WHUFC.com
The fans flocking to this Saturday's match against Derby County should see a
determined Sam Baldock
23.11.2011
Sam Baldock is back at the Boleyn this Saturday and has goals on his mind.
The No7 has lit up the home of the Hammers this season, with doubles in the
wins against Blackpool and Leicester City last month before drawing a blank
against Bristol City on the first day of November. He is determined to put
that right against Derby County. Overall, Baldock has eleven goals in 16
appearances this season, including six at MK Dons. It is a fine record and
the 22-year-old is delighted he did not have to wait too long to prove his
predatory prowess in east London. "I think it was important, especially as a
striker, to get the fans onside and the other players onside," he said. "To
stamp your authority early on and if you can get that goal, it takes the
pressure off."
Baldock is the only Hammers player used in the npower Championship this
season who has never played in the top flight, but he is confident he will
get the chance to follow in his team-mates' footsteps next season. "It was
quite easy to choose West Ham. It is a Premier League set-up and it has
Premier League ambition. I think if we carry on as we are, we will be there
next year. The professionalism at West Ham is pretty high."
"I am the only player in the squad who has not played in the Premier League.
It is good to learn from these types of players. The whole country pays more
attention to the Premier League than they do any other division. That's
where we want to be."
Baldock is certain the Hammers are in the right hands, and not just because
the manager was the one who personally scouted him during his prolific start
to the season at MK. "He is very into his stats, he is very thorough. The
attention to detail is very high. All the players are buying into it. The
professionalism at West Ham is pretty high."
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Protest group increase pressure
KUMB.com
Filed: Wednesday, 23rd November 2011
By: Staff Writer
The protest group set up to secure a referendum over West Ham's planned move
to Stratford will be distributing 20,000 leaflets at the Boleyn Ground this
weekend.
Sam Allardyce's side take on Derby County this coming Saturday as they
attempt to secure three points that would take them closer to promotion from
the Championship. Meanwhile protest group WHU's View will be busy
distributing the leaflets - which contain a copy of the recent open letter
sent to the board of West Ham - to supporters in and around the ground both
before and after this weekend's clash. The group was inaugurated in order to
pressure West Ham United's owners - namely David Gold and David Sullivan -
to poll supporters over the move to the Olympic Stadium, having refused to
consult fans in the past. "All we ask is that the pledge to consult is
honoured by way of polling before bidding," states the leaflet. "If you
agree and feel that season ticket holders and members should be consulted
then please go to whusview.com to register in support of a poll on the
biggest decision in the club's history."
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Baldock eyeing promotion
Youngster confident Hammers can bounce back to Premier League
Last Updated: November 23, 2011 4:51pm
SSN
Striker Sam Baldock has revealed his desire to play Premier League football
and believes he will achieve that with West Ham next season. The 22-year-old
has proven to be an astute signing by Hammers boss Sam Allardyce, scoring
five goals in ten games since signing from MK Dons in August. The Upton Park
club are currently second in the Championship as they chase an immediate
return to the Premier League following their relegation last season.
Allardyce's squad contains plenty of top flight experience, with Baldock the
only player to have appeared this season without a Premier League appearance
to his name. However, the youngster is confident that statistic will soon
change given the club's current form.
Ambition
"It was quite easy to choose West Ham. It's a Premier League set-up and it
has Premier League ambition," he told the club's official website. "I think
if we carry on as we are, we will be there next year. The professionalism at
West Ham is pretty high. "I'm the only player in the squad who has not
played in the Premier league. It's good to learn from these types of
players. "The whole country pays more attention to the Premier League than
they do any other division. That's where we want to be."
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Tomkins is not for sale, says West Ham co-owner
By talkSPORT
Wednesday, November 23
West Ham will turn down any approach from QPR for talented defender James
Tomkins when the transfer window re-opens in January. Tomkins has been
strongly linked with a £3m move to the west London club following his superb
displays for the Championship side this season. QPR boss Neil Warnock is
ready to bring in a number of new players in January and wants to bolster
his defence. Tomkins has played a major role in helping West Ham cement
their position in the top two in the Championship and has attracted interest
from Warnock in recent weeks. But West Ham co-owner David Gold is adamant
that Tomkins is staying at Upton Park and they are determined to keep their
best players as they look to bounce straight back into the top flight. Gold
said: "He's not for sale for £3m. Nobody is up for sale.
"There is no plan to sell our good young players. We must do all we can to
keep our best players. Our goal is promotion."
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West Ham vice-chairman Karren Brady wins latest battle in 'surveillance'
case
BRIAN FARMER WEDNESDAY 23 NOVEMBER 2011
The Independent
West Ham vice-chairman Karren Brady today succeeded in the latest stage of
an attempt to discover how details of her telephone records found their way
into the hands of a firm of accountants while rival clubs were bidding to
use the Olympic Stadium after the 2012 London games. Accountancy firm PKF
agreed to hand information in its possession to lawyers representing Brady.
A High Court judge approved an order, under which PKF agreed to provide
documents to Ms Brady and West Ham, after Brady began legal action. Brady,
who was managing director of Birmingham from 1993 to 2009, was not at
today's hearing. Lawyers said, after a High Court hearing before Mr Justice
Coulson in London, that Brady would decide whether to take any further legal
action once documentation had been studied.
At a hearing last week, Mr Justice Coulson said PKF had been "engaged" by
West Ham's London rivals Tottenham to carry out an investigation that was
"connected" to the Olympic Stadium. He said Brady's telephone records had
been "unlawfully obtained by subterfuge" at the height of a dispute over the
future use of the stadium - and added that PKF had said it had copies of the
records. The judge was told that Tottenham had been given copies of the
records by PKF. But lawyers for Tottenham said no-one at the club had the
records prior to the start of legal proceedings. West Ham and Brady began
legal action against PKF and one of the firm's partners, Howard Hill,
earlier this year. In a statement the club had said: "PKF are a firm of
accountants instructed by Tottenham to investigate West Ham during the
bidding process for the Olympic Stadium."
The statement added: "The claim is for an order to obtain full information
and documents relating to the unlawful obtaining of Karren Brady's mobile
telephone records and to obtain information identifying the wrongdoers
responsible for unlawfully obtaining such records." Tottenham and West Ham
had both wanted to move to the £486million Olympic Stadium in Stratford,
east London, after next year's Olympics. They were embroiled in a legal
dispute after the the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) opted for a bid put
forward by West Ham. Tottenham said the decision was unfair and mounted a
High Court challenge against the OPLC's decision.
But the legal action was halted in October after the OPLC said it had
decided to discontinue the process to dispose of the stadium and instead
allow it to remain in public ownership and be rented out.
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London 2012 Olympics: Karren Brady wins first round of legal fight over
phone 'blagging' during stadium bid war
By Paul Kelso8:15PM GMT 23 Nov 2011 Comment
Telegraph.co.uk
Karren Brady has won the first stage of a legal action against corporate
investigators hired by Tottenham following a court hearing at which it
emerged that her phone records were "blagged" using a false name and email
address. Brady is bringing legal action against PKF, an accountancy firm
hired by Spurs to investigate their rival club in the bidding war for the
Olympic Stadium. On Wednesday a High Court judge ordered PKF to hand over
all information relating to its obtaining of Brady's records, and she will
then decide whether to sue. Last week PKF admitted that it had received
copies of the records and that a partner in the firm, Howard Hill, had
handed them to journalists from The Sunday Times, which subsequently
published an expose of the bidding process. PKF said it had not been
responsible for illegally obtaining the records, however, and on Wednesday
the court was told they arrived in "the proverbial brown envelope" from an
anonymous source. The court also heard details of the crude method by which
the records were said to have been procured, though not who was responsible.
According to West Ham's counsel, Ben Jaffey, an individual named Thomas
Brady called Vodafone customer services and persuaded them to send copies of
Karren Brady's mobile phone records to an email address
westhamunited151@london.com, which was registered in the US. West Ham's
skeleton argument, presented to the court, states: "Brady does not know a
Thomas Brady and had no knowledge of the email address. It was created for
the dishonest purpose of obtaining Ms Brady's private phone records. "This
activity was carried out as part of a covert investigation instigated and
paid for by Tottenham Hotspur Football Club into West Ham's joint bid for
the lease of the Olympic Stadium. "Tottenham Hotspur deny that they
instructed PKF or Mr Hill to use any improper means. However, they have been
careful not to deny that they received Ms Brady's telephone records, or
other unlawfully obtained material."
The court was read a statement from Tottenham finance director Matthew
Collecott, in which he confirmed that PKF was retained by Spurs to carry out
"due diligence" of West Ham. Jaffee said his interpretation of the statement
was that Hill was a "rogue agent". The Metropolitan Police are investigating
the allegations and two arrests have been made on suspicion of fraud. In a
statement issued on Wednesday night PKF said: "Neither West Ham nor Karren
Brady have made any claim against PKF. They have asked us to supply
information, which is confidential to our client, Tottenham Hotspur.
"Tottenham Hotspur indicated earlier today that it no longer objects to us
providing this information, and will we now happily do so."
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Tottenham accountants give Karren Brady phone records to West Ham
• PKF employed by Spurs in bitter Olympic Stadium battle
• Phone records arrived 'in brown envelope' says firm
Owen Gibson
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 23 November 2011 20.54 GMT
PKF, the firm of accountants engaged by Tottenham Hotspur to delve into the
issues surrounding the bitter battle for control of the Olympic Stadium, has
agreed to hand disputed documents including "blagged" telephone records to
West Ham United lawyers and their vice-chair, Karren Brady. The high court
was told that PKF, employed by Spurs after the club lost to West Ham in the
race for the stadium amid claims of dirty tricks, had now agreed to hand
over the documents to Brady.
Brady's case notes outline how an individual calling themselves "Thomas
Brady" with a fictional West Ham email address had managed to obtain the
West Ham vice-chair's itemised Vodafone mobile phone bills. Ben Jaffey, the
counsel for Brady, said that PKF claimed not to know where the documents had
come from and said that its partner Howard Hill had claimed the telephone
records arrived "in the proverbial brown envelope".
But he added: "It must have been someone who knows him and knows his
relationship with Tottenham Hotspur." Both Hill and PKF maintain that they
do not know who obtained the records, which Justice Coulson said last week
had been "unlawfully obtained". A spokesman for the accountancy firm said:
"PKF has no idea who obtained Karren Brady's phone records from her service
provider."
Jaffey told the court that his reading of a statement supplied by the Spurs
finance director, Matthew Collecott, was that Hill was a "rogue agent" who
in passing the material to the Sunday Times had "exceeded his authority". He
added: "Mr Hill has said nothing."
According to Coulson, Collecott confirmed that PKF was engaged in February
to carry out "due diligence" on the process. Spurs were concerned details of
their tender for the Olympic Stadium had been leaked. Spurs strongly deny
they had any part in the acquisition of the telephone records, or
subsequently saw them, or had any interest in doing so. Hill apologised to
the Spurs chairman, Daniel Levy, after the Sunday Times article appeared in
June, the court was told. PKF have to hand over the phone records and any
documents that make reference to them, including Hill's report for Spurs, to
Brady and West Ham by Wednesday. Having considered the evidence, lawyers for
Brady are expected to decide on their next move.
In a statement issued following the ruling, PKF said: "Neither West Ham nor
Karren Brady have made any claim against PKF. They have asked us to supply
information which is confidential to our client, Tottenham Hotspur.
Tottenham Hotspur indicated earlier today that it no longer objects to us
providing this information and we will now happily do so."
The Olympic Park Legacy Company is due to issue new tender documents for the
stadium at the beginning of next month after a deal with West Ham and Newham
council fell apart under sustained legal challenges from Spurs and Leyton
Orient. Following an anonymous complaint to the European Commission over
claims that the deal could breach state aid rules, the OPLC and government
pulled the plug and said they would keep the £496m stadium in public
ownership with a range of tenants. West Ham have said they will bid again.
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Taylor is back in frame to face Derby
Wednesday, November 23, 2011Derby Telegraph
MATTY Taylor is on course to make his comeback for West Ham United against
Derby County at Upton Park on Saturday. Taylor, who has missed the last five
matches with a calf injury, came through a behind-closed-doors match against
Ipswich Town yesterday afternoon. West Ham United's Matty Taylor could be in
the frame to face Derby County on Saturday. The 29-year-old midfielder
played 67 minutes and scored in the Hammers' 3-2 defeat. Former Rams striker
Nathan Ellington scored one of the Ipswich goals. Taylor is now in line to
face Derby on Saturday in the Championship game televised on Sky (5.20pm).
He has been out since the Hammers' 1-0 defeat at Southampton in mid-October
although he was considered for the trip to Coventry last weekend. He has
made 11 appearances following his £2.2m move from Bolton Wanderers in the
summer and his one goal came in a 4-3 victory over Portsmouth in September.
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Ashley Cole and Sam Allardyce 'set for film cameos in new Danny Dyer movie'
Metro.co.uk
The new sure-to-be-a-modern-day-classic from the East End wideboy (this is
Dyer we're talking about, by the way), which is also set to feature Lille
star Joe Cole, is based around the life of a fictional football agent. But
filmmakers are keen to bring an element of authenticity to the project, and
so are said to have successfully tapped up the two England internationals
and the current West Ham manager for bit-parts in it. The documentary-style
feature film will follow the trials and tribulations of the agent, portrayed
by Dyer, as he goes about his daily business - and lives a high-flying
playboy lifestyle of fast cars, fast women and dodgy deals (par for the
course when it comes to a Danny Dyer film, though, right?). As well as the
famous faces, scenes will also be shot at well-known grounds in London -
including Upton Park and Stamford Bridge. Ashley Cole is also set to
provide some financial backing - as he did with Dyer's gangster movie Dead
Man Running in 2008, which also starred 50 Cent. It remains unclear what
roles the three real-life football celebs are due to have. However,
indications from certain fan-sites suggest A Cole will play a money-grabbing
left-back with a wandering eye; J Cole will play a frustrated,
continental-style footballer whose international career is effectively over;
and Allardyce's role will be a self-proclaimed 'constant innovator' who
claims he should have been England manager years ago. These reports are so
far unconfirmed.
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