isnt a bad ground but then again no ground is like upton park. The police were out in force along the streets putting somewhat of an uneasy atmosphere on the proceedings. The athur waite stand beckomed for the 4,000 odd travelling west ham fans. There was plenty of noise from the west ham fans in the minutes leading up to the game beginning. As the two teams emerged the famous glad all over song burst out and the palace fans were in force singing it. I felt west ham fielded a very strong side but with mark noble matt taylor and joey o'brien all key players missing through injury it wasnt sam's preferred starting 11.

Palace started the stronger looking menacing in attack while the west ham defence was defiantly not at its best. Darren Ambrose struck in the 6th minute of play to give palace a 1-0 lead that in some respects was handed to them on a plate with some very poor defending and Ambrose was able to squeeze a shot through and beat West ham's number 13 debutant Manuel Almunia. But from that moment in west ham started to play with some very attractive football and Julien faubert key to most attacks bombing down the left wing beating dean moxey with most attacks. Jack collison and Henri Lansbury also were playing a key part in the play but more importantly playing well together wihich could prove very valuable for west hams title hopes this season.

We carried on pushing palace back and on the 16th minute carlton cole's header back across goal was put in the net by kevin nolan on the back post. The noise from inside the Arthur Waite stand was deafining as all west ham fans were celebrating the goal that surely would kickstart things and see us to a comfortable victory. The first half was very entertaining with some class football on display and west hams julien faubert still key to most attacks. The half time whistle blew with the scores level at 1-1 which in all truthelness was a fair scoreline. The teams re-ameged from the dressing room to a round of applause and we were back underway. Both teams were playing good football with Wilfred Zaha looking threatening for crystal palace, it was mainly down to him that palace took the lead on the 52nd minute when glenn murray struck low into the bottom right hand corner of the goal leaving manuel almunia on the floor looking into the net. The second half passed by rapidly with a bunch of crystal palace fans making some good noise which we were easily matching with renditions of carlos tevez wants too come home and bubbles. jack collison who was playing well and carlton cole who had been somewhat isloated were replaced on the 68th minute by john carew and sam baldock making west ham alot more threatining up front. it was down to this tactical change that west ham got their second of the match to pull level when john carew made his mark and hit the back of the net with 10 minuted left to play. The final 10 minutes plus 4 for injury time were quite even with good efforts from our sam baldock and crystal palace's jermaine easter but as the final whistle went i think it is fair to say that the points were fairly distributed. I think we can take many positives from this london derby and sam allardyce said himself that he was pleased with the result. Good action from selhurst on a nice day to enjoy.

After the match Henry had his picture taken with BFS, Carlton Cole and Henri Lansbury.

                                                                      Henry with BFS

                                                                   Henry with Cole

                                                            Henry with Lansbury

Both Match reports are covered on Moore Than Just A Podcast Episode 7


Listen here on podbean http://moorethanjustapodcast.podbean.com/


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Moore Than Just A podcast will be on an international break next week. We will be back after the Blackpool game. COYI


          
 
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My Preview of the Eagles v Irons & Carlos Tevez

2011-09-30T21:05:00.001+01:00

Now we are over the mid week defeat to Tractor Boys we must move on to beat the Eagles away on Saturday.

West Ham boast a 50% winning record in competitive meetings with Crystal Palace (13 of 26). Palace have won four, with nine drawn.

The pair have not played each other since that awful day Palace's beat us 1-0 at the Millennium Stadium in May 2004, which gained them promotion to the Premier League and kept us in the championship for another season. :-(

West Ham have only been beaten twice in a league game on Crystal Palace turf in May 1995, and April 2004.

Six of the Eagles' 10 league goals have been scored in the last 12 minutes. West Ham defenders please note!

West Ham are still Unbeaten away from home, victory will equal the West ham's total of points on.

Disappointed to hear that Robert Green will be out for six weeks. Joey O'Brien, Winston Reid and Matty Taylor are also doubts through injury.

Goalkeeper Manuel Almunia on an initial one-month emergency loan from Arsenal and is cleared to play tomorrow. Marek Stech is away on loan at Burnley and I am told if he plays one more game for West Ham it will trigger a £500,000 payment to his former club. Boffin let himself down at the Aldershot game so was unlikely to be risked in the first team again so soon,

The big news was a cheeky big by David Gold for Carlos Tevez which the back page of the Sun

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/3844938/West-Ham-in-bid-to-take-Carlos-Tevez-on-loan.html

Just last year, the Sun reported Carlos Tevez said "I wish to play again for West Ham before I finish my career. I have some unfinished business there"

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/2930293/Carlos-Tevez-I-still-love-West-Ham.html

Well he just might get his chance. LOL!

Here is my team and prediction:

Almunia

Diop Tomkins Faye McCartney

Bentley Nolan Noble Collison Lansbury

Tevez ;-)

My prediction is a 1-0 Hard fought Away Win Come On You Irons!

We will be recording Episode 7 of Moore Than Just A Podcast on Monday night http://moorethanjustapodcast.podbean.com where we will be discussing Ipswich, Palace, Nolan, Greeno and of course Tevez

You can still send in your ultimate West Ham XI to MooreThanJustAPodcast@live.co.uk or go to our Facebook Page at http://www.facebook.com/MooreThanJustAPodcast

Here are some West Ham Songs from Tuesday Night

Keep Calm and Carry On!

2011-09-28T22:14:00.000+01:00

Lets all keep calm and carry on! It is not the end of the world!

We are still 4th in the league and still two points from the top. Southampton lost to Cardiff tonight and 2nd and 3rd placed Middlesbrough and Derby could only manage a point in their mid week games so the leaders didn't have a great mid week either.

It is still possible to go top on Saturday if we beat Palace away!

Yes, I was frustrated last night, Yes it was poor game and Yes Kevin Nolan played crap again.

But I am fully over it this evening and we need to focus on Saturday and our away form.

Sam needs to kick them up the bum and sort out the home form before Blackpool. He said as much in his email to fans today.

Well we finally got our 4-4-2 formation! bet we all wish we hadn't called for it now.

Green, Faye and Tomkins were the only ones I would single out for praise last night.

Cole and Carew were firing blanks. Although we saw a couple of moves by Baldock he looked knackered by the end of the match.

Noble had a 150th apperance to forget and we won't even start to describe Nolan's 350th professional appearance. That's professional with a small p. Nolan looked like he couldn't be arsed to run around.

Bentley still lacked confidence and lost the ball several times and Lansbury was yellow carded early on and lucky to remain on the pitch after a second mis-timed tackle. Sam pulled him off quickly after that and brought Collison on.

I know there is element that teams are treating their match with West Ham at home like a cup final and the tractor boys clearly wanted it more than us.

Still can't believe we conceded in the 88th minute at home yet again!

Anyway An evening best forgotten!

Come on you Irons!

My Preview of the Irons v the Tractor Boys

2011-09-26T17:20:00.000+01:00

Tuesday night we play the Tractor boys at teh Boleyn in which I am sure we a fantastic atomsphere.

West Ham have concerns over Joey O'Brien, Guy Demel (both hamstring), Tomkins (groin) and Matt Taylor (calf). Gary O'Neil is still recovering from an ankle injury and striker Frederic Piquionne is still suspended.

West Ham have beat Ipswich 27 times, lost 19 times from 66 competitive meetings with the Tractor Boys.

Ipswich have not met since West Ham since we won 4-2 on aggregate in that amazing semi-finals of the Championship play-offs in May 2005. It took us to an unbeaten run over Ipswich to five games.

We have lost two of our last 14 home league meetings with the Tractor Boys, and just need to score twice to total 100 competitive goals against Ipswich.

In fourth place we are unbeaten in seven league games and have made our best start to a league season in 28 years.

We are the second highest scorers in the Championship, with 16 goals. Southampton have netted 20.

Mark Noble, who got the winner from the spot and received Man of the Match against Peterborough on Saturday, is in line to make his 150th league appearance for us while Kevin Nolan could start his 350th regular league game. Lets hope he makes it a game to remember!

Ipswich have the worst defensive record in the Championship but have kept back-to-back clean sheets and are targeting three in a row for the first time in the league since March 2005.

My Team assuming injuries mentioned above:

                           Green


       Diop    Reid Faye    McCartney

Bentley Nolan Noble Lansbury

Carew Baldock

My prediction is a 3-1 Home Win 4 days Come On You Irons!

For those of you not going the radio commentary is on BBC London Radio

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/8273092.stm

However for £59 you can get a Pie and Pint the company of Ian Abrahams (The Moose) and Phil Parkes in the Legends lounge Tuesday night. Sounds a good deal if I didn't already have a ticket!

George, John and I are recording the sixth episode of Moore Than Just A Podcast at 8pm on Monday night so if you have any questions, topics or shout outs just tweet me at @WestHamfootball

A Win is A Win is A Win

2011-09-25T09:14:00.003+01:00

My Man of the Match Abdoulaye Faye

The match statistics speak volumes for yesterday's game. West Ham had 16 attempts on goal with 9 on them being on target. However the BBC match statistics also claim Peterborough had 11 attempts on goal with 5 of them being on target. I question this as Robert Green had a quiet afternoon relaxing in the autumn sun much of the match.

BBC claim West Ham had 54% of the possession with Posh on 46%, again I would disagree it seemed much more one sided at the match and I thought we dominated possession.

West Ham had 9 corners to Posh's 3. West Ham committed 5 fouls (two of them by late sub Carew) while Posh managed 7. Lansbury picked up a late yellow card and former hammer and Posh skipper McCann also picked up a yellow.

Statistics aside it was a great atmosphere with nearly 30,000 fans watching the match, 2,500 being from Peterborough. This is amazing since their average home gate is the lowest in the league at 8,000. I met some Posh fans on the tube and got the impression this was their cup final day out and they expected to lose.

The Sir Trevor Brooking lower crowd were in good singing form and we started singing 'How Shit Must you be, we are winning at home' after Noble converted a penalty after 11 minutes.

The rest of the game was typical West Ham, a day of missed chances. We just couldn't finish. Cole, Bentley, Nolan, Lansbury all came close but the ball just wouldn't go in.

Nolan looked bright in the first few minutes but tailed off quickly and had another poor game.

Mark Noble had a great game after converting the penalty and played his socks off. Matty Taylor was better but not as good as he has been for us. Sam later claimed he had a slight calf injury.

The real story for me was defence Abdoulaye Faye was absolutely outstanding and the man of the match for me. The sponsors man of the match was given to Mark Noble but I am sure that was more to do with the people choosing wanting to meet Noble. Faye won't be giving up his place any time soon and looks a tower of strength.

O'Brien was the weaker of the four for me but Sam said post match he had a tight hamstring. He also claimed Carlton Cole had a heavy cold and couldn't last the whole match. If he had a heavy cold then why did he start? Strange! I thought Cole was better than Carew (who didn't have a cold)

The STB Lower also had lots of banter with Sam Baldock. Sam seemed genuinely chuffed when the Sir Trevor Brooking stand continued to sing his name as he warmed up down the side lines.

Anyway a win is a win is win! All 3 points and 4th in the league with 17 points is good for me.

If we are winning and averaging 2 points per game while not playing not well then that's got to be good in anyone's book and the sign of an automatic promotion team.

Imagine what we can do when we start playing well.

Ipswich on Tuesday which I am predicting as another home win then Palace away which I think we will also win.

I am looking forward to the evening game on Tuesday night, should be a great atmosphere!

Come on you Irons!

We will recording MooreThanJustAPodcast episode six tomorrow evening to expand on the Posh match and the forth coming games.

Previous podcasts at http://moorethanjustapodcast.podbean.com

My Preview of #WestHam v Posh

2011-09-23T21:23:00.000+01:00

Posh Skipper Grant McCann in his West Ham Days

West Ham and Peterborough have only met twice and West Ham have won both matches.

They competed in the old money Second Division together 19 years.
After winning 3-1 at London Road in September 1992, The irons edged a 2-1 victory at the Boleyn ground in February 1993.

More recently they met in a pre-season friendly in July 2010 where West Ham triumphed 2-1. Carlton Cole and Anthony Edgar scored our goals. It was Edgar first career goal and his last for West Ham. He was released by West Ham in June this year and now plays for League One Yeovil Town.

West Ham are unbeaten in six Championship games, and have 14 points making it our best start to a league season in eight years.

We have picked up six more points on our travels than at home; ten on the road, four at home. Only Middlesbrough exceed that, with seven more on their travels.

We can also boast the biggest average gate in the Championship.

Peterborough are without a victory in six away league games having alternated between draw and defeat since a 2-0 win at Dagenham on 5 April.

Their manager and son of Alex Ferguson, Darren doing his best to survive on the lowest average attendances in the Championship.

Peterborough skipper Grant McCann recently admitted it was a silly decision to leave West Ham.

The former West Ham midfielder played just 72 minutes in four substitute appearances for the Irons before deciding his career lay elsewhere at the end of the 2001-02 campaign when he asked to leave.

The bookies fancy a West Ham win at 8/13 odds on favourite on Saturday and the home fans will expect it! You can get as much as 5/1 for a Peterborough win and 3/1 for a draw.

Big Sam continues to play 4-5-1 although he still insists it is 4-4-3. Nice try Sam but no banana!

He has hinted he may concede and play 4-4-2 and maybe this is the game to do early on.

With a potential 4-4-2 in mind and assuming Tomkins is not fit here is my starting team

Green

O'Brien Reid Faye McCartney

Bentley Nolan Lansbury Taylor

Cole Baldock

My prediction is a 3-0 Tidy Home Win Come On You Iron

West Ham Fire Blanks in Milwall Non Event

2011-09-17T19:07:00.000+01:00

So the over hyped London Derby clash of the season turned out to be a non event both off and on the match. It sounds like the Met Police had the event well policed and there was no reported trouble before, during or after the match. I am sure we are all glad of that after the shameful scenes of August 2009. Although the West Ham/Millwall bitterness started as rivalry between ship buidling yards it seems more to do with kids that have watched the shocking film Green Street these days.

As normal for West Ham it was a day of missed chances. In the build up to the game WHUFC.com announced no Nolan in the line up but two Nobles! I suggested we could sing 'Are you Noble in disguise?' to Nolan or "There is only two Mark Nobles, two Mark Nobles, there is only Two Mark Nobles" Actually another Mark Noble contacted me on twitter to say there was another Mark Noble but he wasn't very good at football. That's both of them then!

There was no surprises in the line up and formation with a 4-5-1. The only real change was Reid was dropped to make way for Faye which is something we called for in Monday's podcast. I am glad BFS is now a regular listener of Moore Than Just A Podcast and does what we suggest ;-)

Reid's dropping to the bench was not to last as Tomkins injured his groin and was replaced by Reid in the first half. A few of female West Ham followers offered to kiss it better which I am sure will get Tomkins fit in no time.

As the chances went I can only rely on BBC London radio commentary along side the Sky and WHUFC.com text updates.

At kick off it appears that the Millwall goalie was off the pitch sorting out his net. The ref hadn't noticed this but Lansbury did. Lansbury took a half way punt at goal but it was off target.

It appears Lansbury had two more excellent chances at goal, the first was saved by the goal keeper and his second chance was either cleared off the line by the Millwall captain or hit the cross bar.

The biggest miss of the day went to David Bentley who missed an open goal from sixe yards! FFS!

To be fair Millwall defended well and sounded the better team in the first half. Greeno made some excellent saves and although both teams will be happy with the draw and the point, both teams will equally think they could have won it.

West Ham confirmed that the match will be the featured match on the BBC1 Football League Show at 11.50pm Saturday. Bet the BBC are regretting that now. I might change my views when I see it for myself.

Match Statistics:

10 Goal Attempts Each, 5 On Target Each

8 Corners To Millwall but Only 1 to West Ham

8 Fouls by Millwall and 5 by WestHam

Millwall picked up 1 Yellow Dunne Card and WestHam 2 Noble and Cole

Posession was Millwall 44% with 56% to West Ham

George, John, Reece and I will be giving our views of the game on Monday's podcast which will be Episode 5 of Moore Than Just A Podcast.

Any questions or topics for Episode 5 just leave a comment, tweet us or email us.