Opposites attract (ESPN)
There is a temptation to think that some people are suckers for punishment. Having been dismissed by such luminaries as the unpredictable Mike Ashley and the much-ridiculed Venky's, Sam Allardyce has forsaken the frying pan in favour of the fire by accepting the West Ham job.
Compared to the triumvirate of publicity addicts at Upton Park, David Sullivan, David Gold and Karren Brady, the self-importance of Bolton chairman Phil Gartside, another of his past employers, almost appears harmlessly endearing. One interpretation is that Allardyce has acquired a lucrative fatalism during his time working under unfathomable owners; this is a man with a Spanish villa called Casa St James', financed by his pay-off from Newcastle.
By any standards, however, Allardyce and West Ham is a strange match. Superficially, they have much in common: one has the credentials to be a Premier League manager, the other the infrastructure, support and (despite their gross underachievement over the past 12 months) players to be a top-flight team.
Yet in background, ethos and style, they are unlikely allies. West Ham is a club with an exaggerated emphasis on Upton Park upbringing, East End roots and passing principles. Allardyce is an outsider in every respect, a West Midlander with an indelible association with Lancashire.
While the Bolton team illuminated by Fernando Hierro, Jay-Jay Okocha and Youri Djorkaeff were among the classiest assembled by any of the Premier League's lesser lights, his Blackburn were one dimensional and aesthetically awful. The Newcastle support, with their expectations of attacking football, never took to Allardyce and West Ham, where the long ball is the wrong ball, have some similarities with the more northerly United: these are clubs with specific identities.
Perhaps, given the importance of elevation, this is West Ham's Faustian pact: if pragmatism equals promotion, then it will be an acceptable trade-off. Yet, while Newcastle are a notable exception, few demoted clubs run away with the Championship and when a manager's sole source of vindication is results, then discontent can spread quickly; Alan Pardew can testify to that, even though he ultimately did engineer an escape from the second tier. Unlike the unlamented Avram Grant, Allardyce offers the promise of strong leadership. It may be necessary if Upton Park experiences a culture shock.
His motives, besides the reported £1.2 million bonus for promotion, appear clear. A man who once vowed to retire at 55 has unfinished business in English football. A lucrative sinecure in Dubai, another plan, has been postponed after his last two jobs were abruptly curtailed.
Much like Allardyce, however, West Ham have had to go backwards if they are to go forwards. If a change of division offers the chance of a fresh start, the reality of relegation is that it means that the Premier League performers are coveted. Exit, presumably, Scott Parker, Robert Green, Thomas Hitzlsperger, Demba Ba and Carlton Cole, as well as the out-of-contract Matthew Upson plus the on-loan Robbie Keane, Wayne Bridge and Victor Obinna.
As is customary in the circumstances, the side will have to be reshaped with an added emphasis on its less productive parts, a task made harder by an uneven dispersal of talent. In the likely exodus, West Ham would be left short of goalscorers and a goalkeeper, even if their excellent Academy should enable them to populate the midfield and the wings without too many difficulties.
A manager who has set up his teams not to lose will be required to adopt a more attacking approach. As some of Allardyce's failings in the transfer market, from Mario Jardel to Mame Biram Diouf, have come in the final third, a surer touch may be needed in his choice of strikers. His prominent role in management's old boys' network should at least make loan signings a probability.
Given West Ham's haphazard (some would say, hopeless) attempts at recruitment, it would help to ban the overly influential agent Barry Silkman from Upton Park. It would be beneficial, too, to limit the owners' role; they, more than former manager Gianfranco Zola, were responsible for the disastrous purchase of Benni McCarthy from Blackburn, where Allardyce had noted the South African's decline rather quicker than his suitors.
Yet Gold and Sullivan display a reluctance to conduct their business quietly; the contrast with the respected John Williams, the former Blackburn chairman with whom Allardyce worked successfully, is stark. If the co-chairmen may require personality transplants so they can fade into the background, the manager might need as great a transformation to play the West Ham way. An appointment that could bring an immediate return to the Premier League also has the potential to unravel dramatically.
Ready for the challenge' (WHUFC) |
David Gold is looking forward to the start of the new season at West Ham United after the arrival of Sam Allardyce as manager.
The Joint-Chairman said the appointment was "good news" for everyone connected with the club, with the focus now firmly on the start of the Championship season in August - especially once the new fixtures are announced first via whufc.com on 17 June.
He said: "It is sad we are relegated, but we have dusted ourselves down and we are ready for the challenge."
He acknowledged the change in division would mean some players coming and going, subject to the manager's plans, but was confident the club would bounce back quickly.
"It is as much about pride as it is about money. Pride plays a big part in what you want to achieve, for yourselves and the supporters. This is important to us. I promise you we will be looking to be the bookies' favourites on the day we kick-off the new season.
"If we are then you know we have done the right thing and straight away we will go high up on their list of favourites just by bringing in Sam. They will say it shows intent."
On Allardyce, he said it was always the intention to bring in a manager with a proven track record.
"There was one redeeming feature from getting relegated a week earlier. It was that we had a week extra to set up our plans and start the process to bring Sam in. It was important to do that as quickly as possible. There is so much work to do and the sooner you can get started on it the better.
"Will he be able to keep our best players? He has got the remit to do so and we hope in some cases he will. I am looking forward to working with him."
Hall aiming higher (WHUFC) |
It may be the close-season, but Robert Hall is already making ambitious plans for the new campaign.
The England Under-18 forward has long been tipped to make it to the very top but, by his own admission, endured a frustrating 2010/11.
The 17-year-old netted ten goals in 26 youth-team appearances and also forced his way into the reserve team on seven occasions, but the 2010 UEFA U17 European Championship winner is aiming higher in the future.
Hall, who signed his first professional contract with the club in October 2010, is one of the many Academy players who take advantage of living at the West Ham United Youth House.
There, the Aylesbury-born youngster has two shirts hanging on his wall - the England shirt he wore in the EURO 17 final and the France shirt he swapped with one of his opponents following the Young Lions' semi-final victory. Both shirts, as well as the positive environment he enjoys by sharing the house with his team-mates, serve as an inspiration to Hall.
"The shirts are hanging there to remind me of what I can achieve if I work hard and to spur me on for the future," said Hall.
"It's been a bit of a quiet season. It's taken me a while to get into the swing of things. I've learnt that I need to concentrate more and that you don't just turn up for training two days a week like we used to. It's every day now, so concentration levels need to be top notch all the time. I'm getting used to that, really.
"From the start of the season in July until about Christmas, I was a bit off the pace. I wasn't really performing well and wasn't taking the opportunities that I should have been.
"I think I started the New Year better, but it's all about learning every day. I'm going in the right direction and I can only keep working hard."Hall told West Ham TV that living in the Youth House, where he shared a room with Jake Young during the 2010/11 season, had helped him to mature and realise that he needed to work harder to fulfil his ambitions.
"The house is a nice place to live. It's very comfortable and all the lads get along well. It's a responsibility, because we have to keep our rooms tidy. We have a lot of help from a nice woman called Caroline who comes in and cleans our rooms while we're away at training.
"Living there makes us more responsible about what we do leave around the house and Bob and Val treat us well. We have to show them respect back and making sure our rooms are tidy before we leave is one of the ways we can show our respect.
"Living here makes things so much easier. You can have more sleep because the training ground is so close. [Youth House hosts] Bob and Val [Rayson] are so welcoming which is nice and living there means we have the luxury of being able to relax before the game and you're ready to do the business when you get on to the pitch."
Sam Allardyce seeks English players for West Ham's promotion challenge (Guardian)
Sam Allardyce believes that West Ham United's best chance of being promoted back to the Premier League at the first attempt lies in signing as many English players as possible. The new Hammers manager hopes to sign six to eight players before the Championship season starts in early August.
Despite being on holiday in Spain, Allardyce has started work on adding to the squad he inherited from Avram Grant. He officially begins work at the club on 20 June. Allardyce wants to add a physical edge to his squad and improve its fitness and he believes a core of English players will help to build team spirit.
Allardyce will look to recruit players with experience of the Premier League or the Championship and David Gold, the club's co-owner, told the club's website he hoped Allardyce would help make West Ham the bookies' favourite for promotion.
Gold said: "There was one redeeming feature from getting relegated a week earlier [than the close of last season]. It was that we had a week extra to set up our plans and start the process to bring Sam in. It was important to do that as quickly as possible. There is so much work to do and the sooner you can get started on it the better."
Gold said the futures of the club's better players – including Scott Parker, Thomas Hitzlsperger, Carlton Cole, Robert Green, Demba Ba and Mark Noble – were in doubt.
"Will he [Allardyce] be able to keep our best players? He has got the remit to do so and we hope in some cases he will," Gold said. "I am looking forward to working with him. It is sad we are relegated but we have dusted ourselves down and we are ready for the challenge. It is as much about pride as it is about money. Pride plays a big part in what you want to achieve, for yourselves and the supporters. This is important to us. I promise you we will be looking to be the bookies' favourites on the day we kick off the new season.
"If we are, then you know we have done the right thing and straight away we will go high up on their list of favourites just by bringing in Sam. They will say it shows intent."
It is understood that Tony Fernandes, the Malaysian businessman who on Wednesday used Twitter to say that he had made a bid to buy West Ham, is standing by his announcement. Although not commenting any further, Fernandes will make any future announcements via Twitter despite David Sullivan, Gold's West Ham co-owner, questioning his credibility for doing so.
With the Hammers relegated to the Championship for next season,the Upton Park club look set to lose many of their best players and striker Ba looks almost certain to be on the move. The Senegalese international is understood to have a get out clause in his contract which would see him released, from his current £35,000 a week contract, now that he is no longer a Premiership player.
Moyes is keen to add some attacking strength to his Toffees and has been linked with Jay Bothroyd, who is available on a free from Cardiff, but a move for Ba looks the most logical option. However, Sunderland are also thought to be chasing the striker as Steve Bruce looks to make a few big name signing this summer.
West Ham bought Ba from German side Hoffenheim in January for a deposit of just £500,000, with the rest of the £6m fee based on appearances as he was suffering from a knee injury.
Board Stunned by Fernandes Offer (Knees Up Mother Brown)
David Gold has admitted to being stunned by Tony Fernandes' ill-timed Twitter transgression.
West Ham's 74-year-old co-chairman claimed today that the first he knew of Fernandes' offer was through the social network, which Gold recently signed up to in an attempt to bridge the chasm between the club and its supporters.
Fernandes claimed to have made an offer to purchase West Ham United FC - an offer that Gold's partner, David Sullivan, later revealed had been received via email.
And whilst he refused to permanently rule out working with the Malaysian businessman, Gold admitted that he found Fernandes' conduct a rather bizarre way in which to conduct business negotiations of this magnitude.
"You can never dismiss any of these things," he told TalkSport. "However, I have to say that I was stunned to hear that negotiations were going on through Twitter!
"It must be a world first that businessmen are negotiating through Twitter; I found it completely bizarre and disappointing. It's clearly the wrong way to go about doing deals whether it be football clubs or just normal business.
"That's not to say that West Ham - ie David Sullivan and myself - wouldn't welcome investors to come in and share this adventure with us," continued Gold. "It is an amazing adventure, it's sad that we're relegated but we've dusted ourselves down and we're ready for the new challenge."
Fernandes' attempted coup has also been criticised by many supporters who have blasted him for doing it on the day of Sam Allardyce's appointment, accusing him of specifically targeting the date in order to gain as much publicity for himself - and his existing operations - as possible.
Allen: Hammers fans will love Sam Allardyce (The Independent)
Allardyce yesterday signed a two-year contract at Upton Park to replace Avram Grant, who was sacked last month after the club were relegated from the Barclays Premier League.
The former Bolton, Newcastle and Blackburn manager's appointment has divided opinion among supporters, many of whom are concerned by his tag as a 'long-ball merchant'.
But Allen, who knows all about the so-called 'West Ham way' having made nearly 200 appearances for the club between 1989 and 1995, insists Allardyce is the right man to turn around the Hammers' fortunes.
"I think he'll do a great job, he is just what they need," Allen, now in charge of Notts County, told Press Association Sport.
"There are some very good young players at West Ham and with Sam's knowledge of the game he will be able to bring in some good new players.
"He will bring strong guidance to the club and that is what the players need, and what the supporters need - someone strong leading from the front.
"The supporters will absolutely love him."
Kovac fell out of favour with former manager Avram Grant and failed to command a regular first-team place even though the Israeli coach stopped him joining Stoke at the start of the season.
The Czech Republic international cannot believe that West Ham suffered relegation considering the number of quality players they have in the squad.
Stoke could now renew their interest in the 31-year-old who is determined to quit Upton Park during the summer and show he can still compete at the highest level.
Kovac said: "At the moment I am very disappointed and frustrated. It has been the worst season in my career.
"Had I played regularly, I would have stayed to fight for back-to-back promotion.
"But this way, I'm not the main man to be blamed, that's why I don't want to stay on."
BOOKIES BACK WEST HAM TO BOUNCE BACK UP AFTER APPOINTMENT OF BIG SAM
West Ham are universal second favourites to win the Championship next season Ladbrokes.com & Bet365 have both installed West Ham United as second favourites to win the Championship next season, following the completion of the football league play offs & the appointment of Sam Allardyce as the new West Ham manager. Allardyce replaces Avram Grant who West Ham sacked immediately after the game against Wigan Athletic which sealed their fate. Sam Allardyce is seen by West Ham owners Gold & Sullivan as the ideal man to bring the Hammers back up to the Premiership at the first time of asking. Softened by Premier League parachute payments, it is understood that Allardyce will be able to dip into the transfer market in the summer. However Allardyce has conceded that West Ham could lose players such as Scott Parker, Carlton Cole & Robert Green in the summer. When speaking to the BBC after his appointment to the West Ham hot seat, Allardyce did confirm that Gold & Sullivan have confirmed the transfer budget he has at his disposal over the summer. The bookmakers seem to be in agreement that even in spite of losing some key names, Allardyce is more than equipped to see West Ham return to the top flight. |
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