Daily WHUFC News - 23rd April 2013

Carroll welcomes fans' accolade
WHUFC.com
Andy Carroll was delighted to pick up the SBOBET Player of the Month award
for March
22.04.2013

Andy Carroll reckons hard graft and a clean bill of health have paved the
way for his purple patch, after collecting the SBOBET Player of the Month
award for March. West Ham United's No8 was presented with his accolade by
SBOBET's finance director Raye Wong, prior to Saturday's 2-0 Barclays
Premier League win over Wigan Athletic. While Carroll was rightly thrilled
to earn recognition for several fine displays of late, he was similarly
quick to point to an outstanding collective effort that has seen the Hammers
climb back into the top half. He told West Ham TV: "It's obviously great,
I've been working hard this month and I've got the award to show for it. All
the lads have worked hard, got the results and we're on a good run at the
minute. "I just needed to keep myself fit and performances would start
coming, as they have been. I've been scoring goals and creating goals and it
has been a great month."

The Liverpool loanee played another vital hand in the weekend win over
Wigan, not least by setting up his colleague and friend Kevin Nolan to
settle the contest with a crucial second goal. It was an exquisite finish
from the Hammers skipper, but nothing more than Carroll expects from his
former Newcastle United teammate. He added: "It was a great ball straight up
from James Collins, I just knocked it on for Kevin and it was a great finish
from him to get his 100th goal. That's what he thrives on, balls in the box
like that. Anything around the box or the goalkeeper, he's going to put the
ball in the back of the net for you, as he did on Saturday. "Our finishing
has been on form at the minute and we knew as soon as we got a chance we'd
put it away."

While Carroll and co are certainly producing the goods in front of goal,
Saturday's success owed just as much, if not more, to another immaculate
rear-guard action. "We knew they were going to pass it around and we just
had to sit back and obviously defend as we did and we did it really well.
The defence has been great. Jussi [Jaaskelainen] has kept us in a lot of
games in the last couple of months. He has made some tremendous saves and
there were another couple on Saturday that kept them from scoring. So the
defence worked really well and it showed with the clean sheet."

As for the season's final four games, Carroll is pinning his hopes on
scoring the goals to fire the Hammers to a top-ten Barclays Premier League
finish.
"Confidence is sky high at the minute and it showed again against Wigan.
We're more or less safe and we just want to get into the top half. We're
pushing on really strong to get that position. "Obviously I want more goals
but top goalscorer is not really an issue for me and I don't think it is for
Kevin either, just a couple more goals will be good."

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Parkes catches Olympic Stadium buzz
WHUFC.com
West Ham United goalkeeping great Phil Parkes is right behind the Club's
move to Stratford in 2016
22.04.2013

West Ham United goalkeeping great Phil Parkes has caught the buzz
surrounding the Hammers' proposed move to the Olympic Stadium. Parkes spent
12 seasons with West Ham, lifting the FA Cup in 1980 and helping the club to
reach their highest-ever league finish of third in 1986. While the former
stopper spent the entirety of his career in claret and blue at the Boleyn
Ground, the 62-year-old believes moving to Stratford in 2016 could see
further silverware make its way to east London. At the same time, Parkes
believes the 54,000-seater Olympic Stadium will provide a fitting home for
the Club he called his own between 1979 and 1990, making 444 appearances and
being voted Hammer of the Year in 1981. "Having seen the plans, they look
absolutely fabulous," said Parkes. "The roof has been extended and it does
look amazing. It's a transparent roof, so it's going to let light in and
keep the water out. It really does look like a top-class stadium. "The fact
is, with a roof over the top of it, it will bounce the sound back down to
the players on the pitch, so it could even generate more noise. It could
amplify the noise more, rather than disperse it. "Looking at the plans, it's
going to be a fabulous stadium and a UEFA Category Four stadium as well.
There are not many of them around, so it's absolutely superb."

Like the supporters who have so many cherished memories of their time at the
Boleyn Ground, Parkes was initially concerned that the club would lose
something by moving the short distance to Stratford. However, he is now
right behind the plans and believes the fans should feel similarly positive
about the bright future that awaits the Hammers at the Olympic Stadium. "My
heart says 'No', because all my memories and history are here at the Boleyn
Ground and I'll be sad to leave, but my head says 'Yes'. We've got to do it
because we want to become a bigger club and a sustainable club for the
future for the fans. After all, they are the ones that come week in week out
and they deserve the best that we can give them. "You've got to take the
history with you to the new stadium, you just can't forget it. That's all
got to go as well, that's part of the club no matter where they play."

With a capacity far in excess of that which the Club currently enjoys at the
Boleyn Ground, Parkes is excited about the prospect of West Ham attracting
more world-class players to east London. The Sedgley-born stopper also
believes the move could create a cycle of success, on and off the pitch. "It
always comes down to the team. Whatever the team's doing at the time,
they're the ones who are going to fill that stadium. And if we can get a
side that plays their heart out for the badge, for West Ham and for the
fans, then we'll fill that stadium and can move onto better things. "It's
going to be very special because everyone wants to play at the highest level
and at the best stadia. "There's going to me affordable seating, because
there are going to be more seats. Bringing it into the reach of everyone's
pocket can only be better. So we're going to have almost another 20,000
seats that we can fill, so it will get the normal working person to come
along."

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