Daily WHUFC News - 26th January 2013

Captain's Blog
WHUFC.com
West Ham United skipper Kevin Nolan reveals that the manager demanded an
early start to put things right
25.01.2013

Hello to everyone.

First of all, I would like to say what great news it is that Pottsy is all
OK following what happened to him at Arsenal on Wednesday. We were all
concerned and were kept informed during the night as to how he was doing. We
all sent him messages and it was great to get his text back to say he was OK
early the next morning. I am sure you will all join me in wishing him well
in his recovery and Pottsy, we are all looking forward to seeing you back
around the place soon!
It goes without saying that we were all really upset and disappointed with
the result at the Emirates.

The fact was that, before those 12 minutes or so at the start of the second
half, we were doing really well and then we were hit with the four goals.
It was totally unacceptable for us with the standards we have set ourselves
and I want, on behalf of all the lads, to apologise to our fans and want
them to know that we will be looking to put things right again.

The gaffer wasn't happy and rightly so - so he asked for us to come in at
7am the next morning on the Thursday. I think he would have had us in later
on Wednesday night if he could, but he told us to be in at this time the
next day at the training ground and there were no complaints from any of us
- we all need a kick up the backside every now and then and we take it all
on board.

The gaffer and all of us wanted to put this result and what happened to bed
straight away and it was good that we came in early and got into looking at
what went wrong together as a group. It is one of the best things about the
group of players we have here, that we are strong as a unit together whether
things are going right or wrong. We have some strong characters in the group
and we all went through everything together - we listened to what the gaffer
had to say, then we all discussed it all as a group.

Having played under the gaffer for some time and having known him now for
several years, I have had a few 7am meetings to attend following a bad
result! There has always been a positive response afterwards. He let us know
how he felt. He wants us to be getting the right results and performances
that he and the coaches prepare us to achieve before every game and so do
we. So we have all taken it on board and on the chin. The outcome is that we
are looking forward to putting it right against Fulham next week. We have no
match this weekend but will be in over the weekend to train and are already
preparing for the Fulham game.

It has been the same since I got here, that we stick together no matter
what. We knew that, this season, we would hit a sticky patch and what gets
us through is sticking together and putting it right together. That is what
we will continue to do. I know that all of you, our fans, get disappointed
and upset when things go wrong and we don't get the right result. We do as
well. We know how much it all means and all we ask is that you stick with us
as we look to make things right. I say every week how fantastic our support
is and there is no better feeling than hearing all of you backing us. When
you have just had a bad result and are looking to put it right, there is
nothing better than having all of you cheering us on.

I would like to finish on a slightly more light-hearted note. Mo Diame was a
bit late for the 7am meeting that the gaffer called, which does happen with
players from time to time! We all had to wait for him before we could start
and when he arrived, we all gave him stick for not only being late and
keeping us all waiting, but we said we thought he had left us without saying
goodbye! As everyone knows, there is a lot of speculation in the media about
Mo, so we thought we would give him more stick about that! To be fair to
him, he took all the banter really well and joined in as part of the group
as we discussed everything from the match and looked ahead.

We are now focusing on next Wednesday's match at Fulham and are determined
to get the result for you - a result that sees us pick up important points
to help us finish the season as high as we can, taking another step further
to where this club should be.

Come on you Irons!
Kevin Nolan
Captain

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Mac making progress
WHUFC.com
George McCartney has stepped up his rehabilitation after a period
recuperating in his home city
26.01.2013

A welcome face was back around West Ham United's training ground this week
in the shape of George McCartney. The Northern Irish defender has been out
of action since mid-December after picking up a knee ligament injury in
training. McCartney underwent surgery on his meniscal and lateral ligaments
and is now recovering well. As part of his treatment to recover from the
injury, McCartney went back home to his native Belfast for a short period
but is now back at Chadwell Heath and is making good progress with the
support of the club's medical team, "It has been five weeks now since I got
injured," confirmed the left-back. "After undergoing surgery, I had some of
that time back home in Northern Ireland receiving treatment there. "I saw
the surgeon on Wednesday and he was happy with how it is going, so that was
great news for me. He said he was pleased with the progress, so it is a big
boost. "Now that I am back here and everyone is happy with how I am doing.
Hopefully that means I can press on a bit further with the work I am doing
in the next few weeks."

McCartney - last season's Player's Player of the Year - returned to Hammers
on a permanent basis, last summer after being on loan from Sunderland during
the previous campaign. He played his part in helping West Ham get promoted
to the Barclays Premier League at the first time of asking last season and
was a regular in Sam Allardyce's side until he suffered the knee injury last
month. The popular No3 confessed it has been hard watching rather than
playing. "I am not a good watcher, so it has been hard watching from the
sidelines. You just want to be out there doing your bit for the team. But I
am happy to be back around everyone and just want to push on now more to get
back from the injury."

While he will not be able to contribute immediately, McCartney has backed
his team-mates to turn around their recent run of indifferent results and
make a closing push for the top half of the Barclays Premier League table.
"We have had up and down results of late, but the belief is there and we are
capable of doing what we need to do - to be safe and then look to still push
on and finish as high as we can. "We had a great start which has seen us in
good stead and now we have to look to do more of the same to finish the
season in the same way."

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Have the Hammers Targeted Emilio Izaguirre?
By S J Chandos
West Ham Till I Die

There are reports this morning that West Ham's search for defensive
reinforcements has now switched to Celtic's Honduran left-back, Emilio
Izaguirre. It is thought that West Ham have proposed an initial loan
agreement, with the option of a £4m permanent switch in the summer. The
major complication is Celtic's continued involvement in this season's
Champions League competition and a forthcoming tie against Serie A leaders,
Juventus. Would Celtic allow any of their best players leave whilst still in
Champions League contention?

On the plus side, the former SPL player of the year has experienced
something of a dip in form this season and it could be that he is now ready
for a new challenge. Certainly, Izaguirre is known to fancy testing himself
in the EPL. The key issue remains whether Celtic will resist any moves that
potentially weaken their squad in January and if, they are open to a deal,
they are will accept initial loan move?

West Ham are obviously lining up a number of options at left-back.
Accordingly, there were reports yesterday that West Ham have had a
£1.75million bid rejected for Montpellier defender Henri Bedimo. It will
interesting to see whether West Ham go back with an improved bid? While
there has been no apparent progress in the move for Blackburn Rover's Martin
Olsson. There has also been no recent news on the move for Rovers keeper,
Paul Robinson, nor the recruitment of extra cover at centre-back. The latter
becoming all the more urgent with the recent injury to Winston Reid.

There are, however. new reports that West Ham are on the verge of accepting
a £2.5m bid for Carlton Cole from Turkish side, Kasimpasa. Who knows if
there is any truth in this rumour? However, what we do know is that Carlton
Cole is currently in the final year of his contract and there has been no
indication that the club are about to offer a new deal. If this is the case,
then this would seem an appropriate juncture to accept an offer for the
player, before he becomes a free agent in the summer. Whether Carlton Cole
will be open to moving to the Turkish League is another matter. Based on
previous behaviour, he is likely to resist the move and stay at the club,
either in the hope of securing a new deal or, alternatively, running down
his contract and negotiating a lucrative Bosman move.

Finally, it appears that Sam Allardyce laid down the law after the very
disappointing 5-1 defeat to Arsenal. He allegedly ordered the first team
squad to report for training at 7am on the Thursday morning to watch the
performance, run through the match performance statistics and give them a
collective dressing down. This was followed by a 9am training session.
Hopefully, the desire to avoid further 7am briefing/training sessions will
provide a massive extra incentive for an improved display against Fulham
next week!

All in all, it is probably just as well that the club have a break this
Saturday, for the 4th Round of the FA Cup. It will give Allardyce and his
coaches extra time to regroup and put extra work in with the players on the
training ground; as well as giving players like Andy Carroll a few extra
days to prepare for a potential return from injury. It would certainly be
good to see Carroll play some part in the Fulham match, next Wednesday.

We need a positive reponse against Fulham to stop the rot and get the club's
season back on track. On the whole, this squad have responded positively to
the prior set backs this season. And it is important that is the case, once
again, next Wednesday at Fulham and also at home to Swansea, the following
Saturday.

SJ. Chandos.

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Turks dig Cole: West Ham close to agreeing fee for Carlton with Istanbul's
Kasimpasa
The Mirror
25 Jan 2013 22:30
John Powell

West Ham are close to agreeing a £2.5million fee with Turkish club Kasimpasa
for Carlton Cole. The 29-year-old striker, whose contract expires in the
summer, has slipped down the pecking order at Upton Park this month,
following the arrivals of loanees Wellington Paulista and Marouane Chamakh
from Cruzeiro and Arsenal respectively. Also, England striker Andy Carroll,
who's been borrowed from Liverpool for the season, is also set to return to
the squad soon following an injury lay-off. The Hammers have not offered
Cole a new deal following the breakdown of talks at the start at the season.
Ambitious Kasimpasa were promoted to the Turkish top flight at the end of
last season. The Istanbul side boast former Manchester City keeper Andreas
Isaakson in their squad.

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