WHUFC.com
Admission is free for all fans for Tuesday evening's reserve-team fixture at
the Boleyn Ground
07.09.2009
West Ham United are pleased to announce that admission to Tuesday evening's
Barclays Premier Reserve League South fixture against Birmingham City at the
Boleyn Ground will be free for ALL supporters.
The match should feature the return to competitive action of Switzerland
midfielder Valon Behrami, who has returned to full training after an
extended period out with a knee ligament injury.
The West Stand turnstiles will open at 6.15pm, with kick-off at 7pm.
Complimentary teamsheets will be handed to supporters on entry.
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Cole hungry for first goal
WHUFC.com
Speaking on WHUTV, Carlton Cole has outlined his Wembley dream before
England take on Croatia
07.09.2009
Carlton Cole has spoken of his determination to get on the scoring trail
with England and fire the nation to the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
The West Ham United striker won his fourth cap off the bench in Saturday's
2-1 win against Slovenia and yet again came close to his first goal for his
country. "I am the nearly man at the moment," he said. "I have had four
appearances and nearly scored in three of them. I can't wait til I get my
first goal. I need it."
The 25-year-old is taking nothing for granted though in terms of selection
with Wednesday night's potentially decisive qualifier against Croatia in
sight. "It is up to Mr Capello. Hopefully I can get a bit of action," he
said. Cole knows he needs to dislodge the weekend starters Wayne Rooney and
Emile Heskey, while Jermain Defoe was a scoring substitute at Wembley and
Peter Crouch is also waiting in the wings.
"Every game counts. It is a race to get on the plane. We have got some
quality forwards. I am in and amongst it. I just want to keep my club form
and get to where I want to get to. I am trying to get there. I have got to
be focused at all times, try my best and hopefully Mr Capello will keep
picking me."
Cole may be uncertain about his own place but has no doubt that Robert Green
deserves to be the starting goalkeeper. He said: "Rob is second to none. His
confidence is always high. He knows what he can do I would say he is up
there with the best in the country. David James is quality, Ben Foster is
quality, you got Scott Carson coming in, Paul Robinson - there is great
competition He will be on his toes.
"Sometimes people have to understand that keepers at this level get
slaughtered for one mistake. Hopefully Robert doesn't make one. He will do
well [if selected against Croatia]. I have 100 per cent faith in him. He is
my team-mate and I know what he can do. I see it every day on the training
pitch and in matches. He has been brilliant."
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N'Gala keen on captaincy
WHUFC.com
An important season for Bondz N'Gala has begun well with the teenager
skippering the reserves
07.09.2009
Bondz N'Gala will be hoping to play another key role when West Ham United
reserves take on Birmingham City on Tuesday night.
The centre-back, who turns 20 next month, was delighted to pull on the
armband in last week's season opener against Aston Villa and he predicts a
similarly tough encounter against their Midlands rivals. He said: "There
were a few tackles flying in, it was a good game to be involved. I am always
proud to wear the armband. It is nice to be selected and to lead the side
out.
"I am looking to make a breakthrough into the first team and being
reserve-team captain can only help me. We worked hard last week but Alex
Dyer thought we could have passed it better and nicked a point. It was a
tough way to start but I did think we deserved at least a draw."
Hailing from Forest Gate, N'Gala is understandably upbeat about the prospect
of a run-out at the Boleyn Ground with the Birmingham fixture moved from the
usual Bishop's Stortford base. There could also be some first-teamers on
view including Valon Behrami. "We are all looking forward to the chance to
play at Upton Park in front of our fans," N'Gala added.
Having played at right-back last week, N'Gala could revert to his usual
centre-back berth alongside Matthew Fry on Tuesday as Holmar Orn Eyjolfsson
is away on Under-21 duty with Iceland. Dyer might have turned to Danny
Gabbidon or James Tomkins as they chase fitness but they are also away while
Jordan Spence's loan at Scunthorpe United has been extended to mid-January.
Dyer also may call upon new recruit Manuel Da Costa. Calum Davenport remains
in hospital after being seriously injured in an incident last month but is
making good progress.
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Ladies ground Eagles
WHUFC.com
West Ham United picked up their first win of the season with an emphatic 5-1
win over Crystal Palace
07.09.2009
West Ham United Ladies made it five games unbeaten at the start of the
2009/10 season on Sunday but more importantly picked up their first win of
the campaign.
The Hammers comprehensively beat Crystal Palace 5-1 at Thurrock to lift them
to sixth in the early standings of the FA Tesco Women's Premier League
South.
Midfielder Zoe Marshal got the scoring underway with a penalty in the 13th
minute only for Becky Merritt to equalise four minutes later. Despite the
hosts having some decent chances, that is how the scores stayed until the
break.
It was all change after the interval, however, as Tracey Duxbury gave West
Ham the lead two minutes after the re-start. Gemma Shepherd then added a
crucial brace in the space of two minutes to give some breathing space
before Kayleigh Xidhas added a fifth in the last minute.
Tony Marshall's side are next in action on Sunday when they most Millwall
Ladies in a mouth-watering FA Tesco Women's Premier League Cup tie.
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It's a date
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 7th September 2009
By: Staff Writer
West Ham United's Premier League clash with Everton has been moved back a
day due to Everton's involvement in the Europa League. United has originally
been scheduled to face the Toffees at the Boleyn Ground on Saturday, 7th
November. However as Everton have a Europa League tie on the preceeding
Thursday the clash with West Ham has been postponed by 24 hours and now
kicks off at 3:00pm on Sunday 8th.
It is a similar story where the Hammers' planned October clash with Fulham
is concerned; the game, originally scheduled for Saturday 3rd October has
also been moved back by 24 hours and now kicks off at 3:00pm on Sunday 4th.
The date changes mean that West Ham United's first home fixture at
football's traditional 3:00pm Saturday slot doesn't arrive until 28th
November, when Gianfranco Zola's side host the newly-promoted Burnley.
West Ham's home fixtures: 2009 schedule
Sat 19th Sept (5:30pm) Liverpool
Sun 4th Oct (3:00pm) Fulham
Sun 25th Oct (4:15pm) Arsenal
Sun 8th Nov (3:00pm) Everton
Sat 28th Nov (3:00pm) Burnley
Sat 5th Dec (3:00pm) Manchester Utd
Sat 19th Dec (3:00pm) Chelsea
Sat 26th Dec (12:00pm) Portsmouth
To be confirmed: Aston Villa
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Geeks march on
KUMB.com
Filed: Sunday, 6th September 2009
By: Gordon Thrower
West Ham iFC continued their excellent start to the season with a 5-1 win at
home to QPR. Accrington Stanley Bowles (to give the QPR supporters team its
official name) have traditionally been one of the stronger teams on the
internet football scene and the victory makes it two from two from the
Internet Hammers follwoing last week's 3-0 defeat of Millwall. The match
marked the first appearance of the new kit provided by official club
sponsors SPOBET who stepped into the breach following a recent appeal for
second-hand shirts to replace the ageing strip that was nearing the end of
its day.
Next up for the Geeks is an away trip up to Watford next weekend.
ASB (QPR) Match details
West Ham Utd iFC: S.Heywood, Wells, Gray, Neman, Liddard, Wilder, Dieblius,
Crane, Coates, R Heywood, Jarvis.
Subs: Nugent (Manager for the Day)
Goals: Liddard, R.Heywood (2), Gray, Jarvis.
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The origin of the claret and blue
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 7th September 2009
By: John Simkin
On 29th June, 1895, Arnold Hills, the managing director of the Thames
Ironworks & Shipbuilding Company, announced in his newspaper, the Thames
Ironworks Gazette, that he intended to establish a football club.
The information appeared under the headline: "The importance of co-operation
between workers and management". He referred to the industrial dispute that
had just taken place and insisted he wanted to "wipe away the bitterness
left by the recent strike". Hills added: "Thank God this midsummer madness
is passed and gone; inequities and anomalies have been done away with and
now, under the Good Fellowship system and Profit Sharing Scheme, every
worker knows that his individual and social rights are absolutely secured."
The first match was a friendly against Royal Ordnance on 7th September,
1895. The result was a 1-1 draw. This was followed by victories against
Dartford, Manor Park, Streatham and Old St Stephens. Members of the team
included Charlie Dove (apprentice riveter), Thomas Freeman (ship's fireman),
Johnny Stewart (boilermaker), Walter Parks (clerk), Walter Tranter
(boilermaker) James Lindsay (boilermaker), William Chapman (mechanical
engineer), George Sage, (boilermaker), George Gresham (ship's plater) and
William Chamberlain (foreman blacksmith).
I have been unable to discover any written documents that reveal the colours
that the team played in. However, there is a photograph taken in 1895 that
shows the team wearing dark shirts and trousers. If we assume that Arnold
Hills selected the colours, I would think that they played in dark blue. The
reason for this was that these were the colours of Oxford University, the
team Hills represented in the varsity match and in the 1877 F.A. Cup Final.
In 1896 Thames Ironworks won the West Ham Charity Cup. A photograph of the
team shows that they are still playing in dark shirts. The first detailed
description of the kit appeared at the beginning of the 1897-98 season. The
strip consisted of Royal Cambridge blue shirts, white shorts, red cap, belt
and stockings. According to research by Grant Hole, these kits were probably
inherited from Castle Swifts FC, the works side of the Castle Mail Packet
Company.
We do know that Castle Swifts, the first football club to be formed in
Essex, had gone bankrupt in March 1895, when the chairman of Castle Mail,
Donald Currie, decided he was no longer willing to bankroll the club. They
did play in light blue shirts, white shorts and red socks. Arnold Hills took
over the tenancy of the Swifts' Hermit Road ground and he also recruited Tom
Robinson, Swifts' former trainer, to work with the Thames Ironworks team.
The Thames Ironworks Gazette commented that the new colours were very
impressive: "The contrast supplied by the delightful green turf is very
pleasing." One newspaper reporter commented: "A prettier and more
distinctive costume than theirs I have never yet seen on a football ground.
Light blue shirts, white knickers and scarlet stockings were their colours."
However, when the club played a game during a thunder storm in November,
1897, a local newspaper commented that the "Ironworks appeared on the field
with brand new white spotless clean knickers and light blue shirts, but
before they had been playing long they were like blackamoors".
There are photographs of the Thames Iron Works taken in 1897 and 1899.
Although in black and white, they lend support to the idea that the team
continued to play in light blue shirts, white shorts and scarlet socks.
Thames Iron Works was renamed West Ham United in September 1900. A team
photograph taken that year suggested that the club had retained the light
blue colours. According to club historian, John Helliar, on 14th September,
1901, West Ham "took to the field wearing their new colours of light blue
jerseys, with a claret band, and white knickers with a red stripe."
The earliest photograph I have been able to find showing West Ham wearing
the current claret and light blue strip was taken on 16th January 1904. The
game against Plymouth Argyle took place at the Memorial Grounds.
The team photograph taken at the beginning of the 1904-05 season clearly
shows the team wearing claret shirts with light blue sleeves and hoop around
the neck. However, it is recorded that on some occasions West Ham did resort
to wearing their old "Cambridge blue shirts".
According to the Historical Kits website, West Ham first began wearing
claret and blue shirts in 1899: "There is a story that in the summer of 1899
Bill Dove, a sprinter of national repute who was involved in coaching the
Ironworks team, was challenged to a race with four Aston Villa players at a
fair in Birmingham. Dove won but the Villa men could not pay the wager so
one of them pinched a set of claret and blue shirts from his club (he was
responsible for doing the laundry) to settle the bet."
This seems very unlikely and the author of the article admits that he got
this information from Wikipedia. This story also appears in Brian Belton's
"West Ham United Miscellany" (2006). However, I do not find the story
convincing. Nor is there any primary evidence of the club wearing these
colours until the 1903-04 season.
It has been pointed out that Aston Villa was the most successful club side
during this period having won the league title five times in seven years. It
has been argued that the Hammers might have adopted Villa's colours partly
to be associated with the success of the club.
What we do know is that the directors of West Ham were seriously concerned
about the financial situation of the club at the beginning of the 1903-04
season. It had lost £900 in the past two seasons and had an overdraft of
£770 and assets of less than £200. The club was forced to sell to sell their
best players. This included Charlie Satterthwaite, who had scored 18 of West
Ham's 38 goals that season. Given their perilous situation, did the
wealthiest club in England, take pity on the club and donate them a set of
claret and blue shirts?
You can see these early photographs on my website on the early history of
West Ham United.
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/WestHamHistory.htm
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Why West Ham fans sing "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles"
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 7th September 2009
By: John Simkin
In the Spring 2005 edition of "Soccer History", John Northcutt published an
article on why West Ham fans sing "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles".
He points out that the song was written in 1919 and became a popular hit in
the UK in the early 1920s. At the time it was fairly common for football
crowds to sing popular songs together. At Upton Park the club employed the
Beckton Gas Works Band to play before the game started. One of the songs
they played was "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles". However, the mystery remains,
why did the Upton Park crowd adopt the song as its anthem?
John Northcutt spends sometime discussing the most popular theory of why
this happened. It is a fascinating idea as it involves a famous painting, a
soap advert and a young West Ham player named Will Murray.
In 1886 Sir John Everett Millais, one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite
Brotherhood, painted a portrait of his five-year old grandson watching a
soap bubble he had blown through a clay pipe (erroneously, Northcutt claims
it was painted in 1829). The painting caused a sensation as it was
completely different from his previous work. It was first exhibited under
the title A Child's World in Grosvenor Gallery in London, and was acquired
by Sir William Ingram of the Illustrated London News. The painting was
reproduced and presented in the magazine as a colour plate, where it was
seen by Thomas J. Barratt, managing director of A&F Pears. Barratt purchased
the original painting from Ingram for £2,200 which gave him exclusive
copyright on the picture. Millais' permission was sought in order to alter
the picture by the addition of a bar of Pears Soap, so that it could be used
for the purposes of advertising. The painting/advert now became known as
"Bubbles".
Northcutt then goes on to argue that as the Pears Soap Works was based in
Canning Town, there would have been a lot of Bubbles posters around the
ground at the time the song was popular. Therefore, the fans would therefore
have associated the song and the poster together. There are several things
wrong with this argument. First of all, Pears was a national company and
their posters would be no more likely to have been around the Upton Park
ground at that time than any other stadium. More importantly, Pears were no
longer using the Millais' Bubbles painting in the 1920s.
The next stage of the story is even more unconvincing. Northcutt argues:
"The West Ham Boys team often played their home games at Upton Park in front
of huge crowds and one of the team, Will Murray, having fair curly hair
resembled the boy in the advert. He soon gained the nickname Bubbles Murray
and whenever he played the crowd would sing I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles,
this being the popular song of the day."
Wikipedia has a slightly different version of this story. It claims that
Murray was given the nickname "Bubbles" by his headmaster Cornelius Beal. It
goes on to argue that Murray "had an almost uncanny resemblance to the boy
in the famous Bubbles painting by Millais used in a Pears soap commercial of
the time."
There is a photograph in existence of Murray in 1921. He looks nothing like
the Bubbles painting. Nor could he, as the painting shows a five year old
boy, not a teenager. He has dark rather than fair hair. It is fairly curly,
but nothing like the original painting or indeed the Pears adverts that were
in existence in the early 1920s.
The other important point is that the record books show that Will Murray
never played for West Ham first team. His early promise was not fulfilled.
However, is it really credible that the Upton Park fans would sing a song
about a player who never made it into the first-team?
The club's historian, John Helliar, added to the story when he wrote an
article (17th October, 2009) about the song on the West Ham United's
official website. He follows the claim made by John Northcutt (not
referenced) that "Billy Bubbles Murray, so-called because of his distinct
and almost uncanny resemblance to the boy in the famous painting by
Millais". He goes on to add some more information on the story. Helliar
quotes a letter from a former member of the Beckton Gas Works Band, to the
"Pensioners' Bulletin" in 1983. He recalls that the band "were engaged by
the West Ham United Football Club to play for 20 minutes before the kick-off
and 10 minutes at the interval." He added: "We played Bubbles and it very
quickly became a favourite with the crowd." The problem is that the man does
not give a date for these performances. It could have been in the early
1920s that would give some support to the story about Murray. However, it
could also have been in the 1930s when the promising schoolboy footballer
was no longer a topic of conversation at Upton Park.
John Helliar does at least expose the myth that "I'm Forever Blowing
Bubbles" was sung by West Ham fans before the start of the 1923 Cup Final at
Wembley. His research shows that the song adopted at that match was "Till We
Meet Again."
Despite the obvious flaws in the Will Bubbles Murray story it became the
official explanation when it featured on BBC television last year. As is
often the case with television, the story was told as fact rather than
speculation.
John Northcutt, in his original article in "Soccer History", made it clear
that the story might not be true. To emphasise this he put forward two
alternative theories. The first involves a FA Cup tie against Swansea Town
in 1922. Unlike West Ham historians, Swansea Town have carried out research
to show that "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" was sung at the Vetch Field. He
quotes from the Sporting News (8th January, 1921) that the Swansea crowd
sung the song before a FA Cup tie against Bury. "Then came the ever popular
Bubbles, and the crowd simply yelled. The spectators on the main bank took
their cue from the Mumbles end, and there was one tremendous sway, together
with the singing, on the part of about 25,000."
Northcutt speculates that the West Ham crowd might have developed this
tradition after hearing the Welsh fans singing this song in the FA cup game
played against Swansea in 1921. Well, this story has been dashed in an
article that appears in the current edition of Soccer History. Ian Nannestad
has studied newspaper reports of the game and according to the Football Post
"there was no singing" before the game.
This raises the issue of why West Ham historians such as John Northcutt and
John Helliar have not been able to find newspaper reports in the 1920s and
1930s that remark on the fans singing "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" at Upton
Park. If they had found such reports, they would surely have used them in
their articles.
Northcutt also includes a third explanation for the singing of Bubbles. He
points out that West Ham historian, Brian Belton, has argued that Bubbles
was sung as crowds gathered during air raids in shelters and underground
stations in the East End during the Second World War. This led to a rise in
communal singing by the general public to raise morale. According to Belton,
the first time the song was reported to be sung by West Ham fans was during
the 1940 League War Cup Final at Wembley. This was a game that the Irons won
and maybe the fans took it as a good luck omen. Anyway, that appears to me
to be the most logical reason why the fans sing "I'm Forever Blowing
Bubbles" at Upton Park.
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Neill Has Lost £350k So Far
West Ham Till I Die
So Lucas Neill still hasn't got a club yet then. Apparently Athletico Madrid
is the latest club to turn down his desire to earn £2 million a year. You've
got to laugh really. Since his contract ran out on 30 June, ten weeks have
gone by. If he had accepted the contract West Ham had offered him, he'd be
at least £350k richer today. Oh dear.
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West Ham ready to pounce as Luca Toni threatens to quit Bayern Munich if
he's not Louis van Gaal's first choice striker
By Sportsmail Reporter Last updated at 4:53 PM on 07th September 2009
Daily Mail
Luca Toni has alerted West Ham by not ruling out leaving Bayern Munich this
season if he is not guaranteed playing time. Gianfranco Zola has been linked
heavily with a swoop for the Italy international, who has sat out Bayern's
opening four Bundesliga games with a tendinitis problem. But Toni expects to
be a starter in Louis van Gaal's side when he returns to fitness. 'With Van
Gaal there is a particular rapport,' said Toni. 'If I am not given any
playing time I will speak to the club that declared me not transferable this
summer to understand what my future is.'
The 32-year-old striker was linked with a move away from the Bundesliga
giants following the arrival of summer signings Mario Gomez and Ivica Olic
to the Allianz Arena.
Earlier this summer, Toni was sent to train with Bayern's reserves after his
level of fitness failed to impress Van Gaal. However, Toni is eager to get
back on the pitch and deliver. 'There's a World Cup in a year's time and a
title to be defended and I don't want to miss that chance,' said Toni. 'I
hope to return to play as soon as possible.' Toni has scored over 38 goals
since his 11million euros (£9.6m) transfer move to Bayern in 2007 from
Fiorentina and finished as the leading scorer for his club with 14 goals in
25 league appearances.
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Saudi investor moving from Portsmouth to West Ham
8 Sep, 09 | England | Clubs ownership & management
Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - 2009 All rights reserved.
Saudi investor Ali aj-Faraj may be shifting his interest from English
Portsmouth to West Ham United. According to The Independent, the property
investor who recently failed to assume the reins at Portsmouth may have set
his sights on West Ham. Although Al-Faraj indicated that he would be sealing
the deal with Portsmouth by the end of this month, it looks like the failed
bid has led him in the direction of the debt-ridden club. While it is not
know whether or not Portsmouth Chief Executive Peter Storrie is playing a
part, he had publicly supported Al-Faraj over Sulaiman al-Fahim in the
recent Portsmouth bid process. Al-Fahim had appeared ready to keep Storrie
on board, with no intentions to replace the management crew at Portsmouth.
Calling Storrie a "capable chief executive," Al-Fahim noted that he had
"acted with the club's best interests in mind."
Meanwhile, the hefty debt load carried by West Ham continues to plague the
club in their efforts to secure a new owner. West Ham revealed a GBP 37.4
million loss for 2008, not including a crumbled partnership with main
sponsor XL Leisure. Club Chief Executive Scott Duxbury has since revealed
that West Ham could only afford new recruits Alessandro Diamanti and Manuel
da Costa due to an early payment made by sponsor Sbobet.
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