Daily WHUFC News - 7th April 2013

Captain's Blog
WHUFC.com
Kevin Nolan looks forward to what will be an emotional return to his home
city of Liverpool
06.04.2013

Hello everyone,

It was fantastic to be back against West Bromwich Albion last Saturday and I
really enjoyed it. I had that nervous excitement on Friday night knowing
that I was back involved amongst it all. I am really looking forward to
being injury-free for the rest of the season and getting back among the
goals and finishing as high as we possibly can. It was the longest injury
lay-off I have ever had as a professional footballer. Looking back, touch
wood, I have been very lucky not to have had too many injuries and I've been
able to manage them until we got to an international break or the end of the
season before having an operation.

I was disappointed in the tackle that I received, but it was just football
and it was a bit late and it was one of those things. I normally try to
shake these things off and I did so for a good 20 or 30 minutes but it just
wasn't going away and the pain was getting sharper. The staff have worked
brilliantly with me in the gym to keep up my conditioning, but I did find it
difficult going back out and twisting and turning because you're not allowed
to do that sort of thing with a broken toe - just straight-line stuff.

Before the Tottenham game, I had never gone off injured in my career before
- not that I can remember, but you might get one when I was 14 and playing
for my school or something! It was quite hard to take, especially knowing
that the result could have been bad when I went for my X-ray a couple of
days later. I sort of knew right away that it was serious because I'd never
previously not been able to shake an injury off or manage it for the next
game.

I was disappointed to miss the two games, but we managed to get a
magnificent win at Stoke and we were very unlucky at Chelsea. If Andy
Carroll's goal had counted it could have been a different story, but that's
life in the Barclays Premier League. I was really glad to be back against
West Brom and I thought we responded really well at home with another good
performance. We got what we deserved on Saturday.

I've been away from Liverpool for nearly five years and this is my home now,
but it was the city where I was brought up and Liverpool were my team when I
was younger. At the end of the day, it's about us and going there and trying
to make it difficult for them. Teams have done it this year and been
successful and we're going there full of confidence. They will also be full
of confidence and have been playing well, knocking it about and getting the
results that they have needed, to be honest, because they have spent a lot
of money over the last few seasons.

No matter what anyone says, they should be in the top four in my eyes and
they'll be disappointed because I don't think they will make it this year.
They have been knocked out of the UEFA Europa League so they need to finish
as high as possible and make sure they are there. It will be even tougher
because they only have the Premier League to play for at the moment, but
we're certainly looking forward to it. Anfield is a fantastic stadium to
play at and it's always nice being called all kinds of names by my fellow
Scouse people instead of everyone else!

On a serious note, we will honour the memory of the 96 innocent supporters
lost at Hillsborough on Sunday. I have friends who were there that day so
it's going to be a really emotional day because they have got the justice
that they deserved and that, in hindsight, they should have got right
afterwards.
What was reported after Hillsborough was disgusting. The families have
fought all the way and got their just rewards but this is only the
beginning. Now it's about making sure they get justice right through. I'm
pleased because it's now proven to the world and it's shocking that it's
taken nearly 25 years for them to get justice - that's the most disgusting
thing about it.

It'll be an emotional day for the whole of Liverpool - not just Liverpool
Football Club - because everyone was affected, as was everyone around the
footballing world. Hopefully, we can commemorate it in a nice way and the
people who have worked so tirelessly to ensure justice was brought can look
at it a good light on a momentous day for them.

As a city, the people of Liverpool are one, no matter where we are in the
world. It's a great family-oriented city and I'm very proud of my roots and
to be from Liverpool. It's always nice going back but I'm sure there will be
a lot of banter and stick flying around for me from my fellow Scousers!
This weekend is also Grand National weekend at Aintree, but I'm afraid I
cannot pick a winner because it's a lucky dip and anyone could win it - just
like our game on Sunday.

We've not won back-to-back games so far this season, so that's what we're
looking for. We can do it this weekend, no matter what the bookmakers say,
because we go into matches believing we can beat anyone - and on our day, we
can. We will need to work hard, but we will do that and we have quality in
abundance to make sure we can come away from Anfield with three points on
Sunday afternoon. I firmly believe we can do that and I'll make sure all the
other lads believe it too.

I'd like to wish everyone making the journey to Liverpool a safe trip.
Come on you Irons!
Kevin Nolan
Captain

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On this day - 7 April
WHUFC.com
We take a look back at a classic West Ham United victory over Arsenal from
this day in 2007
07.04.2013

Classic match
Arsenal 0-1 West Ham United
Premier League
7 April 2007
Having been the last team to win at Arsenal's Highbury stadium the previous
season, the Hammers continued their great escape in 2006/07 by becoinge the
first side to triumph at their new Emirates home. Bobby Zamora scored the
only goal of the game, just seconds before the interval, but the visitors'
success owed much to Robert Green and the frame of the goal. Cesc Fabregas
was denied when one-on-one with the Hammers keeper after just two minutes,
while Emmanuel Adebayor and Freddie Ljungberg also went close early on. The
Hammers were playing on the break and they scored against the run of play on
the stroke of half time when Kolo Toure allowed Zamora too much space to run
onto a lofted pass and lob Jens Lehmann. After the break Green made a superb
save to prevent Adebayor's close range header from levelling the scores.
When Green was beaten, the woodwork saved West Ham as both Fabregas and
Gilberto struck the post as the visitors held out for a vital win.

Complete record - 7 April

2007 Arsenal 0-1 West Ham United (Premier League)
2001 Aston Villa 2-2 West Ham United (Premier League)
1993 Southend United 1-0 West Ham United (Division One)
1990 Oxford United 0-2 West Ham United (Division Two)
1984 Liverpool 6-0 West Ham United (Division One)
1980 Birmingham City 0-0 West Ham United (Division Two)
1979 Cambridge United 0-0 West Ham United (Division Two)
1973 Newcastle United 1-2 West Ham United (Division One)
1956 West Ham United 3-3 Sheffield Wednesday (Division Two)
1951 Preston North End 0-1 West Ham United (Division Two)
1948 Chesterfield 6-0 West Ham United (Division Two)
1947 West Ham United 3-3 Bury (Division Two)
1939 West Ham United 0-2 Bradford Park Avenue (Division Two)
1934 Southampton 3-2 West Ham United (Division Two)
1928 Middlesbrough 2-2 West Ham United (Division One)
1923 West Ham United 1-1 Crystal Palace (Division Two)

Played 16, Won 4, Drawn 7, Lost 5, Scored 19, Conceded 30

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Tony Cottee Interview Part 4: 'I Was Stitched Up the Ego That Was Eggert
Magnusson'
By Iain Dale
West Ham Till I Die

If you look at the team we had 2001-2003 you could complete a full England
team from those players. How could that team get relegated? Was it down to
the manager?

I did in my book! It wasn't Harry who got them relegated. The problems that
we have had in the 21st century stem back to when Harry Redknapp left the
football club. He left in 2001, but twelve years later we are still
floundering a bit from the legacy of what happened then. Glenn Roeder was
the wrong appointment for the club without a shadow of a doubt and for them
to get relegated with the team they had was a complete nonsense really. You
have to question Glenn Roeder's management because ultimately he wasn't good
enough and you also have to question the attitude of the players because
there was unbelievable talent in that dressing room. They should never have
got relegated but there seemed to be a lot going on off the field. To not
win a home game until the end of January was ridiculous, then there was the
amount of injuries. I blame Glen but I also blame the players as well.

He had his clashes with Di Canio and didn't play him for the final games of
the season. Have you seen that often in your career when a manager falls out
with a star player?

The only manager who always wins in a situation like that is Alex Ferguson
just because he is who he is. Ruud Gullit tried to take on Alan Shearer at
Newcastle. It was Gullit who left. Roeder and Di Canio, who left? Glen
Roeder. In the main the player will always be the most powerful one because
he is on the pitch. Most fans will back the player nine times out of ten. In
Ferguson's case there's only ever one winner. He has taken on Beckham, Jaap
Stam, van Nistelroy and many others and he has always won. I admire him for
that style of management.

Half of the book is about your attempt to by West Ham. I like to think I
know quite a lot about what has gone on at the club over the years, but I
had no idea how serious you were and how close you came. When did you first
have the idea?

It was born out of frustration. We just spoke about the shambolic relegation
in 2003, by which time I was back working at the club doing corporate stuff.
I could see how frustrated all the fans were getting very frustrated at how
desperate the situation became. First and foremost I am a fan. I am not a
player who became a fan. I am a fan who became a player and now I am back as
a fan, like yourself. I could see and sense the frustration that was going
on. We got to the Play-off final in 2004 against Crystal Palace – you were
probably there. Words fail me about that game and what went on that day. It
was a really drab performance. The manager was making bizarre decisions, the
football was awful. It wasn't the West Ham I had gone to Cardiff to see. I
know your memories are clouded and we think of fantastic West Ham teams –
the Brookings, the Bonds and he Devonshires playing wonderful football and
winning 17-0 every week.. You know in reality that didn't really happen, but
it felt like it did. I got frustrated and decided I had to do something. I
was frustrated with how the club was being run by Terry Brown. It was like a
dictatorship. It was all about how much he could take out rather than
putting things back in. There was no leadership, it was just a rudderless
ship floating around in the middle of the ocean. I thought about what I
could do. I had spoken to a couple of people who had offered help and to
invest if the chance arose, so that was what sparked it off, the 2004
Play-off final. But I had no idea how to do it. I wasn't a multi-millionaire
footballer who had lots of money in the bank. I couldn't put my own money in
because I didn't have any so I had to start from scratch. I learnt so much
so quickly. I went into so many situations with a great deal of naivety but
you sink or swim. You go into meetings, you take things on board, you forget
the crap they've said but you retain the good thing. Things snowballed over
18 months and by that time we had a proper, polished, well organised team.

You were having to deal with people at quite a high level in the City. Did
you feel out of your depth? You trusted some people you shouldn't have,
didn't you?
I am a very honest, trusting person. That's just how I am as an individual,
which means I try to view people in the same way. I've undertaken this
interview
with you today in good faith. You seem a really nice guy and I am going to
trust you…

Nah, I'm going to stitch you up!

The point is, you could. You could easily write down a lot of stuff I
haven't said and it could get me in a lot of trouble – but that's how I
operate in business. Unfortunately in the business world you get a lot of
people who talk a good game and promise a lot. Ultimately a lot of people
are jut out there for number one. I put so much work in. A guy called Gary
White was with me right from the beginning – a clever guy, an accountant. I
felt sorry for him because he would have been a great person to have had at
the club, a mad West Ham fan. In the end we got stitched up and a lot of it
was because we were too trusting. We were in a Catch 22. We needed a major
investor. I had three main groups of investors, but even when you put them
together we were still lacking half of what we needed. We still needed a big
investor. But you can't go into a meeting saying: "We want £40 million", you
have to explain why. We had to open the books, give a presentation, give
them all the detailed analysis and background information. We had a massive
thick dossier and we had to give it to them. They signed Non-Disclosure
Agreements but they don't mean anything.

One thing which I hadn't realised was that it was you who introduced the
Icelanders to West Ham and then they stitched you up!

Yes, I did. For anyone who hasn't seen the book, if you read the
introduction you will see that I firstly wanted to update my autobiography –
it was 16 years ago – but the most important thing for me was to explain the
bid. Wherever I go people say "Oh, weren't you involved in a consortium?" I
the try to explain what happened but I can see their eyes glazing over. You
can see they have no belief in what I am saying. They think I spoke to a
couple of people and that was it. That was the main reason for doing the
book, to put on record the full story. In 100 years time some West Ham fans
will look back and ask why a group of Icelandic bankers would buy a British
football club. It hadn't been put on the record, the real inside story,
because it was my story, and what I tried to do. I wanted to explain exactly
what went on.

In a sense, in this conversation we can't do justice to it because it is an
incredibly complex story. When I was reading the book I was constantly
thinking about how much you had to have read for libel.

Not at all.

Well there's some quite strong stuff in it. You don't hesitate to point
fingers.

It was me speaking from the heart. One of the guys I talk about is Russell
Bartlett. Who went on to own Hull City. He was my chief investor and put his
money where his mouth was. When the book came out I hadn't spoken to Russell
for two years. About six weeks ago the phone rang and it was Russell asking
me to call him back, but it was quite a stern voice on the message. "Here we
go," I thought. I thought he had seen the book and I was going to get the
biggest bollocking I have ever had in my life, or he's going to sue me, or
something like that. So I rang him back. He still sounded a bit stern but
then he said "I have just come back from Barbados and I have read your book,
at which point my stomach and many other things started to drop out of me.
And the he said: I'm just ringing to say to you that I really, really
enjoyed it. I have just put it down and started laughing. I was only
laughing because it was exactly what happened.' It is not a fabricated book,
I've not dreamt up things or exaggerated anything I can assure you. When you
say there are a few things near to the mark, it's all factual, it's not
bullshit, it's not made up.

When we started talking I said I would have loved to have published the book
myself, but if I am honest if I had done I would have insisted it be red for
libel, and that might have knocked the guts out of it.

There are three people I was very critical of. Terry Brown, Eggert Magnusson
and Kia Joorabchian. I've given my opinion on those three guys. Terry Brown
did everything he could to stop me buying the club, Eggert Magnusson cut me
out of the deal when the deal was on the table and I will never forgive him
for that, and Kia Joorabchian was someone who only had his own interests at
heart. If he had taken over at West Ham there would have been absolute
chaos.

Just explain why Terry Brown had it in for you. If it hadn't been for him,
all other things being equal, you would now be the chairman of West Ham
United.
Yes. I don't know, Iain. Terry got the hump because the way he saw it, he
employed me to do the corporate hospitality but he felt instead of working
for the club and entertaining the fans, I was walking round every table
whispering to people 'do you want to put a few quid in?' It was so far from
the truth it was ridiculous. I tried to explain what happened when I got
collared by the News of the World and they were going to print the story – I
went on Sky. I had to because they employed me. I think Terry thought I was
on a publicity kick, which I wasn't. Perhaps I should have played the
publicity card more than I did. I might have got the fans backing me. Every
step of the way Terry tried to shut the door in my face. What he should do
is take me out for dinner, shake my hand and thank me for the thirty five
million pounds that he made out of West Ham United Football Club! Without
me, that money would never have come to the table.

It'll never happen.
No, it's wishful thinking. He should have been very pro me, and as a West
Ham fan he should hve had the best interests of the club at heart.

How did you get on with Scott Duxbury?
I got on alright with Scott. He was obviously involved in some of the things
that went on, including the Tevez/Masherano scandal. When I got shafted by
the Icelandics, Scott was instrumental in trying to get me back at the club,
so I have no problem with him.

I did an interview with him similar to this, but I couldn't get past staring
at his manicured eyebrows. Never trust a man with manicured eyebrows…
[laughs]
You're OK with my eyebrows, Iain. Completely natural.

First thing I looked for! What kind of chairman would you have been? How
would West Ham be different now?
It's all hypothetical. Even with the money we raised, if I had been
chairman, that money would have run out so the financial crisis that
happened – not just with the Icelandics – around the world was going to
happen anyway. The main difference is that I would not have been on the ego
trip that Eggert Magnusson as on. He grew up as a Tottenham fan and there he
is on the pitch with a West Ham scarf around his neck. 'I'm the Messiah,
look at what I have done'. It was all about Eggert. I went to see him in his
office and it was all 'look at my office' and I said to him he wouldn't be
sitting in that office if it hadn't been for me. He was just on an ego trip.
He was a typical bureaucratic type, UEFA, FIFA type of guy. It was all about
him. It was the Eggert Magnusson roadshow from the moment he took over. I
would have been very different. You've got to be somewhere between Eggert
and Terry. Terry was very quiet, no one knew what he looked like. At least I
would have given a football input. When it was suggested we signed Freddie
Ljungberg from Arsenal for £3 million and £85,000 a week, bearing in mind
Arsene Wenger doesn't want him anymore, we wouldn't have signed Freddie
Ljungberg. Thre would have been questions asked about the signings of Matt
Upson, Kieron Dyer and, to a degree, Scotty Parker as well. All those
players had been injury prone to one degree or another. Listen, in the end
Scott was a fantastic signing, but Kieron Dyer didn't work out. There was a
lot of examples of money being spent which was a disaster. We tried to sign
Darren Bent, Shaun Wright-Phillips, and the amount of money being bandied
around was absolutely ridiculous. It could certainly have been spent better.
The wages that were being paid were crippling.

You clearly weren't a fan of Alan Pardew. Who would you have wanted to bring
in?
No, I wasn't. At the time Iain Dowie was very successful.

Have you read Simon Jordan's book? It's brilliant.
I've heard that. I will. The crucial turning point was the 2005 Play-Off
final against Preston. If we had lost that then Alan would have been sacked
anyway. He'd have had two years to get us back up. The football wasn't
particularly good and we were lucky to make the Play-off final. I couldn't
bring myself to go to the game because I knew that if West Ham won, although
it was great for the club, it wasn't the right thing for the club. I could
see that and I couldn't put myself through it. It's the only major final I
have missed in thirty odd years. Pardew wasn't my favourite and we would
have looked to replace him, but it is very hard to say who we would have
gone for because until you sack someone you don't know exactly who would be
available.

Tony Cottee's new book WEST HAM: THE INSIDE STORY is available now in
paperback at £14.99

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Thanks a mill! West Ham will have to pay Liverpool £1m for Andy Carroll if
they avoid relegation
6 Apr 2013 23:00
The M irror

West Ham will have to pay Liverpool £1million if they beat the drop as part
of Andy Carroll's loan deal, writes the Sunday People. A clause in the
contract which took the 24-year-old striker to Upton Park will be triggered
as soon as the Hammers retain their Premier League status. The seven-figure
sum was inserted because the undisclosed loan fee was believed to be small –
and a drop in the ocean compared to the £25m the Hammers will receive for
being part of the Premier League next season when the new TV rights deal
kicks in. Sam Allardyce's side, who take on Liverpool at Anfield this
afternoon, are 12th in the table, six points above the relegation zone with
eight games left.

Carroll has scored five goals in 21 appearances for West Ham, including a
double in the vital 3-1 victory over West Brom last weekend. Publicly, Reds
boss Brendan Rodgers says Carroll can still play a part at the Merseyside
club. However, the most likely scenario remains a return to hometown side
Newcastle, who sold him to Liverpool for £35m, with Rodgers keen to take
Hatem Ben Arfa the other way. Meanwhile, Newcastle will have to come up with
£17million in cash if they want to take striker Andy Carroll back to
Tyneside.

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