Big Sam hails winning start
WHUFC.com
The manager was happy with a deserved opening-day victory over Aston Villa
18.08.2012
West Ham United manager Sam Allardyce was justifiably happy following the Hammers' 1-0 Barclays Premier League opening-day win over Aston Villa. The Boleyn Ground was rocking before, during and after a game that was settled by Kevin Nolan's 40th-minute goal. In truth, West Ham could have won by a more comfortable margin had debutant Modibo Maiga not had his effort saved by a miraculous goalline clearance. Big Sam told West Ham TV of his pride at earning a victory over an established top-flight side in uncomfortably hot conditions. "It was a pretty low-key start due to two things - Villa were just intent on keeping the ball and not really going anywhere with it and the weather. It was so hot that it made it difficult to continue the sort of pressure that you would do if it was a much cooler day. "We had to be patient and then we built our way into the game and grew into the game, if you like, and once we started we finding a quality of pass then we started putting pressure on Aston Villa from corners, free-kicks and final-third entries."
That growing pressure told when Mark Noble's free-kick hit an Aston Villa defender and fell to Ricardo Vaz Te, whose cut-back was converted by captain Nolan. The assistant referee initially flagged for offside, but referee Mike Dean was sure the ball had hit a defender and played Vaz Te onside. After a short conversation with his colleague, Dean gave the goal. "In the end, they cracked and the referee made a huge decision for us - which was the right decision - by not allowing the goal to be scrubbed out for offside. The ball came off the Villa defender and not a West Ham player. The linesman had flagged and the referee ignored that flag and gave the goal, which was the right decision. "We got better as the second half went on and started getting more of the ball and started probing Aston Villa and we created some good opportunities. Coley should have had a penalty after half-time, Kevin Nolan had a shot inside the box and then cool-hand Maiga rounded the goalkeeper with ease and we all thought he would put it into the net for 2-0 but up popped the Villa defender to block it which was a great shame. "It's a great day for us and a great result and one that we fully deserved."
It took West Ham six matches to record a victory in their most-recent Barclays Premier League campaign in 2010/11, leaving the Hammers playing a game of catch-up they never managed to win. This time around, they will start the week in the top half of the table. Naturally, the manager was delighted that his side showed the belief, fitness and maturity to close the game out in temperatures of 85 degrees. "There was actually more energy expended than in a normal game. Because of the drain of fluid and the heat, the body starts shutting down more quickly than it normally would. The players lost three or four kilos during the game, even though they were topping up on fluids before, during and afterwards. "It shows the extent of the energy they had to expend to win the game and in the end our fitness told. We looked a little fitter than Aston Villa and saw the game out better and could have won it by more in the end."
Finally, Big Sam was happy with the contributions of his goalkeeper and defenders, who kept a clean sheet on the back of outstanding displays from Man of the Match James Collins and WInston Reid. "There was some good solid defending. A goalscorer with a great reputation in Darren Bent was snuffed out of the game by Winston and James effectively well. It didn't matter how well people were playing because if you let Bent have a chance he'll score at any stage - they didn't even give him a chance to day. "They gave us the perfect platform from which to win this game."
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U18s start with Royals draw
WHUFC.com
Elliot Lee scored twice as the Under-18s were held to a 2-2 draw at Reading in their opening league match
18.08.2012
Elliot Lee scored twice as the Under-18s were held to a 2-2 draw at Reading in their Barclays Under-18 Premier League match. Striker Lee bagged two goals before half-time to send the Hammers in well ahead at the break, but the Royals struck back after half-time to earn a share of the spoils. Academy Director Tony Carr was pleased with his team's performance and admitted Reading had deserved a point on the basis of their second-half revival. "We were 2-0 up at half-time thanks to two typical Elliot Lee goals," Carr confirmed. "The first one he received the ball to feet on the edge of the box and turned his defender, cut inside and drove a low shot to the goalkeeper's right and into the corner. "The second one was very similar but this time he went out side his defender and slammed the ball inside the near post as the goalkeeper advanced. Both were typical individual Elliot Lee goals. "Reading got a goal back after half-time and then equalised a short time after that. At the end of the day it was a draw and I think it was probably a fair result. "It was a good workout for the boys and we played very well, particularly in the first half, but we ended up with a share of the spoils."
The Under-18s return to action next Saturday, when they host Everton in an 11am kick-off. West Ham TV will exclusive highlights from Saturday's draw at Reading soon.
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West Ham 1 Aston Villa 0
FT 90 +5
HT 1-0
18 August 2012
Last updated at 19:21
By Mandeep Sanghera
BBC Sport
West Ham marked their Premier League return with a win over Aston Villa, who were beaten in new manager Paul Lambert's first game in charge. The Hammers went ahead when Ricardo Vaz Te pulled the ball across for Kevin Nolan to sidefoot home. "West Ham's win was secured by Kevin Nolan's goal shortly before half-time. Villa didn't have the inspiration or the drive up front to trouble a West Ham defence in which James Collins was outstanding against the club he left in the summer."
West Ham later had a penalty shout for a shove by Villa centre-back Ron Vlaar on striker Carlton Cole waved away. Villa rarely troubled their hosts and Cole should have extended West Ham's lead but headed wide from close range. Hammers substitute Modibo Maiga also came close in injury-time when he raced clear and rounded keeper Shay Given only to see his shot cleared from the goalmouth by backtracking defender Nathan Baker. The miss did not prove crucial against a Villa side who started brightly but ultimately showed little improvement on the side that only avoided relegation by two points last season.
In contrast, West Ham's victory served to continue the feelgood factor around east London after London 2012. The shadow of the Olympic Stadium - the Hammers' prospective new home - looms large over Upton Park and could yet provide inspiration in a campaign where Premier League safety remains the first target. However, the home side began in a subdued and stuttering fashion, with Villa - in particular, central midfielder Fabian Delph - possessing the greater enterprise.
Lambert has promised Villa fans more of an attacking style but, while his side showed intent, they could not find the incisiveness to pierce the Hammers defence.
West Ham gradually shook off their apprehension and started to pose more of a threat, with the strength of striker Cole unsettling Villa's summer signing Vlaar.
West Ham v Aston Villa fast facts
The Hammers netted more goals from set pieces than any other side in the Championship in 2011-12 (33).
Kevin Nolan has scored more Premier League goals against Villa (5) than any other team.
Aston Villa have won none of their last nine Premier League away games.
Villa players did not find a single teammate with any of their 10 crosses in this match.
Nolan fizzed an 18-yard free-kick just wide after a foul by Vlaar on Cole before the Hammers breakthrough. A floated Mark Noble free-kick was headed on to Vaz Te and he squared the ball for Nolan to provide the finishing touch. The assistant's flag had gone up for offside against Vaz Te but referee Mike Dean awarded the goal after correctly ruling that Villa's Ciaran Clark had headed the ball on and not West Ham's James Collins. Vlaar was being given a testing workout on his Premier League debut and cut a relieved figure when referee Dean waved away West Ham's penalty appeals for a shove on Cole. A Vlaar shot, saved by Hammers keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen, was Villa's only real effort on target as they surrendered tamely to defeat.
West Ham boss Sam Allardyce: "We grew into the game. We started to expose Aston Villa's defence and got the goal with a perfectly good goal and a perfectly good decision with the referee overruling the linesman. "I think there was a definite penalty on Carlton Cole after half-time. "It ended up as a very good day as we won 1-0 and kept a clean sheet. James Collins was back and solid in defence which gave us a platform to win the game and there were lots of good performances."
Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert: "We started the game really well but we just never really created as much as we wanted to. "I couldn't fault the effort. We will pick ourselves up and go again. There is a long way to go and we'll see what happens. "I have great belief in [the players]. They will do fine. If we can stick together and the fans stick with us we'll be OK."
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West Ham want Matt Jarvis, says chairman David Gold
BBC.co.uk
West Ham chairman David Gold says the club are still hoping to sign Wolves winger Matt Jarvis. Wolves have rejected bids for one-time England international Jarvis, 26, with chief executive Jez Moxey saying the club's valuation of the player has not been met.
Matt Jarvis
Born: 22 May, 1986
Position: Winger
Gillingham: 2003-2007
Wolves: 2007-present
England caps: One
"We are still pursuing Jarvis, that is where we are at the moment," Gold said. Gold also confirmed a deal for Liverpool's Andy Carroll is dead but that "things can change overnight." Jarvis began his career at Gillingham, making 122 appearances for the Kent club, before joining Wolves in the summer of 2007. He was one of Wolves' stand-out performers as they were relegated from the Premier League, scoring seven goals in 14 appearances at the end of last season. Meanwhile, Gold says he hopes to learn whether West Ham's bid to move to the Olympic Stadium has been successful within the next six weeks. The Hammers want to take over the 80,000-capacity venue after the Paralympic Games end next month."We are still waiting," said Gold. "I think we will hear within four to six weeks and we wait patiently for the outcome. "If successful we could move in the 2014-15 season. That is when the alterations would be completed and all being well when we could move in."
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West Ham Utd 1 Aston Villa 0
KUMB.com
Filed: Saturday, 18th August 2012
By: Staff Writer
West Ham's 2012/13 league campaign got off to the best possible start thanks to captain Kevin Nolan's first half winner. In front of a near capacity crowd, Nolan scored the only goal of the game to get United up and running in their first game back in the Premier League since last May's play-off Final win over Blackpool.
With the August sun burning overhead - the temperature inside the Boleyn Ground was touching degrees - Sam Allardyce's new-look team took a while to get going but eventually found their feet and, in the end, were fully deserving of the three points. Villa, who looked the better side in the opening exchanges produced exactly what you would expect from a team managed by Paul Lambert - bar, most importantly, an end product.
England striker Darren Bent, who nearly joined West Ham four years ago, was a virtual bystander throughout the game despite the visitors seeing plenty of the ball in the first half such was the dominance of West Ham's central defensive pair of Winston Reid and James Collins, making his second debut for the club.
Collins, playing against his old club and no doubt out to prove a point was absolutely outstanding and deservedly named Man of the Match by the sponsors.
But just as influential on the day was fellow debutant Mo Diame, who took the game by the scruff of the neck and almost single-handedly swung it back in West Ham's favour when Villa looked the more likely to score.
The game's only goal came with five minutes of the first half remaining.
Mark Noble's free kick - one of several West Ham were awarded in quick succession - found its way to Ricardo Vaz Te at the back post. The Portuguese forward pulled the ball back and, as was so often the case last season, Nolan was on hand to prod the ball over the line.
Villa, for all their early promise produced little after the break and if anyone was going to score a second West Ham looked the more likely.
Carlton Cole was denied what appeared to be a fairly obvious penalty when he was shoved in the back by Ron Vlaar just moments after the restart, whilst substitute Modibo Maiga saw an effort cleared off the line in injury time after he had rounded Villa 'keeper Shay Given as West ham countered.
But those missed chances mattered not come the end of the game and the final whistle was greeted with jubilant scenes inside the Boleyn Ground as West Ham secured their first win back in the big time at the first attempt.
Match facts: West Ham Utd 1 Aston Villa 0
West Ham Utd: Jaaskelainen, Demel, Collins, Reid, McCartney (O'Brien 71), Diame, Noble, Nolan (Tomkins 73), Vaz Te, Taylor, Cole (Maiga 81).
Subs not used: Henderson, Diarra, O'Neil, Maynard.
Goals: Nolan (40).
Possession: 49%.
Shots on/off target: 4/4.
Corners: 6.
Fouls committed: 17.
Aston Villa: Given, Baker, Vlaar, Clark, Lowton, El Ahmadi (Weimann 61), Delph (Bannan 77), Ireland, N'Zogbia (Gardner 74), Holman, Bent.
Subs not used: Guzan, Lichaj, Herd, Burke.
Booked: Clark (39).
Possession: 49%.
Shots on/off target: 6/4.
Corners: 4.
Fouls committed: 8
Referee: Mike Dean (7).
Attendance: 34,172.
Did you know? Today's clean sheet was the first West Ham have kept on the opening day of a Premier League season at the Boleyn Ground since beating Tottenham 1-0 in August 1999.
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Under 21s: West Ham Utd 3 Reading 1
KUMB.com
Filed: Saturday, 18th August 2012
By: Staff Writer
West Ham United's development squad kicked off the new season in perfect fashion by beating Reading 3-1 at Rush Green last night. Ian Hendon's young team made short work of their Berkshire rivals to open their Barclays Under-21 Premier League campaign with a win in their first competitive match at their new home, which is being shared this season with homeless Grays Athletic. Paul McCallum put West Ham in front three minutes before the break, scoring from close range, before doubling his tally after 55 minutes by converting a Robert Hall cross. The Royals reduced the deficit 18 minutes from time but victory was secured for Hendon's with just four minutes of normal time remaining when an unnamed triallist - believed to be Rennes winger Razak Boukari* - made it 3-1. A happy Hendon, speaking to whufc.com after the game said: I'm delighted with the result because it gives us an excellent platform going into the season. Reading are a big team who tried to knock the ball long up to the front three and I felt we dealt with that. "It was a little disappointing conceding from a corner, but that may have more to do with a little lapse in concentration due to being 2-0 up. It's early days and that is something we can focus on ironing out on the training ground, but I'm delighted with the result and to have got off to a winning start."
Next up for Hendon's side is the trip to Everton, who they face at Finch Farm on Sunday, 26th August (1pm kick-off). * As was the case in the Olympic Games, each team in this season's Barclays Under-21 Premier League may feature a maximum of three over-aged players in their match day squad.
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Lambert on....West Ham United
KUMb.com
Filed: Saturday, 18th August 2012
By: Staff Writer No.2
Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert looks for the positives after his side's 1-0 defeat this afternoon at the Boleyn. As ever we bring you the post match press conference in full....
Paul: On the balance of the 90 minutes was that a fair result or do you feel hard done by?
Well we started the game really well. I thought that for 30 minutes or so we were excellent. We controlled the ballbut we didn't score. You can' fault the lads' effort. He effort was there but there wasn't much in the game.
The actual goal: there was a lot of confusion between the linesman and the ref. Your thoughts?
I wasn't sure at the time but I've seen the tape and the ball came off one or other of the lads so the ref's called it right. The ref I can't fault. We made mistakes all over but there were a lot of positives to take. You pick yourself up and start again.
You looked very bright to start off with. Is the challenge now to convert that extra possession into chances?
Yeah – you summed that up brilliantly! You'd be better off sitting up here! (Laughter)
You have Darren Bent who everyone knows is a goalscorer but he only got a few touches today...
Yes it was difficult today. Whether the heat contributed to that..it probably did. Darren will score that's for sure. He's a goal threat – we just have to get the service to him.
Paul how far off are you squad-wise? Do you need more bodies?
I'm not so sure. I was asked that yesterday If something comes up and it's worth our doing then we'll look at it. If we get one or two injuries back – losing Gabby (Agbonlahor) has been a bit of a blow for us. He's a big player. He was playing very well in pre-season. We're still talking two or three weeks for him.
As a former manager did you wince at the Norwich result?
No – what was it?
5-0...
For?...
Fulham.
Fulham???? Listen I can't speak highly enough of Norwich. Good luck to Chris and the lads – there's a long way to go. It's one game for everybody and it's a long old season.
Mark Hughes is probably saying the same thing - QPR lost 5-0 at home.
There's been some strange results about – Liverpool got beat 3-0 so I heard.
Sam just said that, although it's just one game it's important to get a good start. Do you feel as if you are going to need some wins just around the corner?
I think you get a bedding-in time of about three and a half milliseconds! I never think of anything other than trying to win. Ever. That's just me as a person. Last season at Norwich – you get a point away at Wigan then you get beat the next game and think 'where's the next point coming from?' I think the crowd were good today – they came a long way to watch us but we need them to be there when things are not going right for us.
Stephen Ireland looked as if he wanted the ball, he looked energetic and was always looking for angles. Is he a key part of what you're trying to do?
It's unfair to single out any player – it's as a team we have to gel. I also thought Ron Vlaar was excellent, Karim (El Ahmadi) had a lot of the ball and did fine. Matt Lowton has just come out of League One he was excellent as well. We just need to pull as a team. If we can do that we'll be fine.
Ron Vlaar didn't even know he was bleeding when he came off for treatment.
He's a big lad and a top pro. He was excellent.
Do you think that the team will grow together?
We have to. We have to grow together. We have to win together and to lose together. There's no blame culture. I'm not one for a blame culture.
Thanks.
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Big Sam pleased with win
Hammers boss delighted with correct decision to award goal
Last Updated: August 18, 2012 6:40pm
SSN
Sam Allardyce was relieved that the assistant referee made the right decision as West Ham marked their return to the Premier League with victory against Aston Villa. Kevin Nolan's disputed goal five minutes before the break handed the Hammers a 1-0 win at Upton Park. The midfielder tapped-in Ricardo Vaz Te's cross, who was initially flagged offside only for the assistant referee Simon Long to change his mind. Referee Mike Dean ruled the West Ham striker was onside as Villa defender Ciaran Clark had touched the ball into his direction. Allardyce told Sky Sports: "I saw it straight away and then I had a quick glance at Mike Dean and saw him pointing to the spot, so I was then delighted because I thought, well, he's given the goal so it's clearly come off the Aston Villa player on the way through to Vaz Te. "And then of course you've got a little concern because he went over to the assistant referee, but I think it was just a matter to satisfy himself and everybody that he was correct. "He asked the assistant probably 'why did you give that' and he would have said 'offside' and he'd have said 'look, I know that came off a Villa defender' and so it was the right decision and when you look back at it, it was. "So, those major decisions, it would have been goalless here right now, rather than one-nil to us had he actually taken the linesman's decision and he'd have got it wrong and it would have been a major decision gone the wrong way for us. "Because he's got it right, we have to thank him for doing his job really well."
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Nolan hails important win
Skipper wants Hammers to go on winning run now
Last Updated: August 18, 2012 6:14pm
SSN
West Ham skipper Kevin Nolan praised his side's opening day victory at home to Aston Villa thanks to his goal five minutes before the break. The midfielder, who scored 14 goals for the club last season, turned a low cross from Ricardo Vaz Te, who was initially flagged offside only for the assistant referee Simon Long to change his mind, into the back of the net. And the 30-year-old admitted that he was not at all worried about the controversy which followed because he knew the ball had touched defender Ciaran Clark on the way through. He told Sky Sports: "I knew that it had come off the defender so I knew it couldn't have been that and I knew that I wasn't offside. I couldn't see where the linesman was, so that's why I went off celebrating. "I would have been very unhappy if it would have been chalked off. The referee got it spot on with his decision."
And having secured such an important win on the opening day of the season, Nolan said: "It's what you work all pre-season for with this first game and obviously to get the goal and keep a clean sheet. "It's a fantastic day all round for us and overall it's a very good start and hopefully we can go on a bit of run now."
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Nolan nails hapless Villa
Midfielder grabs controversial first-half winner at jubilant Upton Park
Last Updated: August 18, 2012 7:02pm
SSN
West Ham made the perfect start to the new Premier League season thanks to a 1-0 victory at home to Aston Villa. Man of the match: Former Aston Villa defender James Collins was making his second West Ham debut and the big centre-back was a towering presence all afternoon. Controversy of the match: Villa players stood and watched as referee Mike Dean awarded West Ham the opening goal by Kevin Nolan despite the assistant raising his flag as the ball was launched into the box. Skill of the match: Ricardo Vaz Te produced a moment of magic to nutmeg Nathan Baker on the near touchline deep in the second half. The Hammers fans certainly enjoyed that moment. Talking point: Big Sam is still in the process of moulding his Hammers side. How far can they go this season? Paul Lambert is focused on ball retention at Villa. But will today's result alter his ideas about the way his side should be playing? Stat of the match: Villa have now failed to win in their last six away opening Premier League fixtures of the season, since a 1-0 victory at Newcastle in 1999. Kevin Nolan's controversial close-range finish five minutes before half-time was enough to seal all three points. The skipper turned home a low cross from Ricardo Vaz Te, who was initially flagged offside only for the assistant referee Simon Long to change his mind. Villa players complained but referee Mike Dean confirmed the goal pointing to the centre circle. Substitute Modibo Maiga should have added a second deep into second-half stoppage-time, but Nathan Baker got back to make a superb clearance off the line. Villa were short of ideas and failed to muster a real opportunity in front of goal.
Dangerous
West Ham featured two debutants in goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen and midfielder Mohamed Diame plus the returning James Collins, who lined up against his old team. With Paul Lambert in charge for the first time, Aston Villa fielded four summer signings, including Brett Holman whose early 20-yard drive briefly had Jaaskelainen worried. Holman was involved again after receiving a reverse pass from Stephen Ireland but his cross was cleared by Winston Reid, one of three timely interventions from West Ham's Kiwi defender. West Ham did not create any real pressure until Matt Taylor played Carlton Cole into the box, forcing Villa to concede a 14th minute corner. But nothing came of it. Villa looked marginally the more dangerous going forward - in relative terms - but they were denied by a double block from the dominant Collins, who charged down Karim El Ahmadi and then Ireland. The game began to spark into some sort of life after 36 minutes, when Cole was brought down on the edge of the Villa box by Ron Vlaar. Mark Noble touched the free-kick to Nolan, who drilled it low and through the wall but just wide of Shay Given's right-hand post. Four minutes later, West Ham had the lead. Noble's lofted free-kick fell to Vaz Te, who pulled the ball back for Nolan to score from close range. But there was more than a hint of controversy about it. Assistant referee Simon Long initially flagged for offside, in the belief that Collins had flicked the ball on to Vaz Te before changing his mind. Villa players complained immediately as West Ham celebrated, and referee Dean consulted with his assistant before confirming the goal.
Pressure
West Ham began to grow as the game went on and Cole was convinced he should have had a penalty when he went down under a challenge from Vlaar. The Hammers could have doubled their lead on 65 minutes, when Vaz Te skipped brilliantly past Nathan Baker and cut a low cross back to Nolan, whose shot was blocked by Vlaar and cleared. Just after the hour mark, Taylor swung in a dangerous free-kick from the right touchline which Cole rose to meet but the former England striker directed his header wide. Vlaar tried his luck from 35 yards out but the final word could have gone to West Ham replacement Maiga on his debut.
The Mali striker, on for Cole, was released by a long ball as Villa chased the equaliser and he rounded Given but Baker got back to clear off the line.
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Match Report: West Ham 1 Aston Villa 0
By Iain Dale
West Ham Till I Die
It may not have been pretty on the eye, but three points are three points. And I suspect that is what we'll be saying quite often this season. So, first of all, the positives, and I think they were plain for all to see - Mo DIame and James Collins. It's always good to see two new signings do well making their debuts, and we certainly couldn't have asked for anymore from these two. Diame was a monster. The guy I sit with reckoned he played a bit like Behrami without the headless chicken moments. I could see what he meant. What an engine! And James Collins played possibly his best ever game for us. It has to be said that Villa never really threatened and I reckon they only had one shot on target in the whole game. But there's a reason for that and James Collins was a large part of it. However, that should not detract from the rest of the back four, who were also magnificent in keeping Villa at bay. especially Demel and Reid.
After twenty minutes, I will admit that a lot of negative thoughts were passing through my mind. Villa were dominating possession even if they weren't creating goal opportunities. They played some nice passing football, but after that we started to get into our swing and the midfield started intercepting Villa passes quite well. But if Villa didn't have any real chances in the first half, we hardly had more, and it was a surprise to us all when we scored. Indeed, so much of a surprise was it to me and my neighbour that we didn't even cheer, as we had seen the linesman raise his flag. It is very rare that a referee overrules a linesman in these circumstances, but this referee, who gave us nothing in the rest of the game, decided that Kevin Nolan deserved to get off the mark, and gave the goal. It was several minutes before I even realised who had scored. I gather a Vila player had headed the ball through to Vaz Te, who gave it Nolan for a tap in.
From then on in we never looked in danger, and how often can you say that about a West Ham side? Very rarely. Our defence and midfield were superb even when we might have been disrupted through three substitutions. Tomkins came on for Nolan in midfield and was dominant, and he allowed Diame to get forward more.
Towards the end Carlton Cole put a header wide that he really should have buried. He should also have got a penalty, and in any other game it would have been given. Cast iron. The only player who put in a disappointing performance was Matthew Taylor. He seemed unable to control the ball in the first half and seemed very slow. Personally, I think he will play at left back more than he will on the left wing. We badly need a nippy left winger who can get past people. On the right Vaz Te and Demel seemed to be building quite a good understanding and Demel seems to like to get forward.
There will no doubt be moans about our style of play today, and I have to say that if we have a season of that, I'm not sure how patient I will be, but three points are three points. Perhaps when we have got 35 points after 25 games we can afford to play a bit of the pretty stuff, but don't expect much before then!
Jaaskelainen 7
Demel 8
Reid 8
McCartney 6
Collins 9
Tomkins 8
Noble 6
Nolan 6
Diame 9
Vaz Te 6
Taylor 5
Cole 6
Madiba 5
O'Brien 6
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West Ham 1 Aston Villa 0
The Sun
By JUSTIN ALLEN
Published: 18th August 2012
SOME things just never change for Sam Allardyce. Back in the Premier League, a 1-0 win and Kevin Nolan popping up with the decisive goal. The Allardyce-Nolan partnership has been going for the good part of 13 years. And the last time Big Sam was taking a Premier League bow — after taking Bolton up — guess who was on the scoresheet? Yep, Nolan — as Bolton saw off Leicester in 2001. Nolan only had to roll the ball into an empty net from a few yards in the 40th minute after getting on the end of Ricardo Vaz Te's centre to get West Ham off to flier in their return to the big time. Allardyce said: "Kevin's a goalscorer. A lot of people look at him as a midfielder. "But he is a David Platt. He gets on the end of things, ghosts into the box without people understanding how he got there. It was through instinct he found that chance. While all the other players are standing watching, Kevin is on the move and he pops it into the back of the net. "Kevin is as good as any striker in the box. He's a great finisher and that's his outstanding quality, proven over many years."
His goal caused some controversy. Linesman Simon Long raised his flag as he adjudged Vaz Te was offside as Mark Noble pumped a free-kick to the right side of the box. All the Villa defenders stood still but Mike Dean overruled his assistant — and Vaz Te stayed composed, spotting Nolan's late run. Video highlights later proved the referee right. West Ham deserved the three points — but before the goal they were poor. You could sympathise with the Hammers faithful in The Boleyn Tavern boozer before kick-off continuing to complain about Big Sam's "long ball" game.
With the club eyeing a move to the Olympic Stadium, some observers believe there will not be much difference between watching a Big Sam team pump long balls sky high and an athlete chucking a javelin. But that is harsh as the opener showed West Ham are more fluid than that. And what a fantastic piece of business to get James Collins back from Aston Villa. The Welshman was in the thick of everything at centre-back — getting in tackles and throwing his body on the line. Despite all Villa's early possession, they never looked like getting behind West Ham. And it was the hosts who had more attempts at goal.
WEST HAM boss says Nolan is as good a finisher in the box than any Premier League striker Nolan nearly squeezed an opener from a free-kick routine with Noble before he fired the Hammers in front. West Ham thought they should have had a penalty moments after the restart when Villa's debut-boy Ron Vlaar appeared to push Carlton Cole. Hammers debutant, Mali striker Modibo Maiga, almost put the icing on the cake at the death with a second. But the sub, having rounded the keeper, saw his shot brilliantly cleared off the line by Nathan Baker. Manager Paul Lambert has lifted spirits at Villa Park since replacing Alex McLeish — but he needs to find a cutting edge. He admitted: "I thought we looked bright but we must turn our possession into chances. If we can just get a finishing touch on that then we'll be OK. "It was difficult for us to get service to Darren Bent. The heat probably contributed. But the effort was there and Darren will score, that's for sure. He's a goal threat, we just have to get the service to him."
West Ham: Jaaskelainen, Demel, Reid, Collins, McCartney (O'Brien 71), Noble, Diame, Nolan (Tomkins 73), Vaz Te, Cole (Maiga 81), Taylor. Subs not used: Henderson, Maynard, Diarra, O'Neil. Goals: Nolan 40.
Aston Villa: Given, Lowton, Vlaar, Clark, Baker, Holman (Weimann 61), El Ahmadi, Delph (Bannan 77), N'Zogbia (Gardner 74), Ireland, Bent. Subs not used: Guzan, Lichaj, Herd, Burke. Booked: Clark.
Att: 34,172
Ref: Mike Dean (Wirral).
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Big Sam's back! Allardyce's West Ham make winning return to the Premier League
The Mirror
Sam Allardyce's West Ham side scraped a narrow 1-0 victory against Aston Villa, thanks to a controversial Kevin Nolan finish . Just the start Sam Allardyce wanted.
And just the start that new Villa manager Paul Lambert must have feared. True, this was not the traditionally fluent West Ham of one-touch passing and eye-catching invention. But there was enough to suggest that the organisation and energy that Alladyce has instilled into his team will give them enough weaponry to survive in their return to the Premier League. There was a hint of controversy about the goal that decided this often attritional affair in the sweltering heat of East London. But there can be no question about the justice of the result. Indeed, but for a goal-line clearance in the last minute from Nathan Baker to deny Modibo Maiga his first competitive goal for West Ham, the cushion would have been more comfortable. Allardyce has had his fair share of confrontations with officialdom in the past. Yet he had nothing but praise for referee Mike Dean, who, five minutes from half-time, ignored a linesman's flag as Mark Noble's free-kick penetrated the Villa area. Ricardo Vaz Te was indeed a fraction offside, but Mr Dean saw what his lieutenant missed – that the last touch belonged to Ciaran Clark. Play went on, Vaz Te crossed and Kevin Nolan converted. "I have to say it was a very good decision by Mike Dean because the ball clearly came off a Villa player's head. Sometimes, though, the referee just acts on the linesman's flag." And that gave West Ham the platform they needed. Villa looked impressive in the first half hour. "Villa kept the ball very well," said Allardyce. "We found it hard in that spell."
His counterpart Lambert agreed. "But when you have the ball, you have to do something with it," he said. "We have a proven goalscorer in Darren Bent, but you have to give him chances and we didn't do that. "But we will learn. As for the goal, yes, the referee made the right call." The strike gave West Ham confidence.
"You have to hit the ground running," said Allardyce. His men certainly did that – and no one ran further or with more commitment than Mohamed Diame, who covered acres, despite the energy-sapping temperatures. "An all-round midfield player who has the biggest smile you have seen in your life," said Allardyce, of the Senegal man signed on a free transfer after leaving Wigan. "A winning start is so essential. We may hit a sticky patch later, but if we have the points on the board, that will help us through." Villa lacked a cutting edge to go with their endeavour. And Lambert admitted that the pace and penetration of injured Gabriel Agbonlahor was sorely missed – and revealed that it will be well into September before he can call on the England international. "It has been a blow to lose him, but we will have to learn from this match," said Lambert. "We win together or we lose together. The effort was there, but the goal threat was not. Now, we have to grow as a team. There is no hiding place in the Premier League."
West Ham have the thrust of the unpredictable Vaz Te and Carlton Cole, the dynamism of Diame and the defensive strength of James Collins. They are a good bet for survival. Villa have the talent, they have the excellent philosophy of Lambert and they have Agbonlahor to come back. What they need now is a ruthless streak.
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Golden balls: West Ham United's co-owner reveals his cunning plan for the Olympic stadium
Brought up in abject poverty by a petty criminal, abused by a relative, written off as a greedy porn baron... David Gold has had to deal with plenty in his life – which means he's not about to give up on his dream of taking over the Olympic Stadium with his beloved West Ham United.
ROBERT CHALMERS SUNDAY 19 AUGUST 2012
Independent.co.uk
Twelve years ago, on Radio Five Live, presenter Nicky Campbell challenged David Gold to give a description of his Surrey estate in less than 60 seconds.
"I believe you have your own golf course," Campbell prompted his guest, in an ominously mischievous tone.
"Yes," Gold replied. "I am very proud of it."
"Outdoor Jacuzzi?" the presenter continued.
"I have an indoor Jacuzzi," Gold replied before describing, without irony, the "swimming pool, with the logo of Ann Summers [his jointly owned chain of shops selling lingerie and adult electricals] on the bottom. The greens on my golf course are each named after my various companies." Conversation then turned to David Gold's watch, and its unusually generous allocation of diamonds.
"I must say," Gold told his hosts, "that, all through my life, I have been very sort of, erm… what's the word…"
"Greedy?" volunteered one of Campbell's co- presenters. It was an unusual radio moment, not least for the fact that some of the laughter provoked by this impressively sharp intervention came from the man who had been introduced as "Britain's Mr Erotica". When the hilarity had subsided, though, Gold, rich as he may be, sounded humbled, almost mortified.
"This watch was chosen for me by my girlfriend, Lesley," he explained, quietly. "She has persuaded me to be a bit more flamboyant."
I have kept a copy of that broadcast, I tell Gold, when we meet in one of the reception rooms at his mansion, a recording I originally made because the news that day was dominated by a court decision relating to the Bulger case. I can remember, I tell the West Ham United co-owner, how amusing his appearance had seemed at the time. Listening back to those exchanges now, though, there's something less than generous about the way he was treated that day. Gold is a chronic dyslexic who left school with no qualifications. Outnumbered by university-educated BBC professionals, he sounded apprehensive, even daunted.
"I remember that interview," says the businessman. "At the time I did laugh, but afterwards, when I was going home, I thought that maybe it wasn't a very nice thing to say to me."
"So are you greedy?"
"I don't believe so. I don't think 'greedy' is a fair word. I am guilty of pursuing success. In the main I am at ease with people. In that studio, I didn't really feel comfortable."
David Gold is not a difficult man to mock. We live in an age in which many privileged figures strive to disguise their public-school accents by injecting a hint of estuary English. Gold, on the other hand, grew up in Green Street, opposite West Ham United's stadium and, even today, you can tell that he is at pains to speak as properly as he can; to the point that he will use a word like "whom", where appropriate, and generally maintains a level of grammatical perfection that many of his more formally educated contemporaries have long abandoned.
West Ham, the team Gold has supported for more than six decades, and now jointly owns, stand at a crucial point in their history. Having returned to the Premier League this season, they can contemplate the possibility – should they succeed in their stated ambition to take over the 2012 Olympic Stadium – of rising to join the elite names in English football, playing as they would at a ground holding 60,000 spectators. (The subject of the Olympic Stadium, I was warned by Gold's publicists, is one that I must on no account raise during this interview.)
Some people are born with the name they deserve (Keith Moon and Ed Balls spring to mind). Gold, in the minds of many, is another. The love of bling might be considered a forgivable – even enviable – trait in the young. When you're 75 and a permanent fixture in the Sunday Times Rich List, it's a different matter.
This mid-19th-century mansion, where he lives with fiancée Lesley Manning, 18 years his junior, is imposing, but not untastefully decorated. The interior, give or take the odd china swan and grand piano, is, if anything, understated. The 55 acres of grounds, though, are on a regal scale. His rolling lawns are immaculately kept. From the closest window I can see two spectacular ponds without even trying. I have to admit to an instinctive belief that a man who's a goldfish enthusiast, and has springer spaniels romping around the grounds, can't be all bad.
Gold appears wearing a yellow short-sleeved shirt and black casual trousers. The only elements of his outfit that might be designed to impress are the famous watch, the black patent-leather shoes, and a ruby ring. He wears this last accessory on the little finger of his right hand where, you can't help thinking, it would be most effective in enhancing the effect of an uppercut, should our conversation render one necessary. So why is it that some people accuse Gold (whose business empire, founded as it was on the sale of titillating fiction, has had him described as a "Porn Baron") of ostentation?
"I got a tweet the other day," he replies. "It said, 'Why, in every interview that you do, is your helicopter in the background?' It ended, '#show-off'. I replied: 'When I was a boy, every picture of me had, in the background, an outside toilet and a tin bath.' My helicopter normally sits on the front lawn. I don't leave it there now, because I was affected by that criticism. I didn't read that message and say, 'Piss off. I don't care what you think,' as you could imagine Alan Sugar might do. I do care. I am what I am," says Gold, in a phrase that will recur. "And I want to do the right thing."
Gold's main business collaborators are his brother Ralph, and David Sullivan; men who have also amassed huge fortunes from the marketing of erotica. Investigative journalist Mark Killick's unauthorised biography of Sullivan (creator of, among many other publications, the Sunday Sport) has the title The Sultan of Sleaze. David Gold's introspective tendencies, and sensitivity to criticism, are qualities less conspicuous in the character of Sullivan, who, in 1981, was found guilty of living off immoral earnings (relating to prostitutes operating in saunas). He appealed against his nine-month sentence, and was released – though not pardoned – after having served 71 days in prison.
Prime among the joint ventures of the three businessmen are the Ann Summers chain, and West Ham, whose vice-chairman is Karren Brady. Brady is a long-standing ally of the triumvirate, notably in their previous football adventure at Birmingham City, where she was managing director. The Gold brothers and Sullivan bought that club for £1 in 1993 and sold in 2009. David Sullivan took a profit of £30m; the Gold brothers emerged with £15m each.
David Gold is writing an online autobiography, updated every week or so. The prototype was his published life story, Pure Gold, which appeared as a hardback in 2005.
Pure Gold leaves the reader in little doubt as to the privations he endured as an infant. The prologue includes two paragraphs dealing with his childhood; they are too long to include in full, so I have abridged them as follows.
"Stench of poverty… poor, hungry, cold… awful smell… strength-sapping cold… stench of poverty… stench of poverty… stink… poverty… hunger… biting chill… stomach-cramping hunger… poverty… poverty… despair… dysentery… hunger… poverty… stench of poverty."
At one point in the book, Gold notes that the comforts afforded by his family's house were eclipsed by the facilities in an air-raid shelter that had been excavated in his neighbour's yard. It's a moment that enemies might seize on as being reminiscent of the classic Monty Python parody of romanticised poverty, "The Four Yorkshiremen", in which, to misquote the script slightly, one of the speakers remembers how, "We used to dream of living in a hole in the ground."
The true extent of Gold's suffering as a boy was no laughing matter. Diagnosed with tuberculosis at the age of five, he spent months in Black Notley sanatorium, close to Braintree, Essex.
"My best friend there was Jimmy," he says. "We slept in this dormitory. One night, there's this commotion. Our curtains are hurriedly closed for us. Lights come on. I can hear they're trying to save Jimmy. The lights go out. Next morning, I said to the nurse, 'E's dead, inne?' 'No,' she said, 'Jimmy's gone to heaven. I'll get your porridge. I'll see if I can get you some treacle in it, as a treat.' I remember thinking: my best friend is dead. And I've got treacle."
Deprivation, I suggest to Gold, was not unfamiliar to Britain's urban population in the 1940s. But he, clearly, had it tougher than most. "That was because of my father. [Godfrey, known as Goddy.] He wasn't often around. He was a philanderer and he was often in prison. You had to be destitute to get help. There was this thing called RO. You got tokens that you took to shops. You were given RO boots" – footwear, Gold says, which invited contempt, especially when worn by a boy who was half-Jewish, on his father's side.
He has a younger sister, Marie; his brother Ralph, the middle child, is two years David's junior. The tensions between Godfrey, and their mother Rose, are described in each of the Gold brothers' autobiographies. (Good as Gold, Ralph's story, appeared in 1997.)
A gifted footballer, David was twice invited to sign apprentice forms: first by his beloved West Ham, then Fulham. His father withheld consent, and David trained as a bricklayer.
"What made him refuse? Envy?"
"Possibly. I remember once I was kicking a ball against our shed. My father was reading the paper. He said: 'Why don't you stop showing off?' There was nobody there except him. I was only practising. That sticks in my mind. If I see my daughters excel, I brim with pride."
Godfrey's criticism seems especially vindictive, given that his son had found something he really excelled at. Years later, when his daughter Jacqueline was a child, David's English was still so poor that, in her words, "He used to copy out words from the dictionary, and stick them to the dashboard of his car. He was that keen to better himself."
Gold did not become aware of his dyslexia "until I was 27. You carry around this feeling of, everybody else is clever, and you are a dummy."
David Gold married his first girlfriend, Beryl Hunt. He was 21. He says that he realised he'd made a mistake, even as he left for the honeymoon. The couple separated in 1972. Beryl, who died in 2003, was the mother of his only children: Vanessa (currently MD at Ann Summers ) and Jacqueline, the company's CEO, who was instrumental in building the Summers empire, through her introduction, in 1981, of salacious house parties, where ladies gather to compare notes on products such as PVC underwear, "Rampant Rabbit" vibrators and chocolate penises.
s I talk to Gold, I realise that I had arrived here with certain expectations, not all of which were fulfilled. "Modest" was one adjective I was not expecting to appear in this article, but if you read Ralph's book, you're struck by the number of David's achievements (as a builder, footballer and prize-winning aviator) that are downplayed in, or omitted from, the elder brother's own life story.
Undistinguished as he may have been by orthodox academic standards, Gold quickly demonstrated a flair for business. He was in his early twenties when he opened his first bookshop near Charing Cross, selling general fiction and "adult" titles by authors such as Hank Janson (Stephen Daniel Frances), the most popular British pulp-fiction author of the immediate post-war years.
For some reason, I tell Gold, I've never quite hit it off with the pornographers I've met; even a man with a strong sense of irony, such as Larry Flynt. Some of the publications in Flynt's Hustler stable, I suggest, resemble gynaecological course books.
"Well, Larry Flynt… he has to be disgusting… shocking, I mean. That's his mantra."
Pornographer is a title which, when applied to his own career, Gold contests with some vigour. It would be difficult to overstate the innocuousness of the magazines which got him into trouble in his early years as a publisher. In the interests of research I procured copies of his 1970s magazine New Direction (the stress is on the first syllable); a periodical that, today, would scarcely require elevating to the top shelf. Gold was tried (and acquitted) three times on charges relating to handling indecent material; books which, today, would only be destroyed by purchasers, on the grounds of primness and tedium.
"I watched a programme about Fifty Shades of Grey recently," Gold says. "All of the people involved would have risked prison 50 years ago, including the author."
"I came across a bizarre cutting from The Telegraph, dated September 1972," I tell him. "It complains that, at your company, adult books were stored in the same warehouse as children's annuals. 'The covers of the children's books show teddy bears and bunny rabbits,' the reporter complains. 'The sex books feature naked photographs.' It sounds as if the Telegraph had caught you storing Wensleydale next to raw pork."
"I remember that article. I think there was a fear in the ruling classes that sex would infect young people and turn them into monsters." k
One judge who tried Gold, Lord King Hamilton, was informed, during proceedings, that studies showed that 97 per cent of young men masturbate.
"He removed his glasses," Gold recalls, "raised his hand to his brow, and said, 'Whatever happened to restraint?' I could see the jury thinking: we know the real world. This man doesn't."
"Where would you draw the line now?"
"I think we all know it."
"You mean paedophilia?"
"Yes, and other things that are disgusting. The real problem is deciding at what age children can see certain images."
"You argued for a British Board of Book Censors 40 years ago, didn't you?"
"Yes. They could have made rules and we could have obeyed them. As long as the board didn't include someone like [prominent anti-obscenity crusader] Lord Longford, who was potty. If you don't separate soft and hardcore material, if you embrace it all, like Longford did, the silly sod, everything becomes pornography."
Gold has, he insists, "high moral standards".
Ironically – or, his critics might argue, appropriately – the intimate lives of David Gold and his family have been subject to gruesome turbulence. As a small boy he was molested by his mother's stepbrother, Johnny Cenci. He recalls three instances of serious sexual abuse.
"My mother was loyal to Cenci," he says. "Years later, I was giving her money every week. One day she is in tears. She says, 'I've got no money'. It turned out that she was paying £200 a week to keep Cenci – my abuser – in a nursing home. I couldn't bear her to be upset. Anyhow, he's blind and he's got cancer. I thought, how long can he live? I gave her an extra £10,000 a year. The bastard," Gold laughs, "lived for 11 years."
By the time he was 32, David Gold was prospering as a partner with brother Ralph and father Godfrey in their publishing business. This collaboration ended when Godfrey attempted an illegal manoeuvre that would have given him control of the company. The brothers terminated his involvement. "I never spoke to him again. He died at 92, four years ago."
"Did you go to the funeral?"
"Yes. I hadn't spoken to him for nearly 40 years. I suppose I was there to mourn the father I wish I'd had. My pals all had fantastic dads. Dads who encouraged them. Playing football, say. Where was mine?"
On the day he parted company with his father, Gold drove home early and saw Beryl having sex with his best friend, in the swimming pool. The couple were unaware that they had been observed. There followed a bizarre situation, described by his daughter Jacqueline in her first autobiography, whereby Beryl and her lover occupied the Golds' double bed, while David and the wife of Beryl's lover slept together in the spare room. (After he separated from Beryl, Gold spent 25 years with another girlfriend, Penny.) He met Lesley, the love of his life, at a tapas bar in Purley in 1998 .
Beryl, meanwhile, married her lover, and was awarded custody of Vanessa and Jacqueline. The latter, as the title of her first book (Please Let it Stop) would indicate, endured years of sexual abuse perpetrated by her stepfather.
"Jacqueline says that you only learnt of this when you read her book; she recalls that you said, 'I feel like killing the guy.' Is that correct?"
"Yes. I'd stayed in the family home for several years knowing that my wife was having an affair, for the sake of the children. Should I have stayed longer?"
"You must have had to restrain yourself. I imagine that you'd have known people who, once you discovered what had happened to Jacqueline, could have sorted that situation out for you?"
(In the mid-1960s, Gold met at least one member of the notorious Richardson gang, though there is no suggestion that he was ever connected with them either professionally or socially.)
"However," he replies, "had anything happened to him, the first suspect would have been me. And that is not a good way to resolve things, ever. But when the anger boils, there is definitely a tipping point."
"And her abuser is still alive?"
"Yes."
"How do you deal with that, emotionally, now?"
"If I'm at work, I'm not thinking about it. But talking about it to you now, I feel the anger, the remorse and the desire for revenge on my daughter's behalf."
"And on your own behalf, I imagine."
"Yes."
"Jacqueline fled to your house once, didn't she, and you, unaware of what was happening, drove her back to her mother."
"And had I known, I could have changed everything. Her mother was aware, which is not uncommon, as I have discovered, researching the subject of abuse. It was a tragedy. But hopefully it can inspire other people to believe that you can overcome this sort of trauma."
"Tony Soprano persuaded himself to see a psychoanalyst; did you?"
"I am not a psychoanalyst kind of a man," Gold replies. "I also hate hypnotists. And astrologers. I'll see both Jackie and Vanessa today and hug them, and I will be aware of what a lucky man I am."
Swift generation of wealth has never been a problem for Gold. By 1972, Gold Star Productions had a £1m turnover, 100 people on the payroll and an office in New York. Titles such as Lesbian Love and A Woman's Look at Oral Love were written by Sue Caron. Miss Caron, who matched the prolific output, if not the literary invention, of Charles Dickens, also edited magazines including New Directions and In Depth.
"Am I talking to Sue Caron now?"
Gold laughs. "No. She wasn't me. She was my brother's assistant."
"Somebody told me that [one of the saddest periodicals of all time] Readers' Wives is one of yours."
"No. That is [fellow top-shelf mogul and current owner of Express Newspapers] Richard Desmond."
"What do you think of him?"
"You have to say he is a remarkable success. He was competing with us – I say 'us' because we joined forces with David Sullivan – but at one time there were the Golds, Sullivan, Desmond, and Paul Raymond. We were the four main players in top-shelf magazines."
David Gold's business portfolio expanded to include sex-chat lines, and a company chartering luxury jets, which was sold in 2006. Probably his most felicitous business decision was the purchase of Ann Summers, in 1972. The company – now a vastly successful global brand – had been started by an eccentric bohemian, Michael "Dandy Kim" Caborn-Waterfield. An occasional actor and jockey, Waterfield was the lover of Diana Dors and, it seems likely, Princess Margaret. He ran guns to Cuba during the 1959 revolution, served a prison term in France after stealing £25,000 from the Riviera villa of American film producer Jack Warner and, in 1970, launched Ann Summers "for a laugh". A year later, the company, named after Waterfield's secretary Annice Summers, was heading for bankruptcy.
Dandy Kim is not unrelentingly sympathetic when he talks about his former friend. Gold, however, recalls Waterfield as "an amazing character; a genius who would make incredibly poor financial decisions".
"Like trousering that £25,000."
"Yes."
Some have suggested that he completed an autobiography and was dissuaded from publishing by you."
"He got beaten up. The implication was that I had arranged it. Of course that was not true."
"So what did happen?"
Gold alleges that Dandy Kim spoke to him on the subject of his book, and that he is not sure the manuscript was even completed. Waterfield's testimony on these matters differs radically, but he insisted that he could not be quoted on the record on any matter concerning the Golds, because (he added) legal action is pending.
Gold adds that he believes Waterfield's book would have suggested that "he could destroy the myth that the Ann Summers story revolved only around Jacqueline. But who would care?"
"Exactly. No libellous stories about you, then, involving wild parties?"
"I wish it had been the case. It might make me sound more interesting."
George Orwell," I remind Gold, "once wrote that every regional accent carries its own message, and that the Cockney accent implies meanness with money."
"I think that, in the main, is true."
And, Gold adds, he can understand that West Ham's famously dedicated supporters, Londoners though they themselves mainly are, may mistrust businessmen "coming into the club and talking about loyalty. But this is my manor. I worked on Stratford Market, where the Olympic Stadium sits now. I remember the bomb falling on West Ham football ground and thinking: my God, they're coming after me. West Ham is my passion."
The cost of buying the club, in Gold's words, was "madness. The place was a car crash. The worst set of figures I'd ever seen."
"Still, I guess you made enough money out of Birmingham City."
"Because we got lucky. When we sold Birmingham, we planned to take a rest from football. Then we heard West Ham were in trouble."
"You probably know that I was asked not to talk to you about the Olympic site; but could you just confirm that West Ham are still interested in moving there?"
"Absolutely. Under the right circumstances. I am very hopeful that West Ham will end up at the Olympic Stadium. The reason why that move is so important to us – and I say this on the record – is that, if we're fortunate enough to be awarded the stadium, then the players we currently have, if they are approached by a bigger club, face losing the opportunity to play at the Olympic Stadium."
"Can you fill it?"
"Our research says so."
"The snag at West Ham," I say, "as at huge clubs such as Manchester United or Barcelona, is that tradition requires you to play attractive, attacking football. I belong to a minority which believes that [current manager] Sam Allardyce is capable of achieving that."
"I believe that too."
"What if you get relegated?"
"Well in that case, of course we couldn't fill it. But I believe that, with the Olympic Stadium comes the opportunity for greater success."
"I imagine a lot of taxpayers being pretty hacked off by all this. You'll know that Manchester City [who lease the 2002 Commonwealth Games stadium] are widely derided as the richest council house tenants on the planet. Couldn't you at least buy the stadium?"
"No. We tried to buy it. That was challenged by Tottenham Hotspur, whose model was to pull the stadium down."
s I say goodbye to Gold, I find myself wondering why a person born into poverty who develops a taste for luxurious accessories should be automatically mocked, with all the contempt that the English aristocracy traditionally reserve for "new money".
He is troubled by a recurring nightmare, in which "I arrive at my childhood home in my Bentley – bizarrely because, in the nightmare, I've lost everything. My mum is waiting for me. I take out my tool bag. I drive to the building site and see the face of Ben, the hod carrier, who can't understand why I'm there, especially with my Bentley. I'm wet and cold. It's the same dream every time. You fear slipping back. The fear of losing everything is a driving force."
Is it racist or patronising to note that, when you're socialising with black residents of the Southern states of the US, you quickly notice that, the more impoverished their upbringing, the more likely they are to be immaculately dressed at all times? I tell Gold how, some years ago, I visited an interviewee whose impeccable, slightly garish clothes, like the dazzling perfection of his property's décor, just screamed, to me at least, that he had been raised (as he had) in squalor. If poverty really is a trap, then Gold's diamond watches, dazzling patent-leather shoes and helicopter are, I imagine, simply his proud badges of escape.
I can see from Gold's face that this kind of talk, which might imply that he instinctively follows Zero Mostel's advice, in The Producers ("If you've got it baby, flaunt it! Flaunt it!"), isn't going down especially well.
"I am what I am," he replies. "I can teach myself to stop saying 'an 'ouse'. And learn words by writing them down 50 times, or sticking them to the car dashboard. But there are many things I can't change. I can't change the fact that I was brought up in poverty, by a petty criminal. I can't change the fact I was sexually abused as a boy. I regret that I didn't have a better education. But I do have experience. I do have opinions. And I am," he repeats, "what I am."
His remaining ambitions, aside from avoiding a return to his childhood address, are "for my family and businesses to thrive. For West Ham to be challenging at the top of the Premier League. And to play, and win, in Europe."
He might have added, but doesn't, that he'd quite like to shed the reputation he's acquired, in the minds of some, as an object of derision. But if his other hopes are realised, and he finds himself in the Olympic Stadium one evening, hosting Juventus or Real Madrid, you would have to ask yourself who – as the grammatically punctilious Gold would phrase it – will be sneering at whom.
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He's like Platt! Allardyce compares matchwinner Nolan to England legend
By SPORTSMAIL REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 19:31, 18 August 2012 | UPDATED: 22:27, 18 August 2012
Daily Mail
West Ham manager Sam Allardyce compared Kevin Nolan to David Platt after his goal secured the Hammers' 1-0 win over Aston Villa. Nolan's close-range strike five minutes before the interval was enough for West Ham to make a successful return to the Barclays Premier League. The goal came with a hint of controversy after Ricardo Vaz Te had been flagged off-side in the build-up, only for the linesman to change his mind. Allardyce felt his side could have won by more - Carlton Cole had a penalty claim turned down and substitute Modibo Maiga saw a late shot cleared off the line. But he was relieved that West Ham had made a strong start to the season. Allardyce said: 'Kevin Nolan is like David Platt because he ghosts into the box without anyone knowing how he got there. 'We might have won by more. It was a good performance with a clean sheet. 'It was a very good decision by the referee because the ball clearly came off the Villa player (when it was flicked on to Vaz Te) but refs don't always question their linesmen. 'We should have had a penalty when Carlton Cole was shoved to the ground. 'I was a bit nervous because you never quite know how it's going to go after pre-season. A good start is so important to a team such as us because it helps secure your Premier position as early as possible.
'It takes the pressure off the players and the fans, and it makes everyone enjoy their football.' Allardyce hailed the Hammers' defensive performance, which was marshalled by man of the match James Collins. The Wales centre-back was making his second debut for West Ham against his old team, after returning to Upton Park in the summer from Villa. 'It's been a very, very good day for us today because we won our first game of the season and kept a clean sheet as well,' Allardyce said. 'To limit Darren Bent to three touches speaks volumes of our defensive performance and it seems we've hit the ground running.' Aston Villa players initially appealed against the decision to award the goal - but manager Paul Lambert accepted the right decision had been made.
Mark Noble's free kick glanced off the head of a Villa defender - not Collins as the linesman first thought - en route to Vaz Te, who cut the ball back for Nolan.
'I wasn't sure at the time but I saw a tape afterwards and it came off one of our lads so I can't fault the ref,' Lambert said. 'We started well but it's all very well having lots of ball but not if you don't score. 'We need to be able to service Darren Bent. Losing Gaby (Agbonlahor) was a big blow to us before this game. 'You've got about three and a half milliseconds to hit the ground running in the Premiership.'
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Nolan ignites the flames of hope and history
West Ham United 1 Aston Villa 0: Beating Villa 1-0 brings early joy to the Upton Park traditionalists, faced with the prospect of moving to an Olympic Stadium bereft of intimacy
MICHAEL CALVIN SUNDAY 19 AUGUST 2012
Independent.co.uk
17 August 2012 01:50 PM
The faithful trotted out the old anthems while the powerbrokers peered through the heat haze at West Ham's proposed new home on the horizon. The Olympic Stadium is little more than two miles away from Upton Park, but on days such as these it belongs on a different planet.
When the noise rolls around the main stand, which is bookended by huge portraits of Bobby Moore and Trevor Brooking, the game comes alive and the ghosts come calling. Kevin Nolan's goal, five minutes before half-time, was enough to guarantee the observation of celebratory traditions which unite the generations.
It mattered little that West Ham were unfortunate not to secure a more comfortable victory when Nathan Baker cleared off the line from the substitute Modibo Maiga in the last seconds of added time. A capacity crowd was in a mood to excuse the inelegant muscularity of a trademark Sam Allardyce team.
The Boleyn is unashamedly old- fashioned. Even the six bubble-blowers clustered around the dug-outs seem an unnecessary concession to modernity. It is an authentic English football ground. Its intimacy and intensity expose the artificiality of the modern, multi-tiered mausoleums which have transformed the landscape of the Premier League.
The fans are drawn into the action as participants in a passion play rather than as observers at a social function. They get up close and very personal. That may not be entirely good news for Allardyce, who is tolerated rather than admired, but it is a reminder of what West Ham are in danger of sacrificing in the name of financial opportunism. The Olympic flame had barely been extinguished when the club launched a PR campaign to acquire squatter's rights at a reconstituted Stadium in Stratford Park. No East End legend, real or imagined, was spared. Celluloid mobsters, celebrity comedians and athletic icons, in the form of Ray Winstone, James Corden and Sally Gunnell, were wheeled out to pledge allegiance to the cause. The rower Mark Hunter circulated before kick-off, allowing a succession of children to wear his Olympic silver medal. Boxer Nicola Adams, by all accounts a Leeds supporter, was nevertheless swathed in a West Ham flag. Boxing and mini-tennis demonstrations were staged at half-time, and the PA announcer shoehorned the L word – Legacy – into as many announcements as possible. Subtle it was not.
Allardyce has previous in the promotion of delusions of grandeur – his insistence he would be a natural Real Madrid manager was a classic of its kind. He has gone on record suggesting the move would elevate West Ham to the levels of Arsenal and Manchester United. His implication that only "a club with the history, fanbase and potential of West Ham" suit the Olympic site captured the hyperbolic mood.
Joint owner David Sullivan, never knowingly upstaged, believes it is "morally" right to install them as tenants. Oblivious to the dangers of using such a word in a football context, he subsequently suggested "it would be wonderful for the country". Repayment for West Ham winning the World Cup for England in 1966, presumably.
David Gold, his partner, used the start of the new season to unveil his plan to save the Premier League's soul: a debt cap to prevent clubs spending beyond their means. "Top- level football in this country is on the brink of diving into a financial abyss," he announced, ignoring inconvenient home truths.
West Ham have hardly been prudent since winning promotion. They have discarded 12 underachievers, but they have been a one-club transfer rumour mill. Allardyce has recruited eight new players, on substantial wages, and is agitating to sign at least another three.
Paul Lambert, by contrast, has a more difficult search for compensations. Villa lacked penetration and the manager will doubtlessly be reminding the owner, Randy Lerner, of the wisdom of reinvesting some of his billion-dollar windfall from the sale of his NFL team.
The frustrations were obvious – one misjudged cross prompted Lambert to pirouette across his technical area and punch the back of his seat – but he is at least attempting to fashion a team who play in the right way. The popularity of his appointment was crystallised by the travelling fans, who delivered a tart farewell to Alex McLeish.
"We're passing the ball," they sang in mock disbelief. "We're Aston Villa. We're passing the ball." This went down well with the locals, whose most cherished values were being vindicated by the opposition.
Allardyce's functional football is justified only by results. Villa were bombarded by a succession of high balls in a sterile first half, enlivened only by Nolan's contentious goal. The home fans didn't care about its lack of clarity. Linesman Simon Long put his flag up for offside against Ricardo Vaz Te, then changed his mind before the striker pulled the ball back for Kevin Nolan to score. The protests were long, loud, and tinged with desperation, but would not have made an Olympian blush.
Even the managers were on their best behaviour afterwards. Both praised referee Mike Dean for his diligence in spotting that Villa's Ciaran Clark got a fateful touch before the ball reached Vaz Te in the build-up to the goal. Whether they will be so even-handed as the season progresses remains to be seen.
West Ham 1 (Nolan 40) Aston Villa 0
West Ham (4-1-2-3): Jaaskelainen; Demel, Reid, Collins, McCartney (O'Brien, 70); Diamé; Nolan (Tomkins, 72), Noble; Vaz Te, Cole (Maiga, 80), Taylor.
Aston Villa (4-2-3-1): Given; Lowton, Vlaar, Clark, Baker; El Ahmadhi, Delph (Bannan, 76); Holman (Weimann 60), Ireland, N'Zogbia (Gardner, 72); Bent.
Referee: Mike Dean
Attendance: 34,172
Man of the match: Nolan (West Ham)
Match rating: 4/10
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West Ham United 1 Aston Villa 0: match report
Read a full match report of the Premier League game between West Ham United and Aston Villa at Upton Park on Saturday Aug 18 2012.
By Ben Findon, Upton Park
5:00PM BST 18 Aug 2012
The decisive goal was tinged with controversy, with an assistant referee's flag raised for offside, though television replays suggested that referee Mike Dean was correct to allow the West Ham captain's crucial interventon to stand. Newly-promoted West Ham started encouragingly, rarely looking under any threat from Villa's forward line. In fact, the visitors attacking was so limited that debut-making goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen could scarcely have hoped for a quieter opening 45 minutes.
Although the perceptive Stephen Ireland, always looking to thread in the clever through pass, was busy in the heart of Villa's midfielder, few options presented themselves in front of him, with Darren Bent finding little room between the outstanding James Collins, who moved between the two clubs during the summer, and Winston Reid.
Not that there was exactly a glut of action at the other end of the pitch on a sweltering day in east London. But Aston Villa were given a warning after Carlton Cole was fouled by Dutch debutant Ron Vlaar 20 yards from goal. Mark Noble rolled the ball for Nolan, whose low shot whistled narrowly wide of Shay Given's right-hand post.
There was to be no such reprieve when West Ham won another free-kick, four minutes later, when Ciaran Clark body-checked Mohamed Diame. Clark received a yellow card and there was further punishment for the visitors when Noble's deep free-kick was headed back by Ricardo Vaz Te for Nolan to side-foot past Given.
Although a linesman's flag was raised for a perceived offside, Villa's appeals were overruled by referee Mike Dean, who appeared to have made the right call, especially as Noble's free-kick seemed to brush Clark's head en route to Vaz Te.
Villa's response came within 40 second from the start of the second half, Ireland drawing a save from Jaaskelainen, but the greater alarm came at the visitors' end four minutes later when Cole went down under Vlaar's challenge but referee Dean waved away appeals for a penalty. West Ham continued to look the more likely to strike again, and some 66th-minute trickery by Vaz Te on the right led to a cut back that Nolan drilled goalwards, only to be blocked by Vlaar. The Dutchman powered a 30-yarder at Jaaskelainen but it ony served to underline the lack of attacking variations for the visitors. Cole headed Matt Taylor's cross wide with 12 minutes remaining and the West Ham striker's departure three minutes later gave the home support a first glimpse of Modibo Maiga, a £4.7 million signing from Sochaux. Maiga should have scored in added time but after rounding Given, saw his shot cleared by Nathan Baker.
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