Daily WHUFC News - 10th June 2013

West-minster Ham United
WHUFC.com
Poplar and Limehouse MP Jim Fitzpatrick is one of a host of Hammers to be
found in Parliament
09.06.2013

Glasgow-born Poplar and Limehouse MP Jim Fitzpatrick adopted West Ham United
40 years ago. One of a host of Hammers to be found in Parliament,
Fitzpatrick was initially elected as MP for the since abolished constituency
of Poplar and Canning Town in 1997. The Labour Party member has held a
number of political offices since his arrival in Westminster, serving as
Minister for London under Prime Minister Tony Blair and later as
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport and Minister of State
for Farming and the Environment under Gordon Brown. In the first of an
occasional series of interviews with Westminster-based Hammers, the
61-year-old discusses his love for the Club. "I came to London in 1973 and
one of the first things I did as a Londoner was go around the football clubs
- I went to Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal, but the place I felt most
comfortable was at Upton Park, even though I was living in south west
London. "I've been going to the Boleyn Ground for 40 years now. I joined
London Fire Brigade in 1974 and was a firefighter for 23 years and got
elected to Parliament in 1997, so I've been here for 16 years now. "It was a
transition. Through being a firefighter, I got involved with the Fire
Brigades Union and through the Union I got involved with the Labour Party.
Over the course of 23 years I moved from putting out fires to political
firefighting, but it's less dramatic than it sounds. "I played for the
Parliamentary football team at Wembley, Celtic, Newcastle and at Old
Trafford, as well as at the Boleyn Ground three times! As a West Ham
supporter, it was dream stuff, raising money for charities. "Apart from
scoring at both ends at Upton Park, my biggest achievements in Parliament
have been representing Poplar and Limehouse - it used to be Poplar and
Canning Town, which included the area where Thames Ironworks used to be -
which contains the Canary Wharf business district, as well as communities
with lots of unemployment, large chunks of poverty, and people striving to
make their way in the world. "It's hugely exciting, because the area has
changed so much over the last 30 years, as anybody living in the East End
has seen. To be part of that is really rewarding. "I've got 75,000
constituents and I get a couple of hundred emails every day asking to
support certain causes, just as I'm sure Sam Allardyce gets emails and
letters telling him to pick certain players. It's impossible to satisfy
everybody, so all you can do is give it your best shot, work as hard as you
can and my experience is that people are very forgiving and generous as long
as you've tried your best. "As for my own personal ambitions, there are
policies that I would like to see followed. River crossings are a big issue
for east London and would help all those Hammers in north Kent to get to
matches more easily. "East London has been the engine for this great capital
city and that will continue, so things like the Jubilee line, the extension
of the Docklands Light Railway and Crossrail coming in are positives. "We're
going to keep this capital city going and West Ham is very much a big part
of that.
"I've always been a supporter of the Olympic bid and West Ham being the main
tenants of the Stadium after the Games. From a fan point of view, we all
know how difficult it is to get in and out of the Boleyn Ground. "I was
lucky enough to go to the Olympic Games last year it was easy for 80,000
people to get in and out - five Tube lines, Docklands Light Railway, City
Airport and soon the Eurostar stopping at Stratford. For accessibility, it's
going to be so much better. "It's got to be good for Stratford, for the Club
and for us who go to watch matches. "I've been to so many great games myself
but, as every West Ham fan knows, it's been a rollercoaster! Some of those
great games will be ones we've lost, like one I remember when we were 3-0 up
against Wimbledon and lost 4-3. "I remember the FA Cup finals in 1975 and
1980. In 1975, I was serving in Battersea fire station on Cup final day and
managed to get my seat in front of the TV. On my watch there was a guy
called Bob Barrett, whose brother Les was playing outside left for Fulham
that day. "I was in south west London with my West Ham rosette, scarf and
socks on and, just before kick-off, they jumped on me and threw my stuff out
of the window! I went down to get it and they locked me out of the TV room,
so I missed the first half and Alan Taylor's first goal. "Those cup
victories were great but we want to do even better. We want to be up there
challenging for Europe and I think the Olympic Stadium gives us the platform
to get the revenue and support to move the Club on to a new phase."

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Hammers Girls win Kickz National Cup
WHUFC.com
West Ham United Girls won the Kickz National Cup in style at the Boleyn
Ground
09.06.2013

West Ham United Girls won the 2013 Kickz National Cup on a memorable evening
at the Boleyn Ground. The Hammers won six and drew one of their seven
matches to finish top of the eight-team group ahead of runners-up and
pre-tournament favourites Newcastle United. The Kickz National Cup
celebrates the work of Kickz, a Premier League Creating Chances social
inclusion project involving more than 40 Premier League and Football League
clubs across England.
Launched in 2006 by the Premier League and the Metropolitan Police, Kickz
has the aim of using football to bring communities together and engage with
young people. It has since expanded nationwide to include more than 100
projects run by more than 40 Premier League and Football League clubs.

Coached by West Ham United Community Sports Trust Kickz co-ordinator George
Chukwuma, the winning Girls squad of captain Megan Burrows, Katie Bottom,
Sophie Reed, Tayla Everett, Chana Martins, Holly Flynn and Sally Duggan were
in top form all night, scoring 22 goals and conceding just three. Burrows
and Bottom - who also plays for West Ham United Ladies - were the stars of
the show, linking up superbly in attack to leave their opponents chasing
shadows. Bottom scored eight times, while Burrows scored five goals. Martins
also added a fantastic hat-trick in a 7-0 win over Barnet. Indeed, only a
late Newcastle equaliser prevented the Hammers from enjoying a perfect night
on home turf. Reed scored the only goal from the penalty spot in an opening
1-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers before a Bottom brace and one from
Burrows saw off Fair Play trophy winners Millwall 3-1. Burrows and Bottom
scored again in a 2-1 win over Everton and Bottom's goal looked to have also
overcome an impressive Newcastle team, only for the Magpies to snatch a late
leveller following a defensive error.

Chelsea were defeated 6-0 thanks to a Bottom hat-trick before Martins'
treble saw West Ham comfortably brush aside the challenge of Barnet. Results
elsewhere left the Hammers knowing they needed to beat Brighton to make sure
of the title and, following a nervous start, Burrows and Bottom combined
again to score a goal apiece in a 2-0 win. The victory sparked celebrations
among the players, coaching staff, family, friends and Trust volunteers,
apprentices and trainees who supported the evening as administrators,
stewards and ball boys. All in all, it was a fantastic Friday evening for
the West Ham United Community Sports Trust. The Hammers' Under-14 Boys
competed in their own tournament at the Boleyn Ground on Saturday, alongside
the Under-16 and Under-18 National Cup finals.

More than 45,000 youngsters take part in Kickz projects every year, earning
thousands of educational qualifications and valuable lifeskills. Each week,
players take part in two nights of football (coaching and competition) and a
third 'flexible' session focusing on anything from other sports to music or
developmental activities such as drug awareness, healthy eating,
volunteering, career development and anti-weapons workshops. One of the
main aims of Kickz is to encourage volunteering and create routes into
education, training and employment. More than 4,200 young people have
volunteered at projects, with more than1,000 football-specific
qualifications achieved in the process. Nearly 400 people have gone on to
gain employment with clubs, including a number at West Ham. Two of the
Hammers' young volunteers, Philip Brown and Jeremiah Kamanzi, were honoured
at the 2013 Kickz Awards in April.

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Foreign flutters - or keeping a domestic disposition?
KUMB.com
Filed: Sunday, 9th June 2013
By: Jason Eves

Our forays into the transfer market have proven to be a 'lucky dip' in
recent seasons, whilst the majority of clubs have instead opted against
paying a premium for domestic-based talent in the hopes of unearthing a
foreign gem.

This gamble has paid off for various clubs, such as Swansea - who bagged
Spanish striker Michu for as little as £2million - and Aston Villa, who paid
around £7million for their Premier League lifesaver Christian Benteke.

In Aston Villa's case this was an exceptional bit of business compared to
when they paid almost treble that price for England international Darren
Bent, who has now been frozen out at Villa Park and replaced by the
up-and-coming Belgian.

West Ham United, on the other hand, have rarely been applauded for their
foreign flings in the transfer market. This remains the case with the only
stand-out signing from abroad in recent years being New Zealand
international Winston Reid. Carlos Tevez, signed for a single season in
2006/07 should also be noted, but a player of his pedigree was always going
to shine through.

The latest striker to be brought in from abroad was Malian international
Modibo Maiga who was signed from FC Sochaux. Maiga failed to impress last
season, with his meagre return on West Ham's £5million investment being four
goals from 19 appearances (though it can be noted 15 of these came from the
bench.)

It should always be noted that foreign signings rarely hit the ground
running (especially in our case!), with Winston being a prime example of
this. With the summer break working wonders for him, so judgement is
reserved on Modibo who can hopefully find his shooting boots after some time
off.

West Ham United's website currently has no information on their scouting
department, which is a bit worrying to say the least. My impression is that
if it wasn't for his World Cup outings, what were the odds of us signing
Winston Reid on the back of his performances for Danish side FC Midtylland?
Slim to none I reckon. (If anyone can shed anymore light on our scouting
squad please let me know, because as far as I know I don't completely trust
Football Manager for our staff listing)

I fear as though we may have become too old-fashioned in our approach for
signings; it's a safe bet to pluck for domestic-based talent. But this
usually comes with the sticking point of bloated wages and transfer fees,
Premier League clubs don't usually want to sell to a rival team and that
usually drives up the price (to the sound of £50million for Fernando
Torres).

As much as I love Big Sam at the helm, we need to adopt a new transfer
policy. With the impending Financial Fair Play rules set to impact the
Premier League this season, we may be hard-pressed to continue to be
committed to signing British-based talents.


Though this formula has worked wonders for us, solidifying our Premier
League status was always a major factor and his signing of experienced
players was the catalyst for this. But with the inclusion of the
less-than-impressive debut campaigns for Maiga, Diarra and, to a lesser
extent, the loan signings of Emmanuel Pogatetz and Wellington Paulista, this
may have put Sam and, more so, the Davids off putting their hands in their
pockets for overseas talent.

Although, with recent transfer news, I could be soon eating my own words ie.
the recent signings of Romanian captain Razvan Rat and goalkeeper Adrian (I
look forward to hearing 'Get your Rat out for the lads' chants around the
Boleyn). On top of this suspected bids for Spanish International Alvaro
Negredo, have left me hoping we will embark upon bringing a more cultured
way of football to the East End.

I'm certain we will give 100 per cent effort in trying to sign Andy Carroll
- and don't get me wrong, it would be a fantastic signing but also one that
would majorly impact upon our transfer kitty. So here's hoping we can
recruit a Michu of our own and not a Savio, so to speak.

And with some Premier League teams again hiring a Director of Football to
assist in transfer dealings, would it be crazy for us to adopt that sort of
approach? I can't help but feel that if Sam gets to choose his man to help
secure transfers, it could alleviate some pressure and allow him to get on
with what he does best, which is managing a football club.

Of course, this all depends upon Allardyce getting the final say before the
player puts pen to paper. I remember all too well when we last had a
Director of Football (Gianluca Nani, now at Watford, hired under the
Icelandic regime to assist our then manager Gianfranco Zola). That
relationship with the Boleyn faithful soon soured.

But needless to say, we cannot refrain from embracing the future just
because it hasn't worked out in the past. This figurehead signing has
benefitted various European clubs and is slowly becoming commonplace in the
Premier League. It might just be a sign of the times.

Finally, please take a moment to remember the Boleyn Ground's much-loved,
former favourite Benni McCarthy whose ankles, it transpires, could no longer
support his huge frame - a situation that subsequently led to the South
African announcing his retirement.

We'll never forget your efforts in claret and blue Benni, which were spent
not fighting for our survival - but fighting to avoid shopping at Jackamo...



*Jason Eves may also be found on Twitter at twitter.com/jason_eves.

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