Everything you wanted to know about Savio Nsereko

Savio Arrested, Deported and Charged

Former Hammer Savio was arrested last Friday on perjury charges over his kidnap claim,  Thai police have said in the Bangkok post.

Savio who now plays for Unterhaching in Germany's Bundesliga , was arrested in a rented room in Pattaya, Thailand.

Police said they were contacted by the German embassy which asked them to help Savio who had made a phone call to his relative in that country to transfer 3,000 euros  to his account claiming that he was abducted in Thailand.

Police said that after receiving the complaint they began their investigation and found that Savio, who arrived in Thailand on Oct 14th, had spent all one million baht he brought with him from Germany.

As a result, Savio then made up the story in the hope that his relative would transfer money to him. Police said Savio would be deported to face charges in Germany on Saturday.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/318384/german-footballer-arrested-in-pattaya

Interpol Search

Just last year it was reported that Interpol were looking for Savio after he went missing in Italy while on loan to Juve Stabia from Fiorentina. He texted his coach to say he would not make training for "personal reasons".

Juve Stabia sporting director Salvatore Di Somma said: 'The player's mother lodged a complaint with Interpol and the police have released a photo of him to try to find him soon. 

He later turned up in London unharmed.

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Interpol-searching-for-missing-ex-West-Ham-striker-Savio-of-Juve-Stabia-article799463.html

The £10 Million Deal that Never Was

Savio joined West Ham in January 2009 and reports in the Telegraph story below suggested that we paid £10 million for him. However many believe this was a smoke screen to deflect where the £14 million went after we sold Craig Bellamy to Manchester City. It is thought the exaggerated £9m to £10M package was mainly made up of add ons with West Ham needing to play Champions League football to get anywhere a £10M package. Many believe Savio cost West Ham a more modest £1M to £2M before the swap deal for Da Costa & some cash.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/west-ham/4356613/West-Ham-complete-signing-of-Savio-Nsereko-from-Brescia.html

Nani Sacked

There is possibly more murkiness with the deal  we shall never know with the then West ham Technical Director Gianluca Nani masterminding the deal with his brother in law who was the owner of Brescia who owned Savio. Surely a massive conflict of interest there in anyone's books?  It has been suggested by some online in forums there was something dodgy going on there. Gianluca Nani was dismissed by West Ham in February 2010

The story so far with the West Ham Olympic Stadium Bid

With yesterday's announcement of yet another delay with the Olympic Stadium Decision I thought I would summarise some information & sources I have gathered on the Olympic Stadium bid which is publicly available about the process but may have been lost in the length of time this thing has been running.

All sources have been provided as links with this article.

West Ham Statement today via Associated Press


 “It is now 20 months since West Ham United were initially named as the preferred bidder to occupy the Olympic Stadium post-Games. We are obviously disappointed, that three bids later, a decision has yet to be reached."

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/west-ham-remain-committed-to-moving-1373084

SAB 

Although I sit on the Supporters Advisory Board and the Olympic Stadium Committee in particular I have no privileged information about West Ham's bid.

The Olympic Committee within the SAB have only met once on the 23rd February 2012. The presentation and minutes from that meeting are publicly available here on WHUFC.com. 

http://www.whufc.com/page/SupporterAdvisoryBoard/0,,12562~2657489,00.html

There is no scheduled date for the next SAB meeting at present while the bid is in limbo. 

Although I was nominated as the SAB member tasked with collating supporter feedback the report I submitted to the board was no different from 'for and against' feedback you would find on any West Ham forum or discussed in any pub on match days.

There is no secrecy as some would suggest beyond signing a NDA with the club and the OPLC.

The club is still looking for new SAB members

http://www.whufc.com/page/SupporterAdvisoryBoard/0,,12562~2870475,00.html

The question of Retractable Seating

The ongoing debate about Retractable Seating among fans seems strange at times since both Brady and Gold have publicly confirmed retractable seating would be part of our bid. 

Karen Brady confirmed retractable seating in her Sun Column in November 2011

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/3930735/Karren-Bradys-football-diary.html

"And if they had taken the time to look they would have seen that the design engineers have 

a solution by placing fans in retractable seats right up to the touchlines, if required, to 

provide a fantastic football solution whilst maintaining the track perfectly for athletics.

That wasn’t possible in stadiums like the old Wembley but technology and the world moves on"

David Gold confirmed retractable seating in this Independent article in January 2012

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/west-ham-move-in-jeopardy-6286691.html

"We are not prepared to have fans sitting 60 yards from the pitch," he said. "We still want 

to move into the stadium but will not do so if the track remains uncovered. There has to be 

some form of retractable seating."

The question about the cost of Re-Development of the Olympic Stadium 

A report in the journal Building Design last month said the cost of turning the stadium into a Premier League ground has risen to £160 million — a huge jump on previous estimates of £75 million.

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/turning-olympic-stadium-into-football-ground-will-cost-160m-8152633.html

The cost of building the Olympic Stadium in the first place has been widely reported as £486M. Newham agreed to invest £40M in the redevelopment of the Stadium.

http://www.newham.gov.uk/News/2012/July/NewpartnershiptocreatelocalopportunitiesfromtheOlympicStadium.htm

The London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDP) formally called the OPLC are thought to 
have initially budgeted just £35M to redevelop the stadium. However it is believed that over £400M of the Olympic contingency budget remains and could possibly be used to fill the short fall if approved by the LLDC & the London Mayor. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17126515

The question of who owns the new Stadium

In July this year The London Legacy Development Corporation and Newham Council announced they have set up a company called E20 Stadium LLP (Limited Liability Partnership) to take long term responsibility for managing the Stadium. 

A 99-year lease will be granted by the London Legacy Development Corporation to E20 Stadium LLP (Limited Liability Partnership).

http://www.londonlegacy.co.uk/new-partnership-to-create-local-opportunities-from-the-olympic-stadium/

The question of how much West Ham may have bid

Last month the Daily Mail reported that West Ham had bid nearly £10M per year to lease the Olympic Stadium.  If true this would be committing West Ham to nearly one billion pounds (£990M) of rental over the next 99 years.

In my personal view the Joint Chairman and Vice Chairman are shrewd business people who 
didn't get where they are in business by over paying for something where there is a limited market and serious competition. I am sure the government don't want a white elephant and I personally hope West Ham would have bid under the market price but I have no privileged information to back that up.

I think most fans have trouble believing Daily Mail stories at the best of times!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-2200756/Olympic-Stadium-bid-West-Ham-high--CHARLES-SALE.html

Man City Model of rental

Manchester City FC originally agreed to pay rent for their new stadium to Manchester council derived from match day income, specifically ticket sales. Under their agreement no money was due if the attendance did not top the 32,000 capacity of Maine Road, while half the price of tickets sold above that level would be paid over, after associated costs had been factored in. 

Now Man City have new found wealth they have renegotiated the terms of their 250 year lease. 

An agreement is in place now to switch from the match day revenue model to a flat £3m yearly charge.

This is still an increase on the £2M per year generated on average from the ticket sales model.

They also bought the naming rights last year in a separate agreement worth £2M per year which they sold to sponsor Etihad for a reported £10M per year!

The rental deal certainly appears to work for them by making a £5M per year profit of a stadium they don't own!  Not bad business for the richest club in the world.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-city/8257210/How-Manchester-City-won-the-stadium-lottery.html

To me this makes the £10M per year West Ham bid claim from the Daily Mail even more bizarre and unbelievable. 

Latest Delay on the decision

The latest delay of a month or two on the Olympic Stadium decision is frustrating to everyone whether they be in the for, against or sitting on the fence camp. It's leaves us all in limbo and the debate rages on with the danger of dividing fans further on this issue.

West Ham Fan of the Week

On our West Ham podcast  called Moore Than Just A podcast http://www.moorethanjustapodcast.co.uk  we are looking for West Ham fans to become fan of the week over Skype for 15 minutes. One of the things we like to ask them is their view on the Olympic Stadium among other West ham related topics.

If you want to share your Olympic Stadium thoughts.

Add us on Skype with username MooreTJAPodcast

You need to be available on a Monday evening around 8pm UK time

Hope to be speaking to some of you soon on the podcast.

Tweet us at @MooreTJAPodcast or Email at MooreThanJustApdocast@live.co.uk if you require more details

written by Sean  @WestHamFootball on Twitter

Paolo Di Canio Guest Blog by @LukeWaugh1988

Being a West Ham fan, I have witnessed many great and not so great players over the years. By far the most iconic to have graced the Upton Park turf in recent years has to be the flamboyant Italian, Paolo Di Canio. His famous goals against Manchester United in the FA Cup and Wimbledon in the league are testament to the skills he possessed as a player. Also, voiced by the majority of West Ham fans, his loyalty to the club in times of struggle and his decision to stay with us when bigger clubs were calling will never be forgotten.

His love for the game and the club itself shone through in his 118 appearances for the Irons and it was inevitable that he was to become the highly rated young club manager he is today. Di Canio may divide opinion amongst football professionals and enthusiasts alike, however, in my opinion; he is a breath of fresh air to the managerial scene, a new breed of manager, for the ever evolving game.

Di Canio was appointed manager of Swindon Town, following the club’s relegation to leagueTwo in the summer of 2011. Seen by many as not a glamorous post for the popular Italian, it should be admired that Di Canio has decided to begin his career as manager with Swindon Town and prove himself in the lower leagues. This was proven in his first season at the club, achieving automatic promotion to League one as champions.

It is clear that to this day, Di Canio still revels in the limelight and he can often be found in altercations with his own players or the media. This shouldn’t be frowned upon as he wouldn’t be the same without them. His playing career was dogged by incidents such as the ‘Alcock affair’ which resulted in an eleven match ban for the Sheffield Wednesday player. Also the west Ham Vs. Bradford City game, which is further evidence of how his passion could sometimes boil over which resulted in Di Canio snatching the ball from ex Hammer Frank Lampard, who had already set it on the spot, and demanded to take it himself (thankfully it went in)

These moments of madness are missed on the terraces of Upton Park and it isn’t rare for many supporters either at the game, the pub, or on the trains to speak of the Italian’s magic on the pitch. I for one would be delighted to see him in the hot seat in the near future at my beloved club, an opinion voiced by many at the club.

So what next for the fury Italian? Many have compared his style of management to the legend ‘Brian Clough’ and Jose Mourinho and there is some truth in these claims. Like Clough and Mourinho, Di Canio is hugely egotistical and I strongly believe that Di Canio thinks he can take Swindon Town to the big time. Whether this is possible only time will tell, however, what cannot be denied is Di Canio’s love for the game and his will to win. He may not be everyone’s cup of tea. But this is what the game needs, another strong, young manager.

I wish Di Canio well, a true character of the game that undoubtedly will have future success as a manager (hopefully with West Ham) and if not in a manager’s capacity, he still would get into our starting eleven even at the age of 44! A rare talent and an individual who will continue to divide opinion, is Di Canio to be loved or hated?

Guest Blog Article By Luke Waugh 

@LukeWaugh1988 on twitter