Sunday, June 5

Ex-WHUEmployee Column

EXWHUEMPLOYEE EXCLUSIVE COLUMN: MYSTERY WINGER REVEALED AND WHO ELSE IS
LIKELY TO JOIN?
BY EXWHUEMPLOYEE ON 5 JUNE 2016 AT 10:09PM
TheWestHamWay.co.uk

So another week and no players have arrived. This is not something that we
need to panic about because already we have brought in Nordvteit, who is a
massive signing. When speaking to my mate who works at Arsenal Academy, he
said he was brilliant there and that Wenger was desperate to bring him back
before we secured his signature this summer! Martinez the Spanish signing
and Quina will be useful additions for both the future and Europe. Both of
these transfers were brought exclusively by us at The West Ham Way, way
before others and we are doing our best to keep our finger on the transfer
pulse.

It is clear that we want to sign a forward and an offer did go in for Bacca!
However, he is currently playing in the Copa America and has a number of
offers on the plate and will not make a decision until after this tournament
has ended. I don't think we are overly hopeful on pulling this deal off. We
have an interest in both Toulouse forwards and their links with the agent
Mark McKay could prove pivotal (Braithwaite and Ben Yedder). Another player
we have watched is Vincent Jannsen, who plays for Az in Holland. We are
warming to players proving themselves from Holland, now Pelle, Bony and
others have done so. Calleri has said this week he is going to get an
Italian passport for his move to Europe and despite his dad saying he is
joining Spurs (which I don't believe is true); I know we are still keen too!
I am aware that I am mentioning a number of names here, but it is genuinely
the case there are others that I have mentioned in previous columns and
chosen not to here.

David Sullivan works non-stop trying to get the right names in and is very
frustrated. On the eve of two major tournaments (Euro 2016 and Copa
America), it is never a good time to sign a player! Benteke continues to be
a situation that we will monitor closely too. We are not close to signing
any of these players at this point though. One forward who will not be
joining us though is Vardy he has turned us down for Arsenal. He is expected
to join them tomorrow. We did speak to the player but he didn't ever seem
that keen and demanded very high wages and didn't show a real desire to play
here whereas he seems to be excited by the Arsenal offer.

Sakho to Sunderland was a strange story of this week. Whilst it does appear
Sunderland have some interest in the player they obviously do not trust him
to stay fit. The deal was very heavily weighted around appearances and we
know his injury record too. Whether Sakho would even want to go there is
another question and rumours of him demanding to leave by preseason are
rubbish. If we do not sign at least two quality forwards Sakho will remain
at the club. We are set to announce the players who will be leaving at the
end of their contracts soon and it will free up a lot of wages. All of these
players I have mentioned in previous columns so I will not repeat it again.

Bilic wants to sign two wingers, with Tore being his first choice and the
club will do all they can to sign him. At this point the deal isn't close
at all because his club know how keen we are, so are trying to make more
money out of us than we want to pay! DS is hopeful that Tore will be signed
for Bilic eventually and of course he is not featuring in the Euros, which
is handy.

We want to sign another winger who will not cost as much as Tore. This
player who Jack Sullivan mentioned is Sofiane Feghouli another name that we
have brought you previously. The player is on holiday at the moment but as
Jack has said we hope to tie a deal up after that. He is an Algerian
international (although born in France) who plays for Valencia. He is a very
skilful winger and he is likely to be available for a free transfer I
believe due to his contract expiring. I can say that despite us being
interested a few months ago; N'Koudou of Marseille is not a target at this
point. There has been a lot of interest in him from other clubs and
therefore his price has been driven up. We will not be moving for Townsend
either despite another agent reporting this because he is close to joining
another Premiership team.

We are now interested in more wingers than we were before as our right back
options all seem to be unlikely to happen now. Van der Weil seems likely to
join Roma, Gokhan Gonul has a number of offers on the table as well. We do
rate the Wolves right back Dominic Iorfa but he will cost a fair amount of
money and at the moment Bilic is happy to stick and develop the right back
options he currently has rather than gamble on unproven players.

Many clubs are showing an interest in Reece Burke and we have a real
challenge on our hands to keep him! He impressed so much at Bradford and
his contract expires in January. We want to keep him, he loves the club but
he is conscious of the competition he faces this year and we hope to get him
to sign a deal.

This week I took a lot of stick for saying Manchester United had launched a
bid for Oxford. If I could say who the sources were on this (three of
them), you would understand why I said it. In translation the offer seems
to have been fabricated by an agent in close circles, as a way of making us
as a club panic and offer him a much higher deal than before. These clubs
are still interested in him and have had "chats" with his agent, although
his future is yet to be decided and no official bid has come in for the
player. The club hope he will sign a new deal soon and will do all they can
to make it happen.

Speaking of Manchester United, whilst Bilic and the club obviously recognise
the talents of Mata, his wages and the transfer fee for a player who plays
in a very similar role to Payet and Lanzini means the deal is very unlikely
to ever happen.

Ante Coric a young 19 year old Croatian who Bilic is very aware of is
someone that we could sign for the future in that position and possibly
another addition to our development squad. We have sent scouts to watch him
a few times now.

One thing to remember with this window is that it is constantly changing and
there are so many dominos effects of transfer deals. I spoke to Dave
Sullivan Jnr this week who said how flat out dad works on these deals and
that he is often left frustrated and unsure what is happening himself at
times. Rest assured no one cares more than our chairman about getting the
best players in.

Working 9-5 in a job unrelated to West Ham I am unable to know the ins and
outs of every deal that happens on an hourly basis. I do my best to bring
news as I hear it and I always verify it through more than one source but
there will be times when this news changes without my knowledge. Under no
circumstance do I try to mislead fans, I just try to bring news that I
believe to be accurate and hopefully my three year track record has done
enough to prove, that most of the time, it is reliable.

As a site we are continuing to look for ways to grow and expand and we
believe now is the perfect time to do it. I am delighted to announce that
Baz Cox will be running our West Ham Way TV at Away games. Baz is a twitter
sensation who has built up a good relationship with the players especially
Mark Noble who he was caught on camera singing a one direction tribute to.
Baz and his mates will be attending most away games including ones on our
European tour and we are delighted to have him on board. Please feel free to
speak to him about featuring in forth coming videos. George Allen will still
produce all the videos and Evan Jones will continue to be our home game
host. Having two presenters both with very large personalities gives us a
lot of scope for future videos.

I would also like to say a big shout out to West Ham fan TV who we get on
very well with and who set the bar very high for these videos. We are in no
way trying to be competition to them but are aiming to work together on many
future projects. As a site I have had one massive meeting and have another
set for this week. Last week's has brought an extremely exciting feature for
us which we will be launching in July. I will bring more news on this in the
future but it is definitely the first of its kind, like our apps were when
we released those in April. The Apps are due to be updated when Matthew
Kirk, our IT man, returns from holiday and they should be even better than
before. We will be adding our forum and our downloads feature this week to
the website too. One last plug! Our fanzine is almost sold out so please
get yourself a copy where there will be many exclusive articles and features
only to be found there.

It's been a great day, and I have a few beers, I intend to finish the job
off. COYI

Daily WHUFC News - 5th June 2016

From the Boardroom
WHUFC.com

Joint-Chairman David Gold says co-operation is vital to the continued
success of the English Premier League…

Hello everyone,

I spent last Thursday and Friday at the Premier League Annual General
Meeting in Harrogate, where I was joined by my fellow Chairmen and Chief
Executives from the 19 other clubs.

The Premier League goes from strength to strength, it is as simple as that,
both in terms of its success and the fantastic work that it does for so many
good causes that we all sign up to.

Most of what we discussed has to remain private, but we did receive
interesting presentations from our broadcast partners Sky Sports and NBC
Sports from the United States.

One thing I can tell you is that the meeting culminated with the
presentation of the four Premier League trophies – the senior title to
Leicester City, the U21 Premier League trophy to Manchester United, the U18
Premier League trophy to Manchester City and of course the U21 Premier
League Cup to ourselves!

It had not occurred to me that I would be presented with the Cup, so I was
so excited to receive it when it was announced that the winners were West
Ham United.

To get up in front of all the Chairmen and Chief Executives was wonderful
and well done to our U21s and to our Academy Director Terry Westley.
Congratulations to Terry and the lads, because it was great to win the Cup
when we beat Hull and a great moment for me personally on Thursday evening.

The Premier League is all about collaboration and promoting the league
around the world and that's what makes it the greatest league on the planet.
It's important that we continue to attract the best players from around the
world.

Our meeting is very much about discussing whether we are doing the right
things, what we can do better and what we can improve, whether that be the
technology to help match officials, the behaviour of our players or the
facilities we provide our supporters.

All those kind of things are part and parcel of what the Premier League do
to ensure we deliver a product which is the best in the world.

I mentioned there about the Premier League attracting the best players and
the summer transfer window is almost upon us.

Our aim, as it has been every year, is to get stronger as a football club,
both on the pitch and in terms of our fan base.

Of course we receive income from our broadcast deals and sponsors, but a
huge part of our success is down to our supporters. Who could have believed
we would sell out a 60,000-capacity stadium, but we've done it!

The fans play a big part in the strength of a football club. We need a
decent Board, a manager with passion and a will to win and players who want
to go that extra mile, but we have those things coming together at the same
time that we're experiencing.

We have plucked gems out of the French league and the Championship in the
past year and we will be looking to do likewise again this summer.

What we have to ensure now is that we keep that momentum going when we move
to the new Stadium, and that means we will be bringing in some new players
to replace the four loan players who have left us – Carl Jenkinson, Victor
Moses, Emmanuel Emenike and Alex Song. Our intention is to replace them with
better quality.

Of course we have already shown our intent by bringing in Havard Nordtveit,
a talented Norwegian player who our fans will enjoy.

The other part of this which is coming together is the group of youth
players coming through the ranks – Reece Oxford and Reece Burke are two of
the most-talented young defenders coming through in this country.

Then you have Martin Samuelsen who made his full international debut this
week and I hope it is only a matter of time before he emerges into the first
team.

We didn't win the U21 Cup I was presented with on Thursday because we have
poor players – it is because they are special young players and I look
forward to seeing their continued development.

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Collins' Wales and Valencia's Ecuador in action
WHUFC.com

Wales will be hosted by Sweden in their final fixture prior to UEFA Euro
2016 on Sunday and West Ham defender James Collins could be involved.

The 32-year-old, who played six times in qualifying for the tournament as
Wales finished second behind Belgium in Group B, last played for his country
in November and will be keen to get some minutes behind him before the
tournament starts.

The mouth-watering clash in Selna, which pits two world superstars – Gareth
Bale and Zlatan Ibrahimovic – against each other, will act as a warm-up game
for both sides prior to this summer's tournament, which begins on 10 June.
The game kicks-off at 3pm UK time.

Hammers man Collins hopes to be a key part of Chris Coleman's squad during
their campaign which kicks-off against Slovakia in Bordeaux on 11 June.

The Dragons then, of course, face England in a huge tie in Lens, before
completing their Group B fixtures against Russia in Toulouse.

Also set to be in action on Sunday is West Ham striker Enner Valencia, whose
Ecuador side take on Brazil in their opening Copa America tie.

The Yellows will contest Haiti and Peru as well as the Brazilians in Group B
for a place in the knockout stages of the competition held in the USA.

Valencia, who has scored 14 times in 24 appearances for his country, has
started Ecuador's last three games and found the net against Paraguay in
March.

Neither side can boast terrific recent form however, with two wins apiece
from their last five games respectively.

The match, which kicks-off at 3am UK time, will be played in the Rose Bowl
stadium in Pasadena, California, and the tournament is the first Copa
America to be held outside South America.

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West Ham striker Diafra Sakho wants future clarified amid Sunderland bid,
say Sky sources
By Sky Sports News HQ
Last Updated: 04/06/16 11:02pm
SSN

West Ham striker Diafra Sakho wants a swift resolution on his future, Sky
sources understand. On Friday, 26-year-old Sakho, who scored seven goals for
the Hammers last season, was the subject of an £11m bid from Sunderland.
Sunderland boss Sam Allardyce knows Sakho well, having signed the player
during his time as West Ham boss from French side Metz in the summer of
2014. The Senegal international scored 12 goals in his first season,
finishing as the club's top goal scorer. Sources close to the player have
told Sky Sports News HQ that Sakho is looking for clarity regarding his
future, adding the player would like to start pre-season with the club he
will be playing for next season. Sakho is aware that West Ham have made
several offers for other strikers and it is understood that he hopes any
move away from the club can be concluded as swiftly as possible.

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Crowd safety concerns at the Olympic Stadium
Posted by Sean Whetstone on June 5, 2016 in News, Whispers
C and H

Some rock fans complained of safety concerns as nearly 80,000 AC/DC ticket
holders attempted to leave the Olympic Stadium around 10.30pm last night.
One music fan who is a journalist and a Spurs season ticket holder took to
social media to highlight the danger to the Premier League.

John Toner wrote "Safety at the Olympic Stadium dangerous. Closed the
majority of exits & were funnelling thousands into a handful of exits.Crush
only prevented when stewards opened extra gates. I was told I was 'drunk'
for wanting to use nearest exit. Crowd became angry and began scaling
barriers to escape. Scary and dangerous"

One West Ham messaged David Gold saying "Great venue but badly staffed,
couldn't get up walk ways, stewards apalling"

A Hull City fan complained about the massive queues outside the stadium for
the underground station saying "West Ham will love the tube queues at full
time on Matchday…" together which this picture below of the queues.

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West Ham odds to win the league tumble
Posted by Sean Whetstone on June 5, 2016 in News, Whispers
C and H

Premier League in the 2016/2017 season have tumbled this year as short as
66/1 which makes them eighth favourite to lift the trophy. Man City are the
favourites followed by Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea for the top
four. Spurs at fifth favorites followed by Liverpool and last season's
winners Leicester City in seventh before West Ham.

Leicester City were a massive 5000/1 chance last year and bookies took a
battering paying out millions of pounds to Leicester fans who bunged a
tenner of their team.

West Ham were placed as 1000/1 outsiders last year to win the league but our
odds shortened to 400/1 by November after they got a great start to the
season.

Just in case you think the bookies have placed everyone short odds. West
Brom, Watford, Middlesborough, Hull, Burnley, Bournemouth and Sunderland are
all 1500-1 to lift the Premier League title. Swansea are 1250-1 and Crystal
Palace 1000-1.

If you shop around you can still get 100-1 for West Ham to win the league
with some bookies including West Ham's shirt sponsors Betway.

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"We look better with Collins at the back"
Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on June 5, 2016 in News, Whispers
C and H

Big Ray Winstone knows what he's on a bout when it comes to the Hammers and
here he discusses what he reckons we need this summer. This frst appeared on
West Ham FC Tv and is well worth a watch!

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