WHUFC.com
West Ham United's stand-in goalkeeper speaks after another fine team performance at Blackpool
22.02.2012
Henri Lansbury had his love of playing as a goalkeeper fulfilled in style as West Ham United scored an amazing 4-1 npower Championship win at Blackpool. The on-loan Arsenal midfielder enjoys few things more than throwing himself about between the sticks, having once been called into action as an emergency stopper for England's Under-21s against Portugal in November 2010.
At Bloomfield Road, Lansbury pulled on the gloves again after Robert Green was sent-off with 35 minutes of the 90 still to play and West Ham leading 2-1. The 21-year-old responded with an unbeatable display that saw him equal to everything the Tangerines could throw at him. The No22's display thrilled the travelling Hammers fans with his confident performance, earning chants of 'England's No1' and 'Are you Ludo in disguise?' in homage to his Ludek Miklosko-esque talents.
After the game, Lansbury spoke to whufc.com about one of the most memorable games of his life.
What went through your mind when Robert Green was sent-off?
"I was a bit shocked at first but then the gaffer turned around and said 'You're going in' so I thought 'Alright' and I couldn't wait to get on. It was enjoyable."
You had plenty to do, didn't you, but you looked confident?
"I enjoy playing in goal. I did it quite a bit when I was with my mates and in five-a-side tournaments I go in goal, but to play out on the pitch is another level, to be honest with you."
That's twice you've played in goal and you've conceded just a penalty. That's not bad going, is it?
"I let a penalty in playing for England Under-21s, but I suppose you don't have to count that, so it's two clean sheets. Maybe I could go in goal again sometime?!"
Have you done any sort of goalkeeping training? "I had a little muck-about with Marge [Martyn Margetson] the other day and he was telling me to watch the ball all the way into my hands and stuff. I sometimes go in goal and let the lads take shots, but that's about it really. I just enjoy going in goal and diving about because I'm a bit crazy!"
It was probably just nice to get on the pitch again after a few weeks when you have been on the substitutes' bench?
"Definitely. The team has been playing well and it's hard to get back into a winning team. The lads have shown at Blackpool that we can play extremely well with ten men."
Could you hear the fans singing your name?
"I could. It was quite enjoyable to hear. You have to concentrate but obviously you can have a little day-dream now and again! The fans were great and they were supportive of me, so that was good."
That is three games on the trot when we have got a positive result after going down to ten men. How are the lads feeling?
"It's great. I think we've started to play well now and even with ten men we look like we're going to score every time we attack. We've just got to try to keep this run going until the end of the season."
You also turned your hand to photography last week, taking snaps of Ravel Morrison's debut for the Development Squad. Have you got any other hidden talents?
"Not really. Photography and goalkeeping! Seriously, we've just got to keep going and get out of this league."
There will be a spot up for grabs with Robert Green being suspended for Saturday's visit of Crystal Palace...
"I'm going to take my gloves into training! Hopefully I can make the squad as a goalkeeper!"
On a serious note, that was a massive win at Blackpool, wasn't it?
"Yes it was massive. The league is so tight at the top so we want to keep winning and stretch away. The lads played great at Blackpool and are playing great in training. The team spirit is there so we want to keep this run going now and be hard to beat."
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Trio thank Hammers fans
WHUFC.com
Sam Allardyce, Kevin Nolan and Nicky Maynard have spoken about their admiration for the club's loyal support
21.02.2012
Sam Allardyce, Kevin Nolan and Nicky Maynard have paid tribute to West Ham United's dedicated fanbase ahead of Saturday's big London derby with Crystal Palace.
The West Ham United manager, his captain and new striker are keen to remind the club's most committed and loyal fans that their unrivalled support does not go unnoticed as the season enters the home straight. Following a series of bumper crowds over the past two months, the trio wanted to place on record their gratitude to those who turn out to support the team every week.
"I think it's brilliant that the club are offering up a variety of initiatives to bring in new supporters to West Ham United as they will be essential to us growing as a club," Big Sam said. "These kind of offers have given us packed houses for many of the important matches we've already played this season and will help to fill the Boleyn Ground for the big games we've got over the next few weeks.
"However, I'd like to re-emphasise that our season ticket holders are, and should always remain, our top priority. They are the lifeblood of the club and will never be taken for granted. I speak regularly with the Chairmen and we all agree that their continued support is essential to the ongoing development of this club."
Big Sam was certainly aware of the importance of the club's fans during the Hammers' most recent two home games, when West Ham impressively secured four points despite being reduced to ten men for over 70 minutes on each occasion.
"I'm lucky that our technical area is right in front of the biggest stand at the Boleyn Ground and you can feel the power of the crowd behind you during the game.
"People often ask me if the crowd make a difference but I can honestly say that the backing of the guys in the Alpari Stand and the rest of the stadium - the majority of whom are season ticket holders - during the Southampton game was absolutely vital to us getting a point from that match."
Nolan enjoyed many years of playing in some of the most impressive stadiums in the country when plying his trade in the Premier League. He can recall several games when playing as an opponent at the Boleyn Ground and knows that the east London stadium is renowned among opposing players for its intimidating atmosphere.
Nolan said: "When you're out on the pitch and your backs are against the wall, having the support of the West Ham crowd behind you, particularly in those areas with a high concentration of season ticket holders, is absolutely vital. "The fact that we are still pulling in sell-out crowds in the Championship shows the level of support this club has. We are regularly in the top ten most watched games in the country and we must make sure we continue to draw in the crowds over the next ten weeks."
Nolan had to sit out the Southampton match and the majority of the Millwall game following an early red card against the Lions. Although frustrated not to be playing, the break did give him a chance to appreciate the Boleyn Ground atmosphere even more. "I've obviously been gutted to not be out on the pitch following my recent red card, but one of the few plus points is that I've been able to be among the crowd for the last couple of games and the atmosphere they created has been absolutely incredible. "I know how hard the boys found it with ten men but the noise emanating from the Bobby Moore Stand, particularly in the second half against Millwall, helped see the team home and was out of this world."
New signing Nicky Maynard has also been blown away by the backing of the Boleyn Ground since his arrival from Bristol City. The striker made his debut in front of 32,000 fans during the match with Southampton, where he got a rousing reception upon his introduction as a late substitute. "I remember when I was warming up there's a section of the crowd down by the corner flag that were clapping me and cheering for me every time I came down. "I understand the majority of those guys are season ticket holders who are there every week so I'm looking forward to scoring a few goals in front of them."
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Blackpool 1 West Ham 4
BBC.co.uk
21 February 2012
Last updated at 22:00
West Ham hammered Blackpool to return to the top of the Championship despite having to play for 35 minutes with midfielder Henri Lansbury in goal. Substitute Lansbury was forced to don the gloves after Robert Green was dismissed for a foul on Roman Bednar. At that stage United led 2-1, with James Tomkins and Nicky Maynard scoring for the visitors before Kevin Phillips pulled a goal back for Blackpool. United sealed a great win with goals from Gary O'Neill and Ricardo Vaz Te.
It is a real testimony to West Ham's promotion credentials that despite their numerical and personnel disadvantage they were still able to comfortably overcome a Blackpool side that had gone seven matches unbeaten before this game. Ian Holloway's side looked a shadow of the side of recent weeks, but this should take nothing away from the Hammers. Prior to what could, and probably should have been a game-changing red card incident in the 53rd minute, Sam Allardyce's men had dominated. They seized control of the match during a four-minute spell in the first half, during which Tomkins headed home Mark Noble's free-kick and Maynard converted Joey O'Brien's cut-back for his first West Ham goal since joining in January.
Desperate for a foothold in the game, Holloway sent on Kevin Phillips and the veteran striker gave his side just that in first-half injury time, nodding home Alex Baptiste's speculative cross. The contest was seemingly thrown wide open eight minutes after the break when Green was sent off after chasing rashly from his line to bring down the onrushing Bednar. However, West Ham - who had not named a goalkeeper among their substitutes - were largely untroubled after that as emergency goalkeeper Lansbury was shielded superbly by his defence. The visitors gave themselves breathing space with just over 15 minutes to go when O'Neill lashed a crisp 20-yard drive into the bottom corner after Winston Reid's effort from Vaz Te's corner was blocked by Stephen Crainey. Phillips rattled the inside of the post with a lofted volley for the home side before Vaz Te put the result beyond all doubt when he raced clear to open his own Hammers account with a neat finish.
Blackpool manager Ian Holloway: "It was pretty horrendous from our point of view. Only one team turned up. In every single way they were better than us. "They were more professional than us, they played it in the right way on a difficult surface and we just made mistake after mistake after mistake. "Just about everything that could go wrong did. I felt my lot were caught in the emotion of it. They were not professional, they did not get it right and we were beaten by a better team."
West Ham manager Sam Allardyce told BBC Radio 5 live: "The outstanding quality from my players was there in abundance. That was a remarkable achievement, a remarkable performance and a remarkable result. "From the very, very start we controlled the game. We have come out with a huge amount of credit with our display. "Three games on the trot we've now been reduced to 10 men and we've won two and drawn one. It is the unfortunate ruling by the bosses at the league, which I thought was outrageous at the time, to reduce the substitutes from seven to five. "That ridiculous decision has caused a lot of us managers to not put a goalkeeper on the bench. We took the gamble and it paid off because Henri Lansbury was outstanding in goal."
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Green facing one match ban
KUMB.com
Filed: Tuesday, 21st February 2012
By: Staff Writer
Robert Green should miss just the one match as a result of his dismissal against Blackpool tonight. West Ham United's number one was given his marching orders after bringing down substitute Roman Bednar outside of his area eight minutes into the second half of the game, which West Ham won 4-1 thanks to goals from James Tomkins, Nicky Maynard, Gary O'Neil and Ricardo Vaz Te. Despite the striker heading away from goal and Green having a covering defender between him and the target, referee Oliver Langford showed no hesitation in issuing Green with a red card for a professional foul - West Ham's third sending off in consecutive matches.
Although the dismissal means Green will face a suspension - unless West Ham appeal, which would appear unlikely in the circumstances - a professional foul usually results in a one-match ban - unlike the three-match suspensions received by Kevin Nolan (versus Millwall) and Matt Taylor (Southampton) for violent conduct. Heading the list of potential replacements for Saturday's televised home game with Crystal Palace is reserve 'keeper Ruud Boffin - although Marek Stech could yet take the goalkeeper's jersey despite his former club being due a £750,000 payment should the Czech youngster play in two more competitive fixtures for United.
However some supporters may prefer to see the on-loan Henri Lansbury retain the green jersey, given his (comfortable) clean sheet at Bloomfield Road tonight...
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Blackpool 1 West Ham Utd 4
KUMB.com
Filed: Tuesday, 21st February 2012
By: Staff Writer
West Ham United have returned to the top of the Championship after thrashing fellow promotion candidates Blackpool at Bloomfield Road. And for the third game in succession, Sam Allardyce's were forced to play a fair chunk of the game with only ten men after goalkeeper Robert Green was shown a red card for a professional foul just nine minutes into the second half. Bizarrely, the Hammers were just 2-1 up at the time of Green's dismissal but late goals from Gary O'Neil and Ricardo Vaz Te - his first since moving from Barnsley in the January transfer window - ensured United recorded a second four-goal haul against the Tangerines this season.
On a quite remarkable night in the North West, the Hammers took the lead with 28 minutes played having dominated the opening exchanges. Mark Noble, captaining the side for the second successive game grabbed another assist as his inch-perfect cross was neatly headed home by James Tomkins, playing once again in a defensive midfield role, from just outside the six-yard box. And when Nicky Maynard added a second from close range just four minutes later - his first goal for the Hammers in his first start - it looked as if the game was already over for the home side who went into the game unbeaten in the Championship in their last seven outings.
So disappointed by his team's display was Tangerines boss Ian Holloway that he replaced the anonymous Chris Basham with veteran striker Kevin Phillips after just 35 minutes of the game. And that move paid almost instant dividends when substitute Phillips was on hand to nod home a deep cross in the closing seconds of the first half. Sam Allardyce - who has expressed his concern at his team's lack of concentration several times already this season - will no doubt have been furious at conceding the goal that gave the home side a lifeline they barely deserved following such an insipid first half display.
All of a sudden, a game that looked like a cakewalk for the Hammers appeared very much back in the balance once again. Blackpool boss Ian Holloway used his full quota of substitutes at the break, replacing Ludovic Sylvestre and one-time Hammers target Lomana Lua Lua with Nouha Dicko and Roman Bednar. And it was the latter who was at the heart of Green's dismissal just eight minutes into the second period when the former England goalkeeper uncharacteristically rushed outside of his area to bring down the Czech substitute. With no recognised goalkeeper amongst his substitutes, Allardyce was forced to replace Green with Henri Lansbury - whose one sole appearance in goal previously came for England's under-21s in a friendly against Germany in November 2010.
However the Hammers boss need not have worried for the home side barely threatened the on-loan midfielder - who became the second Arsenal player to feature in goal for the Hammers this season (former loanee Manuel Almunia being the first) - thereafter. Fortunately that was definitely not the case for Lansbury's opposite number Matthew Gilks, who was to pick the ball out of his net on a further two occasions despite his team having the extra man. Gary O'Neil, on as a replacement for Abdoulaye Faye made it 3-1 to the Hammers with 74 minutes on the clock when he fired home through a crowd of bodies from the edge of the box. And to add insult to injury, Ricardo Vaz Te make it 4-1 to West Ham when he recorded his first goal since making a £750,000 move south in the final minute of normal time, as his deflected effort found the corner of Gilks' net. The win for West Ham means that Sam Allardyce's side return to the top of the Championship, a point clear of nearest rivals Southampton and with a game in hand. Additionally, United have now taken seven points from their last three outings - despite being forced to play for 189 of those 270 minutes with only ten men on the field.
Blackpool 1 West Ham Utd 4: match facts
West Ham Utd: Green, O'Brien, McCartney, Reid, Faye (O'Neil 66), Tomkins, Noble, Collison, Faubert (Lansbury 54), Vaz Te, Maynard (Cole 82).
Subs not used: Potts, Baldock.
Goals: Tomkins (28), Maynard (32), O'Neil (74), Vaz Te (90).
Booked: Reid (58), O'Neil (89).
Sent Off: Green (54).
Shots on/off target: 7/8.
Blackpool: Gilks, Baptiste, Evatt, Cathcart, Crainey, Basham (K.Phillips 35), Sylvestre (Dicko 46), Ferguson, LuaLua (Bednar 46), Fleck, M.Phillips.
Subs not used: Eardley, Wilson.
Goals: K.Phillips (45+2).
Booked: Fleck (73).
Shots on/off target: 7/7.
Referee: Oliver Langford.
Attendance: 13,043.
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Blackpool hit by 10-man Hammers
Last updated: 21st February 2012
SSN
Emergency goalkeeper Henri Lansbury kept out Blackpool as 10-man West Ham returned to the top of the Championship with a 4-1 win. In the absence of a specialist replacement, on-loan Arsenal midfielder Lansbury was summoned from the bench to reprise a role he briefly filled for England Under-21s last season after Robert Green was sent off for a professional foul on Blackpool substitute Roman Bednar in the 53rd minute. At that stage United were 2-1 to the good following a dominant first-half display. James Tomkins and Nicky Maynard scored two goals in four minutes, but Kevin Phillipsbrought the Seasiders back into the contest on the stroke of half-time. But Ian Holloway's men rarely resembled a side on a seven-match unbeaten run and, with the exception of some routine handling that drew huge cheers from the away support, Lansbury was largely untroubled as Gary O'Neil and Ricardo Vaz Te completed a handsome victory.
West Ham are now one point ahead of Southampton at the summit with a game in hand, while Middlesbrough's victory at Millwall means Blackpool drop out of the top six. Winger Matt Phillips returned form a hamstring problem to celebrate his Scotland call-up with a place in a Blackpool starting line-up that displayed five changes from the 2-0 FA Cup defeat to Everton on Saturday. West Ham made two alterations to the side that drew with Southampton last week as George McCartney replaced the suspended Matt Taylor and Carlton Cole dropped to the bench for Maynard to make his full debut alongside fellow January recruit Vaz Te. A clever Julien Faubert pass from the right flank gave Maynard a yard on the Blackpool backline, and the former Bristol City striker's low effort across goal was touched wide by goalkeeper Matt Gilks' outstretched boot.
Blackpool were struggling to establish any rhythm and when Ian Evatt fouled Maynard on the right in the 28th minute, the visiting supporters' chant of "We're gonna score in a minute" proved prophetic. Mark Noble delivered the set-piece beautifully for Tomkins to plant a header past Gilks. Moments later it was 2-0 as Jack Collison and Joey O'Brien combined down the right channel. Collison collected the scraps on the byline when O'Brien's cross was blocked, and cut the ball back to make Maynard's first West Ham goal a formality. Holloway took action soon afterwards, introducing Kevin Phillips in place of Chris Basham, and the veteran striker gave Blackpool a lifeline they scarcely deserved in first-half stoppage time when he nodded home Alex Baptiste's speculative cross. Seemingly buoyed by this success, Holloway sent on two further attacking options from his bench, with Nouha Dicko and Bednar replacing Ludovic Sylvestre and the frustratingly wayward Lomana LuaLua.
The contest was thrown wide open when Kevin Phillips' through-ball pierced the Hammers defence and Green charged rashly from his line to bring down Bednar.
Referee Oliver Langford was well placed and ignored the efforts of West Ham defenders chasing back, to brandish a red card. Hammers boss Sam Allardyce turned to Lansbury and sacrificed Faubert. Lansbury was impressively protected by the West Ham defence and with 16 minutes remaining substitute O'Neil lashed a crisp 20-yard drive into the bottom corner after Winston Reid's effort from Vaz Te's corner was blocked by Stephen Crainey. Kevin Phillips then rattled the inside of the post with a lofted volley as Lansbury's positioning finally failed him, before Vaz Te raced clear of a largely absent Seasiders defence to open his Hammers account in the final minute.
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In Conversation With David Sullivan (Part 6): "We Were the Most Insolvent Club in the Country"
February 20th, 2012 - 6:46 pm by Iain Dale
West Ham Till I Die
This is the sixth part of my interview with David Sullivan.
ID: Let's move onto the ownership of the club. How much do you and David Gold actually own? And how has that changed since the beginning?
DS: I think we own about 32% each. The bank owns 35%, the Harrises own 1% and Terry Brown owns a tiny little bit. He put half a million pounds in. I know the fans hate Terry, but you couldn't have a guy that loves the club more than Terry. He may have run the club like an accountant, but he goes to every home and away game and he loves the club. When we asked for half a million quid he put it in. You could say well it's nothing, but it isn't nothing, it's a substantial sum of money. The Harris's put a couple of million pounds in. One of them is on the board. They are lifelong supporters. John has been a supporter since 1946. His son Daniel loves the club. They put some money in when we did. I've still got an option till 2013 to buy the rest of the shares but unfortunately we are putting so much money in to keep the club afloat and to pay down the debt, I don't particularly want to put up another pile of money to buy the remainder of the shares, when I have an option over them anyway. And I have got to tell you that Straumar are supportive. They can't give us any more money, but they did actually loan us another million quid at one stage, which was incredible really. They are very lovely people, nothing to do with the old lot. This season David and I have put in £32 million. There's approximately a £17 million trading loss this year, which we are not proud of. We had to make a decision whether to run it like an Administrator, get rid of all the players and be fighting relegation, or to have one go at giving it our all to get promoted. The other £15 million is being used to pay down debt. We have to pay down the banks on a schedule. We have to pay down Sheffield United. The whole Tevez deal cost the club over £30 million. We inherited 70 or 80% of that. It finishes in 2013. The trouble is, the payments get bigger in the later years. I can't name the figures because it's confidential but it is ratcheted. The previous owners would do any deal as long they didn't have to pay in the current year. It was always 'pay later'. And two years' season ticket money was taken in advance, which we rolled over for a year. This year, because we were relegated, they wouldn't roll it over, so we had to pay down £7 million advance on season tickets and there's a £7.7 million advance next year so all the season ticket money is gone.
ID: How close were we to going out of business?
DS: Well, if we hadn't put money in we'd been out of business. And that's what people fail to understand. If you owed the money to the Inland Revenue you could go into administration, give them 20p in the Pound, which Rangers will do on the drip and then come back. The problem with West Ham is that the money is owed to Sheffield United and other football clubs, so they are football debts and administration doesn't get you out of those. The banks have a charge over the ground, the training ground, over everything. So even if you go into administration that isn't lost. So administration wouldn't clear the debts of the club. Even if it was for the benefit of the club, even if we lost our shares, if we could get out of all that debt, we would go into administration. But you'd only get rid of 20% of your debts, not the 80% which are football debts, or debts charged against the football club, the ground – every asset of the club they're charged against.
ID: When you took over you will have obviously done your due diligence, but were you really aware of all of the mess at that point?
DS: We knew it was a hell of a mess. There might have been five or ten million we didn't know about, but we knew about £100 million of it. We said right from the start that if this wasn't West Ham, we wouldn't be doing this. This is not a good deal.
ID: Two years on, do you think people really appreciate how bad the situation was, and what you both have done to rectify it?
DS: Some do, but unless you know the real figures you don't. I think there's a belief in football that whatever happens, the club survives. There will soon be a club that won't survive. It might be Portsmouth. The only clubs that cease to survive are tiny ones. It has not happened to a big club yet. West Ham was probably the most insolvent club in the country due to the excesses of the Icelandic owners. If, for example, Roman Abramovich died tomorrow and his widow didn't want to support Chelsea, the debts and the players' wages would put Chelsea out of business. Same at Man City.
ID: So there are some clubs that are run as playthings and others have to be run as businesses. In the end, something will happen to those clubs that are run as playthings.
DS: If the owner loses interest, they're buggered. It's like a rich man who buys a yacht and then loses interest in it. Although we have not been good businessmen in what we've done this season, we cannot do that year after year. In a weird sort of way, we can't let the debts keep increasing. We will have lost £15-17 million pursuing the dream. In fact next year, or the year after, or whenever it comes in, even if you want to, you can't, because of the Fair Play Rules.
ID: What effect will that have?
DS: In the Championship it will be ferocious. Wages will come down. You won't be able to renew players, you'll have to let good players walk away because you can't afford to pay them the wages they are on let alone an increase if their contract is coming to an end.
ID: Have you found that a difficulty already? I know you can't name individual players but have there been players who you'd like to sell on but they won't take a cut and the club that might be interested in them won't meet their demands?
DS: Some players, because of their wages, are worthless. We then have to pay the player off. We have had one where if he had been on £2-3 grand a week, there would have been a queue of clubs to take him. We might even have got a £100,000 fee for him. But because he was on a very large multiple of that we've had to give him a huge sum of money.
ID: How do you and David Gold divide your duties?
DS: I do all the transfers, bringing the players in, things like that. David does all the PR, goes to the training ground. If I'm unsure about something, or it's a substantial amount of money I'll ring David just to check he's OK with it. For example, the Jelavic bid was quite a big bid and he'd have had to stick in half the money. He gives me his opinions on it, you know? When we appointed Sam we both met him together, same with Avram. In the main, we think alike. We've been in football together for nearly 20 years
ID: Are you tempted to follow his lead and join Twitter yourself?
DS: No, my son is on Twitter and he loves it. He's a bit dyslexic so anything that encourages him to write, I am very pleased about. I know when we signed players on the transfer deadline, I was ringing him up – by the way, that was the worst night of the season – and he was tweeting we had signed players but he hadn't put the 'ed' on the end of sign.
ID: David Gold clearly loves it, though.
DS: Yeah, he loves it. I just haven't got the time. I can't handle my emails. Sometimes I get 2,000 a day. The thought of trying to do Twitter as well would be too much.
ID: You are very quick at replying to emails.
DS: It's because I am here. David can't reply to every tweet he gets but he does his best. He tries to keep the supporters informed about what's going on. He's very open and honest, as I am too. We believe in open and honest management. You hope that if you are honest with the supporters they can see you're trying your best. At this moment in time we have to accept that there are many clubs we can't compete with. We hope that over time we can compete with all but the Man Citys, Chelsea and Man Uniteds of this world. Maybe one year a few players will come through. You get lucky. It can happen. You sign a couple of young players, a couple of youth team players make it. We've still got ambition.
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In Conversation With David Sullivan (Part 7): "Why I Never Speak to Sam After a Game"
February 21st, 2012 - 9:00 am by Iain Dale
West Ham Till I Die
This is the seventh and penultimate part of my interview with David Sullivan.
ID: Who are the young players you're most impressed with? Danny Potts has done well, hasn't he? He was brilliant in his first game
DS: Yes, but he was brought in too soon. It was a good experience for him. But with any young player, they can have a brilliant debut but it's asking too much for them to do it in three or four quick games. Had Sam had a choice, he wouldn't have done that. It was done by necessity. All the players who got a yellow card at Birmingham were suspended against Derby. Rob Hall is a good player but his knee's gone and he's out for the rest of the season. But I don't think he'd be in the first team now with the players we've signed. He's a player for next season. Elliot Lee, George Moncur. There are two or three. If you're in the Championship they're going to get more chances.
ID: We need to be 15 points ahead at the beginning of April so Sam can try a couple.
DS: Yes, absolutely. That's the dream. It's a bit unlikely, but anything's possible.
ID: It's interesting that we are at the top, and yet you'd be hard pressed to name a game where we've played brilliantly and played a team off the park – maybe Blackpool at home.
DS: We all think there is another gear in the team. In a weird sort of way we saw it against Southampton the other night but there are a lot of nerves out there. There are nerves in the crowd too. They were really up for it against Southampton though, and that helped the team. I agree with you, it's been a struggle, but it was always going to be. Norwich last year, it wasn't a pushover, they would grind out result after result. They scored a lot of late goals, and that's what we have got to start doing. We haven't won a single game in the last quarter of an hour. We've scored a lot of early goals and then win 1-0. I am hoping in the last 18 games we can get some points in the last ten minutes.
ID: What happened with Tony Fernandes?
DS: He was trying to buy the club when we were trying to buy the club. He's very tricky, Tony. I won't say any more than that. He told a few pork pies to us. What he said this year, his offer was ridiculous. He wanted to put a little bit of money into the club – and I mean 'a little bit' – to take 51% of the club. We didn't have 51% to sell really, as it would have left us with 13% between us. We'd have been giving him our shares. It was a ludicrous offer. But he's certainly pumped some money into Queen's Park Rangers. Or run up some debt, time will tell. It will be interesting to see if they stay up or go down. Tony is a charming, charismatic man, a fantastic salesman, very good at talking.
ID: What's the most memorable West Ham game you have ever seen?
DS: I went to the cup finals as a kid. When I was 15 and living in Hornchurch I went to the 1964 cup final. Ronnie Boyce. Beating Man U 4-0 in the snow the other year was memorable. I know it was a semi reserve side, but even so, that was quite a good experience. Even beating Stoke in injury time. We were so much more up for those cup games, but then there was that abysmal performance at Birmingham where we just capitulated. I never went. I thought, I just can't face it if we get beaten up there. Funny how fickle some supporters are. The first time we went back we got jostled and booed. The last time we got applauded. So perhaps after 12 months they realise we didn't do such a bad job. Birmingham are having a fantastic year. Undefeated at home and a major threat to us. It will be a very big game when we play them at Upton Park.
ID: Have we had the money for Diamanti yet?
DS: No. It's gone to the European Court of Arbitration. I fear Brescia might go bust on us. But even if this court tells them to pay, it doesn't mean they will. Say they owe us £1.7 million. They are trying to get £500,000 knocked off for a technical reason. Well why not pay us £1.2 million in the meantime? I don't understand it. It doesn't make any sense.
ID: Why was Fabio Daprela let go? He looked a real prospect.
DS: The manager took the view he was just OK. We got 750,00 euros from Brescia and we actually got paid that money. It was a one off payment and we thought it was reasonable business.
ID: What's the situation with Marek Stech?
DS: If he starts in two more games we have to give £700,000 to Sparta Prague. It's very hard. We have tried to renegotiate with them, but they're having none of it. It's a bad, bad situation.
ID: Karren Brady's column in The Sun doesn't go down well with many fans. Have you been concerned by some of the things she writes?
DS: She's always done it. If I stop her doing it, the club would have to give her the money. And it's a substantial amount of money, so I prefer for her to do it and the club not to give her the money if that makes sense! I'm confident that Karren will never write anything detrimental to our great club and she hasn't this season.
ID: Sam's column in the Standard is quite a good read. He doesn't get into trouble over that. Yet.
DS: He doesn't earn any money from it either! [laughs]. He does it for nothing. Just to get PR for the club.
ID: Do you think racism has been eradicated from Upton Park? I've only experienced it twice in my twenty years as a season ticket holder, but once at the end of last season I witnessed some really extreme anti-semitic stuff against David Gold after we'd lost a game in the last minute. It's still there, isn't it?
DS: If you lose in the last minute we all say and do things… That's why I never speak to the manager until the Monday. I don't speak to him after the game. If it's a midweek game, I'll speak to him the next day. I think things can be said on both sides that you might live to regret. I think some people, through ignorance, lack of education, they come out with the racist thing. I'm short, so I have the hightism thing against me, which hurts just as much [Iain laughs]. I was born short. I wish I had been like Brad Pitt, but I am what I am. I may not be black, I may not be Jewish, but I'm little.
ID: At least you're not ginger!
DS: I like ginger women, actually. I like redheads. [both in fits of laughter]. Perhaps I would prefer to be a black Jewish man than a small white man. So I get hightism remarks against me. You've just got to take it on the chin. It's not very nice and yes, we did get a bit of grief at the end of last season – "You've wrecked the club, and done this and that", but we have done our best and we are not going to get it right all the time. Hand on heart, we picked the wrong manager, but I don't want to keep whacking Avram. He was a lovely person but he wasn't right for West Ham. Another club, he might have been wonderful for. We made a mistake, but if you look at managers, they sign players and make mistakes all the time. Unfortunately as an owner, you make a decision every couple of years, or every five years , you hope you get it right.
ID: Have you ever had a manager who wanted to sign a player, you've seen that player and you say 'absolutely not'?
DS: Only when the manager has been there a few years. You've got to give support in the early years. But after a few bad buys I have written emails to managers where I have said "I'm supporting you buying this player, but I am telling you now that this is a bad, bad player and you shouldn't be signing him". I think I have been right on virtually every occasion. I have only vetoed about two players in a long period of time. In the main you support a manager. I've signed a couple who I would not have signed but the manager wanted them so you support him. All you can do is give your opinion. Sometimes you say to a manager "think about it, have a long, hard think about it" and sometimes they do and change their minds and sometimes they don't. You support the manager, or you become the manager. I have signed a couple over the years where I have taken a longshot gamble and said to the manager "are you Ok with it, you don't have to play them but don't boycott them". I have only signed them with their approval. I have only said to a manager, say every 50 players, I don't want them to sign someone, and I might pick one out of 50, subject to finances.
ID: Is there one that you have picked that has then gone on to do really well?
DS: I signed Mauro Zarate at Birmingham on loan and he almost kept us up an he went on to do well at Lazio. I think he's at Inter Milan now. We signed a little Equadorian who did very well and is now the top scorer in Mexico. Zarate we signed on loan with an option of buying. I wouldn't buy a player like that on a long term contract. Everyone's got to be in agreement. Every player we have signed this year, the manager has picked and I have supported him. They all made sense on paper. I also signed Ilan at West Ham. I saw the state of Benni McCarthy when he arrived and had my doubts about him, though he was the manager's first choice. I had the opportunity to take Ilan for half a season, with an option in our favour for the next season. I signed him as I thought we needed more firepower. He wasn't a great player, but his five vital goals kept us up. He had an uncanny knack of sticking his right foot out and scoring. Whilst he didn't do enough for us to offer him a long term contract, I think he did the job he was brought in to do. Zola agreed to take him, though he knew nothing about him, and thankfully he played an important part in our first season survival. I've never signed a player without the agreement of the manager in 20 years in football. On the very rare occasions (eg Ilan) I have taken the initiative they have supported my judgement.
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In Conversation With David Sullivan (Part 8): "How Paolo Di Canio Could be West Ham Manager"
February 21st, 2012 - 12:00 pm by Iain Dale
West Ham Till I Die
This is the eighth and final part of my interview with David Sullivan.
ID: The FA have launched a campaign on homophobia in football. If a player came to you and told you he was gay and wanted to come out, what would your reaction be?
DS: I'd say 'Good luck to you'. I think we've had a couple of gay players at West Ham. I'm pleased that we have signed up to the FA and Government campaign on homophobia in football. In fact, I think we signed up yesterday. It's the right thing to do. We have a lot of gay fans and they would expect us to do nothing less.
ID: Why do you think no gay player has ever come out, apart from Justin Fashanu, and we all know what happened to him?
DS: I think it's because they're nude in the dressing room, they're in the shower, I think they feel a little bit threatened. If they knew one of their teammates was gay…
ID: Oh come on, that's rubbish. Surely nowadays no one really believes that gay men fancy any other man they might meet?
DS: Well they probably do think like that, some of them, but it doesn't mean they are going to try it on. I don't know what to say, maybe some footballers feel threatened by gay footballers. To me it's nothing. If you're that way inclined, good luck to you. I've always jokingly said that I wish every man in the world was gay. There would just be me and the whole female population. So the more men that are gay the better as far as I am concerned.
ID: You'd be bloody knackered though… Just to finish off, have you started planning for if we go up?
DS: Well yes and no. It's difficult. The players we signed this January, we all think can perform in the Premier League.
ID: Presumably a key aim has to be that we don't become a yo-yo club like West Brom.
DS: Yes. Sam never got relegated with Bolton. He had a tough first year but he never got relegated in about nine seasons. He got them up to fifth or sixth in the table. I think he won the Carling Cup with them. Despite the debt, we're a bigger club than Bolton. If we add a bit more finance, maybe we can be a top six club.
ID: What's the deal with Sam? If we get up would you expect to extend his contract?
DS: He's got a two year contract. We'd have a look at it. I've always thought if someone's got a contract, you speak to them at the end of it. Everyone's happy. At the end of that you see where you are. I think it is wrong to negotiate a long way in advance. Wait till the end of the period, he decides what he wants to do, we do the same.
ID: What do you make of Mr Di Canio's start in management?
DS: Good! Very impressed!
ID: Did you ever consider him seriously?
DS: I met him, and I said in the nicest possible way, while my heart would… you cannot have a rookie manager. I actually said, you've got to take a lower league club. He's had a little bit of financial support at Swindon and that does make a big difference in that division. I'm not belittling what he has done at all. If he does it next year in a higher division you start to think perhaps he's very very good at it. It's like the Huddersfield manager. He did well, but he had money to spend and he had layers on high wages. The counter argument is that he got Jordan Rhodes for two bob from Ipswich so he's a good judge of players. I do watch for the Swindon results every week. He's got passion, theres' no doubt about that. And he loves West Ham. I'd like nothing better than in five years' time to be in the Champion's League, Sam's got the England job, Di Canio's just got Swindon promotion to the Premier League, and we pinch him! But that's five years down the line. I feel he's got to do two or three years of establishing himself and his credentials. Ron Noades won Division 2 with Brentford, but he couldn't do it in League 1. Just because you can win League 2 doesn't necessarily mean… But it's a great start.
ID: Whenever you read an interview with Paolo, all he wants to talk about is West Ham.
DS: He loves West Ham and West Ham loves him. He's on a par with Tevez with the supporters but last summer we had to go for safety. We looked at lots of managers and two of them are now doing very, very well. We looked at the Watford manager [Malky Mackay] who's now at Cardiff, we looked at Chris Hughton, who's at Birmingham and they've both done fantastic jobs. We went for Sam because we wanted experience. Having made one mistake, we wanted to play as safe as we possibly could. With Paolo, if we'd brought him in then, had he done badly we'd have looked so stupid. Also, it's a bit like Paul Ince, if you fail at high level you find it difficult to start again lower down, not that I am making a case for Paul Ince! [Iain laughs]. He did an OK job at Milton Keynes, he bombed out at Blackburn, you really want to see someone earn their apprenticeship as a manager. You get some top class footballer who wants to come straight in as a Premier League manager, well not many do it.
ID: Have you looked back at the 10 Point Plan you issued in May 2010 and checked how you've done?
DS: [laughs]. No! I daren't! What did we say?
ID: Number 1 – appoint the right manager. Tick?
DS: We may have eventually. Second attempt.
ID: Signed new players.
DS: Sort of.
ID: Made more investment in the Academy.
DS: That's probably neutral, but we have sustained it despite relegation.
ID: Continued to clear the debt.
DS: Sort of
ID: Freeze season ticket prices for renewals.
DS: Well, we've done that.
ID: Build the status and image of the club.
DS: I think we've done that, with the crowds we've been getting, we really are promoting the brand hard with advertisements, with mailshots. We mailed two million people in Essex and East London with leaflets on West Ham. We've just taken 50 pages in the Evening Standard and the Metro on a deal for the next year
ID: You should be advertising on LBC!
DS: We do that as well. No, it's talkSport.
ID: Disgrace! You should sponsor my evening show! 400,000 people!
DS: Is that what you get?! That's incredible. But they'd have to do it very cheap!
ID: Next one, make it enjoyable to come and watch.
DS: Well, we're starting to win games, and that's the most important thing, you win games.
ID: Get closer to the community.
DS: We really do put a lot of effort into that and spend a lot of money
ID: Go for the Olympic Stadium.
DS: Er…. [Iain laughs]
ID: Get closer to supporters
DS: We've for the Supporters Advisory Panel and they come up with some very good ideas. I correspond with about 50 fans on the email and they give me their opinions.
ID: But you still enjoy it?
DS: If it wasn't for the financial drain, I'd say I was loving it, but it is at a level which is a bit frightening. I think David has aged five years in two! I can still laugh about, but I really don't know why! We're 4-1 on to go up, and you just pray it happens. But you see Blackpool coming with a run, Birmingham coming with a run, Hull, Reading.
ID: I think Southampton will drop to the playoffs.
DS: Reading are a good side, you know. Even before we had the sending offs, they were at us. When it was 0-0, there was nothing in it.
ID: They've always been a bit of a bogey side for us. I remember the 6-0!
DS: We'll beat them when they come here. Our home form is really improving and I think you'll see that continue for the rest of the season. The crowds are getting bigger. We've got Palace on TV but that will be sold out because of Kids for a Quid. To get a sellout at 12.45 on a Saturday is fantastic. You can't beat Kids for a Quid when you talk about getting the community involved. It allows people who haven't got much money to bring their kids. I met a guy the other day who brought 19 kids to a game with his pal. Nineteen! In addition to doing transfers and wage negotiations, I'm very involved in the marketing of the club at a micro level. I have organised most of our expansionary advertising campaigns including the 2.5m leaflets we've distributed since the stat of the season and the 50 pages we've recently contracted to book in the Standard & Metro. Myself & Karren invented Kids for a Quid at Birmingham 20 years ago and its something we really believe is important for the long term future of the club. We regularly use it regularly at West Ham for games we think are not going to sell out.
ID: You've got to catch them young.
DS: Yes, because in 20 or 30 years' time, they will be our supporters. It's called investing in the future.
ID: I think that's a good, positive note to end on. I want to really thank you for doing this. I know the readers of West Ham Till I Die will appreciate it and also appreciate the fact that you have been so open and transparent.
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Blackpool 1 West Ham 4
By DAVID FACEY
Published: Today
The Sun
HENRI LANSBURY was forced to play in GOAL as West Ham roared into top spot. The on-loan Arsenal midfielder was brought on as a 53rd-minute sub to go between the sticks after Robert Green was sent off for a professional foul. Boss Sam Allardyce failed to name a sub keeper but wannabe gloveman Lansbury was on hand to answer his SOS and keep a clean sheet. The Hammers had raced into a 2-0 lead. First, James Tomkins nodded in Mark Noble's 28th-minute cross, then Nicky Maynard hit his first Hammers goal four minutes later, converting Jack Collison's pass. But Kevin Phillips pulled one back for the hosts with a stooping header from Alex Baptiste's cross. Former England keeper Green's dismissal — for taking out Roman Bednar with the Blackpool striker clear on goal — was West Ham's third red card in as many games. But West Ham have become so used to playing with 10 men that they actually finished stronger than the hosts. They grabbed a third when Gary O'Neil fired home from the edge of the box. And Ricardo Vaz Te completed an unlikely rout by rifling in from 15 yards. Big Sam said: "Your heart is in your mouth when something like that happens at such a delicate stage. It was a fantastic performance. "But we've got to stop going down to 10 men because my heart won't take it!"
Seasiders boss Ian Holloway said: "Sometimes you have to put your hands up and admit that you were beaten hollow. "Only one team turned up, and that was them. They looked like champions, we looked like a team that needs to sort itself out."
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Blackpool 1-4 West Ham: Daily Mirror match report
Published 22:00 21/02/12 By Alan Nixon
The Mirror
Robert Green saw red as West Ham's horror run of dismissals took a bizarre new turn for the worse. England keeper Green became the third sending-off in three games as Sam Allardyce watched on in amazement after warning against more indiscipline. Allardyce did not know whether to laugh or cry as Hammers had to go through the ordeal of playing with ten men again while storming to the top of the table. Green lost his head as he raced out of his box to scythe down sub Roman Bednar, going for an early bath, a ban and completing a hat-trick of shame started by Kevin Nolan and Matty Taylor. Remarkably the crazy mistake barely disrupted West Ham's impressive display despite sub Henri Lansbury - the on-loan Arsenal midfielder - coming on to wear the gloves for the last 40 minutes. Allardyce, sacked by Blackpool in his younger days, had no cover keeper but that did not stop his team's charge as they scored twice with a man short. Dazed and delighted Allardyce said: "It was a great victory and a fantastic performance by all of the players. From start to finish we were outstanding."
Allardyce surprisingly claimed Green should not have gone and may even appeal. He said: "It wasn't a sending off, he wasn't the last man. "The referee buckled under the pressure of the Blackpool players surrounding him and baying for a red card. He should have assessed the situation, it was a poor decision. "We have overcome it again. That's seven points out of nine with ten men. But we have got to stop it because my heart can't stand it."
Allardyce's game plan worked as his side dominated midfield - hardly a surprise with an extra man in the area - while the Seasiders looked miles off their recent form. The Hammers carried more threat and took the lead when Mark Noble picked out James Tomkins with an inviting free kick and the youngster made no mistake with a power header. It was all too easy soon after when Jack Collison got into the Blackpool box and had two stabs at a cross, with the second turned in by the alert Nicky Maynard. Ian Holloway reacted instantly, whipping off midfielder Chris Basham for veteran striker Kevin Phillips. A cavalier change, but drastic action was needed. Blackpool improved and predictably Kevin Phillips was their inspiration, finding a yard in the box and planting a header in at the far post with sheer precision from Alex Baptiste's searching ball. Holloway gambled again with two more subs at the break - sending on two more attackers - as he went for broke a long way from the final whistle. The changes made the second half a thrill ride. Hammers were taken by surprise by so many offensive opponents, but that was no excuse for Green's behaviour.
Lansbury came on and took the gloves to the chants of 'England's number one' from the travelling Hammers choir. West Ham's woes increased when the giant Abdoulaye Faye - arguably their star man - limped off to stretch their resources further. Holloway put five up front for the final charge but they hardly troubled Lansbury. Remarkably Ricardo Vaz Te went closest at the other end. And the Hammers fans and bench went wild when sub Gary O'Neil found the bottom corner after Tomkins's header was pushed away by keeper Matty Gilks.
Maynard should have had a fourth on a breakaway while Kevin Phillips hit the inside of a post, one of the few times his team hit the target against the rookie.
Vaz Te capped a madcap game when he cut in from the left and poked a shot in at the near post with Gilks wrong-footed - an astonishing result in the circumstances.
Holloway said: "Only one team turned up and that was them, in every single way they were better than us, we just made mistake after mistake after mistake. "I took a massive gamble and it backfired. The keeper totally cleaned out Bednar and he could hardly move after that - it was ten against ten. "But we let the emotion of it get to us and we were beaten by a better team. They looked like potential champions."
Blackpool: Gilks 6 - Baptiste 7, Cathcart 6, Evatt 6, Crainey 6 - Basham 5 [K.PHILLIPS 35, 7], Ferguson 6, Sylvestre 6 [Dicko ht, 5] - M.Phillips 6, LuaLua 5 [Bednar ht, 5], Fleck 5.
West Ham: Green 4 - O'Brien 7, FAYE 8 [O'Neil 66, 7], Reid 6, McCartney 6 - Tomkins 7 - Faubert 6 [Lansbury 54, 6], Noble 7, Collison 7, Vaz Te 6 - Maynard 7 [Cole 82].
Referee: O. Langford 6
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Blackpool 1 West Ham 4: match report
Telegraph,.co.uk
By Si Hughes9:51PM GMT 21 Feb 20122
Standing a touch short of 6ft and sporting an ill-fitting shirt deprived of a number on the back, Henri Lansbury did not seem like a goalkeeper that fancied a Tuesday night appearance in a squally seaside resort. Yet Arsenal loanee Lansbury, normally a midfielder, revelled in his cameo following Robert Green's harsh red card just after the break. The 21 year-old has previous experience between the posts. In 2010 he was called upon when Jason Steele was dismissed for England Under-21s against Germany. Lansbury let in the penalty that resulted from Steele's dismissal but kept Germany at bay for the rest of the 2-0 defeat. That he did not have much to do here reveals much about this West Ham victory, which puts them top of the Championship. It was secured through a dominant midfield display – James Tomkins, Jack Collison and Mark Noble were all exceptional. Sam Allardyce, the West Ham manager claimed that referee Oliver Langford "buckled" under pressure from Blackpool's players before making Green walk with the score at 2-1. "Your heart is in your mouth because it was at a very delicate part of the game and we were well in control," he said. "I thought they'd cope with it but not quite to the level that they reached by punishing the opposition to the highest order."
Having already made three substitutions at the time of the sending off, Holloway argued that Green's challenge on Roman Bednar left his team a man down as well.
"Roman was crocked afterwards," he said, before being typically brutal in the assessment of his play-off chasing team's performance. "It was pretty horrendous from my point of view. Only one side turned up tonight. They were better than us and more professional than us."
There was a sense that West Ham wanted to make a point about their promotion credentials and they started with more purpose. The opening goal came when Tomkins headed home a Noble free-kick, and the lead was soon extended when Nicky Maynard, signed last month from Bristol City for £1.65 million, slid in his first goal for the club. Blackpool were a shambles and 10 minutes before the break Chris Basham was replaced by Kevin Phillips, who at least reduced the deficit when he prodded past a flat-footed Green. The West Ham keeper's 53rd-minute dismissal, for dashing off his line to bring down the onrushing Bednar, should have leant the hosts impulse. Instead, the result was guaranteed when Noble's corner led to Gary O'Neill finding the target. With a minute to go, Ricardo Vaz Te drifted in from his position on the left and made it 4-1.
Blackpool: Gilks, Crainey, Evatt, Baptiste, Basham (K Phillips 34), Cathcart, Sylvestre (Dicko 46), Ferguson, M Phillips, Fleck, LuaLua (Bednar 46). Substitutes: Eardley, Wilson. Booked: Fleck
West Ham United: Green, Reid, McCartney, Tomkins, Faye (O'Neil 66), O'Brien, Faubert (Lansbury 54), Collison, Noble, Maynard, Vaz Te. Substitutes: Potts, Baldock Cole. Booked: Reid. Sent Off: Green
Referee: Oliver Langford (West Midlands)
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Allardyce delighted by 10-man win
Blackpool 1 West Ham United 4
GRAHAM CHASE BLOOMFIELD ROAD WEDNESDAY 22 FEBRUARY 2012 Independent.co.uk
West Ham endured having to play most of the second half with the on-loan Arsenal midfielder Henri Lansbury in goal to hold on for a victory last night that moves them to the top of the Championship. With a lead secured by goals from James Tomkins and Nicky Maynard, who scored his first since joining from Bristol City in a £1.65m deal on deadline day, Sam Allardyce's side saw their advantage halved by Kevin Phillips. Their numbers were also reduced when Green was sent off for a trip on Roman Bednar, with Lansbury, who was serenaded as "England's No 1" and "Are you Ludo in disguise?" – as a nod to former West Ham goalkeeper Ludek Miklosko – having to come on to replace him in goal. But despite having to play with 10 men for the third straight game, the visitors secured the points when Gary O'Neil and Ricardo Vaz Te added two goals on the break in a performance that had all the hallmarks of promotion certainties. "The way they've been playing, to win here with 10 men shows you the size of the victory. To do it with 10 men, with an outfield player in goal, was just outstanding," Allardyce said. "It was a poor decision that we've overcome again and that's seven points out of nine with 10 men but we've got to stop it because my heart can't stand it. "He doesn't practice in training but Henri tells us he's played before and has no fears about doing it at all but he did the job," the West Ham manager added. The visitors were well worth their two-goal lead secured when Tomkins headed in from Mark Noble's free-kick and Maynard touched in from Jack Collison's cross before Kevin Phillips pulled one back with a header from Alex Baptiste's cross in first-half added time. But despite Green's dismissal seven minutes after half-time, Lansbury was untested and O'Neil thumped in a third through a crowd of bodies before Vaz Te broke away to have a shot deflected in off Craig Cathcart to leave Blackpool, who could have moved up to third if results had gone their way, out of the top six. "I took a massive gamble at half time and it back-fired," manager Ian Holloway said. "I made all three subs and he cleans him out so we've both effectively got 10 men because Bednar could barely move for the rest of the game. "They looked like potential champions and we looked like people who should sort their lives out."
Blackpool (4-4-2): Gilks; Baptiste, Evatt, Cathcart, Crainey; Basham (K Phillips, 35), Ferguson, Sylvestre, Fleck; M Phillips, LuaLua. Substitutes not used Eardley, Dicko, Bednar, Wilson.
West Ham United (4-1-4-1): Green; O'Brien, Reid, Faye (O'Neil, 66), McCartney; Tomkins; Faubert (Lansbury, 54), Noble, Collison, Vaz Te; Maynard (Cole, 82). Substitutes not used Baldock, Potts.
Referee O Langford (West Midlands).
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