Daily WHUFC News - 28th June 2013

Dear delighted with Hammers' progress
WHUFC.com
Brian Dear is happy to see West Ham United thriving in the Barclays Premier
League
27.06.2013

West Ham United favourite Brian Dear looked on with pride as his former club
made a successful return to the Barclays Premier League. The Academy product
and 1965 European Cup Winners' Cup winner is a regular visitor to the Boleyn
Ground, whether it be to cheer on his old side or to collect donations on
behalf of the Bobby Moore Fund for Cancer Research UK. Dear, who is a great
supporter of the charity founded in memory of his late team-mate and
captain, said he is excited for the future of both the Hammers and the Fund.
"We're still in the Barclays Premier League and it's the only place to be,"
said the 69-year-old. "When we go to the Olympic Stadium, it's imperative we
go there as a Premier League side. Sam Allardyce has done a good job this
year. We play to our strengths and tenth place is great.

"Sam's a nice man and he contributes to the Bobby Moore Fund. He's very
involved with Stephanie Moore with the charity. He's made his mark on West
Ham and I think he'll be OK. "The Club has raised nearly £60,000 this year
and that's through the players and other initiatives. Sam donates the
proceeds from his Evening Standard column, which a lot of people don't know
about, but that's how strong they are in support of Bobby's Fund. All power
to them and long may it continue."

Naturally, Dear is still in awe of his former captain, who sadly passed away
following a dignified battle with bowel cancer in February 1993. "You can't
but remember Bobby Moore. We don't win many World Cups! What better assist
than Bobby to Geoff Hurst and he smacks it in the back of the net. That must
be the greatest assist of all time, even if I'm a bit biased."

One special day that Dear and Moore shared was the aforementioned European
Cup Winners' Cup final victory over German side 1860 Munich on 19 May 1965,
when Alan Sealey's brace secured a 2-0 success for Ron Greenwood's Hammers.
It doesn't seem 48 years ago, it was a wonderful night. We won the trophy
and the year after that three of our boys won the World Cup. It was a big
three years for West Ham and it was just a pity that the lads in the latter
years got beaten in the final [in 1976], as it would have been great to win
it twice. But it was awesome. "When you walk out there at Wembley, you're
oblivious to what's happening around you. Bobby asked me how I felt in the
dressing room and I said I was ok, and he said walk out behind me and you'll
get your photo taken! Immediately I was alright. No nerves. We just played
our normal game. Alan got the two goals and we came away with the trophy.
"Hopefully when it gets to 50 years a few of us might be able to get
together and celebrate it properly. It was just a wonderful day and we were
so proud. Our side was all English boys as well. Six or seven were local
lads from Barking, Dagenham, Canning Town, East Ham or Upton Park. That will
never happen again. It makes it even more special."

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Olympic Stadium could host cricket festival - Essex chief
BBC.co.uk

Essex chief Derek Bowden says plans to play Twenty20 cricket at the Olympic
Stadium could include other teams. The Chelmsford club have discussed the
prospect with London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC), the organisation
responsible for the stadium's future.

Multi-purpose cricket stadiums
Melbourne Cricket Ground: The Australian 100,000-capacity venue has hosted
football, Aussie Rules and both codes of rugby as well as cricket
Moses Mabhida Stadium: Located in Durban, South Africa, the 54,000-seater
stadium was a World Cup football venue that also hosts cricket
Eden Park: Auckland's 50,000-capacity stadium hosts rugby union and rugby
league and has a removable cricket pitch
Westpac Stadium: Capable of holding 36,000, the Wellington venue hosts
football, rugby union, rugby league and cricket
Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium: Football and cricket are played at the
70,000-capacity stadium in Kochi, India

"I had a conversation with the LLDC a few weeks ago and they're very keen
for there to be a cricket festival," the Essex chief executive told BBC
Essex.
"Not before 2016 because there is work to be done. But we're keen to do it."
West Ham will be the main tenants of the venue from 2016, but the LLDC has
previously said it would be open to cricket being played at the East London
arena, which will also host athletics and possibly rugby. Essex, who are
also trying to finalise plans for an £80m redevelopment of their Chelmsford
ground, regularly sell out their 7,000-capacity venue and hope to attract
larger crowds in Stratford. "The conversations I've had have been about a
two-week window where we, and maybe a few other counties, play cricket there
to maximise the use of the stadium and mitigate the investment needed to
convert it for cricket," said Bowden, a former chief executive of Ipswich
Town. "Job number one is our own ground redevelopment, but we're looking
forward to playing cricket in London."

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Will the next transfer move be indicative of what funds are left in the pot?
By S J Chandos
West Ham Till I Die

With the Andy Carroll signing done and dusted, it will be interesting to see
West Ham's next move in the transfer market? The latest rumour is that we
are the verge of completing a £3m move for Ecuadorian winger Jefferson
Montero from Mexican club, Morelia. Mind you, new Everton manager, Roberto
Martinez, is also said to be interested, so lets wait and see what happens
on that one? Apparently, Martinez previously tried to sign the player for
Wigan and, of course, he used his Hispanic cultural and language advantage
to beat us to the signature of Ivan Ramis last season. What a good decision
that turned to be for the player, a season playing in front of home crowds
of 5,000, in a town where football is a minority sporting interest, and then
relegation to the Championship! True, Ramis had the first laugh in scoring
in the 1-4 League Cup defeat at Upton Park, but as the saying goes, its all
about who has the last laugh and that was most definitely West Ham. Still,
good luck to him come the new season, whether that is in the Championship,
with Wigan, or back in Spain?

A very interesting alternative rumour was that the club were interested in
signing James Milner from Man City. Milner is an hard working and effective
wide midfield player and would be a good addition to the squad. And it could
be that he is surplus to requirements following the change in management at
Man City. The question is how much the asking price will be for a current
England international? There is a school of thought that says that the vast
majority of the transfer pot has been committed with the signing of Carroll
from Liverpool and that the rest of our signings will be loan or Bosman
deals. Both Rat and Adrian have been Bosman/nominal fee signings, so the
nature and value of the next signing may be an indicator of the actual
transfer resources available to Sam Allardyce in the remainder of this
window.

Regardless, the fact is that we need to follow up on the Carroll signing
with at least two new strikers. Whether it is a £12m swoop for Wilfred Bony
or loan deals for the like of Demba Ba? We need to improve the quality of
our strikers and our ability to score away from home. Last season, we
struggled to score on our travels and that must be rectified next season.
Ten goals from a midfielder is a nice bonus, but our leading scorer should,
by rights, be one of our strikers. If our striker additions are to be loan
deals, they must be a big improvement upon the deals struck last season. One
loanee who spent his time on the bench and another that could not get out of
the Development Squad! I wonder how much those two loan deals cost last
season in total? Regardless of the criticisms of Carlton Cole, he was a
decent alternative option to have available in the squad. His exit means
that we no longer have that option and we must now follow through and secure
a better quality of striker. That was how I originally interpreted the
decision to release Carlton Cole, that it was a clear declaration of intent
that we would recruit better strikers to help move the club forward.
Otherwise we might just as well have retained Cole for another season or
two.

Much will depend on whether Maiga is sold. I have previously argued that he
deserves another chance, based in what he produced on the few occasions that
he got a first team opportunity last season. It has been suggested that one
issue could be Maiga is not industrious enough for a Sam Allardyce side? If
he does get another season, the player needs to buckle down and do his fair
share of the hard graft in order to bring his attacking skills more
regularly in to the first team. Personally, I rate Maiga as a player and
would have liked to see him playing more often, last season, in an attacking
three with Carroll and Jarvis. The player did not get enough consistent
match time in the last campaign to fully demonstrate what he can do.
Hopefully a retained Maiga will put that right next season. But if Maiga
does exit then our ability to recruit new quality additions up front becomes
even more imperative.

Many fans are sceptical about how any new strikers will be utilised next
season. Their rationale being that if Allardyce sticks to his 4-3-3 system
(or 4-5-1 in some people's opinion) the opportunities to accommodate a
second central striker will be distinctly limited. And any quality potential
recruits will be aware of this and will accordingly be reluctant to join.
This, of course, pre-supposes that a 4-4-2 will not be deployed more often
next season. One common argument why this is unlikely to happen is that a
second striker cannot be easily accommodated with captain Kevin Nolan's
attacking role in Allardyce's system? Personally, I can see the positive
arguments for playing 4-3-3. However, too often last season, especially away
from home, Carroll become too isolated up front and the absence of a second
striker invited teams to push forward and attack us with impunity. This can
be overcome in a 4-3-3 if we have the right type of players either side of
Carroll, players of pace, who can cross the ball and finish with equal
proficiency. Jarvis did very well last season, but he needs to be more
direct at times, use his pace and score more frequently. He can do it, after
all most of us remember that stunning display of pace, power and finishing
that he put in for Wolves against West Ham at Upton Park in the second
season of Zola's managerial tenure. That is the Matt Jarvis that I am still
waiting to see in a West Ham shirt.

Finally, it is good to see the squad back in a stylish and quality Adidas
kit. The Adidas designs are different class and fans with longer memories
will always associate the brand with both the excellent 1981-82 and 1985-86
sides. For me, the 1981-82 kit is second only to the classic Bukta kit of
1961-76 as West Ham's all-time greatest. As for the new designs, I like them
and look forward to purchasing one of the new shirts. Adidas is probably
more expensive then some other sportswear firms, but arguably it is worth it
for the extra quality and design. But there is always the alternative of the
excellent retro shirts that are available.They are good quality these days
and there is a much wider choice of eras available. I have a number of
retros amongst my own collection, including the 1957-58 home, 1964-65 home &
away and 1980 FA Cup shirts.

SJ. Chandos.

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West Ham: Church may give up the ghost
Soprtsdirectnews.com
by Robert Shepherd27th June 2013 4:12pm BST
Exclusive

West Ham are set to escape the enforcement of restrictive covenants imposed
by the Catholic Church when they change stadiums, because nobody can prove
what they are. The Hammers will leave their long-time Upton Park home and
relocate a few miles west to Stratford's Olympic Stadium in 2016, with the
old stadium set to be replaced with a retail park and some luxury flats.
Although the freehold to the Boleyn Ground is owned by the club, title
registers filed with the Land Registry detail historic agreements with the
church and the former Archbishop of Westminster, the Most Reverend Edward
Henry Manning, over the use of the site dating back to 1869. However,
neither the Land Registry or the Diocese of Brentwood, which now has
jurisdiction over the area, can locate the documents.

A spokeswoman for the Diocese of Brentwood told SportsDirect News that
three-years-ago, the Diocese of Westminster made renewed inquiries but "it
went cold" after Tottenham Hotpspur lauched a legal challenge to move to the
£486 million Olympic Stadium. The spokeswoman said: "If these documents are
found, it could be that West Ham would want to buy them out. However, it's a
strange one at the moment because we know the documents were created and
existed, but we don't know if they still do."

The Hammers have long had a relationship with the church in that the club
has either rented or bought land from various dioceses over the years. In
1959 a further agreement was signed between the club and the then Archbishop
of Westminster, outlining guarantees on the passage of water and sewer pipes
and gas and electricity cables to the Church-owned properties. In 2000, the
club paid to build a new home for the adjacent St Edward's school in
exchange for land to redevelop the Centenary Stand. If you find the
documents, please hand them into the Diocese of Westminster or Brentwood.
West Ham were unavailable for comment.

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Arsenal's Young Striker Unsure of Future Amid Interest from West Ham
By ADRIAN BACK: Subscribe to Adrian's RSS feed | June 27, 2013 6:05 PM GMT
Ibitimes.co.uk

Arsenal youngster Joel Campbell admits that he is unsure where his future
lies after spending the last two seasons away from the Emirates, first in
France and then in Spain. The Costa Rica international was signed by the
Gunners back in the summer of 2011 but was instantly loaned to FC Lorient
where he scored three goals in his 25 league appearances. He then spent last
season at Real Betis where he managed just two goals but won plenty of
plaudits for performances in his 28 league games. Campbell has most recently
been linked with a possible move to West Ham United who are said to be
looking for a new striker to partner Andy Caroll after Carlton Cole failed
to earn a new contract and was allowed to leave the club. The Hammers could
face competition from Premier League new boys Crystal Palace who, according
to reports on London24.com, have also shown an interest in signing the 21
year old.

The Arsenal striker admits that he is unsure where he will be playing his
club football next season but feels it will be in either Spain or England.
"I'm still not sure which team I'm going to play for, I could stay in Spain
or go to the Premier League," Capbell told aldia.cr. "There is no way I can
lose because they are the two most important leagues in the world."

Despite being linked with West Ham and Palace, Campbell is still confident
that he will one day represent Arsenal who failed to obtain a work permit
for the striker when he first joined from Costa Rican side Deportivo
Sprissa. "At the moment I am enjoying my football," added Campbell. "When
God wants it, I will play for Arsenal. I am very calm. I am 21 years old and
I am still gaining experience."

West Ham do have a good relationship with Arsenal having loaned Marouane
Chamakh last season, and the Gunners may feel that be loaning Campbell on
the short term to a Premier League side they will have a better
understanding of his potential.

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