Daily WHUFC News - 2nd August 2013

Big Sam loving London life
WHUFC.com
Sam Allardyce is loving life in London and loving life as West Ham United
manager
01.08.2013

Sam Allardyce is loving life in London and loving life as West Ham United
manager. Big Sam is about to embark on his tenth season as a Barclays
Premier League boss, having enjoyed spells with Bolton Wanderers, Newcastle
United and Blackburn Rovers prior to joining the Hammers in July 2011. Now
happily settled in Canary Wharf and looking forward to building on two
successful seasons in the Hammers hot seat, the manager is relishing what
promises to be an exciting and challenging 2013/14 campaign. "It has been a
really good couple of years for me, not just from a football point of view,
but from the fact that we're enjoying our time living in Canary Wharf," said
Big Sam. "The big city has been great to explore and it takes the pressure
off when you want to get out and get away from it all, you've got plenty to
do and plenty to see. "Obviously with the football side going well as well,
it has been a really good two years. And hopefully it will be more
successful, building up to getting in that new Olympic Stadium. "I think the
fans will all be itching to get the season started again. When they see
everybody coming back for pre-season, everyone starts looking forward to the
start of the season. With great expectation, every club will be expected do
better than they did last season."

While the pressure-filled Barclays Premier League is still two weeks away,
Big Sam has been working hard with the Board and his recruitment staff all
summer, identifying and attempting to sign transfer targets. Four new
players have already joined - Andy Carroll, Razvan Rat, Adrian and Danny
Whitehead - while the Club have made no secret of their desire to bring in
one more forward. That said, the manager is delighted that he has not had to
overhaul his squad to the same extent that he did in the summers of 2011 and
2012. "It has been one of the quietest pre-seasons I've had for about eight
years I'm glad to say. We have done some good business, obviously the Andy
deal was the first one. We've got a new goalkeeper, Adrian, from Real Betis,
who seems to be settling in very well. "We've got Razvan Rat from a
defensive point of view, so we're probably looking at securing one more
player within the budget we've got available this summer. And hopefully that
will make us a little bit better than last year. "From our point of view, we
have to look at everybody else's spending throughout the summer up until the
deadline. Then we'll have a better idea of if the Premier League going to be
any stronger from last season and that's the challenge you have to face up
to."

West Ham have three pre-season fixtures with Portuguese opposition to tackle
before the big kick-off at home to Cardiff City on Saturday 17 August. The
Hammers will face Sporting Clube de Portugal and SC Braga in the Algarve
early next week before welcoming Pacos de Ferreira to the Boleyn Ground on
10 August. Looking further forward, Big Sam is hoping his squad will make
the same strong start that stood them so well last term. With home games
against Cardiff and Stoke City and away matches at Newcastle United,
Southampton and Hull City to begin, the manager believes the Hammers can put
points on the board again in August and September. However, the manager is
eager for West Ham to improve an away record that saw them win just three
times in 19 games on the road last term. "Yes, they are [winnable games].
Our home form was the key to our success and our away form, in the end,
wasn't very good, considering that when we got promoted the year before our
away form was better than our home form. So it was quite strange from that
point of view. "The fixtures have been reasonably kind but there are no easy
games in the Premier League as everybody knows. A good start for us like
last season, we got 14 points out of the first eight games, is something
that we need to target yet again if we want to be as good as were last year.
"With that group of fixtures, not that I'm saying that they're easy, but if
you started off with Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool or Manchester
City in the first eight, that would be difficult. But we haven't got that to
begin with and we need that strong start yet again."

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Under-18s set for Eurofoot adventure
WHUFC.com
Hammers Academy side to take on Europe's elite in Belgian tournament
01.08.2013

West Ham United's Under-18s will experience a taste of top European
competition this weekend when they take part in the Yale Eurofoot Toernooi
in Belgium.
The tournament brings together 12 teams from England, Belgium, France,
Netherlands and Belgium over three days of competition. Steve Potts' Hammers
side begin their campaign in Group A on Friday, with six 50 minutes games
across two days to be played during the first stage. The Hammers are set to
face Club Brugge, AA Gent, KV Oostende, FC Utrecht and RSC Anderlecht,
whilst the likes of Tottenham Hotspur and Standard Liege are in the other
group. West Ham finished sixth in last year's tournament, which is held in
the western Belgian town of Oostduinkerke, and Potts believes the three-day
competition will prove invaluable for his team. "It will be a great
experience for the boys," he said. "Going away together as a group is
important, and the games we play will offer us a different kind of test too.
"We have six shorter games to play over the three days which will be great
as we prepare for the new season. "It's good to take on different opposition
with different styles - we will face teams of differing styles in our league
matches, so this will prove invaluable."

West Ham kick-off their challenge against Club Brugge at 10.30am local time
on Friday before taking on Gent at 1.45pm. On Saturday, the Hammers take on
Anderlecht at 10am, KV Oostende at 1.15pm and Utrecht at 6.15pm.

Play-offs for each position and finals will be played on Sunday.

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West Ham United manager Sam Allardyce targets one more signing before start
of season
Last Updated: August 1, 2013 1:11pm
SSN

West Ham United boss Sam Allardyce is looking to add just one more player to
his squad before the start of the season. The Hammers broke their record
transfer fee to sign Andy Carroll, while goalkeeper Adrian, full-back Razvan
Rat and midfielder Danny Whitehead have all moved to Upton Park. Allardyce
is pleased with those additions and believes they will benefit his side.
"This has been one of the quietest summers I've had," he said. "We have done
some good business. "Andy Carroll has come in, we've got a new goalkeeper in
Adrian from Real Betis, who seems to be settling in very well, and Razvan
Rat will help strengthen the defence."

Despite having England international Carroll among their ranks, it is
believed adding another striker to the squad remains a priority. Carlton
Cole was released and both Wellington and Marouane Chamakh returned to their
parent clubs after loan spells last season, and with Carroll unlikely to
feature in West Ham's season opener against Cardiff, Allardyce is light up
front. Former Chelsea forward Salomon Kalou have been heavily linked with a
move to Upton Park and Allardyce has said it is likely only one more
acquisition will be made. "We're looking at securing one more player within
the budget we've got this summer, and hopefully that will make us a little
bit better than last season," he said.

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West Ham pull out of deal for Duvan Zapata
By Paulo Freitas. Last Updated: August 1, 2013 2:35pm
SSN

West Ham United have pulled out of a deal for Colombian striker Duvan
Zapata. Sky Sports revealed West Ham's interest in the £8million-rated
striker earlier this summer. The Hammers applied for a work permit for the
22-year-old and were hopeful that they would win a deal for Zapata, who is
expected to be part of Colombia's squad for next year's World Cup finals.
But now Sky Sports understands that West Ham have decided to pull back from
the deal and are looking at other striking targets. Zapata, who is believed
to have other interest in England, has also attracted interest from Italy
and Spain with the likes of Sassuolo and Atletico Madrid both said to be
keen. The player himself has insisted he is in no hurry to leave, telling
Ole: "If I do leave then the board need to find a new striker, a target man,
so my idea is to stay."

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Redknapp Names His Price for Newcastle & West Ham Target Remy
By TONY MOGAN: Subscribe to Tony's RSS feed | August 1, 2013 4:53 PM GMT
Ibtimes.co.uk

Queens Park Rangers are ready to sell Loic Remy this summer but Newcastle
United and West Ham will have to pay the striker's £8m buy-out clause to get
their man. The R's manager Harry Redknapp has previously held faint hopes of
holding onto the France international for another season as they prepare for
life in the Championship, but the club's £4m purchase of Charlie Austin has
paved the way for Remy's exit. Both Newcastle and West Ham are keen to bring
the 26-year-old, who struck six goals for QPR following his move from
Marseille in January, back to the Premier League. A season long loan move
with the option to buy next summer has been suggested, but Redknapp
maintains the club are looking to cash in on the striker. "I don't think he
will go on loan. I can't see any sense in it," Redknapp is quoted as saying
by the London Evening Standard. "I don't know why we'd pay £8m and then loan
him out. If he wants to go, someone will have to pay for him. He has a
buy-out clause and we want our money back."

Newcastle have made signing a striker a priority this summer with Fulham's
Darren Bent, Lyon forward Bafetimbi Gomis and Remy on the club's radar. Remy
rejected the opportunity to join Alan Pardew's side to instead move to
Loftus Road during the January transfer window but such is the club's need
for another option other than Papiss Cisse, they may be willing to forgive
and forget that snub. West Ham meanwhile are still in the market for a
partner for record signing Andy Carroll. Manager Sam Allardyce claimed on
Thursday the club are looking to make one more signing before the start of
the new season, and following confirmation from co-owner David Gold last
month that another striker will be brought in, the reasonably priced Remy
could well be on their radar. Remy's expected departure from Loftus Road is
increasingly likely after QPR completed a £4m deal for Charlie Austin. "I
have always liked him, he's a goal scorer," Redknapp said of the
24-year-old, who struck 28 goals in 40 league appearances for Burnley last
season. "He scored a fantastic array of goals last season and if you get the
ball into the box for him, he will find the net."

Away from the pitch, QPR have also been busy. The club have been the most
socially savvy football team ahead of the 2013 season, with more than the
audience of Facebook and Twitter followers - over 330,000 combined when
compared to all teams in the Football League's three leagues determined in
research conducted by social advertising company RadiumOne.

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West Ham keen to sign Werder Bremen striker Arnautovic to partner Carroll
By SIMON JONES
PUBLISHED: 22:12, 1 August 2013 | UPDATED: 22:12, 1 August 2013
Daily Mail

West Ham are interested in a deal for Werder Bremen striker Marko
Arnautovic, 24. The 6ft 3in Austria powerhouse can play on either wing or as
a central striker. His pace and versatility have attracted boss Sam
Allardyce, who is eager to lift the goalscoring burden from Andy Carroll.
The Bundesliga club also have offers from clubs in Spain but Arnautovic is
keen to move to London. Allardyce had shown interest in several forwards
such as Salomon Kalou, Peter Odemwingie and Emmanuel Emenike of Spartak
Moscow, but Arnautovic will give him more options, is marginally cheaper and
offers decent re-sale value.
Allardyce said: 'We're looking at securing one more player within the budget
this summer.'

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Gold's early Hammer blow
Posted by Peter Thorne
ESPN

David Gold has defended Sam Allardyce before the season has started. Well,
you have to hand it to David Gold, the Chairman certainly dealt a
pre-emptive strike on behalf of Sam Allardyce there!

Before a ball has even been kicked in anger -- in this case, one from 50
yards away -- West Ham's joint-owner has defended the preconceived
assumptions about his manager's style of play in no uncertain terms. In a
no-nonsense statement to ESPN, Gold categorically denied that Sam was an
exponent of the long-ball game, going so far as to suggest that some of the
football he has seen over the past couple of seasons has been "the best and
most exciting" in all his years of supporting the Hammers.

It was an interesting statement to make before the pre-season matches have
even been completed and only emphasises how highly Allardyce is rated at
Upton Park by the men in charge. There are still some fans not sold on the
way that Sam sets out his teams admittedly, but that proportion are getting
smaller every season and are likely to disappear completely if the ex-Bolton
defender can lead West Ham into the Olympic Stadium in 2016 as a solid
top-ten Premiership club

This column has always had a lot of time for Allardyce and his methods
purely because -- by and large -- they bring results. It has always amused
me the way that a team like Manchester United - as they did at the Boleyn
when scoring the injury-time leveller in the 3rd Round of the F.A. Cup last
season - can launch a ball deep from defence to a forward and have people
drooling, while Big Sam will have to contend with the tactic being described
as Route One. David Beckham made his name from the type of 'long cross' or
'lofted ball' that has Allardyce critics talking of 'ale house' and
'dinosaur' football.

Essentially, it comes down to the skill of the players providing the long
ball, so the aforementioned Giggs punt -- called a 'pass' by Sir Alex
Ferguson -- was made even better by Van Persie's ability to bring the ball
down and control it, and before anyone thinks I damn it with faint praise, I
think Gigg's ability to hit a front-man from that distance is skill of the
highest calibre. In short, like most football supporters, I don't care how
it gets there, providing it does.

Gold perhaps did his defence of Allardyce no favours by directly mentioning
Roberto Martiniez and Arsene Wenger as managers who will 'go to their grave
telling their teams to pass the ball' but it seems churlish to criticise the
Chairman for making his feelings known before the first whistle blows,
although if he hopes that he won't have to trot these lines out again over
the course of the next nine months, it's likely Mr Gold will be sadly
disappointed.

However, one area where I must disagree with the Chairman is his assertation
that Big Sam isn't a 'cute panda' that you wouldn't want to 'pick up and
give a cuddle too'. On the contrary, whenever I see our Manager on TV I've
always wanted to grab his jowled chops and give them a shake like a baby
while growling. Probably best I never meet him...

Elsewhere, in an attempt to ensure that the Board's words are backed by
strong action, the club are trying to sign Salomon Kalou, the ex-Chelsea
striker who Lille were prepared to part with for £3.5 million. However, it
seems that Kalou has doubts about returning to England and with Valencia
apparently having made a counter-offer, hopes on this one may be dashed.

With Andy Carroll still to start competitive training, a signing like Kalou
would be a real boost to the side although Modibo Maiga's form -- he scored
a brace against German side Eintracht Braunschweig in a comfortable 3-0 win
at the weekend -- is apparently encouraging, but the Coaching team must feel
like wrapping Maiga in cotton wool as the Malian is pretty much the only
forward of note at Upton Park currently.

It promises to be a pretty hectic lead up to the opening game of the 2013/4
season and I doubt the Hammers will be quiet in the transfer market; let's
hope something comes of it. In the meantime, please note the headline
'Hammer blow' was seen on this column for the first time this season and I
would like to lay claim to it. Anyone wishing to send this blog £1 for every
time it is spotted before next May then feel free!

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