WHUFC.com
The final home match of the season will see a superb promotion on offer for
young fans
17.05.2011
Tickets are going fast for the last match of the 2010/11 season against
Sunderland with the Kids for a Quid scheme running again while you can still
take advantage of a fantastic hospitality promotion. The 4pm match on Sunday
will be the final game of the campaign, with caretaker manager Kevin Keen in
charge for the visit of Steve Bruce's men. Keen could field some of the
club's talented youngsters alongside the likes of Scott Parker and Demba Ba.
Meanwhile, the club is offering fans the chance to see the Hammer of the
Year in the premium Greenwood & Lyall Lounge after watching the match from
great seats in the popular Bobby Moore Stand. The glass-panelled lounge
offers fantastic views of the entire stadium, allowing you to soak up the
pre-match atmosphere while enjoying a superb meal. Once the game is over,
Parker will be a special guest.
The package, priced at just £170 per person including VAT, includes:
* Superb three-course meal
* Padded VIP seating
* Plasma screens within the lounge
* Matchday programme and much, much more
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Temporary boss Kevin Keen enters race for West Ham job
BBC.co.uk
Page last updated at 22:29 GMT, Tuesday, 17 May 2011 23:29 UK
West Ham first-team coach and temporary boss Kevin Keen has declared his
interest in taking the West Ham manager's job on a permanent basis. Keen,
41, will led the relegated Hammers against Sunderland on Sunday after Avram
Grant's dismissal. "I would love the opportunity to speak to the owners and
[chief executive] Karren Brady and give my views about the future," he told
BBC Radio 5 live. "Maybe in the future I will be given a opportunity to turn
it around."
Keen progressed through the club's academy to play for West Ham for 10 years
between 1983 and 1993 and believes combining the club's young players with
their traditional values is the best route out of the Championship. "This is
my club. People say claret and blue runs through your veins and that is very
much me," he said.
"I think we have got a superb young bunch of footballers coming through in
he likes of James Tomkins, Junior Stanislas, Zavon Hines, Freddie Sears,
Jack Collison and Jordan Spence. "There is a real opportunity to go back to
the days of pass and move and make sure people tackle like [former player
and manager] Billy Bonds and want to run through brick walls for this
football club."
It has been estimated that West Ham's relegation will involve a loss of
income for the club of up to £50m. And West Ham, who were £110m in debt
according to owner David Sullivan when he took control in January 2010, are
likely to sell their more established stars to compensate for reduced
revenues in the second tier. Gold has admitted that it will be "very
difficult" to keep England internationals such as Scott Parker, Rob Green
and Carlton Cole at the club. The contracts of Matthew Upson, Kieron Dyer,
Danny Gabbidon and Lars Jacobsen all expire this season. Striker Demba Ba
may also attract bids from Premier League clubs with a record of seven goals
in 12 top-flight games since signing from Hoffenheim in January. Keen
defended the Senegalese international and denied reports that he had refused
to sign autographs at the club's end-of-season dinner, provoking an
altercation with fans. "Demba Ba has been so unfairly criticised. It is
unbelievable," said Keen. "He signed the gentleman's autograph who then
unfortunately made some sort of comment about his race and then it was all
over and done with in 20 seconds."
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Manager XIV: latest
KUMB.com
Filed: Tuesday, 17th May 2011
By: Staff Writer
The list of candidates withdrawing from the race to become West Ham United's
14th full-time manager grew today as speculation regarding the appointment
intensified.
Hot on the heels of S(ch)teve McClaren - who declared somewhat pompously
yesterday that "at this moment in time I do not wish to be considered for
the position" - today Paolo Di Canio was ruled out by co-chairman David
Sullivan, who confirmed he was looking for 'a British manager' - and one
with 'experience' and knowledge of the local area.
Following Sullivan's statement swiftly came news from Brighton manager Gus
Poyet, who indicated that he would not be applying for the post - although
was rather less forthcoming when asked to rule it out entirely. "I can
promise I will never apply for a job during my time at another club," he
said, before adding: "I'd only really like to talk when there is an
approach, or a possibility or where there is something really important."
However stand-in boss Kevin Keen - who will take the first team for their
final Premier League match against Sunderland this weekend - threw his hat
into the ring today when he declared that he would be applying for the post.
I would love the opportunity to speak to the owners and Karren Brady and
give my views about the future," he told Five Live. "Maybe in the future I
will be given a opportunity to turn it around."
KUMB.com also understands that Academy Director, Tony Carr, has made his
interest in the position known. 61-year-old Carr - who has received strong
backing from fans in the past 48 hours - previously applied for the role
back in 1990 but lost out on that occasion to another club legend, Billy
Bonds.
Meanwhile former defender Julian Dicks - who has previously stated his
interest in one day managing the club - today parted company with Grays
Athletic after two years as manager of the Isthmian League Division One
North side.
The bookies favourites for the job remains former Newcastle boss Chris
Hughton with Sam Allardyce, Malky MacKay and Neil Warnock running close
behind. Also high on the board's list of targets are Stuart Pearce and Alan
Curbishley.
However the supporters' favourites for the position include only two of the
above - Hughton and Allardyce, who are neck-and-neck for second place behind
Martin O'Neill in a KUMB.com poll. Tony Carr and former manager Curbishley
make up the current top five.
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Doh! Holmar departs
KUMB.com
Filed: Tuesday, 17th May 2011
By: Staff Writer
Holmar Orn Eyjolfsson has become the first casualty of West Ham United's
anticipated summer cuts. The 20-year-old Icelandic defender confirmed
tonight that he had left the club three years after moving to east London.
Speaking via Twitter, Eyjolfsson said: "Thanks for all the good luck wishes
people, much appreciated. Yes, I've left. Not sure where I'll be going yet.
I'll let you know."
The central defender's capture was seen as something of a coup back in 2008,
with the player also interesting clubs such as Bayern Munich. Having made
his debut for HK in the Icelandic Premiership aged just 16, Eyjolfsson - son
of the former Icelandic international Eyjólfur Sverrisson - was named in
UEFA's team of the tournament at the 2007 under 17s Championship before
sealing a move to east London. Despite impressing during loan spells with
Cheltenham (2009) and Roeselaire (2010) Eyjolfsson failed to make a single
appearance for West Ham United's first team.
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Harry tips Grant for comeback
Spurs boss jumps to defence of sacked Hammers tactician
Last Updated: May 17, 2011 2:55pm
SSN
Harry Redknapp has backed Avram Grant to make a swift return to management,
insisting he should not be made the fall guy for West Ham's relegation. The
Israeli boss was shown the door at Upton Park on Sunday in the immediate
aftermath of the Hammers' defeat at Wigan that sealed their slide into the
Championship. But Tottenham boss Redknapp, who is close friends with Grant,
expects him to bounce back from the sacking, and believes it is unfair for
the 56-year-old to take sole responsibility for West Ham's failures.
Comeback
"I'm sure Avram will come back," Redknapp told Sky Sports News. "He's a nice
man, a good man and he knows the game. "It's just he had his hands tied
behind his back, I felt, for the first half of the season at least. "It's
difficult. Once you're down there it's hard to get out. "It's not the
manager's fault if people are not taking chances or letting silly goals in
at the back, (but) you end up getting the blame." "I'm sure Avram will come
back. He's a nice man, a good man and he knows the game. "
Redknapp believes West Ham need to respond instantly to the relegation if
they want to reclaim their top-flight status. He added: "Hopefully they can
put it right in the summer, get the right person in charge again and come
back next year. "Next year is the key for me, they've got to get back next
year."
Timing
The Hammers are currently embroiled in controversy off the pitch after
co-owner David Sullivan claimed a player was racially abused by a fan during
their end-of-season dinner in London on Monday night. Reports also surfaced
of a mass brawl breaking out at the Grosvenor House party, while police were
called to the scene, although no arrests were made. Redknapp admits he was
baffled by the timing of the dinner, adding: "I don't know why you'd arrange
an end-of-season dinner for a team that had a chance of getting relegated,
that's my opinion. "There's going to be nothing but bad atmosphere. Everyone
is going to be on the floor. It's the last thing you need. "What they're
having a celebration dinner for I do not know."
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The Incident at the West Ham Annual Club Dinner.
May 18th, 2011 - 1:27 am by S J Chandos
West Ham Till I Die
I see that there has been extensive media coverage of the incident at the
annual club dinner on Monday evening. From some of the early reports, you
would be forgiven for thinking that players and fans had fought each other
in the lobby of the hotel! Another initial report suggested that Demba Ba
had sparked the incident by claiming 'tiredness' as an excuse for not
signing a fan's autograph. Those report has since been proven erroneous.
Over 24 hours later, it appears that a so-called fan asked Demba Ba for an
autograph and then went in to a rage about the team's poor performance this
season. According to reliable reports the guy was drunk and he racially
abused Ba, sparking a violent confrontation. The club security then
intervened to protect the player, there was some broken plates and a vase, a
chair or two was thrown and the aggressor(s) fled the hotel. The police
were then called to the hotel and this was covered on Sky Sports News and
other media outlets.
It is ironic that the aggressor picked on Demba Ba, one of the few (along
with Green, Tomkins and Parker) who has performed consistently well this
season. It is the racist dimension to the incident that is particularly
worrying. A number of witnesses, including David Sullivan, have confirmed
that Ba was subjected to vile racist abuse. This type of behaviour is
totally unacceptable and West Ham must uphold the good reputation of the
club and its supporters by ensuring that the aggressor is identified, banned
from Upton Park and prosecuted for the offence(s).
I am sure that all on WHTID will join with me in condemning racism and
discrimination in all its many manifestations. It is totally unacceptable
that a West Ham player is subjected to racist abuse and physical aggression,
especially by a person who presumably would claim to support the club. The
whole incident is appalling in its own right, but it is also doubly
unfortunate, considering many of us would like to see Demba Ba remain at the
club to lead our strike force in next season's Championship promotion push.
Demba Ba's official website is listed in the West Ham on Twitter section of
the WHTID site. Perhaps fans might like to leave a message to sympathise
over the incident and express disgust at the disgraceful behaviour of the
perpetrator. Demba Ba will probably leave in the summer regardless, but
lets show him that this incident is no way typical of the views or conduct
of the vast majority of Hammers fans.
SJ. Chandos.
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Is Chris Hughton the Front Runner?
May 17th, 2011 - 5:39 pm by S J Chandos
West Ham Till I Die
David Sullivan's recently reported comments seem to indicate that Chris
Hughton might be the front runner for the club's vacant managerial position.
Sullivan has stated that they are likely to target a English or British
manager and it would be a bonus if the candidate has experience/knowledge of
the east end.
If you apply that criteria, Chris Hughton is probably the front runner. In
addition, he presided over a very successful Championship campaign last
season with Newcastle Utd and, as such, knows what it takes to achieve
automatic promotion to the PL. I personally have no objection to Hughton's
appointment. However, there are two provisos. Hughton has the knowledge
and tactical nous to do the job,but he does not come across as a
particularly hard disciplinarian. As such if he is appointed he will
probably need an influential and tough assistant manager/chief coach to help
him train, motivate and get the very best out of the players. That includes
imposing discipline and creating a more professional ethos at the club.
Secondly, returning to a recurring theme, they must provide him with some
quality with which to work. Hughton is not a miracle worker and he needs
something akin to the type of quality that he had at Newcastle Utd to
guarantee success. If they can keep the likes of Collison, Tomkins, Noble,
Jacobson, Spector, Sears, Stanislas, et al, plus ideally, one or two
experienced players like Hitzlsperger and Ba, he will certainly have a good
chance of securing promotion.
Who should be Hughton's No. 2? I have previously argued that we should give
it to Di Canio and that remains an option. But I have a feeling that Di
Canio will need be to get a managerial track record to qualify him for his
dream job at West Ham. So, although he could develop in to the role as a
No. 2, it is more likely that Di Canio is potentially one for the future.
Much the same argument applies to Julian Dicks, although there is no doubt
he would command respect from the players. But as well as having the
reputation and skills to deal effectively with the players , the Assistant
should also be a very good coach. Lee Dixon's account of the
indiscipline/poor behaviour at the West Ham training, that he witnessed
first hand, must be addressed and rectified as a matter of urgency.
A new professional broom is needed to sweep away the alleged bad ethos and
poor practices in the club. I am not sure who Hughton's No.2 was at
Newcastle Utd, but another factor is that manager's prefer to bring their
own people in to the coaching set up. Regardless, common sense dictates that
the coaches need to be people that Hughton can work with happily. I guess
that we shall see if and when Hughton is appointed. But the co-owners must
also be mindful that the coaching set up is right, that is yet another key
lesson emerging from this disastrous season.
Martin O'Neill would be a real coup, but it is unlikely that he will drop a
divison to get back into management. Also he is likely to want a degree of
control over affairs that the current owners may not be willing to give.
Still who knows, it very much depends how desperate they are to get him on
board? Paul Lambert is also an excellent candidate. He has experience at a
higher level, during his time in Germany and managing in the Champions
League, but he has also shown he has the ability to get clubs promoted;
identifying and working with players to create an effective team unit. Logic
would suggest that he would stay at Norwich City and try his hand managing
in the PL next season. Yet, there is no doubt that West Ham are a far
bigger club than Norwich, with much greater potential. The harsh reality is
that, barring massive investment in their squad, Norwich City are almost
certain to struggle next season and be relegated back to the Championship.
Perhaps he might reason that West Ham are a better long-term bet? Who
knows? There are obviously other candidates and they will all have pros and
cons attached. Lets just hope and pray that they get this vital decision
right, because there is no scope for another mistake like Avram Grant's
appointment.
The co-owners reckon that a managerial appointment will be made in the next
fortnight. Whoever is appointed, lets hope that order, discipline and a
sense of purpose is retored at the club. Supporters need to see some strong
direction, leadership and an end to the drift and vacillation that has
reigned supreme this season. Then, perhaps, the grounds might start to be
laid for some optimism for a successful promotion campaign next season.
SJ. Chandos.
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Demba Ba: Hammers fan's taunt at dinner was 'racist' abuse
By ANDREW DILLON
Published: Today
The Sun
DEMBA BA insists he was the victim of a racist onslaught during a shameful
brawl at West Ham's gala dinner. Police rushed to London's swanky Grosvenor
Hotel when fighting broke out at Monday's end-of-season bash to raise funds
for Hammers' academy. Witnesses told The Sun the brawl was triggered when Ba
refused to sign an autograph for a fan, snapping: "I'm too tired." But Ba
last night denied that, claiming: "I did give him his autograph, he came
looking for confrontation. "This guy asked how I was feeling so I just said
I was tired from the game on Sunday and that it was a tough game. "Then he
just replied 'Oh, we're tired watching you play every weekend'. "Then the
guy started screaming at me like crazy. "I didn't understand everything he
said but the people next to me said he was saying racist things."
Senegal striker Ba, 25, did not make a formal complaint and insists he wants
the matter dropped. Hammers have been criticised for holding the dinner just
24 hours after they were relegated following a 3-2 defeat at Wigan and boss
Avram Grant was sacked. But a club spokesman said: "It wasn't a
'celebration' it was a chance for the fans to meet players and for them to
be accountable to the supporters. "They understood that and all who could
were happy to attend. "The actions of one person should not overshadow it."
Ba's team-mates were forced to step in when things got ugly with the irate
punter at the £275-a-head do. Ba added: "Some players told me to walk away
and tried to calm this guy but he started smashing some tables and glasses.
"He started insulting me. So I got up to show I'm not impressed at all by
him but this guy was a bit drunk. "Danny Gabbidon tried to talk to the guy
but he started insulting Gabbidon as well. "I never refuse to sign autograph
to the fans."
Gus Poyet has followed Steve McClaren by ruling himself out of the running
to replace Grant as West Ham boss. The Brighton manager said: "No chance. I
can promise I will never apply for a job during my time at another club -
especially at a club where I'm so happy."
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Hammers and Lions ban plan
Published: Today
The Sun
WEST HAM and Millwall are facing an away-fan ban when they play each other
next season. Cops are considering the move in a bid to avert violence that
marred previous meetings between the bitter London rivals. A Scotland Yard
source said: "West Ham-Millwall has always been a nightmare to police.
"There is no doubt banning away fans would make our job much, much easier."
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James Lawton: An open letter to West Ham owner: action speaks so much louder
than platitudes
You have to be patient in football but also recognise a lost cause. How was
it that you took so long to see you were working from a deck promising doom?
Tuesday, 17 May 2011
Dear Mr Sullivan,
You may not deem this the most agreeable time to resurrect the question –
though it is freshly vexing – which asked whether you, your co-chairman,
David Gold, and your chief executive, Karren Brady, really had either the
background or the touch of passable working courtesy to run a team on
Hackney Marshes, let alone one of the most widely cherished in these
islands.
However, there is another one which springs to mind in the wake of your
battlefield dismissal of manager Avram Grant at the moment of relegation at
Wigan on Sunday night.
It concerns the imminence of your next open letter to the fans of West Ham.
This is because your last one – which was effectively a lingering death
warrant on Grant's predecessor Gianfranco Zola – came more than a year ago
and revealed an ignorance of the dynamics of a viable football club.
Inevitably, there is now a concern that the lessons of the current disaster
will remain unlearnt in the next few critical weeks.
Certainly, the worry was hardly soothed away when your co-chairman appeared
on television yesterday with the assurance that the West Ham tradition would
be preserved even in these new and difficult circumstances and that one
benefit for the first Premier League club officially doomed this season was
that you had an extra week to find the right new manager.
But then how would you know who that might be? Gold talked about studying
CVs.
CVs, many would say, are items to be perused by committees – including,
perhaps, the Premier League one which decides on the right and fitting
person credentials of club owners – not the people who are in charge of
season-by-season survival at the highest level of club football.
The trouble is, Mr Sullivan, that the performance which provoked in you so
much rage, and kept you up all night in your Essex mansion while you penned
that letter, has been reproduced at such regular intervals that the subject
of chronic underperformance can only be addressed by you again if it is
accompanied by some even vaguely plausible answer to another insistent
question.
Do you remember what you said after Wolves won 3-1 at Upton Park on 25 March
last year? When stripped of high emotion it was that you were drawing a line
beyond which the club could never again descend on your watch.
Perhaps a brief refresher might help. "I'm writing this on Wednesday
morning," you reported, "I had no sleep last night, having watched the
shambolic performance. I was as angry and upset as every supporter in the
stadium at the disorganised way we played, allowing Wolves too much space so
that they looked more like Manchester United.
"This was the culmination of five defeats, including an appalling
performance against Bolton. Individually, we have some very good players but
this is not being converted into good performance."
There was no ambiguity about this denouncement. The manager wasn't doing his
job properly, a point that was maybe underlined by your decision to show up
at the training ground and transmit, rather trenchantly we were told, some
of your more profound football insights.
Given the strength of your feelings, presumably shared by the co-chairman
and the chief executive, you might have made some intervention. Instead, you
sweated out survival, said goodbye to Zola, and appointed Avram Grant.
Perhaps you scrutinised carefully his CV. Or on this occasion maybe not. Had
you done so, you might have noted that his track record did not exactly
guarantee a dynamic influence. When this became so uncomfortably apparent in
his stewardship of your team, you then performed one of the most futile
public relations exercises in the history of professional sport. You allowed
the name of Martin O'Neill to become firmly entrenched in the minds of West
Ham supporters, a stimulating process by any standards, and made Grant one
of football's ultimate examples of a dead manager walking. He even threw his
scarf to some sympathetic fans.
Of course, the confused fans didn't get an open letter on this occasion.
They got some coy obfuscation from Ms Brady in her celebrity newspaper
column.
Yesterday your pal Gold insisted that West Ham would carry its proud
tradition down the road to the Olympic Stadium. He mentioned the Hammer
knights, Geoff Hurst and Trevor Brooking, and the statue of Bobby Moore
outside Wembley.
He might also have mentioned the current Footballer of the Year, Scott
Parker, who just for a little longer will be marooned among the lost
horizons of the Boleyn stadium. Gold was surely a proud witness at the
ceremonials in the West End last week because his gold-painted Roller with
the personalised number plates occupied a most prominent place at the hotel
entrance. It was a reminder that, at least in football, all that glitters is
not necessarily gold.
It was a reflection hardly discouraged by the small but rough piece of
savagery that ended the reign of Grant, and stripped down what was left of
his dignity, in the bowels of the Wigan stadium – a gesture which might have
been compounded in its random cruelty had he been driven back to London with
his own thoughts, and no doubt regrets, rather than travelling home with the
team for the last time, only at the insistence of his players. You cannot
buy class, Mr Sullivan, if it isn't available on the shelf but there are
certain practical things you can do. You can try to grab hold of some of
those things that flew past the head of Lord Sugar, another successful
money-maker who discovered at White Hart Lane that even while he was turning
a personal profit, as you did at Birmingham City, it is still possible to
miss almost entirely the difference between successful business – and
winning football.
A different criterion has to be applied. Football is about people, their
flaws and strengths, and how you have to live with the former and exploit
the latter. You have to have patience, but you also have to recognise a lost
cause.
When you saw this in the work of the novice coach Zola you stayed up all
night and then expressed your rage. Then you let the cards fall as they
might. They came down fortuitously the first time around, but on Sunday
night they confirmed a losing run. How was it that you took so long to see
you were working from a deck that was promising only doom?
It has to be presumed that by the time the O'Neill flyer floated gently to
the ground you had forgotten the rousing climax to your open letter. "Now we
need this team to show us their talent, their desire, their passion, their
dare."
Where was your daring, Mr Sullivan, when Avram Grant was left to struggle on
against his fate and the dwindling chance of West Ham's survival? You also
wrote, "It's hard being an owner who is a supporter. I hope for happier
times soon. Thank you for sharing the same vision and dreams."
These were platitudes, Mr Sullivan, and they carry as little value in
football as they do anywhere else. Sometimes they have to be reinforced by
action, the kind taken by your counterpart at West Bromwich Albion, Jeremy
Peace.
When the hugely promising work of young coach Roberto di Matteo began to
founder, when Albion showed every sign of freefall, Peace, with considerable
reluctance, decided he had to move. He saw Roy Hodgson, in spite of his
gruelling ordeal at Liverpool, as the man who might fashion survival. It
maybe helped that, when Peace took over control at Albion nine years ago, he
made a point of picking the brains of experienced football men.
He made an effort to learn, in an unfamiliar world, what you can do – and
what you can't. It's maybe not too late to give it a try.
James Lawton
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Hearn's new Hammers battle
By SHAUN CUSTIS and PAT SHEEHAN
Published: Today
The Sun
BARRY HEARN has gone back into battle with West Ham to stop them moving to
the Olympic Stadium. The Premier League gave the OK to the Hammers or
Tottenham to take over the Stratford arena. But Leyton Orient chief Hearn
insists the issue must be looked at again as West Ham have dropped into the
Championship. Hearn has always opposed the Hammers' plan because of the
effect it will have on his club. Last night he sent a letter to the Football
League and said: "The rules don't say a club can't be within five miles of
us. "But they do say the League will not sanction a move closer to another
club if it adversely affects the club already resident."
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Two careless owners: Sullivan and Gold are blind to their own failings and
agents of their own misfortune
By Darren Lewis in Mirror Football Blog
Published 13:00 17/05/11
The Mirror
Another day, another eye-catching soliloquy from David Sullivan. And it is
hard not to come to the conclusion that the West Ham co-owner is becoming
the Kerry Katona of football. He can't live with the nasty old media. Yet he
can't live without it. Like Katona, Sullivan his co-owner David Gold lurch
from crisis to crisis. Like Katona, Sullivan uses the media when its suits
him yet complains when he does not get the press he feels he deserves. And,
like Katona, it is always someone else's fault. Now Sullivan tells us he
should never have appointed Avram Grant as West Ham manager in the first
place.
Under fire for the club's crass handling of the Israeli's sacking - less
than an hour after Sunday's Wigan defeat in the bowels of the JJB - Sullivan
is, yet again, directing the blame elsewhere. And while he is in the papers
doing that, his joint-owner Gold is on the TV telling us about his
"emotional investment" in the club. All about how he is back at his roots
and how, if you cut him, he bleeds claret and blue. It is a well-worn
routine which is becoming increasingly predictable. Days after the club's
dismal home defeat to Aston Villa, Sullivan was in the papers detailing the
financial Armageddon the club is facing in yet another example of the
misdirection for which they are famed. They worked it to perfection at
Birmingham, where they managed to put themselves across as patient owners
even though they ended up taking the Midlands club into the third tier in
their first season there. But at the more high-profile Hammers the routine
is not having quite the same success.
At West Ham there is far more of an examination of their failing approach to
running a Premier League club. At West Ham there are far more people ready
to pull the owners up on their bid to convince us that they are the only
ones whose finances will be put to the test with relegation ahead of their
proposed move to the Olympic Stadium.
What about Newham Council, who will fund the move to the tune of £40million?
What about the Newham taxpayers who have done nothing to deserve the hike in
their council taxes that will enable Gold and Sullivan to be painted as the
heroes of the club for keeping the venue out of the clutches of Tottenham?
Spurs would have put their own money into the move. They always did have far
more of a chance of filling the stadium than the Hammers, who struggled to
fill Upton Park for the visits of Manchester United this season and slashed
prices to encourage more fans in.
Sullivan shifts the blame for expensive flop Benni McCarthy onto Gianfranco
Zola. But what about Mido, described as the 'deal of the century' by Gold
but who ended up without a goal in nine games? Indeed, the Egyptian forward
was last seen eating pie and chips on the Marylebone High Road.
What about Ilan? Possibly the worst Brazilian ever to pull on a football
boots and who ended up being released after just four months.
And what about Pablo Barrera? Four million of your English pounds wasted on
the World Cup winger who turned about to be as useful as mammary glands on a
canary.
Asked if he feels the fans are right to criticise him, Sullivan said:
"Obviously I don't. But I'm biased. All I can say is that we all work very
hard for the club. "It's a pretty thankless task and whatever we do, we get
criticised." Look, nobody doubts that Sullivan works hard for West Ham. But
just be honest. Just say you are in it to make money. Just be open about the
fact that you are businessmen and, as such are in it because you can see an
opportunity. Or better still, say nothing.
Instead, the West Ham owners just do not seem to get it. Look up and down
the Premier League and see how many other chairmen/owners you can find who
conduct manager and player appraisals in the media. It's a fair bet you will
not find too many outside Upton Park. Sullivan just does not get the fact
that bringing in the playing or managerial staff means nothing unless you
keep your trap shut, your mitts off and allow them to do the job they are
paid to do.
Which is why there is no mention of the runners and riders to succeed Grant
in this piece. Because it makes no difference WHO he gets in. As has been
shown at Chelsea, you could sign up the very best but if you get
interference from above it is a recipe for disaster. Sullivan moans about
not being able to do anything right but the reason he is getting it in the
neck is because he keeps placing himself in a position to be shot at. No
amount of violin-inducing "I've risked everything to save this football
club" will take away from the fact that both he and Gold drove decisive
nails into the Hammers' Premier League coffin by criticising the players and
the manager on the Premier League run-in. All the rhetoric about "I
confidently predict that this time next year, with the help of our wonderful
supporters, we'll be back in the Premier League" is all very well. But since
the play-offs were introduced 22 of the 30 teams relegated from the top
division have failed to return.
You fear West Ham have not quite hit rock bottom just yet.
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Dinner-brawl fan was screaming at me like crazy - Ba
Published 23:02 17/05/11 By Darren Lewis
The Mirror
Demba Ba says he was targeted by a crazed fan as a brawl broke out at West
Ham's end-of-season dinner. The striker revealed "a guy was screaming at me
like crazy" as the relegated club's end-of season dinner degenerated into a
brawl. Reports had claimed that Ba sparked mayhem at London's Grosvenor
House Hotel on Monday night when he dismissed an approach for an autograph
from a fan, claiming he was 'too tired'.
Scuffles broke out at the £275-a-head do as hotel staff and West Ham's own
security guards battled to restore order. Police were later called. But Ba,
who scored twice in the defeat at Wigan that cost the Hammers their Premier
League status, insisted last night that he is NOT the guilty party. "It was
a crazy situation," he said. "This guy came to me when we were sitting at
the table. There were two players per table and Manuel Da Costa was with me.
He came and asked for an autograph, so I gave him my autograph. "Then he
asked me nicely how I was feeling so I just said I was tired from the game
and that it was a tough game. And then he just replied 'Oh? We're tired
watching you play every weekend'. "I was surprised and told Da Costa what
the guy had said. Then the guy all of a sudden started screaming at me like
crazy. I tried to calm him down but he didn't want to. He kept on screaming.
"Then some players came. They just told me to walk away and tried to calm
this guy, but he didn't want to calm down and started smashing some tables
and glasses. "He started insulting me. So I got up to show I'm not impressed
at all by him but this guy was a bit drunk. "When my team-mates saw me, they
came between us. Danny Gabbidon came and said 'Sit down', so I sat down and
they tried to talk to him [the supporter] but he didn't want to talk to
anybody."
Ba accused the man of aiming racist abuse at him, adding: "When he talked to
me I didn't understand everything that he said but the people next to me
said he was saying racist things. "When Gabbidon heard these words he tried
to talk to him but this guy didn't want to listen and started insulting
Gabbidon as well." Ba added: "I did not say that I was too tired to give an
autograph. I would never say this as it would be disrespectful to the fans
who support me every week. It was not me who started this. "I don't want to
go into the details of what was said but I am glad other people know about
it, and you can understand why people were upset."
It is the second time in two months West Ham fans have been embroiled in a
race row with chief executive Karren Brady confirming recently that the
family of a West Ham player had also received abuse from supporters during
the 4-2 defeat to Manchester United. "I do not have a problem with the fans
of West Ham," said Ba. "They have been very good to me since I came to the
club in January and every week I just want to do my best for them. I hope
with my goals I have done something to repay them. "I just wish my goals
last Sunday could have given them the chance to fight to stay in the Premier
League on the last day of the season because they are a good club who
deserve still to be in the up there. "People accuse the players of not
working hard or not caring but we do care. I see how much the players care
in the dressing room. "We see how much the fans support us and how they are
behind us, home and away. We do care. It does matter to us."
Sunderland, Aston Villa and Blackburn are now all chasing the man who
arrived from Hoffenheim in January to shatter doubts about his fitness with
seven goals in 13 appearances. West Ham will struggle to keep the marksman
with the interest in him set to grow over the summer. But Ba went on: "Right
now I am thinking only of West Ham. "This is a difficult time for the club
and I am focused only doing my best for them at the weekend."
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Poyet: I'd be silly to apply for West Ham job
Published 23:00 17/05/11 By Darren Lewis
The Mirror
Gus Poyet last night became the second manager to rule himself out of the
running for the West Ham job. The Brighton boss, who gained promotion to the
Championship this season, joined Steve McClaren in making himself
unavailable. Former Chelsea midfielder Poyet had been among the front
runners in the bookies' lists following the sacking of Avram Grant. Like
McClaren however, Poyet insists he is not interested in succeeding the
Israeli. "There has been no approach and I can promise I will never apply
for a job when I am with another club, especially with a club like Brighton
where I am so happy," he said. "We are going places, we are moving to a new
stadium and a new division with my style of football, so it would be really
silly on my part to apply for anything else."
Poyet is one of the English game's up-and-coming managers after leading
Brighton to the League One title in his first season in charge. The former
Uruguay international added: "I think I will be named for a few teams when
they lose a manager, so I have to keep concentrating on what I am doing.
"When things come, I will analyse them with the people at the club, with the
chairman and with my staff."
Former Newcastle boss Chris Hughton is the 2-1 favourite with Martin O'Neill
also tipped for the Upton Park role. Poyet's snub for West Ham comes as
Swansea boss Brendan Rodgers accuses the east Londoners of treating Grant
"disgracefully." Grant was dismissed at the DW Stadium on Sunday evening,
less than an hour after the Hammers' relegation was confirmed by their loss
to Wigan. It was only the intervention of the Hammers players that ensured
he returned to London on the team coach, with the club ready to put him in a
car back to London. Rodgers told talkSPORT: "The whole thing has been
disgraceful in the way Avram Grant was moved out and the way it was done. It
was really, really poor."
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West Ham's Demba Ba: 'crazy' fan screamed racist abuse and smashed tables
By Jeremy Wilson 8:00PM BST 17 May 2011
Follow Jeremy Wilson on Twitter
Telegraph.co.uk
Demba Ba has claimed that he was subjected to a torrent of racist abuse from
a West Ham United fan during the ugly fracas that marred the club's end of
season dinner. Police had to be called to the Grosvenor House Hotel on
Monday night to attend the incident, with eyewitnesses describing how West
Ham security forcefully removed a small group of fans who had become
embroiled in the confrontation. Chairs and tables were dislodged during the
struggle, while glasses and a vase were also shattered. Eyewitness say that
punches were thrown at security and there were also claims that the vase was
smashed as a result of a 'kung-fu' kick, although that is disputed by West
Ham. Harry Redknapp, the former Tottenham manager, yesterday critcised his
former club for hosting a dinner on the day after their Premier League
relegation had been confirmed. There had been suggestions that Ba had
refused to sign an autograph for a fan but the Senegal striker has
emphatically denied that claim. "I could never do that," said Ba. "This guy
came and asked for an autograph so I just gave him his autograph. Then he
asked me nicely how I was feeling so I just said I was tired from the game
yesterdayand that it was a tough game. And then he just replied, 'Oh, we're
tired watching you play every weekend as well'.
"I was surprised, I was with [Manuel] Da Costa and told him what the guy had
said. Manuel asked me who the guy was. Then the guy all of a sudden started
screaming at me like crazy. I tried to calm him down but obviously he didn't
want to. "He started smashing some tables and glasses. It was a crazy
situation. He started insulting me. When he talked to me I didn't understand
everything that he said but the people next to me said he was saying racist
things. "When [Danny] Gabbidon heard these words he came and tried to talk
to him but this guy didn't want to listen and started insulting Gabbidon as
well. Nobody punched anybody. It was just one guy screaming and smashing
tables."
Ba's account of the incident was corroborated by the West Ham co-owner David
Sullivan. "It was one individual who had too much to drink, sadly a problem
in British society," he said."A player was racially abused by the same
drunken supporter." Despite the abuse, Ba has indicated that he does not
want West Ham to take further action against the fan, who is understood to
be a season-ticket holder. The police have also received no formal complaint
from West Ham and now regard the matter as closed.
The incident took place between the main beef course and the white chocolate
truffle. "The first I became aware of it was a massive smash," said one
eyewitness. "It was really serious. There were about eight or nine security
guards moving the guys out of the way. Plates were flying off the table. It
was surreal. It just exploded.
"The guy who was being kicked out was moaning and ranting. He said, 'we are
season-ticket holders, you can't talk to us like that and turn around and
say you are too tired to talk to us'. "There was basically a trail of
destruction through the ballroom as they were getting taken out. There were
innocent punters who were trying to get out of the way. It was all quite
nasty."
Paul Blanks, general manager of the Squibb Group, whose family are lifelong
West Ham fans, said: "On our table, there was a chair knocked over but we
got moved by the hotel people. They said, 'you don't have to pay for your
drinks because of all the aggravation you have had to suffer'. West Ham know
which table it was and apologised to us. It blew over in about five
minutes."
The evening continued after the disturbance, with Scott Parker predictably
winning the main awards. There was even a jokey reference to the fracas
during an impromptu sketch on stage between Alex Walkinshaw and Scott
Maslin, actors from The Bill and Eastenders respectively. Despite the
incident, West Ham have described the evening as a "roaring success" and
believe that it was positive for the players to have spent an evening with
800 fans. Sullivan says they will hold the event again next season. West Ham
are also annoyed by Redknapp's claim that the dinner, which was to raise
money for the club's academy, should not have taken place. "What they are
having a celebration dinner for I don't know," said Redknapp. West Ham are
satisfied that all of their players conducted themselves correctly
throughout the evening.
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West Ham seek British manager with knowledge of London's East End
By Jeremy Wilson 8:35PM BST 17 May 2011
Follow Jeremy Wilson on Twitter
Telegraph.co.uk
West Ham United intend to appoint a British manager to replace Avram Grant
and would prefer a candidate with a specific knowledge of London's East End.
Gianfranco Zola and Grant, the two most recent appointments, are the only
non-British managers in the club's 116-year history, but co-owner David
Sullivan will now target candidates with specific knowledge and experience
of English football. That means ruling out Paolo di Canio, the club's
Italian former striker, and focusing on potential options that will include
Sam Allardyce, Chris Hughton, Dave Jones and Neil Warnock. Sullivan believes
that it is necessary for the new manager to have a "fear factor".
Allardyce, the former Bolton, Newcastle and Blackburn manager, is likely to
be at the top of the shortlist if he expressed interest in the position,
although he may wish to bide his time in the hope of a Premier League job
becoming available. "We will wait to see who applies, we will wait to see
what happens generally," Sullivan said. "It will be resolved within I would
think two weeks. "I think we will definitely get a British manager, whether
he is English, Scottish or Welsh makes no difference. We will get a
home-grown manager. "I think we do need someone who understands the culture
and I think if we get someone with a knowledge of the East End that is so
much better."
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O'Neill to turn down Hammers again as Cardiff boss Jones is linked with
hotseat
By MATT LAWTON
Last updated at 7:36 AM on 18th May 2011
Daily Mail
Martin O'Neill is expected to reject West Ham's advances for the second time
this year if the Upton Park board offer him the job that no leading manager
seems to want. The Ulsterman is top of the club's short list after their
dismissal of Avram Grant on Sunday and they will try to persuade him to
accept the task of guiding them back to the Barclays Premier League. But
Sportsmail understands that O'Neill has the same concerns about West Ham as
he had when he declined the invitation to succeed Grant in January and
sources close to the former Aston Villa and Celtic manager expect him to
turn down any new offer. O'Neill is more focused on settling his dispute
with Villa over his departure last August. A Premier League managers'
arbitration panel is due to hear the case this week. Sources close to
O'Neill point out that if he was not keen on West Ham when they were a
Premier League club, he will be even less so now.
However, Cardiff manager Dave Jones may enter the picture at Upton Park now
he has failed to gain promotion in six seasons with the Welsh club. Cardiff
fans chanted, 'You're getting sacked in the morning', after Reading's third
goal in the Championship play-off defeat. Jones said: 'I will take stock of
my position and decide whether I want to continue. It's about what the
owners want, what I want and what is best for this football club.'
The problem facing West Ham co-owners David Sullivan and David Gold is that
other leading candidates have publicly declared a lack of interest in taking
the job.
Former England manager Steve McClaren has said he has no desire to succeed
Grant and Gus Poyet said he would be remaining with the Brighton side he has
just guided to promotion. 'No chance,' said Poyet, his response apparently
motivated by the way West Ham treated his close friend Gianfranco Zola. The
West Ham hierarchy are still expected to make an approach to O'Neill in the
hope that they can persuade him to accept the challenge. Sullivan conceded
that it had been a mistake to appoint Grant, who is now considering whether
to return to Chelsea in some capacity. But Grant's agent, Pini Zahavi,
claimed that the board did not make enough money available for transfers,
particularly to bring in defensive reinforcements.
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West Ham will struggle unless David Sullivan and David Gold learn from their
mistakes, says Tony Cottee
By Tony Cottee, former West Ham striker 7:00AM BST 18 May 2011
What a week at West Ham. What a season, in fact. Like all fans of the club,
I have grown used to West Ham being a bit of a soap opera but the events of
the past few days have made Albert Square resemble an oasis of calm.
I was one of several hundred Hammers fans who squeezed into the Grosvenor
House Hotel on Monday night and, while I would never condone violence in any
form, it was hardly surprising that things got a little heated. You could
sense there was a mood of frustration in the air beforehand: the memories of
the Wigan game were still painfully raw and the emotions of it all clearly
got too much for some people. Seeing the club you love slip out of the
league does that to people, I guess.
Now it's time for the autopsy, and – with the exception of the fans – there
are few at Upton Park who can be labelled blameless. Take the players. Quite
how a squad with a spine of England internationals, some terrific youngsters
and several excellent strikers signed at great expense can find themselves
cut adrift at the bottom of the league is anyone's guess. They have let
themselves and the club down. But a squad are often only as strong as the
man who leads them and, in that sense, West Ham probably never stood a
chance with Avram Grant in charge.
The manager is the most important person at a football club: he picks the
team, changes things if they're not working, selects the tactics and
motivates the players.
And while everyone keeps telling me what a nice bloke Grant is, the simple
fact is he failed in every one of those areas. Being West Ham manager is a
very privileged role and he fell way short of what is needed.
Grant should not escape the blame, but he should never have been put in
charge in the first place – and that blunder is entirely down to co-owners
David Sullivan and David Gold. What they ever saw in Avram I will never
know. Everyone in football was baffled by the appointment and, sure enough,
it turned out to be a complete disaster. Just to compound matters, the
owners then failed to get rid of him when they had the chance in January.
They went behind his back to speak to Martin O'Neill and, when he decided
not to take the job, Grant was effectively a lame duck.
Given all that, is it any surprise that we were relegated? From afar, it
just doesn't seem that Gold and Sullivan have learned from the mistakes they
made at Birmingham, when they were constantly accused of interfering. They
were never going to get away with those same mistakes at West Ham, who are
on a different level in terms of size and reputation.
The Hammers have an illustrious history, a huge support base and a lot of
followers in the media. Every move at Upton Park is scrutinised and
relegation was national news. Big mistakes have been made and now it is
crucial that Gold and Sullivan learn from them – and don't repeat them. Top
of the list must be a realisation that they cannot interfere with the
manager. Any coach worth his salt – an O'Neill or Sam Allardyce, for example
– is not going to want his chairman appearing in the media every other day
or seeing helicopters land on the training ground a few days before a
must-win match. It's unnecessary and unhelpful, and jars horribly with what
we are about as a club.
West Ham used to have a certain way of doing things. It was a classy
operation – personified by people such as Bobby Moore and John Lyall – and
are still a community club, a special place which the fans want to feel part
of. Now, we have headlines being made for all the wrong reasons, managers
being sacked left, right and centre and bouncing up and down between the top
divisions. It's just been a catalogue of disasters. So, Messrs Sullivan and
Gold, a plea from my heart, and the heart of every true West Ham fan: learn
from what's happened, keep your distance from your new manager and let the
people who know the game do their jobs. If you don't, there's no telling
when West Ham's troubles will end.
Tony Cottee scored 116 goals in two spells at West Ham and was capped seven
times by England
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Six managers were offered my job by West Ham, claims Avram Grant
'Allardyce and McClaren turned it down in January'
Chris Hughton, Ian Holloway and Dave Jones head list
Jamie Jackson
The Guardian, Wednesday 18 May 2011
Avram Grant has warned any prospective West Ham United manager that he faces
being undermined by the club's owners, David Gold and David Sullivan, and
also claimed that six different managers were offered his job as recently as
January. Grant has revealed to close friends the extent of his
disillusionment during a season that ended in relegation and says he wishes
he had never taken the Upton Park job. Grant was sacked on Sunday,
immediately after the team went down.
"Avram points to January when Martin O'Neill was offered his job [when Grant
was reportedly going to be sacked whatever the result against Arsenal on 15
January]," said a close friend. "He says six managers were asked by the club
to take over, including Steve McClaren and Sam Allardyce, but they would not
do it because they knew the situation there."
Grant is also disappointed that he was not allowed to take on the challenge
of trying to return West Ham to the Premier League. "Avram feels frustrated.
If he had not been sacked he believes he could have steadied the club and
taken it on to much better things next season," the friend added. "He
actually said that despite all the financial difficulties at Portsmouth,
where players were not being paid and the club faced liquidation, that job
was far easier than the West Ham one because he could concentrate on the
on-field job."
In a stark warning to potential successors, a list that is now headed by
Chris Hughton, Cardiff City's Dave Jones and Ian Holloway of Blackpool,
Grant told a confidant of several "red lights" that warned him just how
difficult the job would be due to a lack of finance for players. "Avram was
advised not to take the job by several people in football but he wanted the
challenge," said a source close to the Israeli. "He feels almost from the
moment he took over the situation was virtually impossible. One example is
that he was concerned about the lack of a strong midfield-enforcer type when
he arrived so he wanted to sign Marc Wilson, who was a player for him at
Portsmouth. "Wilson wanted to sign for Avram and Portsmouth would have sold
him for £3m but the owners would not go beyond £2.5m and so he ended up
joining Stoke [City]. "Another example is Yakubu [Ayegbeni, the Everton
striker]. West Ham were willing to pay £6m for him – David Moyes [Everton's
manager] wanted £10m so the deal could not happen, but Avram was not allowed
to spend [that] money on other signings, which he could not understand.
"He regrets not checking out the club properly to find out the true
situation about the budget. His vision was for the club was to be a
mini-Arsenal, developing their own players and style. He knew it would be
difficult in the first season, fighting relegation at the same time. But if
he knew then what he knows now he probably would not have accepted the job."
Although West Ham would not comment on the record, privately the club point
to players that Grant was able to sign. The New Zealander Winston Reid was
bought for £3m in August while Sullivan and Gold also sanctioned the signing
of Pablo Barrera for £4m and Thomas Hitzlsperger arrived on a free transfer.
In January Wayne Bridge and Robbie Keane were also signed, on loan from
Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur respectively, with West Ham paying the
majority of each player's sizeable salary.
Tzofit Grant, the manager's wife, told the Guardian: "Maybe there was a
mistake on Avram's part to accept the job. There were so many people who
were offered it but turned it down because they thought they wouldn't be
able to manage. But Avram wanted to rise to the challenge. There are so many
things that we can't talk about – so many things he had to deal with that
people don't know about. He found no joy except only with the fans, players
and his assistants."
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