Daily WHUFC News - 19th September 2013

The Big Interview - Winston Reid
WHUFC.com
West Ham United defender Winston Reid speaks about Sunday's draw and his
recent travels
18.09.2013

After Sunday's televised Barclays Premier League goalless draw with
Southampton, defender Winston Reid was full of praise for his team-mate
between the posts . Jussi Jaaskelainen made a number of brilliant saves as
the Hammers earned a hard-fought point on the south coast. The towering
centre-back also recalled his recent trip away with New Zealand to the OSN
Cup in Saudi Arabia and gave his views on their hopes of qualifying for the
FIFA World Cup in 2014.

Winston, a hard-fought 0-0 draw at Southampton courtesy of some great
defending, so was a draw a fair result?

WR: "Yeah I think so, it's a tough place to come and when we needed Jussi
Jaaskelainen he was there for us. He made a couple of excellent saves which
is what you need your goalkeeper to do."

You've now kept three clean sheets in four league games with the team yet to
concede from open play, so are you guys proud of the way you've started the
season?

WR: "Yeah the guys have been working hard throughout pre-season continuing
on from last year. We need to get better going forward as we've not scored
as much as we would have liked but I'm sure that we'll get better."

You managed to restrict a team with the attacking threat of players like
Rickie Lambert, Dani Osvaldo and Adam Lallana to just five shots on target.
Are you pleased with that?

WR: "We did alright, it's always going to be tough away from home. After the
Newcastle game we were disappointed that we didn't get the win but on Sunday
I think we're happy to get a point."

Jussi Jaaskelainen is 38, nearly old enough to be your dad, yet he was
flinging himself all over the place on Sunday. How did you rate his
performance?

WR: "He's a very, very good keeper. He's continued his form from last season
and he gives the whole team confidence when he's behind us. He's been
absolutely brilliant for us and we hope it continues."

The conditions out there today were very different to your recent games for
New Zealand where it was about 33 degrees in the Middle East. On Sunday it
was cold, wet and windy, so was it difficult to adjust?

WR: "It was tough playing games over there, we had to get up and train at
six o'clock in the morning and even then it was still around 30 degrees. We
played our games [against Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates] at 9pm and
the temperature was around the mid-30s so they were tough conditions but I
got to see the sights of Saudi Arabia so that was great."

Looking at the way that the CONCACAF qualifying table is working out, you
may have to play Mexico in a two-legged Play-Off to qualify for the 2014
FIFA World Cup. That's going to be tough isn't it?

WR: "Yeah it is, no matter who we play it's going to be tough. We just have
to make sure we prepare properly, mentally as well. We qualified for the
World Cup last time so I'm sure come November we'll be ready and we'll be up
for it."

Most English fans probably aren't aware of most of your players, but there's
a lot of ability in New Zealand and you've picked up some really good
results recently haven't you?

WR: "We've been doing alright. The squad is improving and that's the main
thing, although it's not up to the same standard of England, but we're
progressing and that's the main thing."

We play Everton in the Barclays Premier League on Saturday. They had a great
win over Chelsea last weekend, so the games don't get any easier. Are you
confident we can get a good result?

WR: "Yeah, definitely and hopefully this time I won't get cramp!"

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WHAT WEST HAM PAY FOOTBALL AGENTS
By Sean Whetstone 18 Sep 2013 at 08:02
West Ham Till I Die

Back in 2008 the premier league agreed to publish fees paid to football
agents by clubs. This is now published on 30th November each year.

In the past three years West ham have paid £13.2 million to football agents.

In our season in the Championship we may have finished 3rd in the league but
we topped the agent fees we paid in the league by a mile! We outspent
everyone else in the division with regards to agent fees paid out clocking
up £4,314,270 on 69 deals. The closest club to us was Leicester who spent
£1,812,371 on 78 deals. Barnsley by comparison spent the least with £124,888
outbound to agents.

In 2009/2010 West Ham spent £3,419,089.99 in agent fees

In 2008/2009 West Ham spent £5,527,548 in agent fees

Mark Curtis
In August last year David Sullivan told the Daily Mail he had no concerns
about the continuing close links between manager Sam Allardyce and
controversial agent Mark Curtis. Mark Curtis is agent for Sam Allardyce,
Kevin Nolan, James Tomkins, Jack Collison, Matt Jarvis and Andy Carroll.
Mark Curtis was warned as to his future conduct by the FA in 2008 over his
Luton transfer dealings gained fame for the number of deals he did at Bolton
while Sam was in charge.

Willie McKay
In the same interview Sullivan confirmed Willie McKay received more in
agency fees than Mark Curtis in the summer of 2012. He revealed 'Mark
[Curtis] receives five per cent of the player's wages over five years, which
is a lot of money but the standard rate'. Willie McKay was investigated by
Lord Stevens into allegations of bungs in football but was later cleared. He
was also arrested in 2007 by City of London police alongside former West Ham
manager Harry Redknapp & Peter Storrie but again he was never formally
charged and the case was later dropped. Last year he was stopped driving
while disqualified with a bag of cocaine in his car.

Barry Silkman
The third agent often involved with West Ham dealings is Barry Silkman who
was involved in Demba Ba & Thomas Hitzlsperger arriving at West Ham. He was
also instrumental in bringing Ravel Morrison to West Ham from Manchester.
More recently he has been involved in the attempt to bring Carlton Cole back
to West Ham. Barry Silkman was also named in Quest's final report into
alleged Premier League "bungs", At the time he said he will not cooperate
with the further inquiries being pursued by the Football Association's
compliance unit because he believed they were unreasonable.

In 2011 former agent Peter Harrison admitted to the Daily Mail he freely
took advantage of the naivety of the then West Ham chairman Eggert Magnusson
to pocket £900,000 in commission in the deal to sign Lucas Neill. He claimed
that when he took Lucas Neill to West Ham instead of Liverpool he earned
£900,000 and we put Neill on £72,000 a week. He said 'He was going to
Liverpool but West Ham wouldn't take no for an answer. It was incredible. At
the time I thought it was just business – I had bills to pay, office,
telephone, travel – but when I look back on it now I'm embarrassed. Harrison
was Andy Carroll's former agent who fell out with Mark Curtis over Carroll's
£35M transfer to Liverpool.

Earlier this year just after the January transfer window ended, David
Sullivan called for the FA to look into agents' conduct and cap fees. He
said "I can see it spilling over into violence in the future, unless there
is legislation from the FA. I had an agent threaten me and one of our
players with physical violence, because he thought he was being cut out of a
deal."

Sullivan claimed the financial demands by agents had got out of control
adding: "We are talking millions of pounds here around a transfer and not
enough deals to go around. There are too many agents and not enough
transfers to feed them. Agents who would once demand £50,000 for their part
in a transfer now want £500,000 to £1m to either bring a player or keep a
player. It is quite outrageous and the FA should cap the amount paid to
agents for their work"

I agree with David and think it is staggering how much we pay in agent fees
and the power they appear to now have on the game. I would like to see much
more transparency with individual transactions published each year. The
latest figures will be published on 30th November and with the arrival of
Joe Cole, Stewart Downing and Andy Carroll I am sure they will make
interesting reading with regards to West Ham's most recent dealings with
these football agents.

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Olympic stadium future facing fresh doubts
Leyton Orient haven't given up on ground share
GiveMeSport.com

Leyton Orient chairman Barry Hearn has not given up hope on ground-sharing
the Olympic Stadium with West Ham United ahead of a judicial review
tomorrow, according to The London Evening Standard. The Hammers were awarded
sole tenancy by the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC), but Hearn
is disputing that decision in the High Court. Orient's bid to share was
rejected on the grounds that it would cost the tax payer to host their
games, as their offer of rent was significantly lower than their London
neighbours. Orient, who are top of League One, are keen to move into the
80,000 capacity stadium despite only attracting an average of 4,002 at their
current Brisbane Road home last season. Hearn believes it would be "stupid"
to block The O's bid as he believes the two clubs could both be in the
Championship next season. He said: "The whole thing is so ridiculously
lacking in common sense."

"Let's just share it, let's get the maximum value out of the taxpayers'
pound. Of course, it makes it even more stupid if we were to get promotion
to the Championship. "I don't want to see West Ham get relegated, but it's a
tough League and if they went down, you could have a local derby with both
teams in the Championship." "We have built this fantastic stadium, let's
just share it like they do everywhere else in Europe. I don't understand the
rationale of turning us down." West Ham are currently 10th in the Premier
League and have lost only once this season so far. They will definitely be
moving from Upton Park to the site at Stratford, although they are now
unsure whether they will have some unwanted roommates.

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