Fans can get their hands on the 2008/09 home kit this week with pre-orders
being taken already
28.07.2008
Interest has been high for the new West Ham United home kit which is
available to pre-order instore and online before the official launch on
Wednesday 30 July.
The brand new Umbro strip is available exclusively via the club from the
Lakeside Shopping Centre and Boleyn Ground stores. To help fans young and
old and of all sizes get their hands on the kit that will be worn by Alan
Curbishley's men throughout the 2008/09 season, the Stadium store will open
early at 8.30am on the launch day and also on Thursday 31 July.
Alternatively it can also be pre-ordered online via the Megastore, available
alongside a whole host of new Umbro ranges. The striking claret and blue kit
which has been made using Umbro's new Trilogy fabric, a thermodynamic
performance-enhancing material designed to control vapour, moisture and
heat. The new kit has a unique contrast v neckline featuring a white mock
collar, solid sky sleeves and tonal striped jacquard throughout the main
body.
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Open Training on Thursday - WHUFC
Season ticket holders and club members are invited to see the first team in
action on 31 July
28.07.2008
West Ham United are pleased to announce a free Open Training Day exclusively
for season ticket holders and members at the Boleyn Ground on Thursday 31
July.
The whole first-team squad will be put through their paces by Alan
Curbishley and his coaching staff in a special public session from around
10.30am. Those attending will be able to watch on from the Dr Martens Stand
lower tier and see all the different sessions involved. Demand is expected
to be high so season ticket holders and members are advised to arrive early,
with turnstiles admitting those with access cards from 9.30am. Please note
this will be on a first-come, first-served basis.
On the day, the stadium store will also be open early for fans wanting to
get their hands on the latest Umbro range, and other new products. There
will be full video coverage on the big screens with interviews and features
covered throughout the morning - and those watching on may also end up in
the spotlight. The West Ham United Community department will be staging a
number of events while Coca-Cola will also be running fun competitions for
young Hammers fans.
Please note that the training start time is subject to change. With the
start of the new season fast approaching and players involved in double
training sessions every day as they focus on the 16 August kick-off, there
will unfortunately be no time for a formal autograph session.
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Recruitment - WHUFC
Return here for any vacancies at West Ham United
27.07.2008
Labourer/Trainee - Facilities Team
Hours: 8am - 5pm (1hr lunch) + Matchdays
Duties: Loading/unloading deliveries and movement of goods on site. Site
clearance/tidying assistance to trades. Other general duties as required
Application in the first instance by CV to:
Nigel Dennis
Facilities Manager
West Ham United FC
Boleyn Ground
Green Street
Upton Park
London E13 9AZ
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Thurrock 0 West Ham Utd 3 - KUMB
Filed: Sunday, 27th July 2008
By: Staff Writer
A West Ham XI featuring Matthew Upson and Freddie Sears eased to victory at
Ship Lane this afternoon. A 15th minute penalty from Zavon Hines, a second
half strike by Sears and a Young own goal gave the Hammers a comfortable win
in the scorching Essex sunshine. United, minus the entire squad that spent
last week in North America and managed by reserve team boss Kevin Keen
opened the scoring through Hines after the youngster's mazy run on the left
side was prematurely ended by a clumsy challenge from former Dagenham
full-back Kenny Clark. The 19-year-old striker picked himself up to dispatch
the ball beyond Thurrock keeper to give United an early lead. Freddie Sears
doubled West Ham's lead six minutes after the break after some good work by
Josh Payne gave the young striker the chance to round the keeper and finish
into an empty net. The game was put to bed as a contest on 55 minutes when a
mix-up in the Thurrock defence saw Jack Jeffrey's header find the back of
the net via Chris Wilde's goal line clearance which rebounded off the back
of unfortunate keeper Young to make it 3-0. Upson, out of action since last
March managed 75 minutes before being replaced by Oliver Lee. Also on show
was new signing Holmar Orn Eyjolfsson, who gave an assured performance
alongside England international Upson. Marek Stech, who missed out on the
Czech Republic's under 19 squad recently also did well between the sticks.
West Ham United: Stech, O'Neill, Brooks (Kearns), Eyjolfsson, Upson (Lee),
Harvey, Hines, Payne, Jeffrey, Sears, Edgar (Fry).
Sub not used: Okus.
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Coloccini ready to stay - SSN
Defender rejects transfer rumours
By Patricio Figueroa Last updated: 27th July 2008
Fabricio Coloccini has played down rumours linking him with a move away from
Deportivo La Coruna. Newcastle and West Ham have been linked with a move for
the rugged central defender this summer. Deportivo are determined to keep
hold of Coloccini and the Argentine international says he is no rush to
leave the Riazor. "As I have always said since the rumours came out, I will
stay at Deportivo La Coruna," Coloccini told the Argentine press. "I am in
contract and I am happy. I am perfectly well at my team and for the moment
and for what I know, I will continue playing at Deportivo La Coruna.
"I didn't say in any moment that I wanted to leave La Coruna or that I had a
real offer. After I played the games for the the Argentinean national team I
got disconnected from everything. "If I have to leave La Coruna depends on
the club. It depends if they receive an important offer for my transfer.
"For the moment there hasn't been any official proposal, the club hasn't
received anything."
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America: part two - KUMB
Filed: Sunday, 27th July 2008
By: Adrian Moses
Adrian Moses is covering the North American tour on behalf of KUMB.com. In
his final report, Adrian looks back at the last game of the trip - the 3-2
defeat to the MLS AllStars.
I have been looking forward to coming Toronto again as it is a great city.
Canadians are like diet Americans, just as fizzy, but less filling. I
visited here for a game last October, and quickly found out that it heads up
the list of places that I would like to live.
Arriving at my hotel in Toronto Harbour, I was pleasantly surprised to learn
that I would be sharing a roof with the West Ham United team for the week.
Milling about in the hotel lobby was Alan Curbishley, Mark Noble, Scott
Parker, Lucas Neill and Rob Green and I took the chance to have a chat with
them all. Mark was keen to know about about the crowd trouble in Columbus
and I gave him an accurate account. On a side note the Associated Press
retracted their story on this based on its fabrication.
Curbs was not too pleased about the FieldTurf surface at the tidy BMO Field,
home of Toronto FC, and said a couple of players were not keen on playing on
it. I sensed early on that the result was going to be insignificant to the
team.
Tuesday was spent walking round the city, enjoying the sights and the nice
weather. Not as relaxing for the team as they did a running session at a
local university campus. In the evening some of the players and staff went
to an Eagles gig, whilst others joined me in watching TFC play Montreal
Impact in the Canadian championship game.
Toronto has created an excellent set up for football/soccer. The atmosphere
at the games is tremendous, and every one sells out. Anton, Craig Bellamy,
Calum Davenport, Scott Parker, LBM and Mark Noble watched an entertaining
1-1 draw/tie. The players were amused by the antics and chants of the
Toronto fans, and were in good form themselves after they were recognised
catching, signing and throwing back shirts.
The players even got involved with throwing streamers at the Montreal
players. Its mental. TFC employ someone to collect all the streamers and
throw them back to the fans.
I chatted with Craig Bellamy at half time and he was not best pleased with
the surface and didn't want to risk playing on it. The risk of injury on
FieldTurf is higher, mainly through twisting and the surface not tearing as
grass does. He is fully fit and trained throughout the summer and will be
raring to go come Wigan.
Wednesday I had the pleasure of watching the All Stars and West Ham train.
Both pretty light sessions. For all that is said about him negatively, Becks
is a pleasure to watch in training, staying behind to practice free kicks
and play with Frank Hejduck (Columbus Crew All Star) and his son.
For WHU, Noble didn't train, Bellers did some work with the fitness coach
and Hayden Mullins stopped playing after 10 minutes from what looked like a
groin complaint. Other than that nothing else to report. I guessed that
Hayden would not feature in the game, but to my surprise he started.
Thursday. Game day. I arrange to meet up with the Hoboken Hammers, Pattie,
Stew and Michael. I blagged us some tickets to the beer garden outside the
stadium and watched Estelle's pre game show. It was quite funny to watch
people being bribed with beer tokens to watch the gig on the proviso that
they stood at the front when the show was on national TV. Nice plan, but
they gave the tickets out and everyone then disappeared to use them. The
producers were going spare. Mugs.
We got into the ground and made our way up to the West Ham end opposite the
main stand. A much different group of West Ham here than in Columbus.
Familiar faces and even more familiar accents.
The Canadians are a proud bunch, but did no favours to their American
relations by singing their national anthem through the Star Spangled banner.
They all must have felt pretty stupid when they did play Oh Canada! when the
teams arrived on the field.
West Ham lined up with Green fronted by Neill, Davenport, Ferdinand and
Widdowson. Completing the 4-4-2 formation was Etherington, Mullins, Parker,
Faubert, Cole and Ashton.
Our back four looked shaky with outside defenders looking the weakest.
Widdowson you can understand why up against Beckham, but defensive problems
shouldn't stem from our captain. The All Star team was packed with attacking
options, Becks, Blanco, Christian Gomez all testing the West Ham resolve.
The game was entertaining and it got what it deserved after 26 minutes.
Ashton through on goal and a neat finish making it look easy. West Ham then
shot themselves in the foot with the cardinal sin of switching off after
scoring. This time it was Gomez' turn to fire a neat finish across Rob Green
to make it one apiece.
Canadians that were present were concentrating on trying to persuade Steve
Nicol to bring on the Canadian players Jim Brennan and Dwayne DeRosario.
West Ham fans that were present couldn't drink beer fast enough.
The huge ICF flag did a tour of the stadium popping up behind the goal we
were attacking and then again in the main stand. After a defensive mix up
Blanco was able to curl in a nice effort from the right side of the area to
end the half 2-1 to the All Stars.
The second half saw the introduction of the Canadian players, getting the
loudest shout of the day. The game was being played in a friendly manner,
Scott Parker and Becks both pulled out of a 50/50 challenge, professional
respect in a meaningless game.
Deano grabbed his third goal of the tour with a deflected effort making its
way past New England 'netminder' Matt Reis. Then as in the first half we
conceded shortly after scoring. Fittingly a Canadian, DeRosario smashed in a
penalty off the underside of the bar after Lucus Neill mistimed a challenge.
The game petered out. LBM had a great chance to tie the game up, but
narrowly shot wide.
A draw would have been a fair result, but in the end MLS got what they
wanted, a win. The margin of victory wasn't big, my opinion being with
Bellers and Noble in the line up we would have won comfortably. I headed
away from the ground and went for a drink with the Hoboken Hammers, and then
went to party the night away at the post game do.
A good week for West Ham. Corporately the brand was well represented and on
the field the players got two decent work outs, and outscored their
opponents 5-4. More importantly, no injuries. I am impressed with Ashton and
fingers crossed, it will be a huge year for him.
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Premier League trio set to battle for Palermo's £5m midfielder Bresciano -
Daily Mail
By Sportsmail Reporter Last updated at 9:02 PM on 27th July 2008
Palermo have triggered a Premier League scramble to sign Mark Bresciano by
confirming their Australia midfielder can leave for £5million. Blackburn,
Fulham and West Ham want the 28-year-old, who almost joined Manchester City
last season.
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HAMMERS TALK: Skipper told to take 50 per cent wage cut - Guardian Series
7:42pm Sunday 27th July 2008
WEST HAM have told skipper Lucas Neill he will have to take a 50 per cent
pay-cut if he wants a new contract, according to reports. The defender has
two years left on his current deal - which sees him pick up in the region of
£60,000 a week - but is hoping to pen an improved three-year contract.
However, the Hammers are rumoured to be keen on significantly lowering their
wage bill and, according to the Daily Star Sunday, are only prepared to
offer the 30-year-old a £30,000 a week deal linked to appearances. Neill is
still wanted by his former Blackburn boss Mark Huges, now at the helm at
Manchester City, and has also been heavily linked with a move to Galatasaray
this summer, although the Turkish giants' interest appears to have cooled.
Australian international Neill moved to Upton Park from Ewood Park for
£1.5million in Janury 2006 and played a prominent role as the Irons escaped
relegation that season. But he was off the pace last term as the club
stuttered to a mid-table finish.
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Hammers boss tipped to be first for the sack - Guardian Series
8:27pm Sunday 27th July 2008
WEST HAM boss Alan Curbishley is favourite to be the first Premier League
manager sacked this season. The Irons boss has been installed at odds of
5-1 for the chop - should the club get off to a slow start - by bookmaker
William Hill. And West Ham legend and current Croatic coach Slaven Bilic is
tipped to take over. Joint second favourite to go is Bolton's Gary Megson at
7-1, the same price as Newcastle chief Kevin Keegan. Curbishley guided the
club to a creditable tenth position last season despite a dreadful run of
injuries to his first-team squad. However, his safety-first style of play
came under fire from sections of the crowd, while the board will want more
after splashing out over £40 million on new signings last year. William Hill
have had a good run of predicting which Premier League managers will go, and
when, in recent seasons. And spokesman for the bookies, Rupert Adams, told
the Daily Star Sunday: "Curbishley was pretty unpopular at the end of last
season and we took a lot of money. "He hasn't achieved much, despite
spending a lot of money. His buying was nothing to be proud of either. "Also
all managers from promoted clubs are low-priced because of that - it's tough
going in the Premier League."
Yet West Ham face a relatively favourable opening six matches to the season,
which could spare Curbishley. They kick off against Wigan on August 16 and
also welcome Blackburn and Newcastle to Upton Park, while their first away
trips are to Manchester City, West Brom and Fulham.
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Hammers youngster delighted to come up against England legend - Guardian
Series
7:59pm Sunday 27th July 2008
WEST HAM youngster Joe Widdowson has expressed his delight at rubbing
shoulders with England legend David Beckham. The 19-year-old full back
played the 90 minutes during Thursday night's prestigious encounter with the
MLS All-Stars in Toronto, and was given the task of marking the LA Galaxy
ace. And, despite the 3-2 defeat, lifelong Hammers fan Widdowson admitted he
was made up to come face to face with Beckham - and even left with his match
shirt. "It's just brilliant - it was great to play against him," said
Widdowson. "I had a couple of words with him in the game and he was really
polite."
With first-team regular George McCartney suffering from an injury and left
at home as a precaution, reserve team left-back Widdowson was drafted into
the club's nine-day tour of North America at the last minute. But he made
his mark by putting in two impressive performances, having played all of the
tour opener - a 3-1 win over Colombus Crew - on Sunday. "I only found out I
was coming on the tour at the last minute," explained Widdowson. "We spoke a
bit about how to play David as obviously he's got such a great cross on him
and he tries to put the ball in early, so I tried to stop that. "But he's a
great player."
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Hammers youngsters ease past Thurrock - Guardian Series
9:07am Sunday 27th July 2008
FREDDIE Sears got on the scoresheet as a youthful West Ham side beat
non-league Thurrock in a pre-season friendly. The game also saw Matthew
Upson make his first return of the summer from injury - the England defender
partnering 17-year-old summer signing Holmar Orn Eyjolfsson at the heart of
the defence - while Sears also made his first appearance since returning
from England U19 duty last week. The Hammers took the lead on 15 minutes at
Ship Lane on Saturday afternoon when Zavon Hines scored from the penalty
spot after being brought down by Thurrock's Kenny Clark. Kevin Keen's men
had chances to extend their lead before the break, but it took until the
51st minute for Sears to score, the lively youngster calmy slotting home
after a good solo run. And the visitors got a third on 64 minutes, Clark
turning Sears' effort into his own net.
West Ham: Stech, O'Neill, Brooks (Kearns), Eyjolfsson, Upson (Lee), Harvey,
Hines, Payne, Jeffrey, Sears, Edgar (Fry). Sub not used: Okus.
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HAMMERS TALK: Curbishley linked with target again - Guardian Series
3:16pm Saturday 26th July 2008
ACCORDING to media reports West Ham boss Alan Curbishley could make a late
swoop for long-term target Andy Johnson. The former Crystal Palace and
Birmingham frontman appears to be heading for the exit door Goodison Park
and miss the Toffee's pre-season 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest last night..
Fulham were believed to be leading the chase, with reports suggesting they
had tabled an£10.5million offer for the England international. But
Curbishley could move once again after having an offer turned down for
Johnson last season, as he possibly looks to strengthen his strike force,
following speculation linking Craig Bellamy with a move to Manchester City.
The Irons boss wont just have to beat off London rivals Fulham though for
Johnson's signature as both Wigan and Sunderland are all said to be very
keen on the player as well.
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CURBS TIPPED TO BE FIRST FOR THE BOOT - Sunday Express
Sunday July 27,2008
By Tony Stenson
West Ham boss Alan Curbishley is favourite to be first in the annual Premier
League managers' sack race – and Croatia boss Slaven Bilic is tipped to take
over. Curbishley is 5-1 to leave early if the Hammers do not make a solid
enough start to the season. The saving grace for their manager is that the
first six fixtures are far from the toughest. Starting at home to Wigan,
Curbishley's charges will also welcome Blackburn and Newcastle to Upton Park
before the end of September, while their first away trips are to Manchester
City, West Brom and Fulham. And upbeat Curbishley reckons his squad is
looking better than at this time last year following a two-match tour of
North America, where they beat Columbus Crew 3-1 and lost 3-2 to a Major
League Soccer All-Stars side which included David Beckham.
Several senior players stayed at home to nurse injuries and Valon Behrami is
yet to play for his new club following a £5m move from Lazio, so Curbishley
is yet to field a full-strength side. He said: "We have a heavy three weeks
or more coming up, with quite a few games. I know that the boys who have
been on the trip are looking much sharper than they did this time last
year." Bolton's Gary Megson is 7-1 to go – the same price as Kevin Keegan –
with bookies William Hill, who have been uncannily accurate with their
predictions in recent years.
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