Daily WHUFC News - 26th June 2013

The Big Interview - Martin Allen
WHUFC.com
It has been quite a year for ex-West Ham United star and Gillingham manager
Martin Allen
25.06.2013

Martin Allen is one of those players who will always be held in high esteem
by West Ham United fans. The tough-tackling central midfielder spent six
seasons at the Boleyn Ground between 1989 and 1995, scoring 34 goals in 232
appearances in claret and blue and becoming a terrace hero in east London.
Since hanging up his boots, Allen has forged a career as a manager, enjoying
success at Barnet, Brentford, Milton Keynes Dons and Notts County before
leading Gillingham to their first title in 49 years courtesy of winning
League Two last season. The official website caught up with 'Mad Dog' to ask
the 47-year-old to share his thoughts on the Hammers and the Gills.

Congratulations Martin! You must be immensely proud to have led Gillingham
to the League Two title last season?

MA: "It has been a brilliant year, promotion in the first season at
Gillingham. They were all free transfers, with young players coming through.
I think we've played some good football and it's been a magnificent year.
"I've been to several Play-Offs but never managed to quite get over the
line, often taking over clubs in trouble in relegation areas and building
teams to get into the Play-Offs. "It's been unbelievable. It was not only
promotion, but we were the champions, so for me personally it's an
unbelievable feeling. I always thought I'd be known as the firefighter,
coming in to stop teams getting relegated, but to be able to do this over a
longer period was definitely the highlight of my whole career, without a
shadow of a doubt."

To win a title is a great achievement at any level, so what was your secret
at Gillingham?

MA: "We had been top the whole season, and we played good football. We get
it down and play, we get our full-backs overlapping. Towards the end of the
season, we were getting 10-11,000 sell-out crowds every week. We just kept
going and going and going right through to the very end and somehow or other
we managed to stay in there, hang in there, and came through it. "And now to
be a champion, I think my nickname has changed from Mad Dog to Top Dog!"

What about your old Club West Ham United? Were you also pleased to see the
Hammers enjoy such a comfortable season in the Barclays Premier League?

MA: "I think it was quite a remarkable season for West Ham to be honest. I
came to watch them play against Manchester United with my Chairman Paul
Scally, as a guest of Mr Gold. The hospitality beforehand was absolutely
first-class and then the performance from the team was quite outstanding.
"The movement, the passing and I thought Andy Carroll on the night was
absolutely outstanding. I thought he was a Julian Dicks-type warrior and
character. The West Ham supporters love that hero-type person and I thought
he was brilliant. "The team not only used him with his height, his power and
his strength, but they also played good football. They moved the ball around
the pitch on the grass and I thought they had a good mixture."

As a fellow manager, have you been impressed by the job Sam Allardyce has
done since he came to the Boleyn Ground?

MA: "It's amazing to finish in the top ten. It's an unbelievable achievement
and to do what has happened is quite remarkable. Sam has brought in good
players. He's only doing here what he did at Bolton. "In the next couple of
years you can see where this team and this club is going. I just think over
the next couple of years it won't just stabilise - it will get better,
bigger and stronger. And with the fan base going into the new stadium, I
think it has the potential to be a club that's challenging. "The crowd on
that night against Manchester United, the atmosphere was absolutely first
class. That's important as well, that the supporters continue to get behind
the manager, get behind the players. No doubt in the summer, they want to
get stronger and keep improving. Sam Allardyce is a very good man at player
recruitment and I think the future is very bright, most definitely."

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Roeder returns - at Millwall
KUMB.com
Filed: Tuesday, 25th June 2013
By: Staff Writer

Former West Ham United manager Glenn Roeder has returned to football - as a
scout for new Millwall manager Steve Lomas. The much-maligned Roeder, who
was in charge at the Boleyn Ground between 2001 and 2003 has joined his
former Hammers captain at the New Den in order to suggest potential new
signings. Lomas - who was hired as the new Millwall manager amidst howls of
protests from the club's supporters - said: ""The chief scout Jamie Johnson
is away on holiday for two weeks so I've got a few people speaking to agents
for me that I trust. "For me to get around the amount of agents there are
would be virtually impossible on my own, which is effectively what I am for
the time being. There's a lot to do and I can't spend all day speaking to
agents, so I've got a couple of people doing that."

Lomas has also signed former West Ham goalkeeper Stephen Bywater, now 32,
who spent eight years in east London.

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Four Premier League clubs in for Matej Vydra
By Vasek Kadlec. Last Updated: June 25, 2013 1:33pm
SSN

Four Premier League clubs have expressed an interest in taking Udinese
striker Matej Vydra on loan, claims his agent. The Czech forward was brought
to the attention of an English audience in 2012/13 while taking in a
productive loan spell at Watford - which saw him named Championship Player
of the Year and take the Hornets to within 90 minutes of promotion to the
Premier League. Unsurprisingly, he has drawn plenty of admiring glances
ahead of the summer transfer window - with West Bromwich Albion, West Ham
United, Swansea City and Sunderland said to be keen on bringing him back to
England. Vydra's representative claims a move to the Premier League is now
the main focus for his client, with an offer from Bundesliga outfit Werder
Bremen having been knocked back.

After holding talks with Udinese and Watford owner Giampaolo Pozzo on
Monday, Ondrej Chovanec told isport.blesk.cz: "We agreed that none of the
offers (for a permanent transfer) are in the region that would interest
Udinese. "They don't want to sell him for £8million, so they have given us
freedom to discuss loan spells with the Premier League clubs that are
interested. "At the moment we have offers from four Premier League clubs -
West Brom, West Ham, Swansea and Sunderland."
On the decision to reject a move to Germany, Chovanec added: "At Udinese
they don't want Matej to have to get used to life in a different country, so
now it seems likely that he will be playing on in England."

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Carroll always seemed nailed on for his Hammers move but he was reluctant to
leave his Anfield of dreams
By NEIL ASHTON
PUBLISHED: 00:00, 26 June 2013 | UPDATED: 00:00, 26 June 2013
Daily Mail

When Andy Carroll officially signed for West Ham last week it all seemed so
cut and dried. Liverpool agreed to sell the striker for £15million and he
signed a six-year contract after he had an accelerated medical in London.
Scratch beneath the surface though and Sam Allardyce will tell you that
Carroll took some persuading to join him at Upton Park full time. The
England striker was reluctant to sever his ties at Anfield, despite spending
a successful season with West Ham. He had joined Liverpool for £35m in
January 2011 and he didn't want to give up on his career at the five-time
European Cup winners so easily. Ultimately Carroll was always going to leave
Merseyside this summer, but it says something about him that it took him
time to adjust to the idea. Naturally it will be confusing for him. How can
a football club spend a record British transfer fee of £35m on a player and
then decide within two years that he isn't good enough to play for them?
It's something Carroll struggles to understand and it's hard to blame him,
particularly when they accepted a £20m loss on him last week. Walking away
from Liverpool is difficult for any player, particularly when they believed
so highly in him when they signed him from Newcastle. He arrived when
Fernando Torres was leaving for Chelsea during that extraordinary period in
January 2011. Liverpool's former director of football Damien Comolli had
courted him and the club's then caretaker manager Kenny Dalglish believed he
was a big asset. Carroll bought into Liverpool's history and heritage,
recognising that he was registered with one of the most powerful voices in
football. There had been times at Liverpool, notably when he scored against
Chelsea in the FA Cup final in 2012 after coming on as a substitute, when he
looked as though his future could still be with them. In the semi-final the
previous month, his Liverpool team-mate Jamie Carragher had launched a
passionate defence of the striker during a live television interview.
Carroll had scored the winner against Everton at Wembley in the semi-final
three minutes from time. 'For me that goal was worthy £35m,' Carragher said
at the time. Carragher is no-one's fool. The former Liverpool defender knows
a player and he bought into Carroll's physical approach up front. Prior to
the 2012 FA Cup final Carragher said: 'Andy has got all the attributes you
need to be a top centre forward. Now that he is in the England squad he can
establish himself as the country's No 9 for the next decade. We will be
looking for him to do that with Liverpool.' They believed in his ability,
but his style isn't suited to the swift interchanges and flexibility of
Brendan Rodgers' teams. At times last season Carroll was convinced that he
could still make an impression at Anfield after a year being picked
regularly by West Ham.
He believes he is a better player, more rounded and experienced. With Luis
Suarez suspended until September following the extraordinary incident with
Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic, Carroll saw another opportunity. But
the striker is certainly the man for Allardyce and West Ham's manager wants
to build the best team in the club's history. He is being given the backing
from the board to do it, too. He has sold Carroll the dream, convincing him
that they will soon be one of London's major attractions. The length of the
contract underlines the club's commitment to Carroll and he will be a
long-standing player by the time they move into the Olympic Stadium. That
60,000-seater stadium is bigger than Anfield and it was another bargaining
chip for Allardyce over the summer.
The Hammers manager has a different philosophy to Rodgers and showed some of
his hand when he spoke about Carroll's arrival last weekend. 'I look at Andy
and think, "Is he better than what I already have here and the answer to
that is yes".' It's a simple but effective formula, something Allardyce has
relied on throughout his managerial career. Carroll is not in Suarez's
class, but it didn't stop him thinking about what might have been at
Anfield.

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Bolton unable to agree fee with West Ham for Rob Hall
TalkSport
By Marc Isaacs | Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Bolton have been unable to agree a fee with West Ham for the signature of
talented youngster Rob Hall and could be heading to a transfer tribunal.
Dougie Freedman was hoping the 19-year-old would sign in time for the start
of pre-season training next week, but will now be forced to wait a bit
longer until he can join up with the first-team squad. Hall spent two months
on loan at Bolton last season and wants to make a permanent move to the
Reebok Stadium after failing to make his breakthrough into the West Ham
first-team. The England Under-19 forward is out of contract with the east
London club, but they are still entitled to some money as he came through
the development ranks at Upton Park. If Bolton cannot match the fee that
West Ham are looking for, then the two clubs will have to attend an
independent hearing to settle the matter.

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