Daily WHUFC News - 5th July 2013

Morrison keen to build on 'good year'
WHUFC.com
Ravel Morrison is back at West Ham United and eager to capitalise on a fine
loan spell at Birmingham City
04.07.2013

Ravel Morrison is back at West Ham United and eager to capitalise on a fine
season on loan at Birmingham City. The talented young midfielder, who joined
West Ham from Manchester United in January 2012, enjoyed a breakout 2012/13
season with the Blues in the npower Championship, making 30 appearances and
scoring his first three senior goals. Morrison's form saw Lee Clark's side
recover from a poor start to the campaign to finish in a comfortable 12th
place, with the 20-year-old producing a series of increasingly mature
displays - none more so than when he inspired Birmingham to recover from 3-0
down to draw at Millwall. He has caught the eye again during West Ham's
pre-season training camp in the Republic of Ireland, showing talent,
commitment and a mature attitude to his work. "Pre-season has been good and
I've enjoyed the whole trip so far," he confirmed. "I've just enjoyed the
work and the whole group has done well."

Looking back at last season, a smile appears on Morrison's face when his
loan spell at Birmingham is mentioned. Manager Clark regularly praised the
youngster, not just for his ability but also for his willingness to learn
off the pitch. That approach resulted in Morrison netting his first league
goal with a spectacular volley in a home defeat by Hull City in November
2012 and further strikes at Crystal Palace and at home to Blackburn Rovers.
"It was really good. I think I needed the year out and I think it went well,
because I enjoyed my year at Birmingham a lot," he confirmed. "I missed West
Ham a lot but it was still good in the Championship. "It was different to
the Premier League, obviously, but it was a good challenge. Lee Clark is a
great manager and he helped me through a lot. He talked me through my rights
and wrongs and he helped me through the season. "I probably enjoyed the game
against Millwall the most, when we came back from 3-0 down to draw 3-3. That
was probably the best game because the whole team worked hard. I also scored
a couple of good goals."

With Morrison being given the chance to impress in Cork, the player himself
is hoping to catch the eye and be given a chance to prove himself in claret
and blue this term. "Hopefully I can get an opportunity. I've just got to
carry on working hard in pre-season and show the manager what I can do."

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West Ham United meet the animals
WHUFC.com
West Ham United talked to the animals when they paid a visit to Fota
Wildlife Park in Cork
04.07.2013

West Ham United talked to the animals when they paid a visit to Fota
Wildlife Park in County Cork. The Hammers squad made the short trip from the
team hotel at Fota Island Resort to the east Cork attraction. Celebrating
its 30th anniversary this year, Fota Wildlife Park became the Republic of
Ireland's first such facility when it opened in 1983. Since then, it has
become one of the country's most-popular attractions, with hundreds of
thousands of people visiting every year. The Park's keepers showed the
players the giraffes, zebra and ostriches before the squad headed to the
cheetah enclosure to watch the big cats chase and catch their meat. Many of
the players marvelled at the speed shown by the cheetahs, suggesting they
would give winger Matt Jarvis a run for his money, while Mark Noble
suggested the giraffes would give team-mates Andy Carroll and James Collins
a hard time in an aerial duel! The West Ham squad also met representatives
from the Cork Association for Autism - a charity which supports adults
across County Cork with autistic spectrum disorder and works in partnership
with Sunday's pre-season match opponents Cork City.

James Tomkins and Jack Collison were among those to meet the charity's
representatives, while they were impressed by the range of animals on show
at Fota Wildlife Park, praising the wide open spaces they have to run around
in. The Academy graduates have also been enjoying their first week in
pre-season training. "Pre-season has started off well over in Ireland and
we've also come out to socialise with the public and the wildlife! It's nice
to take a little bit of time off because we have started off working quite
hard," Tomkins, who named the cheetah as his favourite animal, told West Ham
TV. "It's been brilliant here in Ireland. We're all really impressed with
the food at the hotel and the staff are friendly and cannot do enough for
us. Everyone we have met at the wildlife park has also been really nice."

For Collison, he has had the added bonus of training with his team-mates
after a number of pre-seasons when he has followed individual programmes due
to his previous knee problems. "Obviously it's nice to be in and around the
boys and it's much better to be working all together rather than doing my
own individual stuff.," said the No10. "We've worked quite hard over the
first couple of days and everyone is feeling it a little bit, so it's nice
to have a little bit of down time and to chill out. "We have our first game
on Sunday at Cork City and that's what it's all about - the gym work and the
early-morning bike rides and all that. At the end of the day it's all about
playing games and getting games under our belts and getting used to smashing
the ball about again."

Fota Wildlife Park head of marketing Stephen Ryan said everyone was
delighted to have West Ham visit the attraction. "The players got to see the
giraffes up close because we have a very open park here at Fota," he
confirmed. "We are lucky to be right next door to the Fota Island Resort
where the lads are training so they also got to see the cheetahs training
here as well. We do a cheetah run every day where they travel at up to 80mph
to catch their food and it's very good for them. "This is actually Cork's
most-popular attraction so the guys are very lucky that they got a bit of
time to visit. We also had a great reaction from our visitors, who got
photographs and autographs with Joe Cole, Kevin Nolan and Joey O'Brien.
"We're pleased to have West Ham visit us, who we hope will be the first of
many football clubs to drop in and see us this season."

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Gold makes O'Neil amends
KUMB.com
Filed: Thursday, 4th July 2013
By: Staff Writer

David Gold has wished the departing Gary O'Neil well for the future - just
24 hours after co-owner David Sullivan's teenage son Jack was accused of
being disrespectful to the midfielder. Gold was asked to confirm earlier
today via social media website Twitter whether O'Neil had, as suggested by
Jack Sullivan 24 hours earlier, left the club. "Gary O'Neil has not signed a
new deal and we wish him well in his new endeavours," confirmed Gold, who
also revealed he was currently in France with Sullivan (Snr) on transfer
business.

That message came the day after David Sullivan's 13-year-old son Jack had
been heavily criticised by a number of West Ham supporters for his reaction
to O'Neil's departure. Yesterday, the Twitter account belonging to Sullivan
Jnr - who currently enjoys in excess of 26,000 followers - posted a message
confirming that O'Neil had left the club, despite it being previously
thought that he had agreed a new deal with West Ham. However it was four
short words at the end of the message that particularly annoyed the fans.
"Gary O'Neil has decided not to stay with us, despite agreeing a deal. Good
luck to him," said Sullivan's Tweet, before adding: "We'll now get better."

"Obviously I would now like to see us bring in a player better than Gary
O'Neil, I just don't think this tweet was the place to express that view,"
mused Hemel Iron on the KUMB Forums.

"Deal with his departure by being respectful and grateful to O'Neil's time
here, then deal with the acquisition of replacement players in a separate
tweet if and when they happen."

Those thoughts were echoes by fellow member BonzosBoots. "Regardless of his
[Jack Sullivan's] opinion of O'Neil or Chamakh, it's the one remaining
unprofessional thing at the club," he said.

"I guess with Sullivan now being majority shareholder he and his family can
do what they want. However, it doesn't do the image of the club any good. We
look cheap."

Though not all agree. "He's a kid who wished Gary O'Neil good luck and then,
in a new sentence, said that we would get better. Isn't that the idea?" said
Trap1.

"I don't care if he's the chairman's son, if people can't accept he will
make the odd comment that could have been worded better then they probably
need to get out a bit more."

However other feel that a certain degree of skullduggery is at work, with
accusations that Jack Sullivan's Twitter account is being used by agents
other than the teenager.

For evidence of foul play, critics point to a marked difference between
messages posted by the teenager to his friends and in those regarding West
Ham, in which, it is claimed, the grammar employed shows a remarkable
improvement.

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The kids are alright
KUMB.com
Filed: Thursday, 4th July 2013
By: David Hautzig

Later this month my daughter is scheduled to have surgery. It's called
Turbenate Reduction surgery to relieve a constant feeling of nasal
congestion.

Poor kid can't breathe half the time and the medications available can only
do so much. When my wife and I started researching which Ear, Nose and
Throat surgeon to go see, reputation and experience obviously played an
important role.

On a lesser scale, but from the perspective of physical comfort close to
equally important, the air conditioning for the second story of our house
has been struggling with the seemingly hotter summers we have been
experiencing. Tough to keep those rooms cool when it's 95 degrees outside
and the air in the attic is probably close to 130 degrees.

There are a lot of heating and cooling "experts" in the phone book. But we
have hired someone that has been on the job for over 20 years and has far
more experience with our particular cooling system to make some changes.

In both cases, we obviously opted for experience.

I thought about that a bit earlier this week when it was announced that Rob
Hall was leaving the club to chase more first team football at Bolton
Wanderers. The majority of the reaction on Twitter was negative today to say
the least. I remember one Tweeter claiming to be near tears.

People were mourning the impending death of the Academy system, begging Sam
Allardyce to give the kids a chance to show what they can do. The latter has
been a theme on blogs and Twitter for quite a while now, actually. Rob Hall
just seemed to reignite the debate.

You don't need to be a brain surgeon, or even an Ear Nose and Throat
surgeon, to understand that choosing players for a professional football
team is a different animal than either of my choices above. But there are
similarities in principal.

There is a lot more at stake now because of the gargantuan sums of money in
football. And the landscape of the game has changed so much in just the past
few years. The choices available to a manager have increased almost
exponentially. It's like comparing the corner market of our youth to the
giant superstores we have now.

Lets create a hypothetical situation and work through some hypothetical
choices, all of which are completely plausible in today's game;

You are the manager, technical director, or director of football for KUMB
United. You need a new left back. The one you had last year has left on a
Bosman and pre-season is right around the corner. After consulting your
scouts, youth coach, and chairman you narrow it down to three choices.

1) You have a 19-year-old that has done well for the reserves and has played
well at times in training. Like any kid, they make the occasional mistake.
Going for a video highlight type of run instead of playing it safe. Or
something like that. He hasn't played that many games for the first team,
just a few substitute appearances in a cup match. He has promise for sure,
but not much experience.

2) There is a left back that plays for a team in the Norwegian league and
has 40 caps for his national side. He's 27 years old, has a very good record
in terms of injury, and is known as a particularly smart player. Very safe
on the ball, rarely gets rattled in tough spots. With one year left on his
contract, his club values him at £2.5million. Wages not an issue because the
player wants a move to England.

3) The starting left back for the Colombian National Team plays for
Argentinos Juniors in Buenos Aires. He came through their youth system,
which also happened to produce a player named Diego Maradona many years ago.
He is a physically dominating player with speed that is uncommon to say the
least for someone his size.

That physical presence has also seen him work well as an attacker on corner
kicks, hitting the back of the net five times this past season in Argentina.
Juniors are fighting relegation and need money, as well as wages off their
books if they go down. So a loan for one year with an option to buy is
available.

Based on those three choices, going into a new Premier League season, how
would you rank these three options? Id likely go for the Colombian, with the
Viking a close second. The youth team choice would be my third option here,
and I bet many of you are thrilled I have nothing to do with running our
club.

At this point I wanted to insert some research about the average age of
players in the Premier League over the past ten years or so. I looked, too.
Yet much to my dismay I couldn't find that info via Google, Bing, Yahoo, or
tea leaves. I thought it might show that the average player age has risen in
recent years, furthering my notion that first team opportunities for young
players are dwindling due in larger part to increased options than
prejudice. So if anybody finds these facts, please share them.

I caught the West Ham bug just as Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard, Michael
Carrick, and Joe Cole were coming of age and taking their places at Upton
Park. The first home game I ever attended in 1997 was against Chelsea.
Finished 1-1. And Joe Cole signed his first professional contract at
halftime.

Or maybe he was just introduced to the crowd? We were getting a few beers so
we only heard it over the loudspeaker. In any event, I understand the
importance of and the attachment to our youth system through the years. Not
as well as many of you I'm sure, but I do get it.

When I was single, living in my little apartment in Manhattan, I was willing
to take risks. My friend and I once had an idea to offer electronic,
web-based wedding albums that friends and family could access. We spent a
lot of money on advertising in big wedding planning magazines and on a
website. We were literally years ahead of what is now standard operating
procedure in quality wedding photography.

We failed miserably. The timing was all wrong.

Now, what little money I have after paying bills goes into boring,
diversified low-risk investments. There is too much at stake. If something
truly stunning came along, and after careful consideration and consultation
with people I trust saw it to be worth a risk, I'd take the plunge with a
small sliver of my pie. Maybe a company called Ravel Inc.?

So I can't criticise Sam and our owners for feeling the same way.

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Hammers to face Portuguese test
KUMB.com
Filed: Thursday, 4th July 2013
By: Staff Writer

West Ham's prestigious end-of-pre-season friendly this summer will be held
against Portuguese side Pacos de Ferreira. In recent seasons, West Ham have
become accustomed to playing host to some of Europe's biggest teams at the
end of pre-season. Clubs such as Athletico Bilbao (2000), Olympiakos (2006),
Roma (2007) and Real Zaragoza (2011) have all visited the Boleyn Ground for
the traditional curtain-raiser. Therefore the announcement of Pacos de
Ferreira being United's final opponent of the 2013 pre-season campaign will
come as something of a surprise to Hammers fans, many of whom will no doubt
be sliently asking themselves "who?"

Officially formed in 1950 (although predecessor Sport Club Pacense has
already been running for 20 years), the Club have steadily risen through the
Portuguese ranks and having won the second division three times before
qualifying for Europe for the first time in their history in 2006/07. Last
season Pacos, under the watchful eye of Paulo Fonseca (who has since left to
become Porto's new manager) went one further and achieved their highest ever
finish - third place - in the Primeira Liga, granting them a place in next
season's Champions League play-offs. And all this despite playing in a
stadium with a capacity of just 5,255.

Although mostly unknown to fans of English soccer, PdF's squad - the
majority of which is homegrown - includes the likes of Peruvian
international Paolo Hurtado and Guinean international striker Cicero Semedo.
Notable former players include former Burnley defender Andre Bikey and
ex-Porto and Benfica star Marco Ferreira. The match will take place at the
Boleyn Ground on Saturday, 10th August. Kick off is at 3pm and tickets are
priced at £15 for season ticket holders and £20 for non-season ticket
holders.

Pacos de Ferreira: Honours

Third Division: 1973–74
Segunda Liga (Second Division): 1990–91, 1999–00, 2004–05
Portuguese Cup: Runner-up 2008–09
Portuguese League Cup: Runner-up 2010–11
Portuguese Supercup: Runner-up 2009

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Hall: why I left West Ham
KUMB.com
Filed: Thursday, 4th July 2013
By: Staff Writer

Former Academy youngster Rob Hall says that the time was right to leave West
Ham, in the week he ended his 12-year association with the club. The England
youth international bid the Hammers "farewell" this week and signed for
Championship side Bolton Wanderers in order to play more first team
football. However Hall admitted that it was a huge wrench to leave London
for the North West. "I learnt a lot at West Ham - I just think it was my
time to move on from there," he said. "It was a very hard decision to leave
- a lot of people won't understand how hard it was. "I'll miss a lot of
people because I've been there since I was seven years old, but I think I'm
maturing into a man now and it's a man's game. It's a business. So for me to
progress, I think it was the right decision to move. "To be a first team
player is what I've wanted to do since I was a kid so to be able to come to
Bolton and be a part of something which looks positive is very nice."

Hall - who was once touted as the Academy's most promising prospect -
managed just one first team start during his time at West Ham. It's a
statistic he hopes to improve under the progressive Dougie Freedman at the
Reebok Stadium. "Dougie's a great manager and he's all about progressing
young players," added Hall. "I feel like I can only improve my game under
him, so I think it was a good decision. "He brought through a lot of young
players at Crystal Palace so I'd like to be another to break through under
him."

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West Ham transfers: We're trying to sign Bony, confirms Gold
SportReview.com
By TSR staff
Thursday 4 July 2013, 23:17 UK

David Gold has confirmed that West Ham United are trying to sign Wilfried
Bony from Vitesse Arnhem this summer. The Ivory Coast striker, who was last
season's top scorer in the Dutch Eredivise with 31 goals in 32 appearances,
has been linked with both Swansea City and the Hammers in recent days. And
West Ham co-chairman Gold believes that the east London side's pursuit of
the 24-year-old demonstrates that the club are moving in the right direction
following their 10th-place finish last season. "We are slowly building a top
team of top names and there is a strategic policy in place for that to
continue," Gold told SportsDirect News. "Kevin Nolan arrived as the first
marquee signing in 2011, followed by Matt Jarvis last season for what was a
record club transfer fee at £10m plus. "We smashed that by several millions
this season when we brought Andy Carroll to the club and it's now known that
we have also been trying to make the Wilfried Bony move happen. "The club
has debt, everybody realises that, but as owners, we are determined to build
a great team at this club and end the "selling club" image that we have
suffered for too long." Bony, who has scored 51 goals in 66 games since
joining Vitesse in 2011, said back in May that he thinks a move to England
would be "perfect". "I'm very interested in the Premier League and the
atmosphere in England, it's a wonderful league and we will see what
happens," Bony told BBC Sport in May.

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Palace prepare Premier League survival push by swooping for Cole and O'Neil
By SIMON JONES
PUBLISHED: 22:34, 4 July 2013 | UPDATED: 23:14, 4 July 2013
Daily Mail

Crystal Palace are considering a deal for free agents Carlton Cole and Gary
O'Neil. The 29-year-old Cole has attracted interest from Hull and QPR.
O'Neil, 30, is also free, though talks are ongoing over a new deal with
West Ham. Manager Ian Holloway is also continuing discussions with
ex-Watford man Umaru Bangura, 25, of FK Haugesund and free agent Jerome
Thomas.

Meanwhile, West Ham and Cardiff have been offered Malaga striker Javier
Saviola. Both clubs have already strengthened their striking departments
with the big money arrivals of Andy Carrol and Andreas Cornelius
respectively. But they may be tempted by the 31-year-old Argentinian
striker, who made a name for himself at Barcelona as a youngster.

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WEST HAM AND CARDIFF IN HUNT FOR FORMER MALAGA STAR JAVIER SAVIOLA
Daily Star
4th July 2013 By Gary Jones

WEST HAM and Cardiff are both in the hunt for former Malaga striker Javier
Saviola. Sources in Spain suggest the 31-year-old is close to a Premier
League, with both clubs interested in securing his signature. The Argentine
striker is a free agent since finishing his contract with Malaga on June 30.
It would be the first time Saviola has played in England, having featured
for teams in Argentina, France, Portugal and Spain. The International star
has played for a long list of big clubs like River Plate, Benfica, Monaco,
while being part of a select club of players who have turned out for both
Barcelona and Real Madrid. Cardiff have been busy in this summer's transfer
window with Malky Mackay looking to strengthen further, tabling a
£40,000-a-week pay deal for Tom Ince, 21. The Blue Birds also signed
completed the signing of Andreas Cornelius earlier this month from FC
Copenhagen.

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