WHUFC.com
David Bentley is set to miss the next six months after having surgery on his knee
12.10.2011
West Ham United can confirm that David Bentley will be out for up to six months after undergoing knee surgery. Bentley has made five appearances for the club, including two starts, since joining on transfer deadline day. Speaking to whufc.com, Sam Allardyce said: "It is a great shame for David as he had settled in well to the squad. We wish him well and hope he has a speedy recovery." While, the 27-year-old faces a lengthy absence, the Hammers are hoping to be able to call on the likes of Winston Reid, Mark Noble and Matt Taylor again this weekend at home to Blackpool, while Robert Green is progressing well after his knee surgery on 30 September that ruled him out for six weeks.
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'We will tender again'
WHUFC.com
The Board have spoken about the club's proposals for the Olympic Stadium
12.10.2011
As you will no doubt have seen and read this week, the Government has decided to start a new process to determine the future of the Olympic Stadium after it became bogged down in legal wrangling. The best way to move forward is this new streamlined process that will shift the focus from the courtroom to the playing field. Before this news, the prospect of being able to use the fantastic achievement of securing the 2012 Games to create a lasting legacy for generations was in in real danger of being lost. Despite the court action and other tactics used, our position at West Ham United never changed and the merits of our legacy commitment have never been challenged. And they never will. Our unanimously supported proposal which earned us preferred bidder status back in February was for a multi-use, multi-sport stadium that provided a real home for football and athletics. It would have been open in 2014/15, and it would have been a destination for national sport and certainly a fitting stage for the 2017 World Athletic Championships. We will tender again with the same energy, vision and determination.
We welcome the positive words from the Sports Minister and the Mayor of London. It is great to see a collective determination for the Olympic Stadium to live up to the promises rightly made by Lord Coe and his team when the Games were won back in 2005. If we are allowed, we will deliver the right legacy for the East End and the wider community, ensuring that the vibrant Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park with its thousands of new jobs and homes is well served. We will only need to travel only just over a mile from the Boleyn Ground to the Olympic Stadium. But in that small journey within our own borough we would be taking giant strides for sport in this country.
We believe we are the home team. We are the ones who understand the area and its proud people. There will not be many, if any, who have moved to a new stadium closer and who have been able to carry so much goodwill with them. There's no doubt our legacy plan is the right one. It was the right one when we took part in the first fair and open bidding process and no one has found fault with our community-based vision that offers hope to so many. We are committed to the borough of Newham. The area has been our home for more than 100 years and we understand the needs of local people. We will never turn our back on our history and heritage. We embrace it and recognise that we must make sure the stadium works for our fans first and foremost.
We know given the chance we can deliver a stadium capable of top-class football that will be up there with the game's finest arenas. Our loyal fanbase continues to grow. We need a home that matches yours and the club's Premier ambitions, which would be impressive yet intimate with a great infrastructure. Rest assured, we will keep you informed as and when the new process unfolds but our aim is to make West Ham United's strong case once again as the right choice for the future legacy of the Olympic Stadium.
*You can stay in touch via the club's media platforms including whufc.com, @whufc_official on Twitter and West Ham United FC Official on Facebook. To contact us, email olympicproject@westhamunited.co.uk
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West Ham midfielder David Bentley out for six months
BBC.co.uk
David Bentley has been ruled out for six months following an operation on his left knee. The 27-year-old moved to West Ham from Tottenham Hotspur on a season-long loan deal on transfer deadline day. "It is a great shame for David as he had settled in well to the squad," Hammers boss Sam Allardyce told the official club website. Bentley, who made five appearances for the Hammers, has now returned to Spurs for treatment. Tottenham said: "David Bentley has undergone surgery to his left knee...[and]...is likely to be out for up to six months." The former England international started two games for West Ham, with his other three outings coming off the bench. The winger joined Spurs from Blackburn in a £15m deal in July 2008 but has struggled to make an impact and spent the second half of last season on loan at Birmingham, scoring once in 15 appearances. He was unable to prevent Blues being relegated to the Championship and had been hoping to revive his career at West Ham.
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More legal action awaits
KUMB.com
Filed: Thursday, 13th October 2011
By: Staff Writer
West Ham are set to be dragged back to the courts after deliberately withholding payments to Danish club FC Midtjylland in regards to the transfer of Winston Reid.
The New Zealand international joined West Ham in the summer of 2010 following an impressive World Cup tournament. But according to a report by Jason Burt in today's Telegraph, United are yet to pay his former club a single penny of the £4million transfer fee. Far from being unable to pay, West Ham's board are said to be refusing to sanction payments in protest at FIFA's apparent inaction regarding the sale of Alessandro Diamanti to Brescia last year. The Italian club have failed on several occasions to meet instalment deadlines, with West Ham - like Midtjylland - yet to see a single penny from the transfer. The state of affairs led United to complain to FIFA and request that the player's registration be suspended until payments are forthcoming.
Since that request was made more than three months ago, the game's ruling body have failed to act; West Ham's response has been to halt all payments due to foreign clubs, according to Burt. Meanwhile Diamanti continues to ply his trade for Serie A's bottom club Bologna, who further muddied the waters by purchasing part ownership of the former Hammers dead-ball specialist earlier in the year. As is sadly only too familair at the Boleyn Ground these days, 2011 has proved to be yet another litigious year for West Ham United FC. In addition to the new FIFA-related threat, the Hammers had former defender Manuel Da Costa charged with assault back in January - whilst a youth team player was arrested on suspicion of rape three months later in April. Meanwhile the Olympic Stadium row has seen the club in and out of courtrooms on a regular basis since the decision to award West Ham tenancy of the Olympic Stadium was announced in February. That decision was reversed yesterday.
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David's bent knee
KUMB.com
Filed: Wednesday, 12th October 2011
By: Staff Writer
David Bentley has returned to Tottenham after being diagnosed with a long-term injury. As revealed here on KUMB last weekend, the right-winger has been forced to return to his parent club after suffering a knee injury just a matter of weeks into his year-long loan spell at West Ham. It has been suggested that the 27-year-old could be sidelined until well after Christmas, meaning that any potential return to the Boleyn Ground is unlikely at this stage. Bentley made just five appearances for the Hammers before returning to north London, without completing a single full 90 minutes.
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As I Wasn't Saying Yesterday… Olympic Lease Could Be Good News
October 12th, 2011 - 5:08 pm by Iain Dale
West Ham Till I Die
Twenty four hours on, it all looks a bit different, doesn't it? I'm still a bit baffled as to what really brought this about. I think you can immediately discount the guff about an anonymous claim to the European Commission. No one would act on anything anonymous. From what I can see, there were two main things which forced this – and they both revolve around Tottenham.
Firstly, the World Athletics people visited town last week. They made it clear that if there wasn't a 100 per cent guarantee that the athletics track would remain they couldn't award us the 2017 games. The OPLC couldn't make that guarantee while the Spurs/Orient legal action continued. I understand the WAF gave an ultimatum. As a result Boris Johnson or his representatives met with Daniel Levy to presumably persuade Spurs either to withdraw their legal action. We already know about the £17 million sweetener already offered to persuade them to stay at White Hart Lane – that's 17 million of your taxpayer pounds. Anyway, Levy remained resolute and we all know what happened next. Levy's bluff was called.
It seems from what we know now that yesterday's events were all about screwing Tottenham over, not, as I feared, the other way around. It is clear that West Ham knew about what was about to happen from the speed with which Karren Brady's statement was issued. Indeed, some suspect a cosy little conspiracy between West Ham and the OPLC. Apparently Newham council wrote to LOCOG in the last few days expressing doubt that everything would be ready for 2014. Olympics Minister Hugh Robertson is using that as the figleaf for the decision. Hmmm. I doubt it.
Interestingly Boris Johnson made clear yesterday that he expects West Ham to win the new leasing tender. That was an idiotic thing for him to say even if he believes it. When I interviewed Barry Hearn last night on LBC he gave Boris a very clear warning – say any more and we'll see you in court.
It is of. Ourselves a public outrage that the taxpayer is now going to be landed with a £60 million pound bill, all because Tottenham Hotspur have behaved like arses but there you go.
From a financial viewpoint, the leasi deal could be very good news indeed. No refurbishment to pay for and a £2 million a year rental fee. Sounds good business to me. And on top of that the proceeds from the sale of Upton Park can be used to pay down our massive debt. The key thing, it seems to me, is what length the lease will be. Anything less than 25 years would not be good enough and there needs tod be a lengthy notice period too. So many questions.
This one has a lot of mileage in it yet.
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West Ham refuse to pay Winston Reid transfer due to bitter dispute with Fifa
Point of principle: Winston Reid signed in 2010 but West Ham have not paid the Danish club the £875,000 fee Photo: GETTY IMAGES
By Jason Burt12:01AM BST 13 Oct 2011 2 Comments
Telegrpah.co.uk
West Ham United are refusing to pay transfer fees for three players they have bought from overseas clubs because of a bitter dispute with Fifa. The Championship club are furious that their claim for £1.5 million for the sale of Alessandro Diamanti to Brescia has still not been dealt with by world football's governing body. It means that West Ham are now themselves the subject of a formal complaint to Fifa and the Football Association because they have withheld payment of €1million (£875,000) for the defender Winston Reid. The 23 year-old New Zealander was signed in August 2010 on a three-year contract from the small Danish club FC Midtjylland but West Ham have, so far, not paid any money for him. The identity of the other players has not been revealed but West Ham have signed the likes of Frederic Piquionne from Lyon, Pablo Barrera from Pumas, Guy Demel from Hamburg and Ruud Boffin from MVV Maastricht in the past couple of years. It's thought that the Piquionne fee could be one that has not been paid in full yet.
West Ham do not dispute that they owe Midtjylland money for Reid but believe that there is a point of principle at stake because Fifa have so far not dealt with their dispute. Diamanti joined Brescia in August 2010 but, so far, his agreed fee has not been met.. The money West Ham were owed should have been paid in July with the money they then owed paid to the other clubs in late August, West Ham therefore argue the Diamanti cash was, as that point of principle, rightfully theirs to fund the fees they owed.
West Ham asked for Diamanti's registration to be withheld and formally complained to Fifa. The row is complicated further because Diamanti, who spent a year at Upton Park, has since joined Bologna in a co-ownership deal following Brescia's relegation from Serie A. West Ham believe that unless they take such a strong stance they will not receive the money they are owed for Diamanti. The club has honoured all payments to other British clubs for players it has signed. West Ham will now urge Midtjylland to put pressure on Fifa to sort out their case. Once it is dealt with they will pay the Danes immediately what they are owed. Midtjylland have become the unwitting victims of the row — as, West Ham will argue, have they — and last night Soren Bach, the club's chief executive officer, confirmed to The Telegraph in a statement: "We did not receive any payment — and we can confirm that we have filed a complaint to Fifa and the Football Association over an unpaid transfer fee for the sale of Winston Reid."
West Ham's frustration is all the more annoying for them given the tough stance Fifa said they were going to adopt on clubs who are found guilty of being slow to pay transfer fees. There has been the threat of points deductions as well as fines for guilty parties. As well as Reid, West Ham are withholding payments for two more players owed to two other overseas clubs. It's understood that the total amount being withheld is equivalent to what West Ham are owed by Brescia. Meanwhile West Ham have suffered a serious blow with the confirmation that David Bentley has been ruled out for six months after undergoing an operation on his left knee. The 27-year-old was on a season's long loan from Tottenham Hotspur but will return to his parent club to conduct his rehabilitation. West Ham have a break clause in the deal, in January, and will be expected to negotiate a settlement with Spurs over the England international. The two clubs had struck a deal whereby West Ham covered around half of Bentley's wages, thought to be about £40,000-a-week. Bentley joined West Ham on deadline day in a bid to get his career back on track after struggling to feature for Spurs since joining the club for £15m in 2008 from Blackburn Rovers. He spent part of last season on loan to Birmingham City.
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