Blackpool match preview
WHUFC.com
Background information and team news ahead of Tuesday's meeting with the
Blackpool
20.02.2012
BLACKPOOL v WEST HAM UNITED
npower CHAMPIONSHIP
TUESDAY 21 FEBRUARY 2012
KICK-OFF: 8PM
FULL AUDIO AND TEXT COMMENTARY - WEST HAM TV
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Introduction
• West Ham United travel to Blackpool looking to reclaim top spot in the
npower Championship following Southampton's 4-0 win against Derby on
Saturday. The Hammers have two games in hand and can go a point ahead of the
Saints with a win at Bloomfield Road.
• The Hammers took over top spot from the Saints after beating Nottingham
Forest on 21 January 2012. Previously, Southampton had been top of the table
since winning 1-0 at Barnsley on 13 August 2011.
• A win for the home side could see them rise to third in the league and
just two points behind the Hammers. Blackpool are on a fine run of form and
have not lost in the league since 31 December. Defeat to Everton in the FA
Cup on Saturday was their first loss in eleven matches in all competitions.
• Both teams are seeking an automatic return to the Barclays Premier League
after relegation last season. Birmingham City were the other side to drop
down from the top flight.
• The Hammers travel to Lancashire with the best away form in league after
picking up 27 points from a possible 45.
• West Ham United enjoyed a superb afternoon in the reverse fixture at the
Boleyn Ground on 15 October where they ran out 4-0 winners. A brace from Sam
Baldock along with goals from John Carew and Jack Collison did the damage
that day.
• Tuesday's match will mark the 54th competitive meeting between West Ham
and Blackpool. The Hammers have won 20, the Tangerines 20 and there have
been 13 draws. In league football, West Ham's record is better in the 41
matches the pair have contested - 19 wins to 14, with eleven draws.
Us and them
• Sam Allardyce took up his first full-time managerial post when he was
appointed as Blackpool boss in July 1994. Big Sam spent two seasons in
charge at Bloomfield Road, leading the Tangerines to their highest league
finish in 18 years in 1995/96. Blackpool finished third in Division Two (now
League One) before being defeated in the Play-Offs. Of the 102 matches he
took charge of at Blackpool, Big Sam won 44, lost 23 and drew 35.
• Mark Noble played alongside Blackpool striker Billy Clarke during his loan
spell at Ipswich Town between August and November 2006. The pair have
remained close friends.
• Blackpool winger Tom Ince is the son of former West Ham United and England
midfielder Paul Ince.
• Six players have made their West Ham United debuts against Blackpool -
Tommy Hodgson, William Williams (both May 1922), Jim Holmes (September
1936), Colin Mackleworth (December 1966), John McDowell (October 1970) and
Robbie Keane (February 2011).
• Among the other players who have represented both clubs are L.Armeson
(guest player), Louis Cardwell (guest player), George Dick, Marlon Harewood,
Walter Miller, Adam Nowland, Les Sealey, Don Travis and Bob Wyllie.
Team news
West Ham United
• West Ham United have a near fully-fit squad to choose from with only Papa
Bouba Diop missing through a hamsring injury that is expected to keep him
out for a few weeks. They will however have to make do without midfielders
Matt Taylor and Kevin Nolan, who are serving three-match bans for red cards
against Southampton and Millwall respectively.
• George McCartney, Gary O'Neil, Henri Lansbury and Nicky Maynard are among
those Sam Allardyce could bring in.
• Maynard looked lively during his debut against Southampton in the Hammers'
last outing, a game in which Ricardo Vaz Te also impressed on his first
start for the club.
• The West Ham United Development Squad will also be in action on Tuesday
evening when they play Bishop's Stortford at Woodside Park. The likes of
Frank Nouble and Marek Stech likely to be involved. Click here for more
information.
• Pablo Barrera and Jordan Spence are on season-long loans at Real Zaragoza
and Bristol City respectively. Freddie Sears (Colchester United), Cristian
Montano (Notts County), Peter Kurucz and Paul McCallum (both Rochdale),
Oliver Lee (Gillingham) and Callum Driver (Burton Albion) are all out on
temporary loans.
Blackpool
• Blackpool will be without Gary Taylor-Fletcher for the game after
suffering a knee injury during their 2-0 Cup defeat at Everton.
• Full-back Alex Baptiste looks likely to miss out but Matt Phillips should
return from a hamstring injury.
Last time out
Tuesday 14 February 2012
npower Championship
West Ham United 1-1 Southampton
West Ham United: Green, O'Brien, Taylor, Faye, Reid, Tomkins, Noble,
Collison (McCartney 21), Faubert, Vaz Te (O'Neil 71), Cole (Maynard 65)
Subs: Lansbury, Baldock
Goal: Noble 21 (pen)
Red card: Taylor 18
Saturday 18 February 2012
FA Cup fifth round
Everton 2-0 Blackpool
Blackpool: M Gilks, A Baptiste , C Basham, C Cathcart, R Harris, D Wilson, L
Sylvestre, Angel (L LuaLua, 71), G Taylor-Fletcher (R Bednar, 22), K
Phillips, T Ince (N Dicko, 71)
Subs not used: M Halstead, N Eardley, K Southern, I Evatt
Previous meetings
• The most recent meeting between the sides was the 4-0 npower Championship
win for the Hammers at the Boleyn Ground on 15 October last year. John
Carew, Sam Baldock (two) and Jack Collison were on target for the hosts. The
teams that day were:
West Ham United: Almunia, Faubert, Tomkins (Faye 60), Reid, McCartney,
Collison, Bouba Diop, Nolan, Taylor (Sears 62), Baldock, Carew
Subs: Boffin, Noble, Piquionne
Blackpool: Gilks, Baptiste, Hill, Crainey, Evatt, Ferguson, Southern,
Taylor-Fletcher, Ince (Ormerod 74), Shelvey (LuaLua 74), Phillips
(Bogdanovic 74)
Subs not used: Howard, Eardley
Head to head
Last six meetings
15 October 2011 West Ham United 4-0 Blackpool (Championship)
2 February 2011 Blackpool 1-3 West Ham United (Premier League)
13 November 2010 West Ham United 0-0 Blackpool (Premier League
27 February 1971 Blackpool 1-1 West Ham United (Division One)
2 January 1971 Blackpool 4-0 West Ham United (FA Cup third round)
31 October 1970 West Ham United 2-1 Blackpool (Division One)
Overall record v Blackpool (all competitions) W 20 D 13 L 20
Ten-year records
West Ham United
2010/11 Premier League 20th (relegated to Championship)
2009/10 Premier League 17th
2008/09 Premier League 9th
2007/08 Premier League 10th
2006/07 Premier League 15th
2005/06 Premier League 9th
2004/05 Championship 6th (promoted to Premier League via play-offs)
2003/04 Championship 4th
2002/03 Premier League 18th (relegated to Championship)
2001/02 Premier League 7th
Blackpool
2010/11 Premier League 19th (relegated to the Championship)
2009/10 Championship 6th (promoted to Premier League via play-offs)
2008/09 Championship 16th
2007/08 Championship 19th
2006/07 League One 3rd (promoted to Championship via play-offs)
2005/06 League One 19th
2004/05 League One 16th
2003/04 League One 14th
2002/03 League One 13th
2001/02 League One 16th
Referee
• Tuesday's referee will be Oliver Langford
• Langford started refereeing in 1995, progressing through the junior ranks
before being promoted to the National List at the start of the 2008/09
season.
• Langford has taken charge of 26 fixtures in the npower Football League
this season, including nine in the Championship. However, he has not
refereed either Blackpool or West Ham United in 2011/12.
• Langford took charge of Blackpool's 3-0 npower Championship defeat at
Sheffield United on 16 March 2010.
Up next
• West Ham United will play host to Crystal Palace on Saturday 25 February
in a 12.45pm kick-off. Kids for a Quid tickets are still available, click
here for more information. Blackpool travel to Bristol City on the same day.
General information
• Tuesday evening's weather forecast is for a wet night with top
temperatures of 9C.
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Collison gets Wales call
WHUFC.com
Jack Collison is in the Wales squad for a friendly meeting with Costa Rica
in Cardiff on 29 February
20.02.2012
Jack Collison has been called-up by Wales for their friendly international
match against Costa Rica in Cardiff on Wednesday 29 February. The West Ham
United No10 will hope to earn his eleventh senior cap in Chris Coleman's
first game in charge - a fixture arranged in memory of late Wales manager
Gary Speed, who passed away in November 2011. Speed's Wales debut as a
player came against Costa Rica in May 1990. The match will take place at the
Cardiff City Stadium, where Collison could also appear for the Hammers in an
npower Championship fixture just five days later on Sunday 4 March. Collison
will be joined in the Wales party by Hammers goalkeeper coach Martyn
Margetson, who fills the same role for his national team, and West Ham
sports therapist Takahiro Yamamoto.
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Barnes backing promotion push
WHUFC.com
Bobby Barnes believes West Ham United have the squad to achieve promotion
this season
19.02.2012
Bobby Barnes has been keeping a close eye on proceedings at West Ham United
this season and is confident that the club can achieve promotion back to the
Premier League at the first attempt. Barnes still has a strong affection for
the club where he came through the ranks of the Academy and won the FA Youth
Cup in 1981. Consequently, the former winger is looking forward to seeing
what impact Sam Allardyce's most recent attacking signings - Ricardo Vaz Te,
Nicky Maynard and Ravel Morrison - make as the Hammers look to reclaim top
spot at Blackpool on Tuesday evening. "Vaz Te and Maynard excite me," Barnes
said. "I love wide players and I think it's encouraging to see that West Ham
are looking to attack down the flanks. "We've got some strong players like
Carlton Cole up the middle and I think in this division if we can get
full-backs isolated against the likes of Vaz Te and Maynard we can deliver
and obviously with Carlton Cole's pedigree I'd hope he'd be the one to
finish them off for us. "Kevin Nolan is also a potent force and he will
certainly pop up with a good amount of goals which will help keep us up
there as well. "
Indeed the added strength in depth provided by the three new signings means
the Hammers can call on strong reserves when the need arises. That extra
resource will be needed with midfielders Kevin Nolan and Matt Taylor both
suspended for Tuesday night's game at Bloomfield Road. "I think West Ham has
one of the strongest squads in the league. It's a great opportunity to get
out of the division because in previous seasons I think it's been slightly
stronger the Championship. It's a bit more equal this year in that most
clubs can beat each other and there's been a lot of strange results so it's
made for an exciting competition. "No one team has run away with it this
year so what it means is that even though we have lost seven games this
season, we are still near the top which suggests it's going to be a league
where if we win more games than we draw we'll be up there."
The Hammers have come through two extremely challenging matches in the past
two weeks after being forced to play with ten men for over 70 minutes after
the red cards shown to Taylor and Nolan. Barnes believes the determination
and grit shown by the players will set them in good stead for the rest of
the season. "I think it builds a great deal of confidence. The fact that
you've come through the best part of 70 minutes in two games and got four
points builds a lot of confidence. If we can do that with ten then in the
next game we've got even more of a chance. "I was at the the Millwall game
and I thought the boys showed a lot of character after the sending off and I
think the biggest compliment I could pay to the boys is halfway through the
second half you wouldn't have realised we were a man down. "Every away team
is going to have a little flurry but we were more than a worth a win at the
end."
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Big Sam on: Blackpool
WHUFC.com
Sam Allardyce is predicting a stern test when the Hammers face high-flying
Blackpool on Tuesday
20.02.2012
Sam Allardyce is expecting a tough match when West Ham United visit
Blackpool on Tuesday evening. The Hammers manager has been keeping a close
eye on Ian Holloway's side in recent weeks and believes the strength of
their squad will provide a real test to his Hammers side. Big Sam will have
to shuffle his pack with both Kevin Nolan and Matt Taylor suspended with
Nicky Maynard is among those waiting in the wings to come in.
Sam, you have two players suspended. Will that be a problem on Tuesday?
SA: Hopefully not, we've got a very good squad here. It's disappointing that
they got the bans and we have had to suffer without them. The two boys
should be very grateful that the club managed to turn those games around and
get two fantastic results having played with ten men for so long. It
could've been very harmful but we managed to get four points out of two
games and that looked virtually impossible given that the red cards occurred
so early on in the matches. I've told the players that I don't want any more
sending offs of that nature from now until the end of the season. They must
keep a level head, we can't afford to lose players and cannot keep winning
with ten.
What do you make of Blackpool and Ian Holloway?
SA: They stuck with a man that was working with the smallest budget in the
Premier League, who made millions for the football club. Ian has overcome
his disappointment, gone back into the market and has formed a very strong
squad in terms of strength in depth. I've watched their last two games- and
I'm not sure what their strongest side is. They played two different teams
in their recent league and cup games and beat Sheffield Wednesday
comfortably but found it difficult to recover from a poor start against
Everton on Saturday. They have a got a very strong squad and as always it is
going to be a very tough game. One concern of mine is Blackpool's pitch.
Will the pitch have an impact on the game?
SA: It's a difficult surface and I think both teams could struggle to play
the football we want to play. I watched their last game against Portsmouth
and the surface has suffered. It cut up badly and the ball wasn't running
true. It looks like a tough surface to play on which is why on Tuesday night
we must be at our best in order to get the right result.
Ravel made his first appearance for the development squad on Friday. Might
we see him in the first-team soon?
SA: Maybe a while yet, he's lacking in first-team experience at the moment
and our position with the necessity to gain automatice promotion means it's
a difficult place to break in to. We have a wealth of top quality
experienced players already available. Ravel will have to play a patient
game and wait until it's the right time for us and him.
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Blackpool v West Ham
KO 20:00
20 February 2012
NPOWER CHAMPIONSHIP
Venue: Bloomfield Road Date: Tuesday 21 February Kick-off: 2000 GMT
Coverage: Watch highlights on The Football League Show; listen on BBC Radio
5 live and BBC local radio; text commentary on the BBC Sport website
TEAM NEWS
Blackpool will be without Gary Taylor-Fletcher for the visit of West Ham
after suffering a knee injury during Saturday's 2-0 Cup defeat at Everton.
Full-back Alex Baptiste is also set to miss out but the Seasiders should
have Matt Phillips (hamstring) back.
Victory will see the Hammers return to the top of the Championship, but Sam
Allardyce's men are without suspended duo Matt Taylor and Kevin Nolan. Guy
Demel (thigh) could be included but Papa Bouba Diop (hamstring) is out.
MATCH FACTS
Head-to-head
• These clubs have been playing each other for 105 years; West Ham
have won 22, Blackpool 17, with 13 of the 52 competitive matches finishing
level.
• The Hammers have won five and drawn two of their last seven league
matches against Blackpool and have scored a total of seven goals in winning
the last two.
• The Seasiders last beat West Ham in the league in 1966, but have
prevailed once over them in the FA Cup since then, by virtue of a 4-0 third
round triumph at Bloomfield Road in January 1971.
Blackpool
• Victory would see Blackpool climb two places to third in the table,
two points outside the top two.
• Ian Holloway's club are one of three still unbeaten in the
Championship in 2012. They have not lost in seven league games. Only
Birmingham have a longer current unbeaten run at this level, of 10 matches.
• The second highest goal scorers in the second tier (52 goals in 31
games), have netted just once in the first 15 minutes, and have hit an
unmatched 20 in the last quarter-hour of Championship games.
West Ham United
• A fifth win in seven league matches and an unrivalled 18th of the
Championship season will see West Ham return to the top of the table. They
are currently two points behind Southampton in second.
• The Hammers still boast the best away record in the division, with
27 points out of 45.
• Sam Allardyce held his first major managerial post at Blackpool,
where he was in charge for two seasons from July 1994.
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No Taylor appeal
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 20th February 2012
By: Staff Writer
Despite reports to the contrary, West Ham United have NOT appealed over the
red card issued to Matt Taylor during last week's Championship clash with
Southampton. West Ham's number 14 was given a straight red by referee Lee
Probert after he raised his hands to the Saints' Billy Sharp - seconds after
United had been awarded a penalty following a foul on Mark Noble by the
Southampton striker. Sharp - who reacted angrily to the decision and charged
towards West Ham's captain on the night - was pushed by Taylor before
falling theatrically to the ground - the result of which being that Taylor
was dismissed for the first time since moving to east London last July. It
was rumoured in the days following the game that West Ham were set to appeal
against the decision after video footage suggested that Taylor had pushed
the former Doncaster player in order to keep him from confronting Noble.
However KUMB.com understands that the club have decided NOT to appeal
against the decision having reviewed the footage again, meaning that Taylor
will sit out West Ham's next three games against Blackpool, Crystal Palace
and Cardiff City. Taylor was the second Hammer to receive a three-match ban
in consecutive games following captain Kevin Nolan's dismissal in the 2-1
derby win against Millwall. Nolan is set to return for the trip to Cardiff
on Sunday, 4th March - a game later than initially planned due to the
cancellation of the away fixture with Peterborough that was cancelled due to
adverse weather conditions.
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Blackpool v West Ham United
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 20th February 2012
By: Preview Percy
Preview Percy hasn't been to Blackpool in years. He sort of went off the
place after the incident with the guest house landlady, the "kiss me quick"
hat and a plate of whelks, one of which was off. Despite this he's found the
time to pen a few words about this week's match. Unfortunately. Stats as
ever from John Northcutt.....
Our next trip on the road takes us up the motorway to Blackpool where, due
to FA Cup commitments, once more we must miss out on a weekend by the
seaside. Kick-off is at 8pm which will make a nice late night just a little
bit later. If you decide to hang around for Holloway's press conference you
would do well to remember that Palace at home on Saturday is an early
kick-off.
Our hosts come into this one in a decent spot of form. Prior to Saturday's
cup defeat to Everton they had been unbeaten in all competitions since the
turn of the year, their last defeat coming away to Birmingham on New Year's
Eve where they were defeated 3-0. In the seven league matches since then
they have won five (Boro' h 3-0, Palace h 2-1, Coventry h 2-1, Cardiff a 3-1
and Doncaster a 3-1) and drawn two (Ipswich a 2-2 and Pompey h 1-1). In the
Cup they dispatched Fleetwood 5-1 in the third round (a match amusingly
dubbed "The Donkey Derby"), Sheffield Wednesday 3-0 at Hillsborough after a
1-1 draw at Bloomfield Road before going out to the Toffeemen 2-0 at the
weekend. A bonkers opening six minutes did for them at Goodison, though
Kevin Phillips-Bong putting his second half penalty into the same
geostationary orbit as Chris Waddle's Italia '90 effort won't have helped
any.
The strong league run has pushed them into 5th spot with 52 points from
their 31 matches so far. That's five points and three places behind us,
though we do have the game in hand.
They didn't do a lot of business in the recent transfer window. They did go
in for Motherwell's Jamie Murphy on deadline day but, after a chat with his
Mum & Dad the player elected to stay put. He came out with a dignified
statement about how flattered he was to have been on Blackpool's radar but,
on the whole, he'd rather stay put for the time being if it was all the same
to Blackpool. I don't know about you but there was something heart-warming
about the whole thing, in which agents weren't mentioned once. Of course if
he ends up on a mega deal to play in some Premiership team's reserves come
the summer that'll be another illusion shattered.
They turned down a number of bids for the in-form Matt Phillips, including,
reportedly, one from ourselves on the grounds that they didn't need the
money, and one from Cardiff because they didn't want to sell to a small
club. The 20 year-old winger has been capped at both U19 and U20 level by
England. However, the discovery of an old Blockbusters receipt down the back
of the sofa for the rental of the "Braveheart" DVD by one of his
grandparents means that he now qualifies for Scotland and even as I speak it
has been announced that he is in the full Sweaty Squad for their forthcoming
friendly against Slovenia; a match that is to be played in Celje's "Arena
Petrol" stadium. (Advanced purchase of tickets advised – the cost will go up
while you're in the queue if you pay on the day). Phillips (M) played no
part in proceedings at the weekend – a tight hamstring obtained against
Doncaster being cited as the reason for his absence though Holloway probably
had half an eye on our visit in deciding whether or not to risk the winger.
Assuming he's fit Phillips (M) is a cert for the starting XI, unlike his
namesake Phillips (K), whose appearances this season have been as much from
the bench than from the changing room. Of his 32 appearances in all
competitions exactly half have come as substitute. In the league the ratio
is 15 sub appearances from 28. He's still their top scorer though with 11 in
all competitions, 10 of which have come in the league. I understand that the
modern phrase for such a phenomenon is "Impact Sub" (as opposed to all those
changes managers make with the sole intention of not affecting the match in
any way, shape or form I suppose).
Other options up front are the on-loan Wigan striker (schoolboy humour
alert) Nouha Dicko, Thomas Ince – whose dad was apparently a professional
footballer, Ronan Bednar and Brett Ormerod. The latter two have been used
sparingly, often from the bench, and Ormerod spent last month away on loan
at Rochdale. As messrs Piquionne, Carew, Sears etc have discovered, with
only five allowed on the bench this season it's difficult to keep everyone
involved.
They are fewer in number in the midfield section of the squad. Gary
Taylor-Fletcher is third top scorer this season and his seven goals thus far
are testament to the fact that he can also play up front when required. The
double-barrelled surname comes not from membership of some old-established
Gloucestershire family who can trace their ancestry back to the Domesday
Book, but from the fact that when he married Ms Viv Taylor back in 2004 he
elected to take her surname as part of his own. What is the world coming to?
I mean equality is all very well but when it means that some kid is going to
have to pay another tenner to get his favourite player's name on the back of
his shirt a line has to be drawn. I mean where will it all end? Women will
be wanting the vote next. Having written all that my nurse has just arrived
with my medication and the news that the player picked up a knee injury on
Saturday and will be missing from this one. However, if I delete this it'll
leave a gap in the page so I'll just suggest that he'll be a big miss for
them.
Barry Ferguson is the current skipper. When last I wrote of our hosts I had
cause to mention that he had been stripped of the captaincy at Rangers on a
few occasions for unspecified "breaches of club discipline". Given what has
been coming out of that part of Glasgow for the past week or so, if I were
him I'd put in a claim to be refunded all the cash he's paid over to them in
fines over the years on the grounds that anyone who owes the taxman upwards
of £50m has no right to be lecturing anyone on the subject of discipline.
Which sort of brings us neatly (albeit in a slightly contrived manner) to
ourselves and, a few words about our match against Southampton. Taylor was
daft, let's not beat about the bush. However that shouldn't obscure the fact
that we were up against a team who provided us with the worst display of
diving and play-acting since we last faced Liverpool. The fact that a
referee as dreadful as Probert was that night actually managed to caution
Lallana for a dive will give you a clue. Whilst Lallana's swallow dive with
pike and two and a half turns was one of the worst attempts to win a penalty
since Gerrard' s last visit to E13, the truth is that Southampton could
easily have ended up with a further four or five yellows had the ref been
even vaguely consistent about the same offence. The fact is that Probert's
performance fell way short of the required standard for any professional
match – let alone the Premiership that he somehow spends most of his time
in. A 1% decent ref would have done a better job. Hell, a passer-by with a
dog asked to step in when the ref failed to turn up would have done a better
job. Actually, the dog would have done a better job – and would probably
have given Sharp a nasty enough bite to justify the theatrics he showed in
the Taylor incident.
As a result of his indiscretion, Taylor will miss this one and the next two,
whilst for Nolan this is the second match of his three match ban. Papa is
still suffering with his hamstring whilst Demel has been "close to a return"
for so long I'm beginning to wonder if he's not a figment of somebody's
imagination designed to hide a load of expenses under the heading "physio
fees" in order to get them written-off against tax. (See Rangers – that's
where you went wrong!)
There's also been a lot of debate about the positioning of James Tomkins. In
the last two games we have started with the intention of having him play
just in front of the back four in a sort of 4-1-4-1 line-up (or possibly a
4-1-3-3 if you consider us to be playing with three up front). On both
occasions this plan has been stymied by our losing a player fairly early on,
meaning that we've had to revert to a more traditional four across the
middle. So we haven't really been able to see if this new system –
introduced, remember, after everyone stood around pointing at everyone else
at Ipswich – actually works to any great degree. The manager's team
selection against Lee Probert's XI suggests that he has every faith in
Tomkins to adapt to the role should we be able to keep all eleven on the
pitch and I would expect with us to go with this formation again, especially
since PBD won't be available.
Up front, well we're away from home and I wouldn't expect the manager to
change the habits of a lifetime so I'm going to assume that we'll go with
Cole as the lone ranger. Happily, the last two matches have proved that
despite previous matches when the contrary has seemed to be the case, if the
ball is played up to Cole in a considered manner (rather than the long and
hopeful punt in the general direction of same which has been the case all
too often this season) he is capable at holding it up and bringing players
into the game. This is especially true if Faubert is given licence to get
forward and join Cole from midfield. Another thing I've noticed of late is
that Faubert himself is not incapable of winning headers up front – he seems
to have developed the art of timing in that area of his game. So, much as
I'd like to see a proper forward partnership with Maynard getting a start,
I'm guessing that this won't be the case on Tuesday night.
Of the new boys Vaz Te (who I keep wanting to christen "Keith" after the
similarly-named dodgy MP) clearly has an attacking brief, or at least would
have had against Probert's XI had he not been pressed into a less attacking
role by Taylor's departure. I'd like to see him given a start if only to
signal some attacking intent, though he may have to be content with bench
duties if a more defensive line-up is deemed necessary.
Maynard showed enough in his cameo role the other night to suggest that a)
he probably isn't one to select if you want someone holding the ball up
while midfield come up to support; and b) he can be a dangerous player who
causes things to happen in opposition defences – only a fine save from
Davies (who by that time should have been back in the stands for his red
card offence) prevented him from getting the winner last week.
So "where do we stand on predictions then?" I hear you ask (or would do if I
could afford the battery for my hearing aid). Well nobody can deny the
impressive nature of the raw statistics of their recent run and the fact
that they went out of the cup to Everton shouldn't cause too much of a dent
to their confidence – especially in view of the changes made to their
starting XI, possibly in anticipation of this match. However, a delve into
reports of the performances behind that run suggests that there is a
possible element of vulnerability about them. Against Doncaster, for
example, Holloway was honest enough in his post match summing-up (which is
due to finish any day now) to admit that the result flattered them and that
but for a crucial save from Gilks at 2-1 he didn't think they would have
won. Similarly, beleaguered Portsmouth went up there and got a point,
missing a number of chances to seal all three before a Crainey free-kick
levelled the scores with 15 left. So a win is not out of the question.
However, on balance I reckon that a draw is the most likely outcome – I'll
go for two apiece then though not within earshot of the bookies!
Enjoy the game!
When Last We Met: Won 4-0 Baldock (2) Carew and Collison were on target in
one of our better performances of the season. Baptiste (who will miss this
one) committed GBH on a corner flag which, like Demel, has been "close to a
return" ever since.
Referee: Colin Webster This'll be his first time in charge of the Hammers.
Hopefully a refreshing change after the "look at me I'm from the
Premiership" posturings of Lee Probert last week.
Danger Man: Matt Phillips Riding the crest of a form wave despite willingly
wanting to be thought of as Scottish. His namesake has a habit of scoring
late ones as well.
Daft fact of the week: In Blackpool every Autumn the local authority strings
up a load of light bulbs as a tourist attraction. Amazingly, Northerners,
Scots and other simple folk who are impressed by the effect of electricity
being passed across a filament passing through glass bulbs filled with
incandescent gas flock in their thousands to point and go "ooh". They
usually get a celebrity to turn the lights on but, with Fylde's deputy chief
librarian being on holiday last August, they had to make do with Keith
Lemon.
Stat man John: Northcutt's corner
They Played For Both
Kyel Reid, Marlon Harewood, Trevor Sinclair, George Dick, Bob Wyllie, Adam
Nowland, Percy Thorpe, Ted MacDougall, Les Sealey, Mike Newell, Tom
McAlister, Don Travis
Sam Allardyce was the Blackpool manager between 1994 and 1996
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Hall injury latest
KUMb.com
Filed: Monday, 20th February 2012
By: Staff Writer
Robert Hall has undergone tests to ascertain the extent of the injury that
kept his out of last week's FA Youth Cup tie at Chelsea. West Ham's
youngsters went out of the competition following a penalty shootout at
Staines FC's Wheatsheaf Park last Wednesday night minus the England youth
international, who sustained ligament damage ahead of the game - as
confirmed by David Gold last Thursday. 18-year-old Hall spent the weekend
taking tests to see whether the injury would, as has been speculated, keep
him out for the rest of the current campaign - and possibly beyond. And Sam
Allardyce is expected to confirm the extent of the injury during his
(Blackpool) pre-match press conference later today. Hall, who spent the
first half of the current season on loan with Oxford made his first team
debut for West Ham in the 2-1 home win against Derby on 31st December, since
when he has made a further three appearances for Sam Allardyce's side (all
substitute appearances).
He also made his debut for England's under 19s against Denmark last November
- a game in which he scored - having previously appeared for the national
squad at all levels from under 16s upwards.
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Sears draws blank
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 20th February 2012
By: Staff Writer
Freddie Sears made his debut for Colchester United at the weekend - but
couldn't prevent his new club from slipping to defeat. The 22-year-old
Hammer joined the Us on a short-term loan spell on Friday just hours ahead
of their visit to lowly Yeovil. However Sears - who has failed to score in a
competitive fixture since West Ham United's 5-1 FA Cup win against Burnley a
year ago tomorrow - drew another blank as his new side went down 3-2 at
Huish Park. Chances for the Hornchurch-born youngster were few and far
between, although he could perhaps have done better when given a chance to
open the scoring after just ten minutes (his effort eventually being blocked
by Glovers midfielder Dean Parrett). He was substituted four minutes from
the end of the game by midfielder Andy Bond. Sears, who is on loan at the
Weston Homes Community Stadium until 18th March could feature in a further
seven fixtures for Colchester. His next opportunity to break his duck for
the current campaign comes against Rochdale this Saturday, with fixtures
against Oldham (a), Preston (h), Charlton (a), Wycombe (a), Sheffield United
(h) and Huddersfield (h) to follow before the end of his loan spell.
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Piquionne dumped
KUMB.com
Filed: Sunday, 19th February 2012
By: Staff Writer
Forgotten man Freddie Piquionne will face Bishops Stortford at Woodside Park
tomorrow night - whilst Sam Allardyce's first team attempt to return to the
top of the Championship. Allardyce takes his team to Blackpool tomorrow
night with view to returning to the top of the table, having been replaced
by Southampton whose comprehensive 4-0 defeat of Derby on Saturday saw them
move above West Ham. But one man definitely out of the picture is the French
striker, who has been dumped into Ian Hendon's development squad who will
face the Blue Square North side at the same time as the first team squad are
playing at Bloomfield Road.
Piquionne was made surplus to requirements by Allardyce after a desperately
disappointing start to the current campaign during which he managed to score
just two goals from 21 appearances.
Earlier this month the 33-year-old, signed by Avram Grant in July 2010, was
linked with a loan move to Championship strugglers Doncaster. However the
move - which would have taken Piquonne to the Keepmoat Stadium for the
remainder of the season - fell through leaving the Frenchman, who has more
than a year of his three-year contract left to run, languishing in the
reserves. Supporters wishing to attend the game - that kicks off at 7:45pm -
can buy tickets on the door; prices are £8 for adults, £5 concessions and £2
for under 16s.
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Blackpool v West Ham preview
Last updated: 20th February 2012
SSN
Team news for Tuesday night's Championship clash between Blackpool and West
Ham at Bloomfield Road (kick-off 8pm). Blackpool will be without Gary
Taylor-Fletcher after the forward suffered a knee injury during Saturday's
2-0 defeat to Everton. The 30-year-old was stretched off after colliding
with Toffees goalkeeper Tim Howard and left Goodison Park on crutches while
wearing a protective support on his leg. Seasiders boss Ian Holloway, who is
also set to be without Alex Baptiste after the full-back needed stitches in
a leg wound picked up at the weekend, is awaiting the results of a scan on
Taylor-Fletcher with trepidation. "You always fear the worse when one of
your lads get injured," he told the Blackpool Gazette. "Fletch's kneecap and
thigh were going one way and the lower part of his leg was knocked back the
other way - that normally means some ligament damage. "Fletch's knee is
badly swollen and very sore. He has a cast on it and when it settles down we
will see how he is. I have never seen anything like it in my life." Holloway
hopes to have Matt Phillips back in contention following the winger's
two-match absence with a hamstring problem.
West Ham must do so without suspended duo Matt Taylor and Kevin Nolan.
Skipper Nolan serves the second game of a three-match ban following his
dismissal in the derby against Millwall at the start of the month.
Left-winger Taylor begins a three-game suspension of his own after he was
sent off in the 1-1 draw with Southampton. Victory would move the Hammers
above the Saints and manager Sam Allardyce believes his squad is capable of
coping without Nolan and Taylor.
Recent signing Ravel Morrison captained the development squad to a 2-1
victory over QPR on Friday but Allardyce admits the former Manchester United
prodigy will have to wait for his first-team bow. Defender Guy Demel (thigh)
could be included but midfielder Papa Bouba Diop (hamstring) is definitely
out.
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Sullivan rues Ba exit
Hammers chief admits losing striker was massive mistake
By Pete O'Rourke - Follow me: @skysportspeteo. Last Updated:
February 20, 2012 6:08pm
SSN
West Ham co-chairman David Sullivan admits letting Demba Ba leave for
Newcastle was "one of the worst mistakes" of his life. Ba joined the Hammers
in January 2011 from German club Hoffenheim but he was unable to stop his
new side from being relegated that season. That allowed the Senegal striker
to invoke a release clause in his contract and he subsequently moved to the
Magpies where he has been a revelation, scoring 16 goals so far this season.
In an interview with website West Ham Till I Die, Sullivan admitted he rues
the fact he could not tie down the striker to a new deal before seeing him
move to Newcastle. "Demba Ba had a get out if we were relegated." said
Sullivan. "In the end I offered him 45 grand a week to stay but he wouldn't
take it. "It's one of those mistakes that happen, but it's probably one of
the worst mistakes I have ever made in my life. "If he was with us now and
his knee held up - because remember he did have a very bad knee - I think
we'd be 15 points clear (at the top of the Championship), I really do."
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
In Conversation With David Sullivan (Part 5): "No Decision Yet On Olympic
Stadium Bid"
February 20th, 2012 - 12:15 pm by Iain Dale
West Ham Till I Die
This is the fifth part of my interview with David Sullivan.
ID: Let's move on to the Olympic Stadium.
DS: Before you ask anything, I can't go into too much detail on this, for
reasons you will appreciate. This is a very sensitive time, so please accept
that there's not actually an awful lot I can say.
ID: OK, I do understand that. Where are we at in the process?
DS: Well, we are going through the new tender process to ascertain the
differences between ownership and lease. It will be a complicated process
and no decisions have yet been made with regard to bidding. A bid has to be
submitted by 23 March.
ID: What is your top priority in deciding whether to bid?
DS: We would need to ensure that the atmosphere at the stadium is right for
football. Whatever shape or form that takes is still under discussion. We
reckon we can make the stadium work from a legacy point of view, to provide
a heart in the stadium, to create the jobs, the usage, to give the stadium a
national and international stage, but we have to be sure it is right for
football. If it is a truly multi-purpose stadium then that is a fantastic
legacy and vision for everyone.
ID: But the terms of the bid seem to be more disadvantageous in this process
than before. They've taken away naming and catering rights, for instance.
DS: Under the previous tender process, as owners of the stadium, we could
adapt it, with enhancements such as demountable seats, covered seats with
the roof, world class corporate facilities. We have to see what we will be
able to achieve as a tenant. We also have to be very careful about who we
share with.
ID: Who would you rule out?
DS: We are not too keen on rugby or sharing with another football club, as
we have to ensure the stadium is a home for West Ham, not just a venue to
play our matches.
ID: Amen to that. A lot of fans who used to support a move to Stratford are
now having second thoughts and wonder whether we shouldn't just stay put and
redevelop our existing ground.
DS: We have a stadium that could have a 45,000 capacity. We have a hotel. We
have 3,000 corporate hospitality guests, a stadium we own. We say how/when
and who, so to give that up we have to be 100% sure the deal is right for
the club.
ID: I can see you've got to tread carefully, given the timing of this
interview, so let's imagine a scenario where for whatever reason the Olympic
Stadium doesn't go ahead, what would you preference be then – to redevelop
or find a new site for a new ground?
DS: I think it makes more sense to redevelop Upton Park.
ID: You wouldn't look for another site elsewhere?
DS: Economically I don't think it would work. Maybe long term, but short
term you'd want to fill up the ground consistently and have a waiting list
of season ticket holders, then you'd build the East Stand bigger and better.
There's a big part of us that wants to stay at Upton Park. It's a very
difficult decision.
ID: Have you been surprised at the reaction of fans to the Olympic Stadium?
It is quite split, but you might have expected it to be 90-10 against, but
it has been more like 50-50, but I think opinion is now shifting away from
it.
DS: When we did an opinion poll we got 87% in favour. But it's the one area…
I'm going to have another look at it myself and see what can be done, but I
think I have said all I can say for now.
ID: Just one more thing, there have been various fans group say they want
you to hold a proper referendum of fans, maybe get the Electoral Reform
Society to oversee it. Is that a possibility?
DS: No, because who would vote? Would you just let season ticket holders
vote? All the fans who say they are supporters but don't come to games?
We're not a democracy. Where you've got fans running clubs they usually go
bust. I don't think you could even give fans the true… In a perfect world
you'd love to keep Upton Park, play one year at the Olympic Stadium, and
then ask people which they prefer. But it's not viable. We wouldn't get a
lease for 12 months. I tell you, none of us know the answer. None of us know
the answer. And I really can't go any further than that. I hope your readers
will understand.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
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.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Big Sam warns Hammers: Clean up your act and cut out the reds
Published 22:30 20/02/12 By Mike Walters
The Mirror
Sam Allardyce has ordered West Ham to clean up their act - or risk Pancake
Day falling flat at Blackpool tonight. Big Sam watched the Hammers scramble
four points from their last two games despite having Kevin Nolan sent off
early against Millwall and Matt Taylor taking the walk of shame after just
18 minutes against Southampton. But the Tangerines could close the gap on
West Ham to just two points at Bloomfield Road - and Allardyce has told the
Eastenders to disperse their red mist. Allardyce said: "It's disappointing
that they got the bans and we have had to suffer without them. The two boys
should be very grateful that we managed to turn those games around and get
two fantastic results after playing for so long with 10 men. "It could have
been very harmful, but we managed to get four points out of two games, which
looked virtually impossible given the red cards occurred so early in both
matches. "I've told the players I don't want any more sending-offs of that
nature from now until the end of the season. They must keep a level head -
we can't afford to lose players and we can't keep winning with 10."
Former Blackpool boss Allardyce is relishing his battle of wits with
Seasiders messiah Ian Holloway in the dugout in a fixture which still sends
shock waves through pearly king heartland 41 years after a disastrous FA Cup
excursion on the Golden Mile. In 1971, Hammers manager Ron Greenwood axed
Bobby Moore, Jimmy Greaves, Clyde Best and Brian Dear for drinking in a
nightclub owned by boxing champion Brian London the night before the tie at
Bloomfield Road - and West Ham crashed 4-0. England World Cup legend Moore
had been featured on TV tribute This Is Your Life 24 hours earlier.
Allardyce added: "Blackpool have stuck with a man who was working with the
smallest budget in the Premier League, who made millions for the football
club. "Ian has overcome his disappointment, gone back into the market and
formed another strong squad in terms of strength in depth. As always, it is
going to be a very tough game, and one particular concern of mine is
Blackpool's pitch. "It's a difficult surface and I think both teams could
struggle to play the football we want to play. I watched their last home
game against Portsmouth and the surface has suffered, it cut up very badly
and the ball wasn't running true. "It looks like it will be tough to play
on, which is why we must be at our best in order to get the right result."
Defender Joey O'Brien wants the Hammers to use the siege mentality of their
heroic resistance against Millwall and promotion rivals Saints, saying: "I
don't know if there is a secret. Going down to 10 men so early in the game
against Millwall, a lot of lads stood up and were counted. "We were in the
trenches that day and in the next match we were up against it again, but we
hung in there, put our bodies on the line and played some decent stuff
against Southampton."
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Toon risk getting only £3m for Ba, warns Hammers chief
Published 15:33 20/02/12 By MirrorFootball
The Mirror
West Ham co-owner David Sullivan has warned Newcastle they could lose star
striker Demba Ba for a pittance if they do not tie him to a new deal.
Sullivan knows from bitter experience just how painful that could prove
after seeing the Senegal international leave Upton Park for nothing during
the summer in the wake of the club's relegation from the Barclays Premier
League. Now he is predicting that the Magpies, for whom Ba has scored 16
goals so far this season, could suffer a similar fate if they do not address
the issue of the much-publicised release-clause in his contract. Speaking to
the website www.westhamtillidie.com, Sullivan said: "I'm told he's got a
£7million get-out at Newcastle and he gets half the money over that. "They
keep denying it, but I think you'll see in the summer he will leave
Newcastle, or he'll get a monstrous rise to stay there. "If they get about
£4million, half will go to him, so if they sell him for £7million, they'll
only net about three because they paid his agent £2 million to get him out
of here. "Getting £3million is not bad, but for a player of his quality,
it's not fantastic."
Ba joined the Hammers from German club Hoffenheim on a three-and-a-half-year
deal in January last year after failing a medical at Stoke, with the
Londoners agreeing to pay an appearance-related fee after an initial
down-payment of 500,000 euros. The club negotiated a clause under which his
wages would be reduced by half if they were relegated, and he in turn
secured an agreement that he could leave if they dropped out of the top
flight. Sullivan said: "It's one of those mistakes that happen, but it's
probably one of the worst mistakes I have ever made in my life. "It just
didn't enter our heads. It didn't enter anybody's head that he'd score
enough goals that we'd want to give him £40k a week and his old club £15-20k
an appearance and we'd still be relegated. "In reality, that's exactly what
happened. The agent just threw it in at the last minute. "He said,
'Obviously if his salary is cut by 50%, you've got to let him walk'. We
thought, 'Okay, if we get relegated, do we really want a £40k-a-week striker
in the Championship?'. "Well, we would have because he was devastating. If
he was with us now and his knee had held up - because remember, he did have
a very, very bad knee - I think we'd be 15 points clear, I really do. "He'd
be cutting through those defences. You live and you learn."
Ba, who scored seven times in 12 league appearances for the Hammers, has
been a huge hit on Tyneside. After a slow start to his career in the
north-east - manager Alan Pardew put that down to the effects of his
observance of Ramadan - he announced himself in style with a hat-trick
against Blackburn in September and has never looked back since. He departed
for the African Nations Cup early last month having added a further 12 goals
to his account and marked his return after a disastrous campaign for his
country in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon with the opener in a 2-1 victory over
Aston Villa on February 5. However in the meantime, talk of the
release-clause had led to speculation that one of the Premier League's big
boys could come calling, and that will inevitably resurface as the summer
transfer window approaches. Newcastle were relaxed at the time and with Ba
having insisted since his return that he is happy at the club, which signed
international team-mate Papiss Cisse last month, they will hope they can
fend off any interest. However, it would be no surprise if there was an
attempt to renegotiate his contract in an effort to take the uncertainty out
of the situation.
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We tried to sign Torres, admits West Ham chief Sullivan
By DOMINIC KING and LAURIE WHITWELL
Last updated at 10:38 PM on 20th February 2012
Daily Mail
West Ham made an ambitious attempt to sign Fernando Torres during the
January transfer window. The Championship promotion hopefuls proposed to
take Chelsea's £50million struggling striker, hoping a month with them would
rekindle his scoring touch. Responding to political journalist Iain Dale on
his blog West Ham Till I Die, Hammers co-owner David Sullivan said: 'We
tried to get Torres from Chelsea. 'If he couldn't score in the Premier
League, he could come along with us for a month. We might fire him up!'
Sullivan said Chelsea's response was blunt but did not close the door
completely. 'They just said, "Not at this moment in time".'
He also told how West Ham attempted to resign Carlos Tevez from Manchester
City, adding: 'Three times we asked. Three times they said, "No chance".'
West Ham have a tricky game at fifth-place Blackpool on Tuesday night when
they could face winger Matt Phillips, who has been called up by Scotland.
Manager Craig Levein revealed he was approached by the family of Phillips to
get the English-born player into the Scotland set-up and the 20-year-old has
been called up for the first time for the friendly international in Slovenia
next week. Phillips, whose selection is subject to FIFA clearance, has
represented England at Under 19 and Under 20 level but qualifies for
Scotland through his grandparents. 'This is not one of those cases that we
have been researching and found on our own,' said Levein. 'This came from
his family to us. It is quite a big decision, as you can imagine, to change
nationality, but he is very excited about the prospect. 'His grandfather is
very proud I can tell you, and so is his family.'
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David Sullivan: Scott Parker stopped tackling hard at West Ham United
• 'Parker knew injury would prevent move to Tottenham'
• Fears Green may leave if West Ham are not promoted
Kevin McCarra
guardian.co.uk, Monday 20 February 2012 22.06 GMT
West Ham United have high hopes of promotion from the Championship but the
severe cost of failing in that aim is as much of a motivation as the desire
to make an immediate return to the Premier League. The co-chairman David
Sullivan understands not just the allure but also the harm done if the club
fails to get there. He knows that the goalkeeper Robert Green, an England
international, would then be restless – just as Scott Parker was before his
move to Tottenham at the beginning of the season.
"Green's contract is up this summer," said Sullivan. "We have made him a
fantastic offer, subject to us [getting promoted and] staying in the Premier
League. But if we don't stay in the Premier League, we won't be able to
afford him and he won't want to stay. So we have to go up."
Sullivan, who took control of the club with David Gold in January 2010, has
spoken frankly about his time at the club in an interview for
westhamtillidie conducted by the West Ham fan and political blogger Iain
Dale. The views of Sullivan are frank. He is scathing about Avram Grant but
also scolds himself. "We picked a bad manager," said Sullivan. "Simple as
that. We are as much to blame as the manager."
Grant could not preserve West Ham in the top tier but Sullivan recognises
other factors, citing Demba Ba and Parker. "Those two alone should have kept
us in the top flight," he said, lamenting Parker's plea for a move at the
start of this season.
"This might not please many people but look at Scott Parker's performance in
the first five games of this season. To me it didn't look like he was doing
the tackling you'd normally expect him to do," said Sullivan. "He was
running about, he was doing OK but he wasn't doing the tackling we know he
can do because he knew that the one thing that would stop a move for him
would be an injury.
"To me it looked like he didn't want to be there. He told us he didn't want
to be there. There's no player who has given more for the club in recent
years, so to make him stay against his wishes … He was protecting himself
either consciously or subconsciously. He's gone to Spurs and he is back to
his old self."
In Ba's case Sullivan admits allowing the striker to leave for free in the
summer was one of his biggest mistakes. West Ham paid little more than an
initial £400,000 to the German club Hoffenheim for Ba because of a medical
issue, with further sums related to appearances, but his value has since
soared at Newcastle where he has scored 16 Premier League goals in 21
appearances. "It's probably one of the worst mistakes I have ever made in my
life," he said. "It just didn't enter our heads. It didn't enter anybody's
head that he'd score enough goals that we'd want to give him £40k a week and
his old club £15-20k an appearance and we'd still be relegated."
Sullivan claims Newcastle are in danger of losing Ba for as little as £3.5m
at the end of the season. "I'm told he's got a £7m get-out at Newcastle and
he gets half the money, so if they sell him for £7m, they'll only net about
three," he said. "Getting £3m is not bad but, for a player of his quality,
it's not fantastic."
Sullivan states that £45,000 a week was offered in the close season but Ba
chose to go to Newcastle United. The player had not experienced a soothing
environment at Upton Park. "I think there was a foreign group and an English
group," Sullivan says of the squad.
"I think the English group were plotting against the manager." He adds that
Sam Allardyce, the current manager, "wouldn't have stood for it" had he been
in charge.
West Ham was at least appealing to Ravel Morrison in January. Manchester
United sold the turbulent yet highly accomplished teenager to them for a
small, initial fee despite Sullivan's dread that Harry Redknapp would buy
him for Tottenham Hotspur instead. "I suppose he was in court at the time
and couldn't pick up the phone to Sir Alex Ferguson," Sullivan joked of the
legal action that Redknapp then faced.
The co-chairman is concerned with more than team-building. There is also the
issue of Upton Park and the possibility of taking up residence in the
Olympic Stadium instead. He is cautious on the topic. "We have a stadium
that could have a 45,000 capacity," he said of the present home. "We have a
hotel. We have 3,000 corporate hospitality guests, a stadium we own. We say
how, when and who, so to give that up we have to be 100% sure the deal is
right for the club."
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
West Ham chief Sullivan expects Ba to leave Toon in the summer
By SPORTSMAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 11:15 PM on 20th February 2012
Daily Mail
West Ham co-owner David Sullivan has warned Newcastle they could lose star
striker Demba Ba for a pittance if they do not tie him to a new deal.
Sullivan knows from bitter experience just how painful that could prove
after seeing the Senegal international leave Upton Park for nothing during
the summer in the wake of the club's relegation from the Barclays Premier
League. Now he is predicting that the Magpies, for whom Ba has scored 16
goals so far this season, could suffer a similar fate if they do not address
the issue of the much-publicised release-clause in his contract. 'I'm told
he's got a £7million get-out at Newcastle and he gets half the money over
that,' Sullivan said, in response to political journalist Iain Dale on his
blog West Ham Till I Die. 'They keep denying it, but I think you'll see in
the summer he will leave Newcastle, or he'll get a monstrous rise to stay
there. 'If they get about £4m half will go to him, so if they sell him for
£7m, they'll only net about three because they paid his agent £2 million to
get him out of here. 'Getting £3m is not bad, but for a player of his
quality, it's not fantastic.'
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