Daily WHUFC News - 18th September 2012

Manager on Monday
WHUFC.com
Sam Allardyce is hoping his defence can keep up the good work when
Sunderland visit on Saturday
16.09.2012

Sam Allardyce made a strong case for the defence after West Ham United's
fourth clean sheet in five games this season helped them to a goalless
Barclays Premier League draw at Norwich City on Saturday. A combination of
bravery, organisation and discipline from the Hammers repelled the home
side's repeated assaults at goal, leaving Big Sam to look ahead at the
club's upcoming fixtures with renewed optimism. Sunderland are the next to
see if they can become the first visiting team to register a Boleyn Ground
away goal this season when they arrive in east London on Saturday. "We're
satisfied with the point away from home and it's another clean sheet - the
basis and the structure to build any successful side on," Allardyce said.
"We're going to eventually start scoring goals as we didn't quite find the
clinical edge that we had against Fulham. "Being defensively strong is
critical because every time you don't concede a goal you know you've got a
point at least. You know for a fact that if you tot up 38 points in a season
now, it's likely that you'll be safe as nobody has gone down in the last
eight years with that amount."

The post-match interviewers were quick to quiz Allardyce on whether
Saturday's match had been the best performance yet from his new man between
the sticks, Jussi Jaaskelainen. Big Sam was quick to concur and explained
how pleased he was that the Finland international is feeling the benefits of
working with goalkeeping coach Martyn 'Marge' Margetson. "Yes I think it was
his best performance as that's the busiest he's been. Even though we lost
3-0 against Swansea City he wasn't very busy. The big man is there to do a
job and he did the job superbly for us. There were probably no world-class
saves in there but the ones he did make were very good. "I've got a great
goalkeeping coach here called Martyn Margetson, who is also the goalkeeping
coach for Wales. I know Jussi's strength was the coaching that Fred Barber
used to give him when I was with him at Bolton and I knew that when he got
with Marge, he would put him into a good frame of mind and re-kindle all of
the old experience that he's got. "When you're in the mid-30s today you can
still be a very good goalkeeper if you want to be. When you look at someone
like Brad Friedel, it shows that being in your mid-to-late-thirties isn't a
problem any more. It's about using that experience and having that
dedication to keeping your body right to play in goal, which Jussi does."

Jaaskelainen may not be the only one to enjoy the benefits of West Ham's
current watertight defence though, as the manager feels that assured
defending can also benefit the work his strikeforce do further up the pitch.
Carlton Cole caused the Canaries' defence problems for the first 57 minutes
on Saturday before being replaced by Modibo Maiga, who added his touch and
guile to several promising attacks. "The good thing is that the front
players know that one goal is going to win us the game as defensively we're
so good. That is critical to the success of the side. The confidence
throughout the team grows and the strikers know that if you miss one it's
not going to bother us too much if we can continue to defend like we do.
They know if they get the next one then it could win us the game. It's been
critical for the points total that we've gathered already and hopefully
we'll continue for a long period of time. "We are a team that has just come
up and we will have our periods when the opposition will come and be on top
of their form. We won't worry too much about that if we keep our mind on the
job and of course it promotes good attacking football. Our lads win the ball
back and we can keep probing as an attacking side to break down the
opposition."

With Andy Carroll still recovering from his hamstring injury, Cole and Maiga
both looked keen to impress with some tireless running on a very warm
September afternoon in East Anglia. That kind of attitude is exactly what is
needed as the competition for places hots-up according to Big Sam. "Carlton
Cole knows all about the Premier League. He's got stiff competition as he's
seen a centre forward come in from Liverpool that they paid a lot of money
for. He can either think that he's going to shrivel up or roll up his
sleeves and fight. When you've got competition it's got to bring the best
out you. I know he'll roll his sleeves up as he did against Norwich and
that's what we want to see. "In terms of Andy's recovery, I don't think
there's much chance for Sunderland. We would try and hope if we can get him
back before the next international break. I think it's a long-shot at the
moment but we'll try."

Friday was the first time Allardyce was able to get his whole squad together
after international commitments saw his side scatter all over the globe. But
after a summer of hard work identifying and securing a host of new talent
for his squad, the manager was able to finally reflect on a job well done.
"We've got a group of players that are getting to know each other day by
day. There are a lot of new faces that have come to the club again. I know
all about our boys from last season and I hope the new faces will make us
better and stronger as we go on."

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Hendon pleased with Baggies point
WHUFC.com
Ian Hendon was content with Sunday's 1-1 Development Squad draw at West
Bromwich Albion
17.09.2012

Ian Hendon was content after watching his side earn a 1-1 Barclays Under-21
Premier League draw with West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns. Yassine El
Ghanassy opened the scoring for the home side after five minutes but the
Development Squad were only behind for three minutes as Rob Hall levelled
from a free-kick at The Hawthorns. After losing 2-0 to Bolton Wanderers in
their previous fixture, Hendon was happy to see his side bounce back against
an experienced Baggies line-up.

"Overall I am pleased with a point because we played a very good team
containing a few first-team players and we competed every step of the way,"
he confirmed.
"We worked hard defensively before the game because we have been conceding
from a lot of set-pieces and I think you could tell. We stood firm and
looked strong when defending free-kicks and corners."

Hendon continued by paying tribute to his side's work ethic and attitude,
after they displayed a different side to their game than in previous
encounters.
"You saw a very different side to our game on Sunday," explained Hendon. "We
didn't have the majority of possession like we have had in previous games,
but we worked hard, stuck at it and ground out a result. "We, like most
weeks, had a very young team out there, so to see them come through and get
a result - particularly after going a goal down after five minutes - was
very pleasing."

Hall made his Barclays Premier League debut in the 3-0 home win over Fulham
recently and showed his sublime ability by equalising with a direct
free-kick.
"We equalised soon after we went behind. Rob scored a great free-kick and
showed again why he is in and around the first team. He is a very good
player.
"Seb Lletget also had a very good game in the centre of midfield. We didn't
have much of the ball, particularly in the second half, and he worked
tirelessly to break
down the play."

Next on the agenda for the Development Squad is a tricky looking encounter
against unbeaten Group A leaders Arsenal at Rush Green on Friday evening.

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Hall on song
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 17th September 2012
By: Staff Writer

Rob Hall's early strike was enough to earn Ian Hendon's Development Squad a
point from their weekend trip to West Bromwich Albion. Hall, who in one of
several youngsters on the verge of the first team squad struck on eight
minutes to cancel out Yassine El Ghanassy's fifth minute opener for the home
side. And recent signing Raphael Spiegel was also on form, making what have
been described as "a number of first-class saves" to ensure United grabbed a
share of the spoils. The on-loan El Ghanassy put the Baggies ahead with a
well-taken strike into the bottom left hand corner after running
unchallenged from inside his own half. But Hall notched the equaliser with
an equally stunning effort as his 25-yard free kick found the back of the
net. The young Hammers have now taken seven points from their opening four
fixtures in Group 1 of the Barclays Under-21 Premier League leaving them in
third spot behind leaders Arsenal - who have a 100 per cent record so far
and a game in hand - and Reading, also on seven points.

West Ham Utd: Spiegel; Driver (c), Moncur, Chambers, Fanimo; Spence,
Turgott, Lletget, Hall; McCallum, Lee (Ruddock 76).
Subs not used: Hunt, Rosique, Wearen, Powell.

West Bromwich Albion: L Daniels; Hurst, D Daniels, Tamas, Gayle; Thorne (c),
Mantom; Sawyers (Allan 68), El Ghanassy (Nabi 82), Rosenberg (Roofe 76);
Berahino.
Subs not used: Lewis, O'Neil.

Referee: S.Garrett


Also in action over the weekend against West Bromwich Albion were Nick
Haycock's under 18's, who grabbed their second win of the campaign with a
comprehensive 4-0 victory on Saturday. Goals from Kieran Sadlier (2), Nathan
Mavila and substitute Taylor Miles gave the young Hammers three more
Barclays U18 Premier League Group 1 points, taking their tally to seven from
four games - the same as both the development squad and first team. "It
could have been more than four-nil," manager Haycock told whufc.com. "It was
a good all-round display from the boys. We have raised the bar with this
performance and set our standards for the season ahead." West Ham rise to
third in the Group 1 table behind leaders Bolton (10 points) and Reading (8
points).

West Ham Utd: Larkins, Siafa (Girdlestone 65), Shaw, Onnariase, Nasha,
Cullen, Bywater, T.Tombides (Homans 70), Mavila, Sadlier (Miles 75),
Boakye-Yiadom.

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Dicks set for Irish role?
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 17th September 2012
By: Staff Writer

Julian Dicks is hoping to return to management with League of Ireland
Premier League club Shamrock Rovers. The Hoops, the Republic's most
successful club of all time are based in Dublin and play at the Tallaght
Stadium which has a capacity of just over 6,000. Over the weekend former
West Ham and Liverpool star Dicks - who was last in management in 2011 at
Grays Athletic - become the latest manager linked with replacing Stephen
Kenny, who was fired last week following the derby defeat against Bohemians.
And last night Dicks, speaking to KUMB.com, confirmed that he had applied
for the post. "It's true that I've put my name in to the hat," he said.
However he conceded that he faced stiff opposition from the likes of current
Hibs manager Pat Fenlon - the fans' choice to succeed Kenny - and Brian
Laws, the former Burnley manager who is also considered to be a front-runner
for the vacancy. Since ending his playing career, Dicks has held two jobs in
management - firstly at Eastern Counties League Premier Division club
Wivenhoe Town in 2009 and then at Grays Athletic, whom he managed between
September 2009 and May 2011.

In December of last year he was offered the opportunity to take over at Blue
Square Bet South outfit Dorchester Town but failed to agree personal terms.
Since then, the 44-year-old former left back has been working primarily as a
freelance coach and radio pundit - as well as penning a column here on
KUMB.com - but still harbours hopes of returning to full time management.
Shamrock Rovers chairman, Jonathan Roche, announcing the departure of Kenny
last week said: "We have not taken this decision lightly and we are
extremely disappointed with the turn of events. However, the club feels that
this is the right decision at this time."

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You'll win nothing with digs
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 17th September 2012
By: Staff Writer

David Gold has hit out at the BBC's Alan Hansen after the TV pundit
criticised West Ham United's co-chairman for interacting with supporters.
According to Gold, Hansen made a number of disparaging comments about the
76-year-old following an item he recorded for the BBC back in October 2010.
Speaking via his Twitter account over the weekend, Gold accused the former
Liverpool and Scotland defender of insulting him, whilst referring to him as
a "pompous fool". "I can't remember exactly [what he said]; I think he said
a good chair is a chairman that doesn't sign autographs or intereacts with
fans," Gold told followers of his Twitter feed. "He also implied that a good
chairman shouldn't have a football opinion. Alan Hansen is a pompous fool
and owes me an apology. "It's interesting that after my feature on Match of
the Day, the BBC sent my a copy of the show - but cut out the insulting
comments by Alan Hansen."

Gold, who was at Carrow Road on Saturday to watch West Ham earn their first
away point of the new season also told supporters that the World Cup
winners' statue - which was erected at the junction of Green Street and
Barking Road nine years ago - would be unlikely to make the move to
Stratford should United move there, as planned, in two years' time. "I would
be in favour of leaving the statues where they are and putting up replicas
at the new stadium," he said.

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Sam Allardyce believes West Ham keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen's confidence is
back
Last Updated: September 17, 2012 10:49am
SSN

Sam Allardyce believes Jussi Jaaskelainen's confidence has been rekindled
since moving to West Ham United and has praised the goalkeeper's impact.
Jaaskelainen joined the Hammers in the summer to replace Robert Green and
had previously spent over seven years playing under Allardyce at Bolton
Wanderers. The 37-year-old lost his place at Bolton in the second half of
last season, but Allardyce feels the Finn is back to his best after an
impressive display in Saturday's 0-0 draw at Norwich City. "The big man is
there to do a job and he has done the job superbly well for us," said the
West Ham boss. "I know that Jussi's strength was the coaching that Fred
Barber used to give him at Bolton, which he lost. "I knew that when he got
here with Martyn Margetson, that Marge would sort him out, put him back into
a right good frame of mind and rekindle all the old experience he used to
have. "Perhaps he had lost faith in himself a little bit and lost faith
because he wasn't playing, but Marge has rekindled his confidence and put
him in the right frame of mind."

Allardyce continued: "When you have got the experience that he has got and
are in your mid-30s, today you are still a very good goalkeeper if you want
to be.
"If you look at Brad Friedel, he is 41 now, so we know that being in your
mid to late 30s is not a problem anymore. "It is using that experience and
having the dedication to keep your body right, which Jussi does."

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Sport Football News Alan Hansen
By Mike Walters Comments 17 Sep 2012 22:31
The Mirror
'Hansen's a pompous fool': West Ham chief in Twitter blast at MOTD pundit

West Ham co-owner David Gold has branded Match Of The Day pundit Alan Hansen
a "pompous fool" in an amazing Twitter attack. Gold has not forgiven Hansen
for a throwaway remark he made about football club chairmen two years ago.
The Hammers' joint chairman had granted the BBC access all areas - including
to his palatial Surrey home and the directors' box at Upton Park - for a
behind-the-scenes feature on Match Of The Day 2. But, in the subsequent
studio discussion, hosted by presenter Colin Murray, Hansen was allegedly
dismissive of chairmen who sign autographs and pose for photographs with
fans. Gold was understood to be livid that his matchday hospitality should
be compromised by an obtuse comment.

And, buoyed by the Hammers' encouraging start on their return to the Premier
League mainstream (seven points and three clean sheets from four games),
Gold went on the warpath - and not because their goalless draw at Norwich
was the last game shown on MOTD on Saturday. Responding to a follower's
unconnected observation about Hansen, Gold posted: "I can't remember
exactly, I think he said a good chairman doesn't sign autographs or interact
with fans. He also implied that a good chairman shouldn't have a football
opinion. Alan Hansen is a pompous fool and owes me an apology. "It's
interesting that after my feature on MOTD, the BBC sent me a copy of the
show but cut out the insulting comments by AH. "The date of the interview
staring (sic) Alan Hansen was 3rd October 2010. Would love to get
unexpurgated copy."

Gold is not thought to have any problems with the BBC as a corporation or
Match Of The Day itself. His long-running beef is with Hansen, a
Double-winning Liverpool captain in 1986 and regarded as the doyen of
football pundits. When it was revealed in the summer that Hansen was paid
£40,000 a show, and was staying with Match Of The Day after agreeing to a
£500,000 wage decrease, Gold tweeted: "I see one of the worst and most
pompous pundits on BBC has taken a big pay cut. I'm stunned he gets paid at
all."

Gold and his long-time business associate David Sullivan bought a 62 per
cent majority stake in West Ham in January 2010, pumping around £100 million
into the club to save the Hammers from collapse. Their decision to axe
manager Gianfranco Zola and replace him with Avram Grant backfired, but Sam
Allardyce won promotion back to the top flight at the first attempt.

* WEST HAM manager Sam Allardyce has turned down the chance to sign free
agents Mikael Silvestre, John Mensah and Anthony Vanden Borre. The trio
joined the Hammers on trial last week, but Allardyce was not impressed and
has put a block on any permanent deals. Ex-Manchester United and Arsenal
defender Silvestre is without a club after leaving Werder Bremen, former
Portsmouth midfielder Vanden Borre was last at Belgian club Genk and
centre-back Mensah, once of Sunderland, left Lyon in July.

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Allardyce challenges 'reluctant' Carroll to prove worth to Liverpool during
West Ham spell
Goal.com
18 Sep 2012 00:50:00
By Andrew Kennedy

Sam Allardyce has admitted that Andy Carroll was reluctant to leave
Liverpool and join West Ham on loan in the summer transfer window, but has
challenged the striker to prove his quality at Upton Park. The 23-year-old
endured a difficult year-and-a-half spell at Anfield following his £35
million switch from Newcastle, and after the arrival of new Reds boss
Brendan Rodgers, was made surplus to requirements at the club. West Ham's
early attempts to land Carroll were unsuccessful, with the England
international reported to prefer a return to Sports Direct Arena, however,
the Hammers eventually landed their man on the penultimate day of the
transfer window on a season-long loan deal. And Allardyce believes he can
show his worth to Liverpool during his time in east London, while also
helping to secure the club's Premier League survival. "Andy wasn't really
keen to leave Liverpool, which you can understand, because he was a big
transfer from Newcastle and wanted to show what he could do there. Wanted to
show Brendan what he could do," Allardyce said. "We tried in the early
stages of pre-season, but it just wasn't to be at the time. I think our
pursuit of Andy wasn't going to be successful until almost the death in
terms of the end of the transfer window. "But I think in the end he saw he
wasn't going to get those opportunities at Liverpool. First-team football
was what he wanted and what we could offer him, and ahead of a lot of other
Premier League clubs we were able to seal a deal thanks to the quick work of
[co-chairman] David Sullivan. "Andy's matured a lot since I worked with him
as a 19-year-old at Newcastle. He's been through the mill a bit, some
[critcism] deserved and some harsh. But now it' s all about his football,
he's totally focused on it and he wants to be playing football, and playing
first-team football. "And for us to get him on loan is a major coup for a
football club like us who are trying to establish ourselves back in the
Premier League."

Carroll's West Ham debut may have been cut short by injury, with a hamstring
problem ruling him out for up to six weeks, but the former Bolton boss
hailed his performance in the 3-0 win over Fulham as "one of the best" he
had seen since joining the club. "The lift that Andy gave everybody and the
reception he got from the West Ham fans lifted everybody. "For me it's
probably one of the best performance I've seen since I've joined West Ham.
"We overran them in the first half and the quality of our goals said
everything really and we missed even more chances to make it more than
three."

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Juventus, West Ham Get Players as Uruguay's 'Ghost' Deals Mount
By Alex Duff - Sep 17, 2012 11:01 PM GMT
Bloomberg.com

Juventus (JUVE), AS Roma (ASR) and Porto agreed to pay a combined 11.1
million euros ($14.6 million) to hire players from Club Deportivo Maldonado,
a Uruguayan soccer team for which they never appeared, according to
stock-market filings. England's West Ham took a striker on loan. South
American teams and investors in the players' transfer rights move the
athletes' registrations through Uruguayan clubs to reduce tax on the trades
to as little as 5 percent from 20 percent, said Rodrigo Garcia, a lawyer at
Laffer Abogados in Madrid who has advised teams on such deals. Argentina's
tax authority said last month that the arrangements were irregular, and
Brazil's sports minister Aldo Rebelo said soccer ruling body FIFA should
outlaw the "ghost" club deals. At least $70 million of transfer fees went
through nine Uruguayan clubs in the same way since 2000, according to
Bloomberg News calculations. Uruguay's soccer federation declined to comment
yesterday. "This has been going on for years without anybody paying much
attention," Garcia said by telephone. "FIFA doesn't look on it favorably but
turns a deaf ear." The trades would only break FIFA rules if investors or
other third parties interfered in player movement, Garcia said.

'Tax Avoidance'

FIFA, which didn't immediately respond to a request for comment for this
story, is seeking to improve regulation of the $3 billion transfer market.
In 2010, the soccer authority made it compulsory to disclose bank details of
where transfer money goes via an Internet-based system. Mark Goddard, who
oversees the system, said at the time that soccer is "the last area of the
commercial world where large amounts of money can be moved without oversight
or regulation."

Deportivo Maldonado is a second-division team in Uruguay, where even the top
sides are traditionally weaker than Brazilian and Argentine counterparts in
continental competition. Trades through Uruguayan clubs amount to "damaging"
tax avoidance, with the transfer fees sometimes directed to offshore
companies, the Argentina tax agency said in an Aug. 24 statement. The
arrangement could be used to launder money, Brazil's Rebelo said in an Aug.
30 interview.

In February, FIFA began investigating after Mario Bursztyn, president of
Club Atletico Rentistas, said transfer fees involving Brazilian players
including "Hulk," whose real name is Givanildo Vieira de Souza, were
redirected through the Uruguayan team to a bank account in the name of Sao
Paulo-based player agent Juan Figer. The players concerned never appeared in
games for Rentistas. Bursztyn said in a Feb. 8 interview that Rentistas
received a monthly retainer fee under the arrangement.

Porto Signing

Figer follows all the rules of his profession, his spokesman Jose Aparecida
Miguel said in an e-mail at the time. Miguel didn't immediately return a
call and e-mail seeking comment for this story. In the Deportivo Maldonado
trades, Brazil's Alex Sandro joined Portuguese champion Porto (FCP) for 9.6
million euros. Marcelo Estigarribia went to current Italian champion
Juventus on loan last season for 500,000 euros and Paraguay teammate Ivan
Piris moved to Roma on loan for 700,000 euros this season. West Ham took
Brian Montenegro, another Paraguayan, on loan from Maldonado last season
without disclosing if a fee changed hands.
Porto spokesman Rui Cerqueira didn't return a call and e- mail seeking
comment on the arrangement. Juventus's Claudio Albanese declined to comment
about its hiring of Estigarribia, who is now on loan at Sampdoria. West Ham
said it had no comment, and Roma officials didn't immediately provide a
comment. Roma paid 300,000 euros for an option to sign Piris permanently for
4 million euros after this season, according to an Aug. 1 team statement.
Maldonado official Jorge Lopez said he was unable to discuss the trades.

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Nigel has a plan! Reo-Coker on verge of signing for Championship strugglers
Charlton
By SPORTSMAIL REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 22:30, 17 September 2012 | UPDATED: 22:30, 17 September 2012
Daily Mail

Nigel Reo-Coker is on the verge of joining Championship strugglers Charlton
on a free transfer. The 28-year-old former West Ham and Aston Villa
midfielder, who left Bolton at the end of last season, has been looking for
a club all summer and Chris Powell is prepared to take him on.

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