Daily WHUFC News - 2nd May 2013

The Big Interview - Trevor Morley
WHUFC.com
whufc.com caught up with former Hammers striker Trevor Morley when he
dropped in at the Boleyn Ground
01.05.2013

Trevor Morley enjoyed five years scoring goals for the Hammers in the early
1990s and now spends his time analyising the Barclays Premier League action
for Norwegian television. The 52-year-old former Hammers, Manchester City
and Reading striker returned to east London last week to film a feature on
the Hammers and whufc.com stopped him for a chat.

First of all Trevor, what brings you back to the Boleyn Ground?

TM - "The weather! I live in Norway now and it's cold, but it's nice and
sunny here at the moment. No, I work on the Premier League [as a pundit] in
Norway. They're massive fans of the Premier League in Norway, they love it,
so my boss asked me to come over, check out West Ham, try to get a couple of
interviews and get a bit of footage for the people in Norway and
Scandinavia."

You spent five years here as a player in the early nineties. You must have
great memories of playing here?

TM - "Oh, it's amazing. Just to come back brings all the memories back -
it's a fantastic place, I loved my time here. The crowd were incredible
really and just to be stopped and asked for autographs after all these years
is brilliant."

When you come back here, which games stick in your memory from your time at
the Club?

TM - "The home form has been good this season and we used to love the night
games on Mondays or Wednesdays in my time too. The atmosphere was always
buzzing and it wasn't often that we got beaten here in the midweek games. I
miss the supporters, these East Enders are real supporters and I love them."

What have you made of West Ham's progress for their first year back in the
Barclays Premier League?

TM - "Excellent really. They've always kept themselves above the danger zone
and haven't ever really been sucked in. They've picked up wins when they've
needed to and never really had a bad run. You've seen teams like Norwich and
Villa have a real slump, but that hasn't happened to West Ham. They had a
good little run going up to the weekend and of course the home form has been
superb. All-in-all it's been more than satisfying to finish around mid-table
this season."

How big an achievement would it be for the Hammers to finish in the top ten,
considering it is the first season back?

TM - "It would be brilliant. I was there at the Play-Off final with my TV
crew and when you think of the fine margins that day, it was a 50-50 game
but West Ham won it. To come up and now be top ten in the table, that's
excellent. With the Premier League as strong as it is now, it's a good
return."

You talk about the special support the Club gets. There's the chance for it
to move forward with the Olympic Stadium now - how big an opportunity do you
think it is?

TM - "It's massive. I was actually a little sceptical at first, but I was
watching Karren Brady's video the other day and it's a chance you can't
miss. There are so many great memories here, but you have to move on. What a
stadium the Olympic Stadium is, and the Club will be able to get more
support coming in, with the extra finance that brings."

The accessibility will be better at the new stadium too, and I know the
Premier League is well supported in Norway. How big is it out there?

TM - "The Premier League is huge in Norway. When I last came back here I was
with the Scandinavian Hammers and there was quite a group of them.
Manchester United can get 2,000 people travelling to watch the games,
Liverpool too, so I think it's important for clubs like West Ham to attract
these people from all different parts of the world. They idolise the Premier
League."

In your time there were plenty of Norwegian players in the Premier League,
could there be a new crop in the future?

TM - "Not at the moment because they're not having the best of times. I
think it's more the African, Asian and American nations that are going to
come through now, Unfortunately the national team isn't at its strongest.
Fulham have Hangeland and of course there was Solsjkaer at Man Utd, but
maybe it's a couple of years before there are some more coming through."

Just finally there's a player who used to play here, and who you must have
come up against in your time, Brian Deane, who is currenly managing in
Norway for top flight team Sarpsborg. How is he getting on?

TM - ""He's had a good start. He's very enthusiastic and he knows what he
wants to do. I think it's a good idea for him to get away from England and
get a coaching job out there. I played in Norway and their training methods
were very advanced at that time, so he'll learn some different things from
being in a foreign country that you don't always get in England."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
O'Brien targets home success
WHUFC.com
Joey O'Brien is determined to keep West Ham United's fine home form going
until the end of the season
01.05.2013

Joey O'Brien believes the Hammers have what it takes to get back on track
when they host Newcastle United at the Boleyn Ground on Saturday. Having
taken seven points from their last three home fixtures, the defender says
being back in east London is just what they need. "We've been good at home
this season, in fact I think we've only lost four games at the Boleyn and we
would like to keep that record going until the end of the season," he told
whufc.com. "The fans have been great at home so hopefully we can give them
something to sing about on Saturday when we take on Newcastle." Although
they lost out to Manchester City last time out, the Republic of Ireland
international says the Hammers were no push over for Roberto Mancini's men.
He continued: "We were disappointed to lose the game at Manchester City and
end our five-game unbeaten run. Although in the first half we didn't really
perform, we gave it a right good go in the second. In the end we maybe could
have nicked it."

That was until the 83rd minute, when Yaya Toure picked the ball up on the
right hand side of the penalty area and launched a sensational left-footed
shot into the top corner to secure City's lead. O'Brien explained: "Their
second goal from Toure was unbelievable and kind of killed us a little bit.
We got a goal right at the end of the game but it wasn't enough. "The game
opened up in the second half and I thought we were the better team. We had a
few chances and I thought Matt Jarvis was smashing. He gave Zabaleta a
horrible time - he doesn't get many of them in a season. "It's a shame Andy
[Carroll's] goal didn't come a little bit sooner. He had a few half chances
and James Collins had a half chance when it was 1-0, so that could have made
it interesting should it have gone in."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
England put Carroll on recall alert
By SHAUN CUSTIS
Published: 5 hrs ago
The Sun

ENGLAND are ready to ask Andy Carroll to revive their World Cup hopes. Boss
Roy Hodgson is sending assistant Ray Lewington to run the rule over Carroll
on Saturday when West Ham take on Newcastle. It is expected to be a feisty
encounter at Upton Park with Hammers star Carroll fired up to do well
against his former Toon team-mates. The hitman, on loan from Liverpool, has
netted four goals in his last five games. Hodgson has asked Lewington to
report back and the plan is to track Carroll's performances through to the
end of the season in matches at Everton and home to Reading. The England
boss cannot watch Carroll himself because he is out of the country,
apparently on FA business, though they will not say what that is. But if
Carroll does well in front of Lewington and other England scouts he can
expect to be included in the party for the end-of-season friendlies at home
to the Republic of Ireland and away to Brazil. After those matches, England
will have only one other friendly, against Scotland at Wembley on August 14,
before their last four crucial qualifiers decide their World Cup fate.
Hodgson's team are currently two points behind Group H leaders Montenegro
having played the same number of games. Only one team will qualify
automatically for next year's finals in Brazil. Carroll has scored twice for
England in nine appearances and was chosen in Hodgson's Euro 2012 squad but
he has never had a run in the team. He showed what he is capable of with a
stunning header in the Euro finals victory over Sweden. But the striker was
dropped to the bench when Wayne Rooney returned from a two-match ban.

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

http://vyperz.blogspot.com