On this day - 26 July
WHUFC.com
A trio of West Ham United and England legends booked their place in the 1966
FIFA World Cup final on this day.
Paired with Portugal in the last four, it was Manchester United's Bobby
Charlton who saw Sir Alf Ramsey's Three Lions into the final.
England broke the deadlock on the half-hour mark, as Roger Hunt burst
through on goal, only to be denied by a sprawling Jose Pereira. The ball,
however, broke kindly to Charlton on the edge of the box, who slotted calmly
into the unguarded net.
The decisive second arrived with just ten minutes to play, as the Hammers'
Geoff Hurst neatly picked out Charlton, who, from 18 yards once more,
slammed into the opposite corner.
Though Eusebio, the tournament's top-scorer with nine, halved the deficit
from the spot two minutes later, England stood firm to seal a date with West
Germany in the final.
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Hammers held at the Valley
Pre-season fixture
Charlton Athletic 0-0 West Ham United
WHUFC.com
West Ham United were held to a goalless pre-season draw by Charlton Athletic
at the Valley on Saturday afternoon. Regan Charles-Cook watched a lob drift
inches past the post for the Addicks, while Diafra Sakho and Dimitri Payet
looked far and away the most likely for the Hammers prior to the break. The
game opened up after the interval, with Sakho crashing one into the side
netting, before youngster Josh Cullen spurned a presentable chance with his
left foot. Darren Randolph made an excellent double stop to deny former
Hammers man Alou Diarra late on, but it was to end honours even in south
London.
There had earlier been a late change for the Hammers at left-back, with Kyle
Knoyle drafted in for the unfortunate Stephen Hendrie, who picked up a
slight knock in the warm-up. The Hammers, then, lined up in a 4-2-3-1
formation, with Payet, Martin Samuelsen and Enner Valencia behind lone
striker Sakho. Valencia, making his first appearance since returning from
the Copa America, looked spritely enough down the left, though it was Payet
and Sakho who looked most like creating an opening. The duo combined neatly
on the edge of the box, but the Senegal man was bustled out of it just
before he could pull the trigger.
With 12 minutes gone, a ricochet off Cullen sent Sakho in the clear, only to
be upended by Patrick Bauer on the edge of the box. Referee Kevin Friend
deemed it a fair challenge. Sakho thought otherwise. At the other end,
the Addicks' best chance of the half fell to Charles-Cook on the half hour,
who lobbed the advancing Randolph, but James Tomkins was on hand to watch it
just past the right side of the upright.
Sakho, meanwhile, surged down the left and was eventually denied by a
well-timed Chris Solly challenge. Payet then collected Sakho's pass on the
left-hand side of the box but fell to earth with Solly the apparent culprit.
No penalty, said Friend, who booked the Frenchman for his troubles. There
was still time for one final Charlton chance of the half, as Randolph's
clearance fell straight to Tony Watt, whose drive just skimmed the bar.
With Payet pulling the strings, West Ham looked much more of a threat after
the break. Firstly, he teed up Sakho, who turned inside and out before
lashing into the side netting. He then played in Cullen on the left-hand
side, but the youngster screwed his strike wide of the left-hand upright.
But the visitors should really have taken the lead through Watt. The No15
stole a march on the Hammers backline and when confronted by Randolph
toe-poked tamely wide of the post.
The chances were coming thick and fast. Sakho let fly from all of 25 yards
and forced 'keeper Nick Pope to fling himself to his left to palm it round
the post.
Valencia was withdrawn shortly after the hour and his replacement Amos Nasha
was soon taking aim. Though his shot from 18 yards was blocked, it fell
kindly to Cullen, but, not for the first time, West Ham found the side
netting.
Ironically, it was former Hammers fan Alou Diarra who went even closer to
breaking the deadlock. When a corner from the left fell at his feet,
Randolph was equal to the initial effort from point-blank range and blocked
the follow-up for good measure too.
It was Randolph again to the rescue minutes later, as Karlan Ahearne-Grant
looked to have picked out the corner, only for the Hammers' custodian to
extend his right arm to divert it behind and preserve the Hammers' clean
sheet.
Charlton Athletic: Pope, Solly, Diarra (Holmes-Dennis 77), Bauer, Fox,
Gudmundsson (Lennon 77), Cousins (Jackson 84), Ba (Kashi 64), Charles-Cook
(Ahearne-Grant 46), Watt (Pigott 86), Makienok (Harriott 64)
Subs: Dmitrovic, Kennedy
West Ham United: Randolph, Burke Ogbonna, Tomkins (Henry 59), Knoyle,
Cullen, Oxford, Valencia (Nasha 64), Payet (Brown 90), Samuelsen (Gordon
63), Sakho (Mavila 80)
Subs: Spiegel
Booked: Payet
Referee: Kevin Friend
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Tomkins relishing centre half battle
WHUFC.com
James Tomkins is relishing the contest he and the other centre halves at
West Ham United face this season to stake their claim for a place in Slaven
Bilic's starting line-up.
The Hammers have the luxury of being able to call upon Tomkins, Winston
Reid, James Collins and Angelo Ogbonna, with the former and the latter being
the pairing for Saturday's friendly at Charlton Athletic.
Tomkins was pleased to partner former Juventus man Ogbonna for the first
time at The Valley and was impressed with him and another of the new
arrivals, Dimitri Payet.
He said: "It was nice to play alongside another partner, his English is
quite good so he was talking quite a lot which was good.
"It's nice to play with someone different and it's going to be a good
contest to see who's going to play there at the start of the season as we
have a lot of good individuals at centre half.
"I relish that competition for sure, it keeps you on your toes and shows you
that's nobody's guaranteed a place.
"Saturday was my first chance to play with Payet and he gets in those holes
and causes defences problems. He looks like a great acquisition for the team
and if he can link up with Sakho like he did a few times today then we'll
get bundles of goals.
"I enjoyed playing with him today, just like the others and Sakho's looking
sharp as ever as well."
The games continue to come thick and fast, with Norwich on Tuesday next on
the agenda and Tomkins says the team is getting better with every match.
He added: "It seems like a game every couple of days so we'll have another
good contest on Tuesday night. It's not common to play Premier League teams
before the season starts, but that will be a good game for us to see how far
we've come really.
"We're all looking forward to that and then there's another game Thursday
and another one Sunday. They're coming thick and fast, which I think is good
for fitness and match sharpness."
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OS retractable seating questions answered
Posted by Sean Whetstone on July 25, 2015 in Sean's Blogs, Whispers
C AND H
The spectacle of the rebuilt Olympic Stadium live on BBC TV last night
together with many Hammers fans attending the Athletics event in person
raised many questions about the running track and how retractable seating
will work when West Ham move in.
David Gold was inundated with questions on twitter last night when after he
proclaimed. "Retractable seating being installed at the Olympic Stadium" and
stated "The seats are retracted. dg" when TV viewers complained how far the
pitch was from the front row.
As someone who attended the Anniversary games last night the first thing I
will say is keep an open mind. TV pictures and photographes including the
one on the right are no substitute to going there in person and the naked
eye has a far better experience than the photos portray.
As David Gold suggests the majority of the retractable seating has already
been installed but not deployed yet. Both the West and East side lower tier
stands have retractable seating in place and it will be used for the first
time at a rugby match at the end of August when the Barbarians play Samoa on
29th August.
The retractable seating in the South and North stands has yet to be
completed. They have demolished the first 13 rows of these stands and
installed temporary seating for the summer events which was clearly visible
last night but the back 10 rows remain in permanent concrete for now and
will not be used for Rugby matches this summer. The rugby field is longer
than a football pitch so the retractable seating at each end was not needed
for the Rugby world cup. Construction will recommence in November for North
and South stand retractable seating.
The next big question was whether retractable seating covers the running
track as spectators and TV viewers spotted the running track was soaked last
night in the torrential down our and many speculated that front row of the
new stadium could mean West Ham fans could get wet. In fact, the retractable
seating does not fully cover the running track. It only fully covers the
running track at the Sound and North ends but it remains between the front
row seating and the pitch at the West and East stands.
RetractableseatingEagle eyed viewers would have noticed the running track at
the North and South ends was completely dry last night while the straights
at the side were soaking wet. Have no fear, Hammers fans will remain dry and
the new £71m roof will do it's job in football mode.
The parts of the running track between the seating and the pitch will be
fully hidden by artificial turf so will not be on view in football mode and
the retractable seating will bring the front row much closer to the pitch
than last night so I don't see a problem as the running track won't be seen.
The dug outs will sit on top of the running track as can be seen here in the
planning permission diagram. The running track is marked by white lines with
the seating fully moved forward in football mode.
At the half way line the front row will be 20 metres away from the pitch
when the retractable seating is fully extended. Behind each goal the
distance reduces to 18 metres from the front row to the goal line. This
probably compares with the distance between the current East stand and the
pitch at the Boleyn Ground. At the closest point the front row will be just
12 metres from the pitch at the corner flags. As the stadium is curved each
seat in the front row will have a slightly different distance to the pitch
ranging from 12 to 20 metres.
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Gold's pledge for FC Astra clash
Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on July 25, 2015 in News, Whispers
C AND H
The Upton Park arrival of Romania's Astra FC in the Europa League clash on
Thursday evening looks to be the launch of the season proper for the Irons.
Until now new boss Slaven Bilic has been treating pre-season as he should
and as can be expected -to get every players up to speed in terms of
fitness.
Balancing the needs of all the players to get action whilst attempting to
progress in a major competition is not an easy balancing act.
Throw into the mix the fact that he's had little chance to get a close up
look at the players over whom perhaps questions marks are hanging and the
job gets even harder.
However, Thursday night looks to be a key pre-season moment when we when we
are see the best team available to him.
Co chairman David Gold has made it clear that things are set to get very
serious indeed when the Romanians come to the east end.
A Twitter follower asked DG: "Can we be expected to have a stronger side in
the EL on Thursday? We've signed all these good players but don't play
them."
The co chairman's response was unequivocal as he declared: "We will put out
a strongest team possible against AC Astra on Thursday evening. dg."
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Tomkins ready to rumble for role at back
Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on July 25, 2015 in News, Whispers
C AND H
James Tomkins knows there is a big scrap on to fill the central defensive
positions this season and is well up for the battle.
JT partnered former Juventus man Angelo Ogbonna for the first time against
Charlton and was very impressed with him and another newcomer Dimitri Payet.
Speaking to the official site, he said:"It was nice to play alongside
another partner, his English is quite good so he was talking quite a lot
which was good.
"It'sgoing to be a good contest to see who's going to play there at the
start of the season as we have a lot of good individuals at centre half.
"I relish that competition for sure, it keeps you on your toes and shows you
that's nobody's guaranteed a place.
"Saturday was my first chance to play with Payet and he gets in those holes
and causes defences problems. He looks like a great acquisition for the team
and if he can link up with Sakho like he did a few times today then we'll
get bundles of goals.
"I enjoyed playing with him today, just like the others and Sakho's looking
sharp as ever as well."
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Olympic Stadium running track to turn blue
Posted by Sean Whetstone on July 25, 2015 in News, Whispers
C AND H
Gabby Roslin on BBC1 coverage of the Sainsburys Anniversary games confirmed
that the running track within the Olympic Stadium is to be ripped up &
replaced with a new blue one next year.
The original London Olympic 2012 running track was buried under tons of
earth during the £272m reconstruction as a multi purpose Stadium only to
recently unearthed, cleaned up and re-furbished for the diamond league
athletics meeting this weekend.The 2012 track was designed and laid by
Mondo, an Italian company that has provided all the tracks at the main
Olympic stadiums since the 1992 Games in Barcelona. So much for the
Athletics legacy.
Maybe the new running track would look better with alternative lanes in
Claret and Blue. Hammers fans need not worry though, as revealed earlier on
Hugh and Claret, the parts of the running track not covered by retractable
seating in football mode will be hidden by artificial turf so I guess we
don't care what colour it is or what they want to do with it.
UK Athletics are contributing just £1m to stadium rebuilding costs compared
to West Ham's £15m. It understood they will pay no rent but will share
revenue with the stadium operators Vinci on ticket sales.
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Irons look for loan during Song recovery
Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on July 25, 2015 in News, Whispers
C AND H
West Ham will wait for Alex Song to make a full recovery from his ankle
operation before attempting to complete a deal which would see him join the
club on a three year contract.
However, they are casting their net far and wide in a bid to find a loan
signing to cover for the next three months whilst they wait for Song to
report himself fully recovered.
The Irons have been linked with Esteban Cambiasso but the free signing is
unlikely to want such a short term deal at this stage of his career.
However, we were told: "He is a possible and there are a couple of others.
We like Alex and want to sign him on a permanent deal so long as he makes a
full recovery. He provides real creativity from the back.
"A loan signing on a short term deal while we look to complete a permanent
deal for a fit Alex Song is the way we would like to go."
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Dicksie: 'That was a decent performance'
Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on July 25, 2015 in News, Whispers
C AND H
Julian Dicks declared himself content with a "decent performance " by the
Irons at the Valley this afternoon.
Dicksie commenting on he game to the official site declared: ": "I thought
it was a decent performance and the lads worked really hard. The lads can be
pleased with themselves."
He added: "Sakho had a few chances and Payet makes things happen. When you
are playing in the Premier League you have to break with pace and hopefully
we will have that in abundance.
"We landed at Stansted Airport at 4am in the morning but the players didn't
moan about it. They got on with their job and work really hard in training.
As a coach that is all you can ask for."
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West Ham 'ready to seal £4.2m transfer of Barcelona's Alen Halilovic'
Jamie Sanderson for Metro.co.ukSunday 26 Jul 2015 12:54 am
Metro.co.uk
West Ham are looking to complete a £4.2million deal for Barcelona wonderkid
Alen Halilovic, according to reports. Hammers boss Slaven Bilic has been
alerted to Halilovic's availaibility amid talk that Barca could let him
leave. And reports in Croatian outlet Vecernji news says West Ham are lining
up £4.2m deal for the technical pass-master. Halilovic snubbed interest from
Arsenal to join Barca last year but has struggled to force his way into the
first-team and wants to move on. The young midfielder is expected to become
a superstar in the future and has even been tipped to win the Ballon d'Or
one day.
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