Monday, September 7

Daily WHUFC News - 7th September 2015

Ladies chopped down in New Forest
WHUFC.com

Forest Green Rovers midfielder Kirsty Richardson struck late on to steal the
points as West Ham Ladies fell to a 1-0 FA Women's Premier League Southern
defeat on Sunday afternoon. The Hammers came out strong at Slimbridge AFC
and could have taken the lead on several occasions through midfielder
Shirvae Edwards and strikers Lily Mellors and Whitney Locke, but were
punished in the second period as Richardson's long-range punt found the
bottom corner of the net.

After picking up their first result of the season a week earlier against
lower league Crystal Palace in the FA Women's Premier League Cup Determining
Round, manager Marc Nurse made two changes to the team that defeated the
Eagles 3-0. Hannah Wheeler and midfielder Danni Ritson were replaced by
Kayleigh Xidhas and regular Development Squad striker Locke.

Within the opening ten minutes in the New Forest, the Hammers had two golden
opportunities to open the scoring. First, midfielder Kelley Blanchflower
poked wide from 18 yards after fantastic build-up play by Emma Sherwood and
captain Stacey Little, before Locke beat Rovers goalkeeper Abbie Morrisey to
the ball before firing over the bar with the net gaping.

The visitors continued to push forward throughout the first half and had
further chances to get themselves ahead through Mellors and Edwards, but
neither managed to force Morrisey into a save.

Down the other end of the pitch, Forest Green striker Charlotte King and
twin midfielders Karolayne and Kayanne Castro-Alencar were trying to cause
problems but Xidhas, Katie Bottom, Kerry Stimson and Danica Revell stood
strong to deny the hosts.

After the break, the Hammers were still having the lion's share of the
chances in front of goal but Little volleyed over from 18 yards before
Sherwood's effort was blocked by Morrisey.

With just over 20 minutes left to play, Nurse's side got lucky when
Richardson managed to beat the offside trap and round goalkeeper Aditi
Chauhan, but she fell whilst shooting and failed to hit the target.

Eight minutes later, the Hammers gave Richardson far too much space to shoot
from 20 yards and although the majority in attendance, including Chauhan,
thought the ball was going to trickle wide, her shot found the bottom corner
of the net to give the hosts the lead.

West Ham tried to get back into the game in the final ten minutes but their
attempts unfortunately met the same conclusion as earlier chances by failing
to beat Morrisey in the Forest Green goal.

Nurse's team will hope to pick up their first league points of the season
when they host local rivals C&K Basildon at AFC Hornchurch on Thursday 10
September at 7:45pm. Tickets are available online right now or on the gate
next week!

Ladies: Chauhan, Bottom, Stimson, Revell, Xidhas, Little (c), Blanchflower
(Miller), Sherwood, Edwards (Anderson-James), Mellors, Locke (Scott)
Subs not used: Ritson, Wheeler

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Determined Dobson seeking first victory
WHUFC.com

West Ham United midfielder George Dobson was left with mixed feelings after
the Hammers settled for a 0-0 Barclays U18 Premier League draw with
high-flying Leicester City at Little Heath on Saturday afternoon. The
Hammers were the brighter of the two teams throughout the game and could
have won the game by converting one of several golden opportunities, but
Dobson, along with striker Idris Kanu and midfielder Marcus Browne failed to
punish their opponents. However, holding a Leicester side that entered the
game with a 100 per cent record, Dobson said the squad were pleased with a
point. "We are obviously glad that we got the draw but we definitely feel
like we deserved more from the game," admitted Dobson. "For the majority of
the game, I felt like we were the much better team and were on top of them
quite a lot so it does make it slightly disappointing that we only managed
to draw. "Having said that, we came up against a really good team in
Leicester so you have to be pleased with the result and we can take
positives from this performance into our next league fixture on Tuesday at
Arsenal."

The Hammers are yet to taste victory in their four U18 Premier League South
matches so far this season and Dobson, who joined over the summer from
Arsenal, believes the squad are playing well but struggling to put the ball
in the back of the net. "The whole team have been working hard in training
and you can already start to notice a difference," continued Dobson. "As the
season progresses, the results will improve as the players get better and
fitter. "At the moment, we seem to be struggling with taking our chances
when they come round and the thing is that, when we do start taking our
chances more, I think we'll be able to start beating teams comfortably.
"Sometimes in football, you have to just keep working hard and as soon as a
couple of goals start going in, then loads of goals will start going in.
"We are playing well and taking positives from every game into the next
fixture. For example against Leicester, we dominated the whole game against
a team that have started the season really well with three wins out of three
and probably should have actually won."

The U18s' next league fixture is against Dobson's former club Arsenal and,
after featuring for the full 90 minutes in the Development Squad's 5-0
defeat at The Emirates just over a week ago, the 17-year-old is focused on
helping the U18s pick up their first victory of the season. We had a
disappointing result at The Emirates recently, losing 5-0 in the U21s but
for me, the most important thing now is for us to head to Arsenal on Tuesday
looking to get our first U18 win of the season."

Since joining the Hammers back in July, Dobson revealed that he is enjoying
every minute representing the club that he supported as a boy and hopes to
one day progress through the ranks and become a first-team regular for West
Ham. "I have loved every minute of my time at West Ham so far and really
couldn't think of a better place for me to be playing my football at the
moment. "I enjoy coming into training everyday and working on my
performances and fitness as a player so that's the immediate target for me
for the near future.
"My fitness has been a big thing that I've been trying to work on because
I've noticed previously that during games when I get to the 65-70 minute
mark is when I seem to hit a wall. It's in those last 20 minutes when
players can get sloppy because they are tired and give the ball away so it's
something that I'm working hard on and as I get more game time under my
belt, I'll become a fitter player and cut those mistakes out of my game. "As
a player, you don't just want to settle for playing U18s football the whole
time because although when selected for the U18s, I'd always give 100 per
cent, any footballer would want to be progressing and playing at a higher
level.
"I've already featured twice for the U21s this season so hopefully I can
keep myself performing to a high standard and get quite a few more games
before the end of the season. "The opportunities that players like Reece
Oxford have had to play at first team level show any Academy players that if
you've got the ability and regularly perform well, the chance is there that
you could progress and be called on one day. "For me, the dream is to be
playing regular first team football for West Ham in the future and that's
what I'm always constantly working towards. I'm not expecting it anytime
soon but you never know what the future holds."

The Hammers travel to London Colney to face Arsenal U18 on Tuesday 8th
September, with kick-off scheduled for midday.

U18s: T Brown, Sylvestre, Pask (Rice 46), Akinola, Neufville, Carter,
Browne, Dobson, Diangana (Henry 68), Borg, Kanu
Subs not used: Eggleton, Lewis, Boness

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Antonio happy to be home
WHUFC.com

Michail Antonio is looking forward to performing in front of the same West
Ham United fans he sat alongside as a boy. The winger paid visits to the
Boleyn Ground as a youngster, joining his football-mad friends in making the
trip from his south west London home to the east London home of the Hammers.
More than a decade later, Antonio has returned to E13, but this time he will
be performing on the pitch rather than sitting in the stands – and the
former Nottingham Forest star cannot wait. "I'm buzzing and finally happy to
be back in London at a massive club," the new No30 told West Ham TV. "I've
always been around London and I came to a couple of games here when I was
younger, so I'm happy to be finally here and at a club I watched when I was
younger. "I've picked West Ham because I'm home. It's London and I'm
comfortable here and I think that's where I'll play my best football. I have
seen the way the manager plays and I reckon I can flourish here. "Growing
up, I wanted to be around the best and have competition and being at West
Ham there is lots of good competition. The last result, winning 3-0 at
Liverpool, showed that I am coming to a great team that's established in the
Premier League and hopefully I can put my mark down here at the club."

Antonio may not have played in the Barclays Premier League before, but the
winger has become a regular highlight reel on Football League highlights
shows during his time with Sheffield Wednesday and Nottingham Forest. Having
started his career with non-league Tooting & Mitcham United, the 25-year-old
knows the value of hard work to go alongside his undoubted ability. "If I
have the opportunity to go at my full-back I will go. I am the sort of
player who picks the ball up and runs and tries to get crosses in or a shot
at goal. I got 15 goals and 13 assists last season, and I've got four goals
in four starts this season, so hopefully I can keep that going and the goals
coming. "I can play either side or in the hole, or sometimes as the big man,
it depends on where the manager chooses to play me. I'm a person who, as
long as I've got the shirt, I'll play. "I put my career path down to hard
work, really. I didn't have the technique so I've worked on it every day. I
was in non-league and went to school, so I didn't really get the opportunity
to learn the basics. "I've always been raw and have been doing raw stuff.
I've always had the pace and the power and now my technique is starting to
work, so hopefully I can show it and everyone can see what I can do."

Antonio became one of four players signed on Deadline Day, joining Alex
Song, Nikica Jelavic and Victor Moses in coming through the John Lyall
Gates, and he says it is an exciting time to be part of West Ham United. "We
have done very well in the market and hopefully adding me to the table will
help us push on and see where we can get. "I'm not scared by this challenge.
I will come in and put the hard work in and put my heart on my sleeve and
wherever it gets me, it gets me. "I'm not the sort of person to let things
affect me. I'll let my own ability take me where I can go and if it doesn't
stop me, hopefully I can flourish."

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ExWHUemployee's ClaretandHugh column
Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on September 6, 2015 in News, Whispers
C AND H

So it is almost a week on from the transfer window and it has proven to be a
very successful one for the club. I think when you include all the players
we have signed throughout the summer we couldn't have really asked for much
more.

The four new players signed on deadline day were exactly what we needed.
Although he is injured we are all aware of the qualities that Alex Song
brings to us. He was determined to join us and his sons play for our
academy. The transfer would have probably been a permanent deal had it not
been for his injury. The club didn't want to take the gamble yet of making
the transfer permanent when his recovery from the injury isn't known. He
should return to fitness in October and will give us another fantastic
option in central midfield.

Michail Antonio is a player who has had brilliant reviews in the
championship and he will bring much needed pace and power from the wing. He
also has a very good scoring record for a winger and naturally creates a lot
of chances for others.

Another wing addition Victor Moses was extremely well rated at Stoke City
last season. Their fans were very keen for him to return to The Potteries
and when I asked Matthew Etherington whether he was a good signing for us he
gave a very glowing report. In his earlier years he was linked with all the
top clubs from the continent and has obviously played for Chelsea and
Liverpool in England.

Nikicia Jelavic joined for around £3m from Hull to become a backup
forward-or more to the likes of Sakho, Carroll and Valenica. When you think
of it like that he is a good player to have to call upon. He has worked with
Slaven Bilic at international level and they have a very good working
relationship. Tony Henry our head of recruitment also signed him for Everton
and knows what he can bring.

It has to be said that despite much criticism David Sullivan produced the
goods in the window. We now have strong competition and squad depth in every
position, something which we haven't had for many years. This will be seen
against Newcastle where we will have a much stronger bench than the
Liverpool game with Andy Carroll also returning. I personally wouldn't
change a winning team, especially one that has won 3-0 at Anfield. I am very
glad the window is over, as those of you who follow me will recall, I spent
most days tweeting out the transfer news, so I am grateful for the break
from that!

This week I had the opportunity to chat to a builder/carpenter who is
currently working at the Olympic Stadium and he gave me an interesting
insight into the current spending situation around the project and explained
that his early concerns about the stadium have been quashed.

"On my first visit I was inducted in a group of 30 men it took three hours
for this to be completed, considering the wages that I know of ranging from
£18-£25 per hour it was my first insight into why this is running at such a
cost.

The first time I walked out onto the pitch I was gutted yes it's an
athletics stadium, yes the pitch was a long way away. I took some pics of
the retractable seating done some measurements and was a bit relieved.

Everything that was done up to the anniversary games was temporary from the
carpentry to the stands not being commissioned (signed off for use) as they
are powered. If anybody went to the games they would have seen the unsightly
dark brown plywood everywhere, well my point being a lot of money was spent
on a temporary fix.

As soon as that was finished it was all ripped out, hundreds of thousands of
pounds for 2 days of Athletics. Then there is the temporary work for the
rugby last weekend, this included the walk ways and backs of stands to the
north south and east, scaffolders carpenters and the seating crew, seats
having to be pulled into place due to not being powered costing time and
money. Again hundreds of thousands of pounds wasted for a three hour event.
All of which is being dismantled at more cost to the tax payer, now
finishing touches for the RWC are going ahead.

My point being I'm sick of hearing how WHU are getting cushy deal when in
fact, from what I've seen, it's the Athletics and Rugby so far that are. It
will also take 7 days to transform from athletics to football mode, 100 men
approximately working night and day. This is not a guess, a well-known fact
for the people that work there. So are the Athletics covering the high cost
of transformations?

I'm positive and hope you are as well after visiting, for me the retractable
seating works. I know it sounds cheesy but it somehow connects the upper
tier as well by being closer. Also the east stand extended tier can easily
be replicated on the west, solving that gap problem. The screens do have
large gaps but wait for us to get in there and solve that too"

This week we have seen an overwhelming response to a number of West Ham
sites who have asked for donations to sponsor West Ham ladies players, so
that it can help the club to grow and reach the potential that it is
showing. I have been amazed at the response and I have now pledged to donate
some to Jonjo's charity work and the DT38 foundation too both significant to
West Ham and myself personally as well. My link is here if you would also
like to support these great causes gofundme.com/ExWHUEmployeeany
contribution is greatly appreciated.

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Michail Antonio supported Hammers as a boy
Posted by Sean Whetstone on September 6, 2015 in News, Whispers
C AND H

New signing Michail Antonio who joined the Hammers from Nottingham Forest
for £6m has confirmed he was a West Ham fan as a young boy visiting the
Boleyn ground a couple of times with his mates.

Antonio told WHUFC.com "I'm buzzing and finally happy to be back in London
at a massive club, I've always been around London and I came to a couple of
games here when I was younger, so I'm happy to be finally here and at a club
I watched when I was younger."

"I've picked West Ham because I'm home. It's London and I'm comfortable here
and I think that's where I'll play my best football. I have seen the way the
manager plays and I reckon I can flourish here."

"Growing up, I wanted to be around the best and have competition and being
at West Ham there is lots of good competition. The last result, winning 3-0
at Liverpool, showed that I am coming to a great team that's established in
the Premier League and hopefully I can put my mark down here at the club."

"If I have the opportunity to go at my full-back I will go. I am the sort of
player who picks the ball up and runs and tries to get crosses in or a shot
at goal. I got 15 goals and 13 assists last season, and I've got four goals
in four starts this season, so hopefully I can keep that going and the goals
coming."

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Dicksy terminates Twitter account
Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on September 6, 2015 in News, Whispers
C AND H

Julian Dicks has been reported as having deactivated his Twitter account.
The no nonsense defender has been regularly answering virtually every
inquiry thrown at him by the fans in his usual forthright and light-hearted
manner. But according to one follower he has now quit because he was asked
sarcastic questions which have presumably irritated the Irons coach.
ClaretandHugh checked this morning to see whether the @JULIAN3DICKS had
decided to reinstate himself on the social network but was met with a
message declaring "this page does not exist." Follower @OwenWHU claimed in a
tweet: "Dicks has actually deactivated because of grown men asking if his
visa is sorted for Europe away games. Nice one guys.."

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Frankie Mc prepares for "emotional night"
Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on September 6, 2015 in News, Whispers
C AND H

Frank McAvennie has been looking forward to a Boleyn reunion at the next
home game against Newcastle for weeks. The club's goalscoring legend will be
among those walking out in front of the Upton Park hordes on the night of
the 14th, inevitably alongside his goal scoring buddy from 30 years ago Tony
Cottee. ClaretandHugh blogger Frank told us: "The years just roll away when
we too get together. It really is as though it was yesterday. "I live up in
Scotland now but I always get down when I can and Tone and me still have a
big friendship. It's going to be a great night." The Newcastle game could
see the Irons grab their first game at home this season and with the old
boys on parade it's no surprise to see it chosen as the TV game. Frankie
believes it's going to be a hugely emotional night and said: "All we want to
go with it is that first win." The 1985-86 campaign saw manager John Lyall
lead the club to their highest ever league finish, coming a close third
behind Liverpool and Everton. That particular Hammers team won 26 of their
42 games and finished with 84 points, two behind the Toffees and four behind
the Reds, who claimed a famous double. Lyall's incredible team went on to
became known as 'The Boys of 86.' ClaretandHugh has learned that among the
legends hoping to make an appearance are Frankie, Cottee, Phil Parkes, Tony
Gale, Alan Devonshire and Alvin Martin.

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Whoops – sorry DG so we'll say it for you!
Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on September 6, 2015 in News, Whispers
C AND H

Well having got caught out by a fake David Gold account we'll say it for
him: "The people who drove Julian Dicks off Twitter are indeed 'morons' who
should take their support elsewhere." We apologise to DG for mistakenly not
noticing that account we quoted him on was not accompanied by a tick to show
that it was real. However, that only serves to help us understand why Dicksy
has decided to leave the social networking operation.

Our story has since been taken down. Julian who always been accessible (as
shown right) and answered every question before reportedly being driven off
by some pretty sarcastic remarks. Given the number of requests he received
to support various charitable efforts along with inquries for freebies, he
has apparently decided to call it a day. Those who have driven the Irons
hero off have done everybody who followed him a huge disservice. The
response to us making a mistake in quoting a fake DG received a pretty
typical response and was greeted with gleeful lols and delighted: "You got
it wrong" finger-pointing comments."

It's not a problem to us and if it gave a few people a laugh GREAT! However,
that a club legend has had enough and been driven off because of abuse
from trolls is pretty sad and we understand completely why he has
deactivated his account. The majority of Twitter followers are great and use
it as it should be used but there's some -as demonstrated here – who possess
a mentality which 99 per cent of people wouldn't entertain in the real world
so why let them into your living room via a keyboard.

We understand the reasons Dicksy – you have bigger fish to fry than sit
around puttng up with such nonsense.

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Olympic Stadium: £200,000 is better than nothing!
Posted by Sean Whetstone on September 6, 2015 in Sean's Blogs, Whispers
C AND H

A newspaper revealed today that the London Legacy Development Corporation
(LLDC) will only receive a £200,000 profit from the Olympic Stadium.

The Mail on Sunday exclusively revealed that internal LLDC paperwork shows
they expect to make a profit of only £200,000 in 2016-17 from all activity
at the Olympic Stadium. That will include not just from West Ham games but
athletics events, concerts and probably some rugby, baseball and motor
sport.

This news shouldn't come as a complete shock to many as the LLDC CEO David
Goldstone recently revealed at a London Assembly budget committee that the
former Olympic Stadium was only planned to break even on it's running costs
so a £200,000 profit would be a bonus on his previous statement. Mr
Goldstone also revealed that the cost of rebuilding the Olympic Stadium will
recovered from the wider redevelopment of the Olympic Stadium and not
necessarily from the stadium itself.

Weeds2Although the figure of £702m is widely reported as the cost of the
Olympic Stadium, you have to remember that the first £430m was the cost of
building the Olympic Stadium for the London Olympics and therefore nothing
to do with West Ham or other legacy uses. Around another £56m was set aside
in the Olympic Stadium budget to convert the Stadium post games to a 25,000
seater Athletics stadium so the real difference to build a multi use Stadium
which includes football is £199m.

The wider development of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic park is expected to
bring in up to £1 billion over time while the London Olympics itself has
estimated to contribute up to £3 billion to the UK Economy so there is no
reason why the taxpayers will not receive a return on their investment long
term. Unfortunately West Ham seem to get mentioned in every headline like it
somehow our fault or we are to blame for the costs to the taxpayer.

Without West Ham, the Stadium would be a white elephant with weeds growing
in it like the Athens Olympic Stadium pictured above. West Ham's 99 year
agreement with E20 Stadium LLP will help bring money, jobs and worldwide
recognition to the Stadium and wide Olympic park. It will help underpin the
success and prosperity of the whole area.

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Burke scores for Bradford
Posted by Sean Whetstone on September 6, 2015 in Videos, Whispers
C AND H

Hammer Reece Burke scored his first goal for Bradford City on loan on
Saturday afternoon in a 2-1 win over Oldham. The 19-year-old moved to
Bradford on loan until September 20th 2015, Burke opened the scoring with a
goal in the 21st minute. Following the match Burke took to Twitter posting a
message sayinh: "Glad we got the 3 points today also buzzing to score my
first senior goal! On to the next one."

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Bilic prepares Toon triple whammy
Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on September 6, 2015 in News, Whispers
C AND H

Slaven Bilic looks set to unleash his three new boys against Newcastle next
Monday. With so much excitement in the transfer window it's deeply
frustrating to be travelling through an international break. And it's even
annoying to have to wait until after next weekend before having a possible
chance to assess the impact our new signings may have on the Premier League.
However, we have reports that Nikicia Jelavic, Mchail Antonio, and Victor
Moses (above) are all fit and training with the first team squad. David Gold
– in reporting the news – told ClaretandHugh: "It's very exciting. The three
are looking sharp and with Andy Carroll set to be available we finally look
to be over several of our problems. "We can't wait for the Newcastle game."

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http://vyperz.blogspot.com




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