Daily WHUFC News - 13th September 2013

Collins convinced goals will come
WHUFC.com
James Collins says the Hammers have the firepower to overcome Andy Carroll's
injury
12.09.2013

West Ham United defender James Collins has backed his side to overcome the
blow of Andy Carroll's injury setback by showing they have goalscorers right
throughout the side. The Hammers drafted in former Borussia Dortmund and
Fulham striker Mladen Petric this week to bolster their forward options.
Collins believes the Croatia international is a good addition and will help
with their ambitions of putting the ball in the net on a more regular basis.
"Mladen coming in gives us options," he said. "Andy isn't quite ready at the
minute, Maiga's been asked to play a lot of games so it's good to have the
option. "Hopefully he can come in and score some goals. "There are loads of
goals in our team. All the defenders will say we need to start scoring more
as well to give them a helping hand. As I say, there are options and we do
have goals in the team. "You saw that with the midfield boys against
Cardiff. Me, Winston and Tonks know we've got to score a few more, which
we're working on, so I wouldn't be too worried."

Collins is also looking forward to going toe-to-toe with in-form Southampton
striker Rickie Lambert when the Hammers return to Barclays Premier League
action on Sunday, with the defender determined to put things right following
the defeat to Stoke City last time out. "It's the kind of battle I like,
that's more my sort of game," he continued. "We've played against a few
tricky ones already this year and done alright. "So I'm looking forward to
it, especially as he'll be full of confidence after his England call-ups and
his goals. "We know they're good at keeping the ball and knocking it about,
so we'll have to stay on our toes and match their runners. "But if we defend
as we have done in the first three games, we can keep them to no goals and
then go and nick one at the other end.
"We're determined to put Stoke behind us, we've had a good couple of weeks
training and we can't wait to get back on the pitch to put things right."

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Youth supporter consultation confirmed
WHUFC.com
Vice-Chairman Karren Brady is to host an exclusive consultation event for
the Club's younger fans
12.09.2013

West Ham United are delighted to confirm that the Club will be hosting a
special Olympic Stadium consultation event exclusively for supporters aged
under 18.
The Club want to ensure the opinions and thoughts of young Hammers fans are
heard and that their input on the look, feel and operation of West Ham's
stunning new home is taken on board. Therefore, the first of a series of
events specifically designed for young fans will take place at 5pm on
Thursday 26 September in the 66 Club at the Boleyn Ground. The forum will
see Vice-Chairman Karren Brady lead a presentation outlining the
redevelopment of the Olympic Stadium, before supporters will be invited to
raise any questions or queries. Vice-Chairman Karren Brady explained: "We
all recognise the value of including our younger supporters in the
consultation process and so I'm thrilled to have this opportunity to present
our stunning vision to them. "This is an exciting chance to share ideas with
one another and for the next generation of West Ham United supporters to
leave their footprint on the Club's future."
Entry is strictly by pre-registration only and is open to all Season Ticket
Holders, Corporate Members and Youth Academy Members aged 11-17 inclusive.

Anyone interested in attending should email their full name, client
reference number, address, email address and a contact telephone number to
younghammersOS@westhamunited.co.uk by 5pm on Thursday 19 September. There
are a limited number of places, so should the event be oversubscribed,
guests will be selected by a ballot. However, the Club will ensure that the
final group is a representative cross-section of our supporter base.

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Fanimo glad to be back
WHUFC.com
Matthias Fanimo is delighted to be back ahead of the Dev Squad's next match
12.09.2013

Matthias Fanimo is looking forward to his Development Squad return following
his comeback from a long injury lay-off. The winger played his part in the
first team squad's 1-0 friendly win against Espanyol in Barcelona last week,
having only just returned to fitness. The 19-year-old is likely to feature
for Nick Haycock's team this Friday night when they take on Manchester City
at the Boleyn Ground - with admission free for Season Ticket Holders - and
Fanimo can't wait to be back in action. He told West Ham TV: "I'm looking
forward to it whether I start or come on. "It will just be good to be back
around the under-21 lads, knocking the ball around and enjoying my football
again. "I've still got a lot of fitness work to do, but physically I felt
good and like I'm getting back in shape so I'm just looking forward to the
Man City game on Friday."

He joins up with a Development Squad that are full of confidence having
overturned a three goal deficit to win 5-4 against Newcastle in their last
Barclays Under-21 Premier League outing. Everton and Aston Villa have also
been defeated with a narrow loss to Tottenham at the Boleyn Ground the
team's only slip-up thus far. Fanimo will be playing alongside several of
the young Hammers who joined him for the trip to Spain, and he was full of
praise for the way they handled the step-up. "They did really well, Pelly
Ruddock played well starting the game and playing the full 90 minutes. "Me,
Elliot Lee, Callum Driver, Seb Lletget and George Moncur did well when we
came on. "I think it was a great experience for us playing in a different
country against a team like Espanyol which was really good."

With injury having kept the livewire wide man out since January, Fanimo is
just glad to be back training with the team at Chadwell Heath. And whilst
not playing for so long can have its effects, the youngster reveals his
first team call-up lifted his spirits. He said: "I felt surprisingly good.
"Normally you feel down because you don't play, but for me coming straight
back into the first team fold was pretty good, it gave me a lift and the
first team lads were a great help out there. "I was excited when I came on,
because I haven't played for about 20 weeks coming back from injury. "It was
a good experience and the first team lads helped me through it. I felt calm,
I enjoyed it."

Now fully focused on the challenge of Manchester City, the speedy winger
says the team have come together under Nick Haycock and are reaping the
rewards. Fanimo hopes come Friday night the Development squad can produce a
performance when they take to the Boleyn Ground turf. "We've got a good
manager in Nick Haycock and we have a good bunch of players who have bought
into his methods and hopefully it will pay-off against Man City. "It's
always good to play at the Boleyn Ground, it's always nice to play where
you'd be expected to if selected for the first team. There'll be a good
atmosphere and it will be a great experience for us. "We just want to win
the game, get another three points on the board and play some good
football."

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O'Brien confident hard work will pay-off
WHUFC.com
Joey O'Brien is sure the team's hard work will pay dividends against
Southampton
12.09.2013

Joey O'Brien has backed his West Ham United team-mates to get back on track
when they travel to Southampton on Sunday. The Hammers suffered a 1-0 defeat
to Stoke City before the international break, but with that now over the
team return to Barclays Premier League action in front of the Sky cameras at
St Mary's. The defender insists that whilst the defeat to The Potters was a
setback, the squad are more than ready to get going again. He told West Ham
TV: "The lads are itching to get that last performance out of the system and
get back to how we normally play. "We were very disappointed with the
performance, it was probably the worst we've been at home since we got back
into the league. "The lads were disappointed but as I said we've had a few
weeks off now where we've been training well and we're just looking forward
to Southampton."

Prior to the side's first defeat of the season Sam Allardyce's team had
picked up four points from two games, conceding no goals and looking
relatively untroubled at the back. O'Brien is hopeful that the team can
rack up their third clean sheet of the season against a team they took four
points off last season.
"It was a very hard game away to them last year when we did well to get a
point so we know it's going to be a tough game. "The solid defence comes
from the whole mentality of the football team, from the defenders up to the
forwards the boys work extremely hard and we haven't had very much pressure
coming on us in the first three games. "It would have been nice to get
another clean sheet against Stoke but it wasn't to be, hopefully we can
manage to get one on Sunday now."

The team will be without Andy Carroll after he picked up a new injury during
training this week and whilst O'Brien concedes that it's a blow to the team,
he believes it gives other players an opportunity to shine. He said: "Andy's
been out since the start of the season and the lads have done really well,
it's a chance for anyone that comes into those forward positions. "We've got
a couple of injuries but we have a lot of quality football players at this
football club, that's why the manager bought them here and as soon as they
get a chance they've got to take it."

Young striker Elliot Lee has been in and around the first team this season,
making his debut during the defeat to Stoke and O'Brien says Big Sam will
have no issues playing any player at the club if they are good enough,
regardless of age. "When I was a kid at Bolton, Sam put me into the team,
put Ricardo Vaz Te into the team, so if you're a young player at this
football club you know the manager's going to give you a fair crack of the
whip if you're up to scratch.
"Nowadays everyone's afraid of putting a young player into any situation. "I
remember when I started; my first games were playing in Europe, going to
places like Bulgaria or Turkey playing teams like Besiktas so playing an
18-year-old in those games it doesn't bother him. If you're good enough
he'll give you a chance."

Sunday's opponents Southampton have splashed the cash over the summer,
bringing in several big-name foreign recruits as they look to build on a
14th place finish last season. Given the quality the Saints have at their
disposal O'Brien is anticipating a tough game, but he believes the Hammers
can emerge victorious from their trip to the south coast. "They've got some
quality players and since their manager came in he's done really well with
them. "They pass the ball, work hard off it and they've got some really good
players who they've produced through their academy so it'll be a really hard
game."

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Are We Nearing the End of the Road with Allardyce?
KUMB.com
Filed: Thursday, 12th September 2013
By: Gary Portugal

The short answer? Not yet. But we're not as far away as you may think.

The chinks in the armour are all too evident . Most worrying is the
appalling judgement, if not arrogance in thinking that he could get away
with starting this season without a recognised, fit, Premier League-standard
striker.

Starting with the positives, Sam HAS improved our defence enormously- we are
no longer the soft touch at the back that we had often been in the recent
past. Even this season we have, so far, conceded only ONE goal in the league
- that being a screamer from a free kick which probably should not have been
awarded. A solid defence is vital: it won't ensure Premier League survival
or a top half finish,but it certainly provides a platform to work from.

Under Sam and, in fairness, our present owners, we seem to have ceased to be
a "selling club". We manage to keep hold of our best players these days,
despite carrying a large external financial debt still. This is important,
as it provides stability. We also carry a threat from corners and set
pieces,which has not been the case traditionally. Under Allardyce, we also
seem more resilient after defeat than under previous managers. Southampton
will of course be a big test of that.

On to the debit side of the ledger. Moving beyond the poor judgement shown
in this window regarding cover for Carroll, Sam's record with transfers at
West Ham is spotty. Maiga and Diarra have turned out to be expensive
mistakes- mistakes which were compounded by failing to offload them this
summer.

Jarvis, though a good player, looks a very expensive purchase given what we
later paid for Downing. Sam hasn't fared well in making loan signings
either, apart from Carroll last season. Conversely, our youth players
haven't had a good run of it under Allardyce. Jordan Spence being loaned out
yet again this season is an example of that.

A manager's transfer record says a lot about him. Why is it that we cannot
attract players like Lukaku, Ba and others on loan? It is a statement about
the kind of football that we play? We depend on a lone striker set-up, with
a very direct approach that can, at times, be dull to watch AND predictable
to defend against. Not the type of stuff that is going to attract quality
attacking players,is it?

We do play more football than people credit us for – it isn't all "hoof and
hope" as some ignorant souls suggest. But our passing and movement is very
inconsistent, to put it politely. Sam's West Ham is grittier than previous
Hammers outfits but, in some ways, is woefully short of creativity.

Part of that lack of creativity and predictability of our attack stems from
Allardyce's choice to build much of it around Kevin Nolan. Yes, Nolan has an
eye for goal - but his lack of pace and his inability to play in a
traditional midfield role as a result makes us very easy to defend against
at times.

We cannot play 4-4-2 with Nolan in the side, which places real limitations
on what we can do - which, in turn, doesn't help attract good attacking
players. This is a prime example of running up against "the limitations of
Allardyce". There is only so far you can progress with this style of play
and this type of playing personnel.

Additionally, questions must be asked about Sam's man-management skills. In
successive years he has fallen out with Diarra and Vaz Te, players that he
chose to bring in. Both players have suggested that a lack of communication
has been part of the issue.

Sam did well to get us promoted, especially under budget constraints and did
well to keep us in the Premier League and finish 10th in our first season
back. But that does not necessarily mean that he is the right man to keep us
in the league on a SUSTAINABLE basis, no less consistent finishers in the
top half of the table.

Doing it for a season is one thing. Doing it for five to 10 years is
another. Even if we do survive this chaotic start to the season - and I have
real doubts about that - I would be very surprised if Allardyce remains here
once his contract expires. There are too many worrying signs, appearing too
quickly, to ignore.

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Could - or will - this ever happen?
KUMb.com
Filed: Tuesday, 10th September 2013
By: John Rolls

So we are now into the FPP era, an era heralded by the Club's directors
balancing out the advantages of being a wealthy club as opposed to a soundly
run, middle-of-the-road Club. An even playing field for all, so they said.

In truth, it is making the wealthier wealthy and leaving those less
fortunate lagging behind. Unless a club has a super-rich sugar daddy all it
has done is allow you an extra £4million to spend on transfers and wages -
hardly balancing the league.

As West Ham followers know we are not a mega-rich Club. Moving to the
Olympic Stadium (the stadium of heroes. my name for the ground) will
increase our revenue but not to the extent of Chelsea, Man Utd, Man City
and, debatedly, Arsenal. These Clubs will generate the sort of income we can
only hope for, and in some ways aspire to.

I have come up with a fresh idea for balancing the League and Cup
competitions and ending the vicious spiral of English football suffering at
the hands of foreign mercenaries (as well as levelling the playing field for
teams and encouraging clubs to seek the best home grown talentand developing
their own). It may even lead to local lads being recruited to the Academies,
rather than the importation of kids from across the globe.

West Ham have the honour of winning a European trophy with eleven (yes
that's right, eleven) Englishmen). My first idea and the others could not be
implemented at the moment because of European employment law - but should we
withdraw from Europe, they may easily be brought in.

1) Each Premier League club to register 25 players. 14 of these players are
to be from the home countries (England, Northern Ireland, Wales and
Scotland).

2) Of those 14 home grown players, three must be under the age of 23.

3) Seven players must be home grown for Premier League fixtures, two of whom
must be under 23.

4) To receive the financial reward for league placing, clubs must meet the
above criteria for 100 per cent of matches. If you only manage for example
95 per cent of games then your financial reward is 95 per cent. The
remaining 5 per cent is redistributed to the clubs who have managed 100 per
cent.

5) Clubs will be allowed no more than two non-EU players.

6) The FA Cup and League Cup will be along the same lines and in addition to
the reduction in prize money , forfeiture of a place in next season's
competition. Could also be used as a sanction.

7) Should a club fail to meet the requirements over three seasons it would
be handed a 15 point penalty and any further breaches would result in
automatic relegation to the Championship and the fourth placed team or both
play-off finalists both being promoted.

This is admittedly quite draconian, but it would lead to the development of
younger players. Owners would never agree to measures like this, but how do
we justify that less than 30 per cent of players on any given match day are
from the home nations?

It would be an interesting exercise to look at current squads and see who
comes anywhere near this. Imagine that we went with this in season 2018/19;
it would give clubs time to lose their foreign imports, and give time for
development of home grown players. Not only would this strengthen the
England team but also aid the development of players from the home
countries.

No longer would clubs be able to buy middle-of-the-road foreign imports to
bolster their multi-national squads. Those recruited would be the better
players. Clubs like West Ham would improve because they would encourage the
development of national players.

However certain clubs would fight against this as they would no longer be
able to go and buy a league-winning team from abroad. They would have to
have a good national scouting system and academies would have to up their
game as well.

Nothing would give me greater pleasure than Chelsea winning the Premier
League and having to pass on a percentage of their winnings to a team like
us. Laugh? I would dance naked down the High Street - especially if my other
clause (whereby if a club is barred from competing in Europe and the next
highest placed team with a 100 per cent record takes your place) kicked in
too.

As I said earlier, Chairman might not go for it but reading between the
lines of FA Chairman Greg Dyke's recent speech, he shares my view that
something like this could be introduced for the FA Cup, at least.

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WHY FINANCIAL FAIR PLAY DOESN'T ADD UP
By Sean Whetstone 12 Sep 2013 at 14:12
West Ham Till I Die

In April this year before the season had finished Sam Allardyce was briefing
the press how new financial fair play rules in the premier league could
wreck West Ham's chances of signing Andy Carroll in the summer transfer
window.



I never worked this one out as we were already paying the majority of his
wages on loan from Liverpool last season so what was the difference?

This started a media campaign by West ham to mention Financial Fair Play in
almost every interview since then. Gold & Sullivan got in on the act
explaining how they had one arm tied behind their back because of the new
financial fair play rules bought in by the premier league which they voted
for.

What has frustrated and puzzled many West ham fans is why no other premier
league clubs bothered giving FFP a mention. What makes West ham so special
with regards to FFP?

In a recent interview Sullivan was quoted as saying the cost of players
wages including national insurance was £847,000 per week. A quick
calculation brings the annual total to just over £44M pounds per year way
below the £52M limit allowed.

In a West ham statement on WHUFC.com on 26th August they stated that new
rules state that "whatever a Club spent on wages last season, they are
allowed to do so again, with an allowance for an extra £4m on top. If they
did not spend £48m on wages last year, as was the case with West Ham United,
they are allowed to go up to a new £52m limit."

The suggestion from that statement was we spent under £48M last season but
we are now very close to £52 million this season.

The last published accounts for WH Holding Ltd year ending 31st May 2012
show a total wage bill of £44.6M which includes non playing staff and was
our season in the Championship.

The previous year ending 31st May 2011 we spent £55.7M on wages, the year we
got relegated from the Premier league.

In the middle of the Icelandic ownership in the 2007/2008 season our annual
wage bill soared to £63.6M from £42.4M the previous 2006/2007 season and
just £20.2M in the 2004/2005 season.

At the end of last season:

We released Carlton Cole believed to have been on £30K per week and Gary
O'Neil believed to have been on £25K per week.

The loans of Chamakh, Pogatetz and Paulista all ended releasing an estimated
extra £1.5M from the wage bill.

If these estimates are correct we managed to trim £4.36M off the players
wage bill at the end of the season.

In the summer transfer window we added Andy Carroll permanently to the club
on a weekly wage believed to be £80k per week but I understand we were
paying him at least £75k per week to loan him from Liverpool so maybe a net
increase of £5k per week. Stewart Downing is said to have joined on £60K per
week, Razvan Rat is said to be on £25k per week and Adrian is said to be on
£17K per week. That makes the total increase just over £100k per week or
£5.3M per year.
I know these are just estimates but I only see an overall net increase of
just over £1 million to the wage bill.

Personally it does not add up to me. The WHUFC.com statement said under £48
million so the gap could be even larger.

I remain open minded but I also find it amazing our wage bill was under £48
million last season in our first year back in the Premier League. I guess it
is all just speculation until the financial accounts are released next year
for the year ending 31st May 2013.

Even when the financial accounts are released we will only know the total
wage bill of all employees. In the financial year ending 2012 West Ham
employed 802 people. The senior players will be the minority of these
employee numbers but make up the vast majority of the wage bill. They will
be some exceptions such as the manager who is believed to earn between £2M &
£3M per year including bonuses and the highest paid director believed to be
Karren Brady who was paid £427,000 in the year ending 2012. These salaries
will not need to be included in our FFP declaration to the Premier league.

Moving on to Financial Fair Play in general

The words 'Financial Fair Play' is a term never used by the Premier league.
The premier league handbook which was published last month introduces a
couple of new important rules.The Premier league have published a new form
that premier league clubs will need to declare the total cost of players
wages including any bonuses, image rights, additional payments, employer
national insurance contributions and any pension payments.

In published 2012 financial accounts other Premier league wage bills
included Man City £202M Chelsea £173M Manchester United £163M Arsenal £143M
Liverpool £119M & Spurs £90M. These clubs could also easily generate extra
income from sponsorship or commercial activities to get around these
restrictions on top of their already massive wage bills. As an example
earlier this year AON sponsored Manchester United training ground at a cost
of £160m over eight years giving them £20M per year of extra income which
could be spent on wages. The chances of West Ham getting a sponsor for
Chadwell Heath seems somewhat unlikely although I guess they there is
nothing to stop one of chairman's companies from sponsoring the training
ground. The Ann Summers training ground at Chadwell Heath perhaps?

Perhaps the reason the Premier league doesn't use the term financial fair
play because it is not fair. The richest clubs stay rich while keeping the
poorer clubs in their place. It means it would be difficult for other
premier league clubs to match the wage bills without significant commercial
income to make up the difference.

The other rule is about losses over 3 years starting this season.

The maximum permitted loss over 3 seasons starting this season is £105M,
However the maximum loss if an owner does not inject equity is just £15M
over 3 years so just £5M per year.

Sullivan & Gold have injected equity in the form of £35M of loans in 2011 &
2012 and Sullivan purchased a further 25% in a debt restructuring exercise
last month.

West Ham's loss in 2012 was revealed at £25.4M when revaluation of property
is excluded, In 2011 the loss stood at £18.5M and in 2010 £20.6M, so as a
comparison the total loss was £64.5M over the last 3 years and well within
the £105M limit if we continue or better that trend, However the owners will
have to continue to inject equity each year at these levels.

A good explanation about Premier League Cost Control and Sustainability
Provisions can be found from Daniel Geey at his website

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