WHUFC.com
Fans yet to get a seat for this weekend have limited time to make sure of a
place
14.12.2011
Carlton Cole has hailed the club's terrific support with around just 700
tickets left for Saturday's big Boleyn date with Barnsley. In a festive
gesture, the Board reduced all ticket prices to just £15 for adults and a
fiver for kids. It means a bumper crowd this weekend and ideal backing for
Big Sam's team as they look to put right two successive defeats. "It is good
when our fans come out in packs," Cole, the SBOBET player of the month,
said. "It is good for the club that we have the crowds. Having our
supporters backing all the way through a game is massive to us as a team.
"Hopefully us as players can put in the performance and get the result this
support deserves and that our fans are going home on Saturday night, on the
Tube or in their cars or whatever, and are talking about what a great
performance and result it was for us."
With a sell-out virtually certain, fans disappointed to miss out should note
the first match of 2012, the visit of Coventry City on 2 January, is a Kids
for a Quid fixture.
A season ticket still remains the best overall value for following the
Hammers at every home game, and not just because of incentives like last
weekend's double
discount 20 per cent off instore and online. Half-season tickets are
available now right up to 23 December.
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Transfer latest
KUMB.com
Filed: Wednesday, 14th December 2011
By: Staff Writer
It's a welcome return to our irregular transfer updates as the January
window looms on the horizon...
Both the Daily Mirror and the Daily Mail run this morning with a story
claiming that West Ham have rejected a £2.5million bid for James Tomkins
from Alan Pardew's Newcastle United. By extraordinary coincidence, the
central defender is also currently chasing a new improved contract - not
that we're suggesting the two could possibly be related in any way.
Queens Park Rangers, who had a similar bid rejected last month and are
managed by the delightful Neil Warnock, are also said to be 'monitoring the
situation'.
Mark Noble is another linked with a move away from the Boleyn Ground within
the last 24 hours, with Fulham being mooted as a potential destination by
Talksport. Hopefully that little exclusive didn't come from Ian 'Moose'
Abrahams, whose 'ITK' record during the last transfer window was... less
tham impressive.
Moving to possible arrivals, the Sun are this morning linking Sam Allardyce
with a move for Crystal Palace's teenage sensation Wilfred Zaha, who is said
to be valued around the £5million mark by his club. The 19-year-old can
operate on either wing and would therefore be a perfect fit for Big Sam's
favoured 451/433 formation.
Zaha has scored five goals for Palace this season from 26 appearances.
Rio Ferdinand, who is currently on the fringes at Manchester United is a
rather spurious link but one or two outlets insist that he is considering a
return to London. West Ham are one destinantion touted - although we suspect
former Chairman Terry Brown's claim that Ferdinand may return to West Ham
one day has a good couple of years in it yet.
Meanwhile Ian Hendon put another couple of triallists to the test yesterday
as his development squad ran out 2-0 winners over Crawley Town at Little
Heath. The two triallists who featured are thought to be young Swedish
talents Emilio Rossi and Nikola Ladan, who have also been closely watched by
Sunderland and Everton.
Previously reported here on KUMB.com was a possible move for Japanese
international Ryoichi Maeda, which you may read about here.
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Tomkins staying at West Ham as Allardyce rejects £2.5m Newcastle bid for
defender
By SPORTSMAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 9:41 AM on 14th December 2011
Daily Mail
Newcastle have had a £2.5million bid for West Ham defender James Tomkins
knocked back by the Championship outfit. Magpies manager Alan Pardew
planned the raid on his former club after losing Steven Taylor for the rest
of the season with an achilles injury. Tomkins, 22, has been with the
Hammers since the age of seven and, despite Pardew weighing up a fresh move
in January and interest from QPR, Upton Park boss Sam Allardyce is
determined to keep hold of the player. He said: 'We've been negotiating
with him and will continue that in January. I am optimistic. We can ill
afford to lose any players at this stage of the season.'
Tomkins has another two years to run on his current deal.
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West Ham target Wilfried Zaha
Ken Dyer
14 Dec 2011
Evening Standard
West Ham are interested in a move for Crystal Palace's teenage winger
Wilfried Zaha as they bid to strengthen their injury-hit squad in January.
The club are looking to sign a number of players in the new year to boost
their promotion bid and have identified the Ivory Coast-born Zaha as one of
their targets. The 19-year-old has been in impressive form for Palace this
season and produced a sparkling performance in the club's shock win against
Manchester United at Old Trafford in the Carling Cup quarter-finals. West
Ham boss Sam Allardyce is keen to sign a wide player in January but the
stumbling block may be the fee. Palace value Zaha at around £4million but
West Ham are unlikely to want to pay more than £2m.
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Nolan expects Hammers reaction
Skipper hopes squad learn from last weekend's defeat at Reading
Last Updated: December 14, 2011 3:13pm
SSN
Kevin Nolan wants West Ham United to respond quickly from the 'massive
hiccup' of losing at Reading by beating Barnsley at the weekend. The
second-placed Hammers crashed 3-0 at the Madejski Stadium last week - their
second straight defeat - and had Jack Collisonand Joey O'Brien sent off.
Hammers boss Sam Allardyce also has a host of injury concerns but captain
Nolan is confident they can get back to winning ways when Barnsley visit
Upton Park. "We're going to have to learn from it quickly and bounce back
from it quickly," he told the club's official website. "We are light in
places but we are where we are because of what we've done up to now. There
are going to be a few hiccups here and there and that was a massive hiccup.
"Southampton have made a point on us and a few other teams have made up
points on us but we've got to make sure we get back to winning ways. We're
looking for a reaction and I'm sure there will be one."
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Tony Cottee Column: The chasing pack are closing in, West Ham must beat
Barnsley
Tony Cottee, London24 West Ham columnist
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
4:20 PM
There is no hiding the fact that a 3-0 defeat was not in the script for West
Ham when they travelled to Reading last weekend. Neither was the two red
cards or what looks like a serious injury to Guy Demel, but sometimes these
things happen in football. I was expecting the Hammers to come away with at
least a point, and with Southampton slipping up at home to Blackpool, it was
another missed opportunity to go top. What made matters even worse is that
the teams in third, fourth and fifth all picked up points, closing the nice
gap that West Ham had created between the automatic promotion places and the
play-off spots. I am just hoping that Sam Allardyce's side don't come to rue
these missed opportunities come the end of the season. However, as I keep
saying, the Championship is so competitive and anyone can beat anyone on
their day, which just adds to the appeal of the league. I thought that
Saturday was by far the worst defensive performance from West Ham this
season and it is easy to blame the sending offs for that. I think that Joey
O'Brien will be the first to admit that his first booking was silly and then
to commit a foul so soon after, he was always going to be in trouble.
However, the Hammers just didn't react well when they went down to 10 men
and conceded straight away. Once that first goal went in, I thought that the
team would struggle, which proved to be the case. And then Jack Collison got
sent off, which I was surprised at. I understand why he reacted to Jimmy
Kebe, but I don't condone his actions. I thought that what Kebe did was
hugely disrespectful, and there is no space in professional football for it.
It's not as if Reading were winning 7-0 at the time, they were only 2-0 up.
Even if you were to do that on a Sunday morning game over the park there
would be serious retributions from the other team, and I think Jack got
caught up in the heat of the moment. However, it wasn't a wild lunge, and a
few years ago that would have only been a yellow card. The Hammers now have
something of an injury crisis at right-back for this weekend's visit of
Barnsley and I expect Julien Faubert will cover in that position. That frees
up a space in midfield, and I would love to see Henri Lansbury back in
action. However, we are coming up to a busy period over Christmas and we
need lots of bodies and I would also like to see some of the club's
promising youngsters, like Robert Hall and Cristian Montano given a chance
to show what they can do. I think that this weekend's game is a good match
for us to have as it gives West Ham a chance to bounce back. Barnsley hit a
dip in their recent good form in their last match, although I think they
will come to Upton Park full of confidence. With the various injuries and
suspensions as well as two defeats on the trot, Allardyce may be tempted to
change things and I am sure that he will do so if he feels fit.
It is easy not to change a winning team, but when your side have lost a
couple of games then that is when the manager really earns his money in
turning it around.
Personally, I think we should go 4-4-2 and have a real go at Barnsley from
the off, get the fans behind the team and get back to winning ways.
Tony Cottee was talking to Nathaniel John
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