Forward's taunts have no effect on England defender
By Hayley Paterson Last updated: 28th February 2009
SSN
Matthew Upson is relishing the prospect of facing former West Ham team-mate
Craig Bellamy when the Hammers play Manchester City. The Welsh hitman signed
for the Eastlands club in a £14million move last month and could be in for a
rough ride from the Hammers fans when his new club travels to Upton Park for
Sunday's Premier League clash. In-form Bellamy will be looking to recreate
his midweek performance where he netted a brace against FC Copenhagen and
helped City through to the last 16 of the Uefa Cup. But his good friend
Upson will be looking to mark the 29-year-old out of Sunday's game as
ninth-placed West Ham lie just one point ahead of the visitors.
"I'll probably be marking Craig. It will be good to see him," Upson said.
"I'm sure he will get a bit of stick from our fans. Maybe he will be in my
ear too but I don't take part in all that. "He's gone to City and, for all
his faults, he has a desire to do well and to win. "He brings a lot to any
team and has already made a big impact in the changing room there, which
looks to be quite volatile. "But it's what he is doing on the pitch that is
most important. "He doesn't care what people say or think. He's old enough
now to know what is going to be said about his behaviour."
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Gabbidon lay-off continues
Injury-ridden star desperate to end nightmare spell out
By Rob Carragher Last updated: 27th February 2009
SSN
West Ham defender Danny Gabbidon admits that he is still not sure when he
will make his long-awaited return to action. The Wales international has
been sidelined since December 2007 with a variety of injuries and
complications that have plagued the 29-year-old's recent career. More than a
year on from the original injury and the mental effect on Gabbidon has
become just as pronounced as his physical concerns, with problem after
problem slowly wearing down his morale. "It's been a long time and it has
been quite frustrating. I was hoping to get back a long time ago," he told
the club's official website. "It's been tough, a few setbacks here and
there, I thought I was getting there and then something else happens. "It
wasn't one problem but two or three different things that are quite
complicated and have proved quite hard to get rid of. "It sounds a bit silly
but it may have been better to have had a straightforward injury like a
broken leg. You know then you might come back."
But finally there is some light at the end of the tunnel for Gabbidon, whose
latest improvements have enabled him to anticipate a return to action within
the next few months. "I know the back is better than it was before and I can
make a few targets and goals now," he added. "Hopefully in a month I may be
running and closer to training and then I can incorporate a few more targets
and goals into my programme. "I've spoken to the manager (Gianfranco Zola) a
few times. He has been really good with me. He asks me how I am and says 'we
are waiting for you to come back'."
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Bellamy : I didn't want second best
The Sun
By MARTIN BLACKBURN
Published: Today
CRAIG BELLAMY admits he would have bottled it had he stayed at West Ham when
Manchester City came calling. The in-form Welsh hitman can expect a hostile
reception when he returns to Upton Park with City on Sunday. Hammers fans
were not impressed with the way he engineered his January move to Eastlands
amid suggestions he had gone on strike. Bellamy, 29, knows he will be firmly
in the spotlight due to his bad-boy reputation but feels he needed the
challenge being offered by boss Mark Hughes. He has four goals already to
his name since his £10million move and is looking to show the Hammers what
they are missing. Bellamy said: "To me, it's about not settling for second
best. That's why I came. I could be sitting at home now, still a West Ham
player. "Expectations on me and the club were completely different there.
"No disrespect but I don't regret what I did. I'm happy, my kids are happy
and so is my wife. This is a new test for me."
Bellamy has already made headlines for his heated row with team-mate Robinho
in the aftermath of the 2-0 defeat at Portsmouth two weeks ago. He expects
to read and hear more of the same over the next couple of seasons but
believes it is a move he had to make. The former Newcastle and Blackburn ace
added: "I'll get dragged into everything over the next two years or so,
whenever anything happens. Part of me thinks, do I need this? It's very big
here and the club wants to become the biggest in the world. "But then a
bigger part of me thinks if I'd shied away from it, then I'd have looked
back and think I'd bottled it a little bit. "You want to challenge yourself
and test yourself. I know my name is going to get brought into it whenever
anything happens — that's just a fact, so I'm just going to get on with it."
Bellamy has high expectations of both himself and his team-mates and wants
them to build on their UEFA Cup success and encouraging draw at Liverpool.
City's away form is still a major worry despite the point at Anfield and he
wants to see an improvement in East London. He said: "If we get it right,
then you can't tell me there's anything better quality-wise than we have
here outside the top four or five. "But at this level you really need to
work hard to achieve things. So that's what need to start doing. "It was a
well-deserved point at Liverpool. You know you are going to have to work
hard if you are going to get a result at a place like that. "The
disappointing thing for us is that we need to show the same attitude at
places like Portsmouth, Stoke and elsewhere and we haven't been doing that."
Boss Sparky persuaded old Chelsea team-mate Gianfranco Zola to eventually
sell Bellamy but insists the Welshman has nothing to prove. He said: "People
tried to make a nuisance of themselves, saying he was going on strike, which
wasn't the case. "I hope his record against former clubs continues this
weekend. He's in fantastic form at the moment and so it's a good time to
play West Ham. "If we can get him in the right positions and provide him
with the right service, hopefully he can get us the goals. "I think he's a
player who could play at any club in the Premier League and have an impact.
"He's been a great signing for us. People say we paid £14m for him but
actually it was nothing like that. It was more like £10m."
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Julien Faubert and Juande Ramos get their wires crossed
February 27th, 2009 · 1 Comment
The Spoiler
West Ham reject is shocked he can't get into the Real Madrid team
Julien Faubert has only been with Real Madrid for five minutes but he is
already complaining to the French press that Juande Ramos is not playing him
enough. The Spoiler can only assume that despite not being able to break
into the West Ham team, the Frenchman expected to walk straight into the
Spanish champions' starting eleven.
The winger had previously complained to his native media that he was
"suffering mentally" in his final days at West Ham and it appears that his
"suffering" has continued in Madrid, with Faubert suggesting to L'Equipe
that Ramos doesn't like him.
The former Spurs boss responded by claiming that Faubert has spent ten days
out injured. That suggestion has been greeted with scepticism though because
no mention of this "injury" had been made before and there is no
confirmation in Real Madrid's medical records.
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Matthew Upson relishing Craig Bellamy's return to West Ham
West Ham defender Matthew Upson is relishing the prospect of facing Craig
Bellamy when the hot-blooded striker returns to Upton Park for the first
time since his move to Manchester City.
Telegraph
By Rob Stewart
Last Updated: 12:52PM GMT 28 Feb 2009
Upson will have the job of quelling the Welshman who has scored four goals
in seven games following a £14 million transfer and is confident he will not
succumb to the pantomime villain's wind-up routines. "I am sure Bellers will
get a bit of stick from our fans and maybe he will be in my ear too but I
don't take part in all that," the England centre-half said. "He is very
funny. He's gone to Manchester City and for all his faults, he has a desire
to do well and to win. That stands out. "He brings a lot to any team and has
already made a big impact there, in the changing room which looks to be
quite volatile at the moment. But it's what he's doing on the pitch that is
most important.
"He doesn't care what people say or think. That's him. He's old enough now
to know what is going to be said about his behaviour. The dressing room at
West Ham is still good. Yes, he is a different type of character but we have
adapted well. "I'll probably be marking Craig and it will be good to see
him. He's a good player, makes clever runs but we play against decent
players every week in the Premier League." Upson and his colleagues will be
aiming to put their FA Cup exit at Middlesbrough behind them as they aim to
arrest a run of five games without a win. "We need to regroup and address
what went wrong," Upson said. "We never got going at Middlesbrough and it
was a real disappointment. We wanted to put on a good performance and it was
a wasted opportunity to do something in the FA Cup. "We may have been a bit
jaded from last weekend at Bolton perhaps but this is the hard part of the
season and we have to deal with it. "There has been no room for squad
rotation in the last few months but now we have to dig in and improve. "We
need to raise the standards of everyone around us. We didn't have the
sharpness at Middlesbrough, we have been punished two games in a row now,
both times by free-kicks. "What made it worse was we had such an awesome
away following. It felt twice as bad to lose, we had let the fans down."
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Manchester City have more ambition than West Ham, says Craig Bellamy
The Mirror
By David McDonnell 28/02/2009
Barclays Premier League: West Ham v Man City, Sunday, 12.30
Craig Bellamy claimed he was right to leave West Ham for Manchester City
because his new club have more ambition than their London counterparts.
Bellamy returns to his former club tomorrow for the first time since his
£10million switch to City, insisting his career has been rejuvenated by
playing under fellow Welshman Mark Hughes.
And the combative 29-year-old, who has made an immediate impact at City with
five goals in seven games, claimed his career had stagnated at West Ham.
"It's about not settling for second best," said Bellamy. "That's why I came
to City. I could be sitting at home now, still a West Ham player.
"Expectations on me and the club there were completely different. No
disrespect, but I don't regret what I did. I'm happy, my kids are happy and
so is my wife. This is a new test for me and it's something I wanted to do.
"City are going places and if we can get it right here then you can't tell
me there's anything better, quality-wise, than we have here outside of the
top four or five."
Bellamy has already seen his fiery nature land him trouble at City,
following a dressing-room row with team-mate Robinho after a 2-0 defeat at
Portsmouth, in which he questioned the Brazil star's work-rate and
commitment. Although he admitted his difficult reputation was a burden he
could do without, Bellamy claimed he cannot be any other way and admitted
there will be more controversies to come because of his outspoken nature.
I'll get dragged into everything over the next two years or so," said
Bellamy. "Whenever anything happens my name will always get dragged into it.
Part of me thinks: 'do I need this?' "But then a bigger part of me thinks if
I'd shied away from it then I'd have looked back and thought that I'd
bottled it a little bit. Who cares what anyone else says? You want to
challenge yourself and test yourself." City boss Hughes rates Bellamy so
highly he claimed the forward would walk into any team in the Premier League
- including English, European and world champions Manchester United. Hughes,
who managed Bellamy when he was in charge of Wales and Blackburn, claimed
there were few forwards who could match him in terms of pace, work-rate and
goalscoring ability."I've no idea why he's not thought of as one of the best
strikers in the Premier League," said Hughes. "I think he's a player who
could play at any club in the Premier League and have an impact. Even
United? Absolutely. "Craig's got frightening pace, and top clubs look at
that as a rare commodity and a real threat. Mind you, there's no intention
of us letting him go to anyone else. That's just an indication of how highly
we rate him. "It shows what a good striker he is that he's able to adapt to
different roles in different teams and different formations and still have
an impact. "He started well at Blackburn and ended up getting 20-odd goals
for me, so he did sustain it. I think if he's at the right club with the
right people, there's no reason why he can't be successful for many years."
Craig's got previous...
West Ham be warned, Bellamy has made a habit recently of scoring against
clubs he has just left.
Liverpool June 06-July 07
14th Oct 06
Liverpool 1 Blackburn 1 (1 goal)
10th Feb 07
Newcastle 2 Liverpool 1 (1 goal)
West Ham July 07-Jan 09
30th Aug 08
West Ham 4 Blackburn 1 (1 goal)
10th Jan 09
Newcastle 2 West Ham 2 (1 goal)
Manchester City Jan 09-
28th Jan 09
Man City 2 Newcastle 1 (1 goal)
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Bellamy has no regrets
Striker explains his reasons for leaving Hammers
Last updated: 28th February 2009
SSN
Craig Bellamy has admitted his move to Manchester City was too good to turn
down as he prepares to head back to former club West Ham. The Welshman makes
his first return to Upton Park on Sunday since his big-money move to
Eastlands during the January transfer window. Bellamy insists he has no
regrets over making the move claiming he would have 'bottled it' if he had
decided to snub the overtures from ambitious City. "To me, it's about not
settling for second best. That's why I came. I could be sitting at home now,
still a West Ham player," Bellamy said. "Expectations on me and the club
were completely different there. "No disrespect but I don't regret what I
did. I'm happy, my kids are happy and so is my wife. This is a new test for
me."
Bellamy has already found himself caught up in controversy at City amidst
rumours of a bust-up with team-mate Robinho. The former Newcastle and
Liverpool hit-man expects negative headlines to follow him around, but he is
adamant all the speculation does not affect him. "I'll get dragged into
everything over the next two years or so, whenever anything happens," added
Bellamy. Part of me thinks, do I need this? It's very big here and the club
wants to become the biggest in the world. "But then a bigger part of me
thinks if I'd shied away from it, then I'd have looked back and think I'd
bottled it a little bit. "You want to challenge yourself and test yourself.
I know my name is going to get brought into it whenever anything happens -
that's just a fact, so I'm just going to get on with it."
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The Bill Is In
Just Like My Dreams
Sheffield United will be claiming £45.5million over the Carlos Tevez affair
when they face West Ham United at an arbitration hearing next month.
According to several newspaper reports this morning, the Blades have finally
submitted the 'official bill' for the cost of their relegation from the
Premier League two seasons ago and will now face the Hammers at a hearing
due to begin on March 16 to decide how much compensation they should
receive.
The Hammers have already been fined £5.5million for breaching League rules
over third-party agreements and now the Yorkshire club, who were originally
claiming £30million, have produced a detailed breakdown of figures showing
what they claim to have lost, taking into account forfeited TV revenue,
falling gate receipts, depreciation in player values and a decline in
sponsorship.
The Sun reports that Argentine striker Tevez, now a Manchester United
player, scored the winner at Old Trafford on the final day of the season to
keep the Hammers up and send the Blades down. A subsequent tribunal, chaired
by Lord Griffiths, then ruled Tevez would not have been allowed to play if
West Ham had been honest about the status of his third-party registration.
Of course, we should not let the fact that West Ham United only needed a
solitary point to survive in the final game and would've achieved that
regardless of Tevez's strike cloud a good story here; nor the fact that
Sheffield United would've survived regardless had they managed to beat Wigan
Athletic at home.
It is now up to Lord Griffiths to decide the final payout to the Blades and
he will take into account evidence from expert witnesses. The article states
that the signs are not good for West Ham as Lord Griffiths has previously
been critical of their behaviour, particularly that of chief executive Scott
Duxbury. He insisted: "We have no doubt Tevez's services were worth at least
three points to West Ham over the season and were what made the difference
between them staying in the Premier League and being relegated."
The Hammers have already failed in attempts to get the case referred to the
High Court and the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne. On each
occasion they were told to abide by the tribunal decision. In the meantime,
a new probe has been launched by the FA and Premier League as a direct
result of Lord Griffiths' findings.
In related news, the man in the middle of this wretched drama says the
demands of winning trophies with Manchester United is far easier to cope
with than the gut-wrenching pressure of fighting relegation with West Ham.
Carlos Tevez played a controversial part in keeping the Hammers in the
Premier League before his protracted switch to Old Trafford and he is quoted
in the Express as saying: "The pressure I felt at West Ham when we had to
keep them in the Premier League was intense. When you are at the centre of a
team that is fighting to stay up that is much harder pressure to deal with.
The pressure builds up match by match, especially when so many people love
the club and want to see it survive. It is not pleasant. It is much easier
when you are fighting for trophies. It is a nice kind of pressure and the
sort of thing I have been dealing with since my time at Boca Juniors. Win,
win, win – that's all you have to do!"
Posted by Trilby at 10:32
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BOOS WON'T BOTHER CRAIG
DAILY EXPRESS
g Bellamy
Saturday February 28,2009
By Gideon Brooks
MATTHEW UPSON believes West Ham fans will be wasting their breath if they
give former favourite Craig Bellamy a hard time tomorrow – "because he
simply doesn't care what people think". Upson, who will mark his former
team-mate when Manchester City visit Upton Park for the lunchtime kick-off,
insists he harbours no hard feelings over Bellamy's decision to leave. But
centre-half Upson warned fans planning to abuse Bellamy from the stands that
whatever they chant it will not get under the skin of the fiery Welshman.
"He's old enough to know what's going to be said and I am sure he'll get a
bit of stick from our fans," said Upson. "Maybe he'll be in my ear, too, but
he doesn't care what people say or think. That's just him." West Ham will
try to arrest a recent slump with victory tomorrow, having seen a
seven-match unbeaten run founder with two league defeats and an exit from
the FA Cup at the hands of Middlesbrough in the last four outings. Upson
accepted that in the midweek FA Cup loss at the Riverside, the Hammers
showed some worrying signs of tiredness and that it was important to get
some zip back into their season. "We never got going at Middlesbrough and it
was a real disappointment," he said. "We wanted to put on a good performance
and it was a wasted opportunity to do something in the FA Cup. "But we were
also a bit jaded from last weekend at Bolton, so now we have to dig in and
improve quickly."
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West Ham defender Matthew Upson demands massive home improvement from
team-mates
By Sportsmail Reporter Last updated at 3:04 PM on 28th February 2009
Daily Mail
Matthew Upson feels West Ham owe their fans a good performance when
Manchester City come to Upton Park tomorrow. Gianfranco Zola's side went
down 2-0 to Middlesbrough in their FA Cup replay on Wednesday night, with
the large travelling contingent of around 4,000 from Teesside bitterly
disappointed by the below-par display.
Following a decent run of form just before and after Christmas, the Hammers
have now not won in five matches.
Nevertheless, victory over improving City at Upton Park on Sunday could lift
the Hammers back up into the top eight and maintain their outside hopes of
qualifying for Europe via the Barclays Premier League. Upson said: 'We need
to regroup and address what went wrong. We never got going at Middlesbrough
and it was a real disappointment. 'We wanted to put on a good performance
and it was a wasted opportunity to do something in the FA Cup.
'We need to raise the standards of everyone around us. We did not have the
sharpness at Middlesbrough and what made it worse was we had such an awesome
away following. It felt twice as bad to lose, we had let the fans down.' The
England centre-half has also called on his team-mates to 'dig deep' at what
is a crucial part of the campaign. 'We may have been a bit jaded from last
weekend at Bolton perhaps, but this is the hard part of the season and we
have to deal with it,' he said.There has been no room for squad rotation in
the last few months, but now we have to dig in and improve.' Hot reception:
But Upson does not believe the Hammers boo-boys will effect in-form Craig
Bellamy Tomorrow will see the return of Craig Bellamy to Upton Park for the
first time since his £14million transfer in January. The Welshman may be
expecting something of a hot reception from the Hammers' fans, but Upson
does not expect that to affect his former team-mate. 'He does not care what
people say or think. That is him,' said Upson. 'He is old enough now to
know what is going to be said about his behaviour. 'Craig is a good player,
makes clever runs - but we play against decent players every week in the
Premier League.'
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