Daily WHUFC News - 29th August 2017

Bilic: Hard work, handling pressure and potential recruitment
WHUFC.com

Slaven Bilic says 'bad times' like West Ham United's current predicament
need to bring out the best in his management. The Hammers sit bottom of the
Premier League table after three consecutive defeats to start the season at
Manchester United, Southampton and Newcastle United. Speaking after
Saturday's 3-0 reverse at St James' Park, Bilic again lamented the mistakes
that led to the opponents' goals, but knows actions on the training pitch
and in the home opener with Huddersfield Town on Monday 11 September will
speak louder than words. "We have had three games and three defeats," he
began. "Again, we conceded three goals so of course I feel pressure. Of
course, we can say they were three away games but we have no points and we
don't look good. "I hate it [when we make mistakes] but this is a job about
good times and bad times, and you have to show your quality as a manager
more in the bad times than in the good times. So, we have to work very hard
to come out of this situation. I've done it before, of course, and I have to
do it again." "I talked to the guys after the game and I said 'Nobody can
take us out of this situation but ourselves'. There is no other thing to do
than to work hard, to dig in and for us to show the quality we have got on
paper, on the pitch."

Bilic was asked if he will try to remedy the situation by delving into the
transfer market, which closes on Thursday, but he insisted a last-gasp
recruitment drive was not necessarily the answer. "It's not about the
transfer window," he said. "OK, we were looking for one more player, but we
had done a good job on paper in the transfer window. "We made a good squad,
a squad which looked good enough to have a good season. OK, it's still early
in the season, but it's not about the transfer window. It wasn't because of
one player – we didn't look good as a team."

Reflecting further on Saturday's loss, Bilic pointed to defensive errors and
the Magpies' counter-attacking abilities as the major reasons for
Newcastle's victory.
"They were better in the second balls and the transitions and they were
hurting us, to be fair. Then, in the second half, we looked good up until
the second goal and we had a chance and it maybe looked like we were going
to score a goal and turn the game around. "Then we made another mistake in
an area where it is dangerous and they were better than us. The whole game
they were better than us, even though they didn't create anything up until
the first goal. "We knew they didn't have magicians in the middle of the
park, but they were getting second balls and were really good in the
transitions after they were getting them. They totally deserved it."

West Ham return to Premier League action after the international break at
London Stadium on Monday 11 September at 8pm.

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Kemp on wonder-goal v Swansea City: 'I've never scored anything like that!'
WHUFC.com

Dan Kemp has admitted his shock at seeing his long-range effort find the
back of the net in West Ham United U23's 5-2 victory over Swansea City. The
Hammers bested the Swans thanks to strikes from Kemp. Nathan Holland, Toni
Martinez and Grady Diangana but it was the No7's effort that earned gasps of
awe from the supporters at the Chigwell Construction Stadium. With the Irons
leading 3-1 from the first-half Swansea goalkeeper Gregor Zabret found
himself in no man's land after clearing the ball, which fell straight to
Kemp. The 18-year-old showed incredible composure to then launch the ball
over the shot-stopper and into the far corner of the net from around 40
yards. Kemp has now confessed to never scoring a goal from such distance
before but admits he was always going to take the shot once the chance
presented itself. "I knew the 'keeper was out of his goal," Kemp explained
to whufc.com: "As soon as the ball fell to me I didn't have a second
thought. I just decided to have a go and I was buzzing when I saw it go in.
"I've never scored anything like that before! Certainly not from that range.
I'm just delighted that it went in and I got to continue my goalscoring run.
That's three goals for me now and I'm thrilled."

Kemp's finish was the stand-out moment in an action-packed encounter on
Sunday with seven goals between the two sides. Terry Westley's Hammers
controlled the game for large portions and got their reward with five
finishes, and Kemp has praised the manner of the victory. He added: "All the
lads are buzzing. It was a great win and it was a great performance to go
with it as well. It's so important to perform in this way. We're so
pleased."

Kemp's goal and an assist caps a brilliant week for the winger with the No7
also called up to play for the England U19s for matches against Poland and
Germany at the start of September. Kemp is hoping to carry his excellent
West Ham United form onto the international stage next week. "To score such
a goal and get an assist sends me away for international duty on a high.
Winning with the team in this way gives me a lot of confidence and I can't
wait to meet up with the England boys and hopefully get some good wins with
them as well."

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Ray: West Ham United Ladies dug deep to claim exciting Cardiff victory
WHUFC.com

West Ham United Ladies general manager Karen Ray has hailed the work-rate
shown by the team in Sunday's 4-3 win over Cardiff City Ladies. Two goals
from Paige Anderson-James and strikes from Amber Stobbs and Molly Peters was
enough for the West Ham United Ladies to overcome the tough test Cardiff
presented in an entertaining encounter at Rush Green. Sunday's match was a
roller-coaster of emotion as the Hammers twice conceded the lead and even
went behind before scoring two goals in the final 17 minutes to secure a
victory. Ray is delighted with the battling spirit the Ladies team showed in
sweltering conditions and believes the dominance displayed by West Ham ended
in the result the team deserved.

"We are very pleased with today's performance," Ray told whufc.com: "The
Ladies showed a great reaction and really dug deep despite making it hard
for ourselves at times. "Yet again we were the most dominate team and
created many opportunities in the final third. We know we need to be more
clinical. However, you cannot take away from the quality of the finishes
today and the creative build up. "The work rate on a very hot day was
phenomenal. Some of our link up and combination play was excellent, but
admittedly I am a perfectionist so I want us to see the score-line we
deserve."

West Ham United had taken the lead thanks to Anderson-James in the 15th
minutes but Cardiff levelled the match just four minutes later. Stobbs
scored a magnificent effort mid-way through the first half as she lobbed a
stranded Cardiff City goalkeeper, giving the Irons a 2-1 lead at half-time,
but just three minutes after the restart the south Wales side were level
again. West Ham United Ladies fell behind for the first time on 58 minutes
but Peters restored spirit and momentum to the home team with a clinical
finish on 73 minutes. And Anderson-James secured a fantastic win for the
Hammers when her header found the net from a Stobbs cross. Ray has also paid
tribute to the West Ham United fans in attendance at Rush Green on Sunday,
praising their involvement in the 4-3 win and the journey the Ladies team is
undertaking. Ray added: "We have a young squad who continue to learn and
develop in a challenging environment and today we reaped some of the rewards
of patience, trust and belief in the journey we are on. "The crowd were
fantastic too, they really helped encourage the ladies to finish the game
with a win. We play for something far bigger than ourselves, we do this to
grow the game and the club so the young mascots from today can go on to be
professional in years to come. It's about the success of the club, not
individuals and everyone here now buys into that."

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Manuel Lanzini out of Argentina World Cup qualifiers
By Richard Cooke
Last Updated: 28/08/17 10:47pm
SSN

West Ham midfielder Manuel Lanzini has withdrawn from Argentina's squad for
their World Cup qualifiers with a knee injury. Lanzini missed West Ham's
first two Premier League matches of the new campaign after picking up the
knock in pre-season but he did return for Saturday's 3-0 defeat at Newcastle
as a second-half substitute. He was set to be involved in Argentina's
matches away at Uruguay on Friday followed by the home game against
Venezuela next Wednesday.
The 24-year-old's international career has only just got underway. He made
his debut against Brazil in June and then earned his first start under Jorge
Sampaoli as Argentina thrashed Singapore 6-0. Previous to that, Lanzini was
named in Argentina's provisional 35-man squad for the 2016 Olympics in Rio
but again it was a knee injury that forced him to pull out and he returned
to West Ham for treatment.

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BAD TIME FOR A CHANGE - HOW MUCH LONGER FOR SLAVEN ?
By HamburgHammer 28 Aug 2017 at 08:00
WTID

This post could be replaced fairly quickly during the course of the day
depending on the fallout from yesterday's meeting between the board and
Slaven Bilic.
Urgent crisis talks have been held (with further discussions scheduled for
today) to determine whether Bilic will get a few more games to turn things
around and save his skin or if this is the end of the road for him at West
Ham.

Apparently the board are concerned about Bilic's tactics and team selection
and frankly the league table is not a pretty sight right now and it doesn't
lie either, three games, three defeats, ten goals conceded, bottom of the
table. As a club we should and need to aim higher. Over the last few days
more and more critics of the manager have come out of the woodwork demanding
for Bilic to be sacked or walk himself if he wants to avoid the sack.

You all know my stance on Bilic. As a person I love the guy to bits, he is
an intelligent bloke, he seems to genuinely care about West Ham, he is a
good man, easy to root for, a leader with a certain aura and (for a while at
least) he had a good thing going at our club. But now things seem to have
taken a wrong turn putting us on a downward spiral past the point of no
return.

We have a decent team (much better than what the table would suggest
anyway), but our players look helpless out there on the pitch. There is not
a lot of running going on, there is hardly any creativity, we don't chase
the opposition enough, we are second best in most statistics and, as Bilic
has admitted himself, we look awful right now with or without the ball.

Not good. I'm sure Bilic must have an idea of how he wants his team to play.

But either his players don't understand what this gameplan is or are
unwilling (or unable) to follow that gameplan. Funnily enough there is a
similar situation at my beloved Concordia too where the football is going
backwards as well after hiring a new manager last season.

The manager here also seems to have a clear picture in his mind of a certain
style of football, but just like at West Ham it only takes a quick pass or
two to get past all the midfielders and defenders and score plenty of goals
against the Cordi boys.

You won't win many games of football if you concede three goals on average,
no matter if it's the Premier League or 5th level local football in Hamburg.
Yes, a lot of our goals come from individual mistakes, shocking ones at
that. Players need to take their fair share of blame for that, but as you
cannot sack an entire team that's underperforming it's obviously going to be
the manager eventually being shown the door as the easiest option to
kickstart your season.

I don't see a way back for Bilic unfortunately although I would have loved
to see him as our manager for many more years, because in my view he was
pretty much perfect for our club, but the Premier League is a shark tank and
once you have shown a weakness and the fans, rivals and club owners smell
blood there usually is only one solution.
Looks like Bilic's race here is run.

Before we talk about the potential replacements who are being rumoured to
take over from Bilic, let me be crystal clear about my skepticism that
things will suddenly be all rosy and peachy in a West Ham Wonderland after
the arrival of a new manager, the owners are still the same, the modus
operandi in our transfer dealings will not change and certain aspects of our
training ground will remain.

I was shocked to read that apparently there still is no ice bath facility
available at our Rush Green training complex. Bearing in mind the number of
injuries suffered by our players one would imagine certain basic features
being in place at our club to help minimise the number and impact of certain
injuries.
Also it didn't help to play the first four games of the season all away from
home which contributed to the dire situation we're finding ourselves in.

I suppose that comes with the package of only renting a stadium, not owning
it. But we were told that West Ham games would always take priority over
other stuff that happens in our "home" stadium, well, unless it involves
athletics obviously, especially when converting the seats back into football
mode takes about a week, not 48 hours.
Which can happen if you install demountable seating by mistake instead of
proper retractable seating. This is so NOT next level…but I digress.

Replacing the manager can only be one step in our efforts to become a bigger
and better club from top to bottom, the owners have to do their bit too. The
timing of course is very unfortunate if we were to bring in a new manager
today or later this week. With the transfer window closing shut later this
week ideally you would want to see 2-3 more signings, considering the number
of players who have left our club already. Our squad looks threadbare and
unbalanced at this point which will hopefully be addressed in the next few
days, regardless of the manager situation. But do you sign new players when
you cannot even be sure if the new man in charge will actually want and use
them ?

Anyway, first candidate as our new gaffer is Rafa Benitez. At one point two
years ago we were apparently just a few minutes away from nailing down his
signing before he changed his mind and chose Real Madrid instead which took
nobody by surprise really, apart from our owners probably.
It looks like we could sign him now from Newcastle after all if we pay them
a £5 million release fee. The Spaniard no doubt is an experienced head, he
has won cups, titles and trophies in Spain, Italy and England (including the
Champions League of course), so he knows how to manage and win at big clubs.

I have no doubt he could organise our back four into a solid unit again and
drum some tactical discipline into our players to stop us leaking goals
left, right and center. Benitez teams in general are hard to beat which most
fans will be happy enough with at this point. On the other hand former
players of his like Jamie Carragher claim that he is not exactly a great
motivator for the players.
Then again I feel that there is something fundamentally wrong if a Premier
League player looks to his manager for motivational skills in order to be
sharp and up for it.

The next candidate would keep the Balkan theme at West Ham alive and
kicking, with Serbian Slavisa Jokanovic replacing our current Croatian
manager.
Jokanovic is currently managing Fulham and while The Cottagers have started
their Championship season in indifferent fashion so far (6 points from a
possible 15) I understand that he has established a style of football at
Fulham that's both modern and pleasing on the eye.

A bit of a groundhopper as a player (playing for 8 clubs in his career,
spending no longer than 2 years at either of them) he also managed at some
interesting clubs so far, Partizan Belgrade, Muangthong United (Thailand),
Levski Sofia and Hercules (the club, not the divine hero), before managing
Watford and Maccabi Tel Aviv.
He has kept Fulham in the Championship before then reaching last season's
playoff places.

The biggest plus apparently is his technical flexibility, he allows his
teams to play and switch to different formations, according to which players
are at his disposal for any given game and the style, strengths and
weaknesses of the opposition. So, not just Plan A, but also Plan B, C, D and
E.
His general approach is attack minded and possession based, with an emphasis
on supporting the strikers from both wings. As a consequence Fulham are very
dangerous attacking with the ball, much less so when defending. In that
respect he doesn't look like the answer to West Ham's defensive shenanigans
at this point.

Another name in the hat appears to be that of Marco Silva, the current
Watford gaffer who West Ham apparently were interested in signing earlier
this summer, if you believe certain rumours. Silva, being a young manager,
hasn't been around for long, but he certainly has turned a few heads and is
very much flavour of the month among various pundits. He has managed at
Estoril, Sporting, Olympiacos and Hull before. Apart from his Estoril reign
(3 years) he has never stayed more than one season at his previous clubs
which seems to indicate that he moved to another club whenever reaching
another level or opportunity.

The Portuguese football tactician has been known to be a proper teacher to
his players, constantly talking to them about organisation, using space on
the pitch and movement to enable them to make the best decision in crucial
on-field situations whenever they arise. Many West Ham fans will be happy to
hear that Silva's approach is very much focused on keeping clean sheets
first and foremost, with attacking prowess taking a backseat, unless it's a
counter attack.

While managing in Greece the fans there even joked that Silva was so set in
his ways of attacking on the counter that he sometimes told his players to
deliberately give the ball to the opposition in order to win it back again
and go on the counter attack.

Either way the next few days at West Ham will be busy and interesting,
though not necessarily exciting or overwhelmingly positive.

Will Bilic really leave his post this week already and will his replacement
be ready straight away ? Will we make more signings in the next few days ?
Will we get the Carvalho deal over the line after all ?
And will we be able to get some decent training sessions under our belt
during the international break, so the players are in significantly better
shape physically and mentally for our first home game of the season ?

All we can do as fans at this stage is wait, see and drink a nice hot cuppa
from our favourite West Ham themed mug. COYI!

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THE DAVID GOLD INTERVIEW
By Sean Whetstone 28 Aug 2017 at 17:00
WTID

I write this column on a sunbed by the pool in Costa Del Sol. From a selfish
point of view, I have no problem with playing the first four games away from
home. It means for once I don't miss the first home game of the season
because of a family holiday and I miss all the train chaos around South West
Trains engineering works at Waterloo over August.

I have of course been watching all the games from Spain as the international
coverage is much more widespread than our domestic showings so I don't need
to miss a second of the action from my sunny family holiday. When the third
goal went in at Newcastle I droned by sorrows by diving in the deep end of
the pool. I even managed to record our West Ham podcast Moore Than Just A
Podcast from Spain thanks to a great new technology called Zencastr so it
sounds like I am still in the room with George, John and Nigel.

Just before I jetted off to Spain I spoke to West Ham Co Chairman David Gold
for an hour long exclusive interview just one day before West Ham kicked off
their Premier League season. We talked about a range of subjects and Gold
took the opportunity to clarify comments he made on social media about West
Ham's youth players.

In June the Joint Chairman said on twitter

"It's hard for a teenager to break into the first team and it becomes even
harder as the first team gets better but they are, not teenagers forever.
dg"
Gold started by telling me:

"Just remember what I said, I simply said and I put in brackets 'teenagers'
Teenagers breaking into the first team in the Premier League, the greatest
league in the world is difficult, I never said it was impossible, I said it
was difficult but that's not to say when you get to 20 or 21 it starts to
Moorethanget a bit easier. If you take the first game of the season on
Friday night you look at that game and tell me how many teenagers were
playing in that game, I don't know but I am pretty confident that they were
no teenagers playing in that game, were there 20 year old's? well possible
but that is not a teenager, a teenager is 17, 18 or 19."
"I think we have one of the best group of young players (at West Ham) for a
long, long time without me being specific, some have come have gone through
the academy, some have been bought in but we have some very exciting young
players, but are they going to get in the team at 17,18 or 19 ? I doubt it
but what they are being groomed to give them the opportunity to break into
our team when they get in their twenties and they we will see them blossom"
Asked about the age old question whether he would sell up he replied:

"I think David Sullivan has made it clear that he has no desire to sell his
shares, I have made it clear time and time again that I have no desire to
sell my shares.
"My love and passion in my life all revolve around West Ham, I have achieved
many different things in my life and the most driving force in my life is my
football club, our football club. Why would I sell? It's my life, If I sell,
what do I do? Go fishing? I just love the involvement, I have fulfilled my
wildest dreams."
"Here I am now a joint owner with my friend and colleague. Why would I want
to sell? The only time you would sell is in the event that you believed a
buyer could do a better job than you but at the moment we are doing a decent
job.We have never had an offer, we have never had a situation where for the
best interest of the football club we should sell, that has never occurred."
"Until that happens we don't have an issue, even then I would want and I am
sure David (Sullivan) would want also to be part of a new regime if ever
there was such a thing but right now we are very very happy and we think we
are doing OK. It is difficult, we have probably been through the most
traumatic event in probably the history of our football club in migrating to
a new stadium and we think we are doing OK"
Embed from Getty Images

Eighty-year-old Gold also mapped out his succession plan whilst doing
everything possible to live until he is 100. Asked the question he said:

"The situation would be that my daughters would inherit my shares as indeed
young David Sullivan and young Jack will"
"Jack is clearly being groomed as you can see and his passion for the
football club is quite clear, my daughters are business women and their
contribution in the future I think would be very valuable and I could see
both the Sullivan boys and the Gold girls forming a board that would be well
balanced.
"Don't forget my daughters are passionate fans as well. They have obviously
got responsibilities of running Ann Summers the business but that wouldn't
preclude them from being on the board at West Ham at some time in the future
as the young Sullivans would part and parcel of it.This is how David
Sullivan and I see the succession but you never know, there is a long way to
go, hopefully, I am going to live to 100 and I am doing everything possible
to make sure that happens."
"They talk about West Ham being A family, the board is also a family when
you take the Sullivans and Golds, Its a family thing and with West Ham
claiming we are Moore Than A Football Club and you often hear Mark Noble
talk about the family, the West Ham family, I think that we are part and
parcel of that.
Gold explained the situation around the share holder loans David Sullivan
and himself have loaned the club and justified the interest they receive on
them saying the football club is better off while they are worst off from
the arrangement and he withdrew the money from other investments as he
didn't have the money lying under the bed contrary to popular belief. Gold
said:

"When we came into the club, the club had some very caustic debts where they
were paying interest at 10% and not only were they paying a high rate of
interest but they were caustic in the sense what could happen there is if
the club couldn't meet the repayments or the interest they could foreclose
and put the club in administration. If the debt is out debt, we are not
going to foreclose so we are a safer lender because we are only ever going
to take our repayments and don't forget if you go back to the original
(loan) these debts, the interest on these debts were at a very high rate.
The reason was, people didn't want to lend money to West Ham United football
club 10 years ago so the interest rates were very high. We replaced those
high-interest rates with a lower interest rate so the minute we put the
money in and paid off those debts, West Ham were paying 10% now West Ham
United football club, our football club is now only paying interest at 6%."
"To loan West Ham money, it wasn't money that was under the bed and gave to
West Ham and now we are earning 6%, that's not true. To be able to fund
those loans, I had to remove investments that were returning me 10% plus so
I cash in my investments that were showing me a 10% minimum and I loan that
money to West Ham at 6% so I am now 4% worse off, West Ham are 4% better off
because they were borrowing money at 10% and now they are borrowing at 6% so
the football club is better off, it is more secure, the only losers are
David Sullivan and myself because we are loaning money at a lower interest
than we were."
"These investments are basically the inherence of my daughters and I have a
responsibility to ensure that I am doing sensible things. I am not doing
what Mark Goldberg did, I am not doing what Simon Jordan did which to take
their wealth, pump it into the football club and wake up one morning and
their £36m that they sold their business for has disappeared. Now, what use
is Mark Goldberg's Crystal Palace, now what use is Simon's Jordan now to
Crystal Palace."

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Slaven Bilic given four games to save his job after West Ham's disastrous
start to the Premier League season
West Ham sit bottom of the Premier League without a point to their name -
and there could be changes on the horizon
The Mirror
BYNEIL MCLEMAN
22:30, 28 AUG 2017

Slaven Bilic has been given four more Premier League games to save his job
after West Ham's terrible start to the season. The East London club sit
bottom of the table with no points after conceding 10 goals in their first
three games. And the former Croatia coach has been told results must improve
when the Hammers return to play matches at the London Stadium next month.
The manager held his usual post-match debriefing with co-owner David
Sullivan on Monday to discuss the weekend defeat at Newcastle – and ways to
turn around the season. West Ham have played their first four matches way
from home after the World Athletics Championships were staged at the London
Stadium. And starting with newly-promoted Huddersfield on Monday September
9, the Hammers will play three home Premier League games in September with
Tottenham and Swansea also visiting. They also play at West Brom as well and
have a home Carabao Cup tie against Bolton before the next international
break. Mirror Football revealed last week that the West Ham board were
already looking at alternatives to Bilic, who is in the last year of his
contract, after the Southampton defeat. The West Ham board are reluctant
sackers – and kept faith with Sam Allardyce and even Avram Grant ­during
troubled times.
And there is sympathy for Bilic because of having to start the season with
three away Premier League games as well as a pre-season injury to Manuel
Lanzini.
But the start is also seen as a worrying continuation to the poor form of
the last campaign. Bilic's side lost five straight matches in the spring and
finished the season with only three wins in the last 14 games to end 11th.
This summer there was no Europa League qualifying and West Ham had a better
transfer window but the results have not improved. Record signing Mark
Arnautovic was sent off in his second game while West Ham are still trying
to reach agreement for Sporting Lisbon midfielder William Carvalho. But
after the Newcastle game, Bilic admitted: "It's not about the transfer
window. "OK, we were looking for one more player, but we had done a good job
on paper in the transfer window. "We made a good squad, a squad which looked
good enough to have a good season. OK, it's still early in the season, but
it's not about the transfer window. It wasn't because of one player – we
didn't look good as a team."

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West Ham deliver ultimatum to Sporting Lisbon over William Carvalho as they
attempt to get price lowered
The Hammers are hoping to land Carvalho before Thursday's transfer deadline
- but for a reduced fee
The Mirror
BYJOHN CROSS
22:30, 28 AUG 2017

West Ham have delivered an ultimatum to Sporting Lisbon over defensive
midfielder William Carvalho. The Hammers have bid £30million plus £5m in
add-ons – but the Portuguese club have moved the goalposts by increasing the
initial asking price to £40m. That has infuriated West Ham , who insist
their last offer is final and that they will not be held to ransom. The
Londoners have replied and said, 'Drop the price by £5m, or forget it'.
Portugal's Carvalho, 25, is now the only transfer target on their radar as
they look to back under-pressure boss Slaven Bilic.

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De Boer wants Fonte, Mirror say
BY LONDON FOOTBALL NEWS 28/08/2017

Crystal Palace boss Frank de Boer wants to bid for Jose Fonte in an attempt
to save his job, the Mirror say. The Dutchman is said to be keen to take
former Eagles defender Fonte, 33, back to Selhurst Park from West Ham.
Fonte, who had a two-year spell at Palace and joined West Ham from
Southampton earlier this year, has been overlooked by Slaven Bilic and there
has been speculation that he could move. It comes amid reports that both
Bilic and Palace boss De Boer are in danger of being sacked. West Ham
manager Bilic will reportedly hold talks with the club's co-owner David
Sullivan today and is said to be in danger of being fired after a poor start
to the season. The Sun also say De Boer could be shown the door after just
three matches in charge of Palace. It is claimed that Palace's players are
baffled by his tactics but that the Dutchman is refusing to change.
Meanwhile, Kevin Wimmer is set to undergo a medical ahead of a move from
Tottenham to Stoke City, the Mirror say. Palace were tipped to sign the
Austrian defender and West Brom showed an interest. The Mirror say Stoke
have agreed a deal with Spurs and will pay £15m plus a further £3m in
add-ons.

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Sky Sports presenter releases personal statement on 'Rafa Benitez joining
West Ham' story
Pete Graves of Sky Sports explains why Rafa Benitez could join West Ham and
why criticism from Newcastle fans has been unfair.
TheMag.co.uk
2 hours ago by Jackie Smithfield

Sky Sports presenter Pete Graves has felt compelled to release his own
personal statement on the rumours surrounding the future of Rafa Benitez.
Pete Graves happens also to be a big Newcastle United fan and admits to
feeling hurt after receiving personal criticism for covering the story on
Sky Sports. Following Newcastle's 3-0 win over the Hammers, Sky Sports
reported that a high up source at West Ham had said the position of Slaven
Bilic was under threat due to no points after three matches and the dismal
nature of the defeat at St James Park. The reports also said that West Ham
remained big admirers of Rafa Benitez and Sky revealed that the Newcastle
manager has a buyout clause, with that figure somewhere over £5m.

Using Facebook, Pete Graves explained (see below) exactly why he thinks Rafa
Benitez 'would have to consider any approach from the Hammers if it should
ever materialise'. However, he also says Rafa's 'Love for the fans is so
strong that I believe it could be enough to make him stay'. Pete Graves
urges Mike Ashley to fully back his manager and says that if he (Graves) was
owner of NUFC he'd be 'Giving Rafa Benitez everything he wants'.

Pete Graves on Facebook:

"There's something that's worried me since the day Rafa Benitez arrived at
Newcastle United. Something that has always been at the back of my mind. "A
nagging fear that one day a certain club might come in for him, and believe
it or not – that club was West Ham. "My heart sank a little last (Saturday)
night. The news reached us at Sky Sports News that West Ham were considering
the future of Slaven Bilic and that indeed Rafa Benitez would be top of
their potential list of suitors. Furthermore they were aware there was a
clause, a fairly significant one (more than £5m) but ultimately a way to
effectively buy Rafa Benitez out of Newcastle United. "But why are West Ham
the club that I've feared so long?? Why did I not blink when the links with
China and even Arsenal were reported in the national press? Well the reason
is, because Rafa has always maintained privately that he feels indebted to
West Ham and would have to consider any approach from the Hammers if it
should ever materialise and here's why;

"In 2015 Benitez was on the brink of becoming West Ham's manager. He'd
spoken to the owners and was planning for life at Upton Park. However at the
eleventh hour Real Madrid offered him the opportunity to move to the
Bernabeu and it was too good an offer to turn down. "What impressed Rafa so
much was the way the West Ham board accepted his decision. They understood
that the opportunity to manage Real Madrid was too much for a Spanish
manager to disregard and they gave Rafa their blessing and subsequently
appointed Slaven Bilic. The rest as they say is history and now we are where
we are…Bilic on the brink and Rafa in their thoughts.

"Now let's throw into the mix that Rafa has grown increasingly frustrated at
NUFC this summer. He wanted more investment and he's stood and watched while
even fellow 'promotees' Brighton and Huddersfield have spent significantly
more. Meanwhile West Ham have signed Joe Hart (a player Rafa wanted) and
submitted a bid of close to £40m for William Carvalho (another Rafa target).
Let that sink in…A 40 million pound bid for ONE player, that's more than
Newcastle have spent on six new arrivals so far. That's financial muscle.

"Only this week Rafa said that he no longer viewed NUFC as a long term
project…Not my words, the words of the manager, whilst he's also said he's
"signing the players he can, not the ones he wants". Needless to say the
positivity of last seasons's promotion has disintegrated. And Rafa is
clearly frustrated AND not afraid to tell the world. "Now let's consider
West Ham as a long term project. They have the Olympic Stadium, they are
based in London, in my opinion with the right manager at the helm they could
be challenging the 'big boys' in the next 3-5 years both on and off the
pitch. It's am attractive proposition on paper.

"Now, from a personal point of view, I was gutted to be roundly criticised
by lots of fellow NUFC fans for reporting the story both on air and online
last (Saturday) night. Let me say there's absolutely no agenda from me, so
to be accused of stirring things up or creating stories to disrupt the club
is absolutely ridiculous.
"I love Newcastle United and I have done all my life. As a family we've
still got our season tickets and I travel home and away as often as I can.
Not in the press box but with the fans…I pay for my tickets, I write a
column in the Newcastle United program and let me clear this up once and for
all, I receive no money for this column at all and am not 'on the payroll'
as has been thrown at me in the past.

"I fully understand that rumours of other clubs circling are not easy to
stomach…I know this because I feel exactly the same, but sadly this story
has legs and as someone who works as a sports reporter, but is also actively
aware that the majority of my 'followers' etc are Newcastle fans, I felt it
was my duty to keep you informed with the very latest concerning our
manager. Although I'm sorry that in this instance the news was slightly
concerning.

"Finally this is anything but a done deal and there is still a massive
reason why Rafa Benitez could very well stay at Newcastle United for years
to come and continue to fight for the club…and that reason is quite simply
you lot, the fans. Rafa Benitez could manage for the next one thousand years
and he'll never receive the adoration that he currently receives on
Tyneside. He knows that and his family knows that!

"He can walk on water in Newcastle and rightly so! Subsequently it would
really hurt him to walk away from those loyal Geordie supporters that he's
grown so fond of and this will be forefront in his thinking. His love for
the fans is so strong that I believe it could be enough to make him stay,
but he needs more support financially. Yesterday's brilliant 3-0 win (over
West Ham) and the atmosphere in the ground will also help!

"As we stand today, Slaven Bilic remains West Ham manager and Rafa Benitez
very much the manager of Newcastle United. However if I was the owner of
Newcastle I'd be giving Rafa Benitez everything he wants starting with more
financial muscle in the remaining days of the transfer window. However sadly
I'm not.

"Thoughts welcome. HWTL."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
BT Sport pundits get heated during debate over Slaven Bilic's West Ham
future
The four pundits on the satellite channel were discussing the Hammers heavy
defeat at Newcastle
Football London
BYSAM INKERSOLE
21:00, 28 AUG 2017

BT Sport pundits Robbie Savage, Owen Hargreaves and Rio Ferdinand all agreed
that Slaven Bilic should be given more time to turn things around at West
Ham despite the protestations of presenter Jake Humphrey. The panel were
discussing West Ham's 3-0 defeat on Premier League Tonight over the weekend
and the topic of Bilic's struggling Hammers side came up and was debated.
The Hammers have lost three Premier League games on the spin to start the
season and find themselves planted to the bottom of the table as we head
into the first international break of the season. After Humphrey questioned
the pundits on Bilic and his record of three wins in 17 games and four in
the past 24, here were there resonses.

Robbie Savage

After three games, you'd question your manager? You'd be one of those
sitting there saying he's got to go after three games? That's ridiculous.
Under Sam Allardyce, who did a great job, they got 46 points. Under Bilic
they got 67 points last season, now they move stadium, 11th last season,
what do the West Ham fans expect?

Rio Ferdinand

How much has he spent in this window, £40m? You're going sack him after
three games? You've got to give him time after investing that money to go
and prove it was worth it.

Owen Hargeaves

The pieces of the puzzle are there for West Ham, no question. If they have
their best team fit and healthy, they will be mid table, 10th or maybe 12th.
But with Michail Antonio having been out, Andy Carroll too, Cresswell missed
time, issues in goal - the balance of the side is wrong.

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http://vyperz.blogspot.com