Daily WHUFC News - 22nd November 2013

Stadium transformation excites Nolan
WHUFC.com
Kevin Nolan was impressed to see the Olympic Stadium conversion continuing
this week
21.11.2013

West Ham United captain Kevin Nolan has revealed his excitement at the
conversion work that has got underway at the Olympic Stadium. Nolan joined
Vice-Chairman Karren Brady and team-mates Mark Noble, Joe Cole and Mohamed
Diame at a special ceremony in Stratford on Tuesday. There, the joined LLDC
CEO Dennis Hone and London Borough of Newham CEO Kim Bromley-Derry in
witnessing preparations get underway to facilitate the venue's magnificent
new roof. With the stunning conversion of the iconic arena moving on apace,
the first of 14 floodlight panels are to be removed later this week, such
that construction of the new roof, twice the size of the original, can begin
in earnest next spring. Nolan was impressed by what he saw on his latest
visit to the Olympic Stadium, saying: "Myself and a few of the lads had the
pleasure of visiting the Olympic Stadium to see the latest stage in its
conversion from the home of London 2012 to our new home in 2016. "It's
exciting. Every time we visit the Olympic Stadium, I can't help but be
excited by it. This Stadium is going to be fantastic for everyone involved -
the players, supporters, staff and everybody associated with the Club. "When
the fans are lucky enough to see the Stadium for themselves, I think they
will agree with us that it is something truly special. "To see the Stadium
has moved on from the last time I visited in the summer was great and I am
already looking forward to getting back there again to see the next stage in
its transformation."

Nolan said he and every West Ham player was already envisioning the day when
the Hammers step out for their first game at their 54,000-capacity new home
in summer 2016. "The work that started this week was to move the floodlights
and start the construction of the new roof, which will definitely help to
keep in the amazing noise you lot make when the Hammers supporters are in
full voice! "The atmosphere they create at the Boleyn Ground - and on the
road at away grounds - is already something special. So, when you think we
only have 35,000 in at home games and we'll have around 54,000 at the
Olympic Stadium, it's just going to be incredible. I just hope I'm the one
who is leading the team out amid all that noise!"

Between now and 2016, of course, the Hammers want to build on two successful
seasons by continuing to establish themselves in the Barclays Premier
League. Nolan admitted the start to the 2013/14 campaign had not gone to
plan, but restated his commitment to producing improved results over the
coming months. "For us, as players, it is now about getting things right on
the pitch so that, when we go to Stratford and move into that fantastic
Stadium, the Club is still in the Premier League and doing really well. "We
have had a tricky start to the season, but we believe we are not far off
from where we want to be performance-wise. We have just got to keep
believing. "When we move to Stratford, we want the quality on the pitch to
match the quality of the Stadium we're playing in."

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'It will be a bit special'
WHUFC.com
Mark Noble cannot wait to play in front of 54,000 Hammers fans at the
Olympic Stadium
21.11.2013

Lifelong Hammer Mark Noble is excited by the prospect of stepping out at the
Olympic Stadium in front of 54,000 fans in 2016. The midfielder was present
to witness a significant milestone in the transformation of the iconic venue
to a football stadium on Wednesday, when work on taking down the existing
floodlight towers was set to begin. Noble could visualise the atmosphere and
thinks time will fly ahead of the Club's move. "It will be a bit special to
turn out here in front of 54,000 supporters," he said. "When we played at
Wembley in the Play-Off final, the noise increased with that many fans - it
was unbelievable. "So, hopefully we can bring that to here, the fans are
special where we are, and I'm sure we can bring the atmosphere over from the
Boleyn Ground and make it a proper football stadium. "It's progressing to a
football stadium, they're starting the roof now which is going to take a few
months and it's coming into place. "They've got the Rugby World Cup in 2015,
so the place will have to sorted by then and it's exciting. "The
two-and-a-half years before we move in is going to fly by. I remember making
my debut, and time has flown since then so I'm pretty sure the two years
will go super quick. It's going to be a fantastic place to play."

More immediately, West Ham take on Chelsea on Saturday on their return from
the international break and Noble is relishing the challenge. He added:
"We've had a good week's training, we have a couple more days before the
game now and the lads are looking forward to it. "We know it is going to be
a tough test but we need a change of luck, we've had some bad luck over the
last few weeks. "The league is a bit different this year and everyone is
beating everyone else. It's not as clear-cut as it has been in other years.
"We're excited and hopefully we can take some good form into the game."

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Dickens relishing 'fantastic fixture'
WHUFC.com
One-time West Ham United and Chelsea midfielder Alan Dickens talks to Steve
Blowers
21.11.2013

West Ham United versus Chelsea.
The Hammers versus The Blues.
East Enders versus West End Boys.

Package Saturday's game up how you want but, having played for both clubs,
one thing's for sure: it's the match of the season for Alan Dickens.
"Whether you're a player or a supporter, it's a fantastic fixture," insists
the 49-year-old, who made 234 appearances in the claret and blue before
heading way out west to Stamford Bridge in a £600,000 move in summer 1989
and appearing 64 times for tonight's visitors. "You look at the players Jose
Mourinho has available and it's frightening. Not many clubs can go out and
buy a £50m striker and, alongside Fernando Torres, they've also got Demba Ba
and Samuel Eto'o, while most teams would give anything to have Romelu Lukaku
in their side, yet he's out on loan! Eden Hazard, Juan Mata and Oscar in
midfield…the list just goes on.
"And, of course, there's Frank Lampard, too," continues Dicko, who made his
Hammers debut at Notts County in December 1982 with Frank senior in the
side. "Young Frank's had an absolutely amazing career, scoring all those
goals and winning 100 England caps.

"Frank still tackles, makes runs and works so hard. I can remember seeing
him score a hat-trick for West Ham in the Coca-Cola Cup against Walsall in
1997 and, even then, you could see that he had something. He was applauded
off the pitch that night. "Obviously, as a football club, Chelsea have
really come on since I moved there," says licensed black cab driver Dicko,
who has kindly stopped the meter and parked up opposite former Prime
Minister Tony Blair's palatial Connaught Square home to speak to me. These
days, Alan jumps at the chance to take a fare out towards Heathrow Airport
but two decades ago that drive westwards to the Blues' Harlington training
ground did not hold too much attraction for the Chelsea new boy, who just
three years earlier had been one of the stars of the show, when West Ham
United achieved their highest-ever, third place finish. "Looking back,
having been a West Ham boy all my life, I found it difficult to settle at
Stamford Bridge and I should have moved from Barking to give myself more of
a chance. "I did okay at Chelsea but I never really grasped the opportunity
that their manager - Bobby Campbell - gave me," admits the Boy of '86 with
typical Dickensian honesty. "Although it was different in those days - the
likes of Glenn Hoddle, Ruud Gullit and Roman Abramovich had yet to arrive -
I'm not sure that I ever fulfilled my potential in my three or four seasons
there. "Nowadays Chelsea are always in the top four and they'll come close
to winning the Premier League this season but West Ham can certainly hold
their own against them. "Remember, they came to the Boleyn Ground as
reigning Champions League winners last year, yet we won 3-1 and Sam
Allardyce knows exactly what he needs to do to beat a side like Chelsea.
"Although West Ham are finding goals hard to come by this year, from what
I've seen, there's not a lot wrong. For example, they had a great first half
up at Norwich City but then it just fell apart. "Obviously, they're missing
Andy Carroll and while they're not scoring like they did last year, the
midfield are still getting the ball into the penalty area. Right now, I
guess they could do with a young, Tony Cottee-type striker, who can get on
the end of those crosses. Who knows, it might be time to throw in a
youngster like Elliot Lee to see if he can pop up with a goal or two?"
Having progressed through the Hammers Academy, the once-capped England U21
midfielder knows only too well that the youth system remains the life-blood
for many clubs. "It makes me very proud to see the likes of James Tomkins
and Mark Noble as regular first-teamers because, Southampton apart, there
are not many other clubs that regularly bring their kids through," says
Alan, who is still involved in coaching at Ryman League side AFC Hornchurch
and with 45 pupils at nearby Barking Abbey School. "I look at Noble and
think that he's been a bit unlucky not to have sneaked his way into an
England squad. He won all those U21 caps and, in my opinion, he's equally as
good as, say, Jordan Henderson, who seems to have caught Roy Hodgson's eye.
"Ravel Morrison's a nice footballer, too," observes Alan. "He looks really
comfortable on the ball and has clearly got a big future. Looking back, Sir
Alex Ferguson probably did him a big favour by letting him leave Manchester
United, even though they probably didn't want to let him to go."

Certainly, it is difficult not to make comparisons with a similar starlet of
Dicko's era. "Paul Ince had a difficult start but John Lyall, who was very
similar to Sir Alex, ended up bringing a very, very good player through.
Looking back at what he went on to achieve, Incey probably thanks his lucky
stars that he had a manager, who cared so much for his welfare and I'm sure
that Sam Allardyce can carry on helping Ravel to develop. "Ravel probably
needed to get away from Manchester to carry on fulfilling his potential,"
concludes Dicko as he prepares to start up the cab and put the orange 'For
Hire' light back on. "After spending a year at Birmingham City, he's grown
up, grasped the situation and has now come back to West Ham to start reaping
his rewards."

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Diame seeking new deal
KUMB.com
Filed: Thursday, 21st November 2013
By: Staff Writer

West Ham's midfielder Mo Diame says that he wants to end speculation
regarding his immediate future by signing a new deal at West Ham. The
26-year-old has long been linked with a move away from West Ham due to the
much-publicised inclusion of a £3.5million minimum release clause in the
three-year contract he signed in 2012. However Diame - who has been in and
out of Sam Allardyce's first team in recent weeks - told the Mail Online
today that he wants to quash the rumours by signing a long-term deal with
West Ham. "I imagine myself playing at the Olympic Stadium and I hope to
sort my contract as soon as possible to make sure I play there," he said.
"With the transfer window [looming] we will start to talk. At the moment we
are not talking, but I hope it is possible soon." Despite being linked with
clubs such as Arsenal in recent months, Diame has never publicly announced a
desire to leave West Ham and as recently as five months ago was speaking
positively about his future in east London. Recapping upon his first season
as a Hammer, he said: "I played an important part in the setup and have
faith that we can finish even higher [next season]. I understand that my
performances have been inconsistent; that's what I need to work on in the
future."

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Allardyce: still no Carroll return date
KUMB.com
Filed: Thursday, 21st November 2013
By: Staff Writer

Sam Allardyce admitted this morning that he has no idea when Andy Carroll is
likely to regain full fitness. The England striker is yet to kick a ball for
West Ham since making a Club record £15million switch from Liverpool in the
summer - much to the frustration of Allardyce, who maintains he is unsure
when the 24-year-old is likely to play again. "We're trying to get a date
out of the guys over in Amsterdam," revealed the manager, "but they are
reluctant to give us any clear indication of when he's going to be able to
join us back here and start training with the squad and getting back into
the team. "It's obviously a great worry and concern for us all and one we
have to make sure we deal wtih. To take the pressure off, we need results
that we haven't achieved in the first eleven games."

Already severely hampered by the loss of defensive linchpin Winston Reid,
there was more injury woe for Big Sam ahead of this weekend's clash with
Chelsea after Razvan Rat limped out of Romania's World Cup play-off against
Greece on Tuesday. He too looks set to miss this weekend's big London derby.
"Razvan is a difficult situation," said Allardyce. "He came off with a
hamstring injury after 25 minutes [on Tuesday]. George McCartney is just
back to match-fitness, but we're short in the defensive area. We cannot
really afford to suffer any more in the defensive area because Winston Reid
is also out. "Any injury comes at a bad time, especially when it happens to
your international players, because they are generally your first-team
players. We're calculating the injury list at the moment, but we're hopeful
that James Collins' and Joey O'Brien's injuries will not keep them out of
selection for Chelsea. "That's just our luck at the moment because three
defenders have been blighted by injuries on international duty, but
hopefully James and Joey will recover although Razvan looks like a difficult
one at the moment."

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West Ham boss Sam Allardyce still unsure on Andy Carroll's return date
Last Updated: November 21, 2013 9:56pm
SSN

West Ham boss Sam Allardyce admits he is still unsure as to when striker
Andy Carroll is due to return from injury. Having been sidelined with
successive heel injuries which have ruled him out since the final day of
last season, the 24-year-old is yet to feature for the Hammers since making
his switch from Liverpool permanent over the summer. Carroll also saw his
comeback halted by a recent stomach infection and Allardyce says that he is
still in the dark about when the England international will be available for
selection again. "We've been trying to get a date out of the guys over in
Amsterdam," he told Sky Sports News. "But they're reluctant to give us any
clear indication of just how long it's going to be before he can join us
back here and start training with the players, with the squad and then
obviously getting into the team to play some games. "It's obviously a great
worry and concern for us all and one we haven't expected, but one we have to
make sure we deal with."

Allardyce has often opted to play without a recognised striker so far this
season, but admits that he did attempt to bolster his attacking options
during the summer. "We tried to sign four top strikers before the window
shut in August, so we didn't just sit back and not try to sign the one
player we felt would add to the situation," he said. "As I said, we tried
our very, very best. David Sullivan and David Gold tried their very best to
sign a top, top striker. "Unfortunately, none of the players that we went
for wanted to join West Ham at the time."

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Sam Allardyce believes West Ham can surprise Chelsea on Saturday
Last Updated: November 21, 2013 6:20pm
SSN

Sam Allardyce believes that West Ham can spring a surprise against Chelsea
on Saturday night - by taking a leaf out of Newcastle United's book. Alan
Pardew's side confounded the critics with a hard-fought 2-0 win over Jose
Mourinho's side earlier this month - and Allardyce is hoping to profit from
a similarily disciplined approach this weekend. "Newcastle frustrated
Chelsea and started the process of winning that game by keeping a clean
sheet and scoring a free-kick then sucked them in and hit them on the break
for the second," Allardyce said. "With that result for Chelsea, there's a
chance to see where their weaknesses lie. But anything less than top form
for all of our players would make life difficult for us. We will have to
produce the end product because chance creation will be harder."

West Ham have scored just twice in their last four games and Allardyce knows
it is an area they need to improve on, given the strength of their defence.
"In terms of our goals it's not that we're not creating chances but we're
not converting them. Our chance conversion is among the worst and that has
to improve," he said. "To take the pressure off us all we need results. We
haven't achieved that so far, and we need to turn the performances into
results. "We played against Spurs and scored three goals, we could have
scored more goals against a lot of teams. "In the striker area, we are not
delivering goals in the game. We have outplayed a lot of teams since we have
played without a striker. The tactical side of it has worked, but we haven't
taken our chances."

West Ham have not won at home in the league since the opening day against
Cardiff City and Aallardyce is hoping to have James Collins and Joey O'Brien
available after both pulled out of international duty this week. "Any injury
comes at a bad time for any team and we're calculating the injury list," he
said. "We're hoping that because O'Brien and Collins pulled out that will
help with the extent of their injuries. "Razvan Rat went off after 25
minutes with a hamstring in Romania's game so his assessment is more
difficult, but we're hoping that Joey and James Collins will be okay."

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West Ham midfielder Jack Collison aims to become regular in side
By Pete O'Rourke - Follow me: @skysportspeteo | Last Updated: November 21,
2013 9:59am
SSN

West Ham United ace Jack Collison is aiming to cement his place in the
starting XI ahead of this weekend's London derby against Chelsea. Collison
has started West Ham's last two Premier League games against Aston Villa and
Norwich after returning from a successful loan spell at Bournemouth. The
midfield dynamo impressed during a month-long loan stay on the South Coast
and he was quickly restored to the starting line-up by Sam Allardyce upon
his return to Upton Park. Collison is relishing the chance to stake his
claims for a regular spot in Allardyce's side when Chelsea visit Upton Park
on Saturday, and the Wales international is happy that the Hammers boss has
shown faith in him since his return from a loan spell. "It is great to be
back in the fold and I am thankful to the manager for starting me in the
last two games," Collison told Sky Sports. "I really enjoyed my time at
Bournemouth and I think it was perfect for me to get some games under my
belt. "That has helped me win my place back in the West Ham starting XI and
I am determined to keep my spot in the team. "I am happy with my form and
fitness and it is up to me to prove to the manager that I deserve an
extended run in the side. "We face a massive test against Chelsea this
weekend, but it is a game all the lads are really looking forward to as we
enjoyed a great win over them last season."

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Joe Cole and Mark Noble hope for upturn in form against Chelsea
Last Updated: November 21, 2013 12:54pm
SSN

Joe Cole and Mark Noble are hoping to profit from the recent international
break against Chelsea this weekend. West Ham have struggled for home form in
the league this season; they have not won at Upton Park since the opening
day against Cardiff, but Cole and midfield team-mate Noble are hoping for an
upturn in fortunes this weekend - against some leg-weary opponents. "We've
had two weeks to prepare," Cole told Sky Sports News ahead of the meeting
with his former club. "We've a couple of players back from international
duty this week. "It's going to be a tough game. They are a world class team
and we need to be at our very best to get something out of the game. Like I
say, we need to try and impose our game and try and win it that way."

Noble too acknowledges that it will be tough against the three-time Premier
League champions, but also believes this may be the best time to be playing
them.
"We know how good they are, they are a top team," he said. "A lot of their
players have been on international duty over the last couple of weeks. If
there was ever a good time to play them, this might be it. "Their top
players play all around the world. We're looking forward to it. We've had a
bit of bad luck at home but hopefully that can turn for us and we can get
some points on Saturday."

Ashley Cole is unlikely to feature for Chelsea this weekend after he
aggravated a rib problem during England's defeat to Germany.

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Sam Allardyce says Ravel Morrison should take aim at Jack Wilshere's World
Cup place
21 Nov 2013 22:30
The Mirror

Sam Allardyce believes Ravel Morrison's goal this season is to rival Jack
Wilshere for a place in England's World Cup squad. Roy Hodgson has claimed
there will be no surprises among his final selections for next summer's
23-man party. But Wilshere has nominated Morrison among the big dangers to
his place on the plane to Brazil. The Arsenal midfielder has scored two
goals this season from his 19 appearances compared to five from 12 from his
West Ham counterpart. Morrison has also hit two goals in three England
Under-21 matches this season to take his tally to seven from 15 for the
season so far. He will hoping to add to that against Chelsea in Saturday's
televised London derby against Chelsea. Big Sam said: "Its a nice goal for
Ravel if he wants to have [the World Cup] at the back of his mind, saying:
'I can get there.' "I don't think there is anything wrong with that dream.
Without dreams you can't be successful trying to achieve those dreams. "So
it should be a dream of his and can he make that dream a reality. Not too
many people reach their ultimate goal in life."
Big Sam shares the widely-held belief that Wilshere sets the midfield
standard for youngsters hoping to shape England's future. But he believes
Wilshere will have to overcome the mental scars of his injuries - just as
Aaron Ramsey did after his broken leg three years ago - before he
rediscovers his best form. Allardyce said: "The trouble is with Jack at the
moment, because of his injury problems we haven't seen the development that
he would have had. "I think Jack Wilshere's has got that final pass, the
little bit of creativity, that little bit of being able to break down a
defence all day long. "I think he has shown that, certainly prior to the
injury that he had. Unfortunately, because of the long-term state of that
injury, he may still be feeling the effects of that and not be quite where
he wants to be at the moment. "Look at what Ramsey has done. Look at how
long it has taken him to recover mentally. That's a mental recovery. Not a
physical one. "Now he has recovered fully from that traumatic broken leg.
Mentally. "He recovered physically very, very well but obviously didn't
recover quite as well mentally and now has. "Jack might be in a similar boat
and of course with the amount of competition that Arsenal have in that
position that's going to be another - its going to be more of a concern for
Jack to play in Arsenal's team for me at this moment in time on a regular
basis than thinking about the World cup for England. "I think if he does
both he will be there."

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