Daily WHUFC News - 14th May 2012

Dan is the main man
WHUFC.com
Promising defender Dan Potts was delighted to collect his Young Hammer of
the Year award
12.05.2012

Dan Potts was all smiles as he collected the 2011/12 Young Hammer of the
Year award - despite suffering from a painful stomach upset on the night!
The 18-year-old was bent double just moments after he left the stage after
being presented with the trophy by Bet… CEO Paul Yelland and Academy
Director Tony Carr. However, he managed a broad grin as he accepted an award
that marked the culmination of a truly outstanding campaign for club and
country. After making a strong start, Sam Allardyce called Potts up to his
first-team squad in the autumn, handing him a debut in the absence of the
injured George McCartney in the 1-0 home npower Championship win over
Barnsley on 17 December. The left-back performed admirably, totalling four
first-team appearances over the next three weeks. Potts' rapid rise did not
affect his appearances for the Under-18s, though, and his mature approach
and captaincy helped the youngsters reach the FA Youth Cup fifth round and
enjoy a strong season in the FA Premier Academy League. The Young Hammer of
the Year award was a fitting reward for the teenager just two years after
being given the all-clear following a childhood fight against leukaemia.
"It's a great way to end the season," he told West Ham TV. "It's been a
great year for me and this caps it off to be honest. I'm really pleased with
the award, my mum and dad are very proud too. I'm grateful for the support
I've had from the manager and from my family. I hope I can continue and keep
pushing forward."

Potts said there was no secret to his achievements this year, only hard work
and dedication to the cause. "I've just continued to put the work in on the
training field and pushing for that first team debut. Ive been very keen to
show what I can do all season. It's all about being patient, whenever I go
out there I give my all and thankfully Big Sam noticed and gave me my
chance. "This has been the best year of my life without a doubt. To win this
award at the end makes all the effort worthwhile and it's a great
achievement for me."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Tell me mum me mum, don't make me tea me tea, I'm going to Wemberley...
KUMB.com
Filed: Sunday, 13th May 2012
By: Terry Land

To much excitement my ticket came through the post this morning and for the
first time in 31 years I'm off to Wembley with West Ham. Although we
journeyed together to Cardiff's excellent Millennium Stadium for three
consecutive years between 2004 and 2006, the League Cup final in 1981 was of
a different football age. That match against Liverpool was the Hammers'
third visit to Wembley in two seasons following an FA Cup win against
Arsenal and Charity Shield defeat to the same Anfield outfit.

As an example of the different prevailing attitudes our then manager the
late John Lyall (by every account a decent man) stole the next day's
headlines after he told referee Clive Thomas (a deliberately controversial
referee) he'd felt "cheated" by a decision to allow an Alan Kennedy goal
despite Sammy Lee lying in an offside position and interfering with play.

Not a season ticket holder at the time I'd had the presence of mind to claim
tickets prior to the semi-final against Coventry via the Sunday league club
I played for and unfortunately my dad and I were placed in the Liverpool
end. As we watched Ray Stewart slide an injury-time extra-time equalising
penalty past Ray Clemence I don't think I would have bet on it taking over
three decades for a return. I certainly wouldn't have had any idea of the
changes in the game I love in the interim. For a start it was another six
years until play-offs came into being and not until 1990 were the finals
played at Wembley. Even despite the present slight fluttering in my stomach
which I know will slowly grow until peaking at dysenteric level some time
next Saturday I believe play-offs to be inherently unfair.

Having played 46 games to decide an order of merit it is entirely perverse
sides should then enter into a cup competition for promotion. As an example,
my team benefited in 2005 from beating first Ipswich then Preston to gain
promotion despite finishing sixth. Conversely this year's final pits us
against Blackpool, a team we beat 4-0 and 4-1 in the league. Perhaps there
might be a justification if say, the top six sides played-off. But third to
sixth seems arbitrary at best. The "reward" of finishing second in the table
is less than our day out in Cardiff and doesn't have the possibility of a
trophy. Surely natural justice would legislate against the game of football
rewarding failure in such spectacular fashion? But no, play-offs have been
deemed a success by TV, and the hundreds of millions spent on Wembley need
to be justified, so the FA collectively tug their forelock before counting
the cash.

And let's be absolutely clear about this, the flood of TV money since the
second Taylor Report post-Hillsborough has done little for the game.
Financial rewards are the highest they have ever been yet because of the
huge disparity in reward between placings there has never been more debt –
the Premier League alone loses close to half a billion pounds each season.
Driven by the insatiable desire of supporters, clubs leverage themselves in
order to grab the next rung on the ladder. So prevalent has the borrowing
become any club remiss enough to keep a grip on finance is all but
guaranteed a slide down the leagues – witness the recent demise of
"well-run" clubs Charlton and Crewe. We are constantly told the play-off
final is the "biggest prize in football" as if fans measure success in the
folding stuff. The claim is of course nonsense either way – far from banking
the money, boardrooms will immediately spend it on the wages of players
needed to keep the side at their new level.

The ease with which competent foreign players can be bought in has led to a
vicious circle of poor coaching in this country and a removal of the
admittedly already waning local identity of clubs. As an example, the West
Ham side that drew with Liverpool contained four home-grown players (five if
you count Alan Devonshire) and seven born within the M25. In contrast, the
Hammers XI that beat Cardiff in their play-off semi-final last week
consisted of a notable three products of the youth team but a mere two
native to London. Little surprise Canning Town-born Mark Noble's No16 shirt
is the club shop's best seller.

For the fans who attend games the startling improvement in comfort of
grounds has come at a heavy price. Although Dad and I are unlikely to forget
the rivers of Scouse piss sluicing down Wembley's rotting terraces, the cost
of attending football has, in a total inversion of that which were told
prior to the nascence of the Premiership, rocketed. My FA Cup final ticket
of 1980 cost me £3.50 or assuming a 40-hour week just over an hours' work at
the then national average wage of £6,000. Today, even the cheapest ticket at
£38 for an inferior competition would take around three hours' work at an
average wage of £26,000.

Once it was the Police who decided when games were to be played, now it's
Sky with scarcely a passing concern for supporters. This season's away game
at Brighton – pencilled in at the start of the campaign as a weekend away
with or without the missus – was scheduled for a Saturday kick-off. Yet Sky
moved the game to a Monday night only after tickets had been bought, travel
arranged and hotels booked. So much for their doubtful advertising claim,
"Football – we know how you feel about it – cos we feel the same." Although
a qualitative judgement, I doubt many who have experienced 30-years of
football would say anything other than the atmosphere at games has
plummeted, hence the ever more desperate attempts of clubs and TV to "sell"
the game. Thankfully, the owners of West Ham have come out against
pre-recorded goal celebrations – even if I suspect this to be a reprieve
rather than full pardon.

As a comparison between the games that preceded it and our previous final 23
years earlier the 2004 play-off final against Crystal Palace was
illuminating. It was my last match of a 56-game season – the only time I've
been ever present throughout an entire campaign – and irrationally I felt my
commitment should be rewarded with a win. However, unlike the semi-final
home leg against Ipswich (brilliantly stage-managed by then manager Alan
Pardew to produce an atmosphere) I felt more of a spectator than supporter.
Mr Woo juggling a football prior to kick-off had nothing to do with my
experience of football, nor did the various other "entertainments" on show,
all of which belonged to TV. And despite the 30-odd thousand West Ham
present there wasn't any "heart" to the crowd as you get at Upton Park in
the Bobby Moore Lower Stand or the gloriously named "Chav Corner" between
the Alpari and Sir Trevor Brooking Stands.

Like John Lyall I felt cheated – and not least as Palace won to complete my
worst day as a West Ham supporter. Worse than relegation the previous season
and much worse than the shoot-out FA Cup final defeat to Liverpool two years
later that didn't feel like a loss at all. As joyous as it was to gain
promotion with a play-off victory against Preston the following season, the
post-match emotion was more vindication than victory. And that's the biggest
problem with play-offs – you have so much more to lose than gain.

None of which can stop me being just as excited over going to Wembley as I
was 31 years ago. Maybe all this is my fault?

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Reid targets Hammers glory
New Zealand international praises his defensive partner Tomkins
Last Updated: May 13, 2012 1:44pm
SSN

West Ham defender Winston Reid says missing out on automatic promotion has
only served to redouble their efforts to succeed. The 23-year-old was part
of the Hammers side that finished two points behind second-placed
Southampton, which meant they dropped into the play-offs. Under the
stewardship of Sam Allardyce, the East London club have made their way into
the play-off finals where they will face Blackpool on May 19th. And with the
defensive platform Reid and fellow stopper James Tomkins are providing, he
is confident their more attacking players can fire them to glory.

Focused

"We have a good partnership I think, as does the whole back four. James and
I do well because we understand each other and it's important we have a
solid defensive line," said Reid. "It is important that the back four have a
good understanding as it allows the attacking players to concentrate fully
on scoring goals that will win us matches. "Obviously after missing out, we
are disappointed and had to pick ourselves up but I think it just made us
more determined to get there. "We are still fully focused on achieving our
promotion goal and getting into the Premier League so let's win the final."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

http://vyperz.blogspot.com