Daily WHUFC News - 8th September 2014

Reid ready to lead Kiwis again
WHUFC.com
Winston Reid has returned from a year's absence from international football
to represent New Zealand
07.09.2014

West Ham United defender Winston Reid is set to captain New Zealand on his
return for the All Whites after a year's absence as they prepare to face
Uzbekistan in Tashkent. Reid was a prominent member of the national side
that played in the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals in South Africa, playing every
minute of their three group games and scoring in their 1-1 draw with
Slovakia. The 26-year-old has been capped 17 times, taking over the
captaincy after fellow centre-back Ryan Nelsen retired from international
football in 2013. However, the Hammers' commanding defender has not featured
for the Kiwis in just over a year due to a troublesome high ankle sprain.
The All Whites are preparing for the match in Tashkent on Monday 8 September
with a training camp in Doha, Qatar. The game represents a new era for New
Zealand football as it is new coach Anthony Hudson's first game in charge
following the end of Ricki Herbert's eight-year reign. Speaking about
Hudson's vision, Reid said: "He clearly told us what he expected from us
from the beginning. The guys know from day one what's expected from them and
that's very important. I'm sure when the camp is finished we'll have a
better idea of how he wants us to play and what he expects from us as a
group and as individuals. "We want to get to another World Cup, that's going
to be hard and it's going to take a bit, but we want to get there. I also
want to get to another Confederations Cup so those are two goals that I want
to achieve and to get to those two stages will be great."

With New Zealand currently 98th in the FIFA World Rankings, Reid knows it
will be tough. However he is confident that the All Whites are more than
capable of qualifying. Talking about his return to international football,
Reid said: "I haven't played since last year around about this time due to
my injury so it's nice to be back here with the team and not a lot has
changed so it's good." "I want to do my best here and make sure everyone in
and around the squad is here to improve themselves and the team as a whole."


Reid is one of three senior West Ham players on international duty. Enner
Valencia is in the Ecuador squad that will face Bolivia in Miami on Saturday
6 September and Brazil in New Jersey on Tuesday 9 September. Cheikhou
Kouyate has been included by Senegal, who face their opening two 2015 CAF
Africa Cup of Nations Group G qualifiers against Egypt on Friday 5 September
and Botswana on Wednesday 10 September. Joey O'Brien has withdrawn from the
Republic of Ireland squad due to a knee injury.

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International round-up
WHUFC.com
West Ham United's internationals are being kept busy during the current
break from domestic action
04.09.2014

West Ham United's Enner Valencia scored his eighth goal in 14 internationals
for Ecuador in a 4-0 friendly victory over fellow South Americans Bolivia in
Miami, Florida on Saturday. Valencia netted Ecuador's third - his seventh
goal in his last seven international appearances - by latching onto a
through ball from fellow goalscorer Juan Cazares, rounding the goalkeeper
and slotting home. Ecuador face Brazil in New Jersey on Tuesday.

Cheikhou Kouyate enjoyed a winning start to Senegal's 2015 CAF Africa Cup of
Nations qualifying Group G campaign with a 2-0 victory over Egypt in Dakar.
Kouyate played the full 90 minutes and was joined on the pitch in the second
half by substitute Mohamed Diame, who he could face following the latter's
departure to Hull City on transfer deadline day. Senegal travel to Gaborone
to take on Botswana, who lost 2-1 in Tunisia in their own opening tie, on
Tuesday.

Kieran Sadlier played for more than an hour as Republic of Ireland U21s
completed their UEFA European U21 Championship qualifying campaign with a
2-0 defeat by Germany in Magdeburg on Friday 5 September. The attacking
midfielder, who turns 20 on 14 September, was making his second appearance
at that level for his country.

Sam Howes made his England U18 debut in successful fashion as the Young
Lions roared to a 4-1 victory over the Netherlands in Bury. Howes
(pictured), fresh from his Hammers first-team debut in pre-season and
winning the UEFA European U17 Championship with his country in May, lined up
for his first crack at U18 international football on Wednesday 3 September.

And it was another successful occasion for the 16-year-old, who was beaten
only by a close-range strike from Marlon Slabbekoorn early on. England
stormed back from a goal down to win comfortably, with Howes doing his job
by making a fantastic double save to deny Ruben de Jager with the score
still poised at 1-0 to the Dutch. The two nations met again at the same
venue, Bury FC's JD Stadium, on Friday 5 September, when Howes was an unused
substitute in a 3-1 victory over the Dutch.

Elsewhere, Jamie Harney's Northern Ireland U19s came back from a two-goal
deficit to draw 2-2 with their Icelandic counterparts in Dungannon. The
Northern Irish faced the same opposition at Queen's Sport, Belfast, on
Friday, with the hosts running out 3-1 victors.
This page will be regularly updated as West Ham's internationals appear for
their respective countries over the coming days.

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WHAT KEEPS YOU COMING BACK?
By Iain Dale 7 Sep 2014 at 12:00
WHTID

Guest Post by 'Ray the Hammer'

I was fourteen years old and living in South London when I started my
regular pilgrimages to The Boleyn Ground in the mid seventies. I had a
convoluted journey involving buses and the underground before I arrived at
Upton Park tube station where I'd meet up with my mate. Somewhere along the
line, I'd pull my scarf from its hiding place inside my Harrington jacket (I
lived smack bang in the middle of Millwall territory) and tie it around my
wrist – why did we do that? We'd usually get there a couple of hours before
the game and more often than not, we'd wind up buying one of those manky,
Westlers hamburgers that came out of a can, before continuing our walk down
Green Street, and joining the queue at the entrance to the North Bank.

After handing over the 50p at the turnstiles, we'd find our way to the area
directly behind the goal, about half way up the terrace and stand ourselves
behind one of the barriers. After spending another 5p on a programme, which
I've almost certainly still got in the loft somewhere, I'd always buy a bag
of monkey nuts from a bloke carrying a huge sack up and down the aisles kept
clear by rows of coppers. If the cameras were there we'd all look out for
the BBC or ITV logos, so we'd know if our highlights were going to be on
Match of the Day or The Big Match on Sunday afternoon. Then we'd start
singing. For almost two hours I would sing myself hoarse. Most of those old
songs have been consigned to history now, which is probably just as well to
be honest, although I do miss "Knees up Mother Brown", "Maybe it's Because
I'm a Londoner" (get off me sister) and "Give us a W". OK, maybe not "Give
us a W"

We had a short rest at half time, whilst we 'enjoyed' the marching band and
listened out for the half time scores, cheering or booing accordingly. We
played 'guess the size of crowd' and the loser bought the nuts next time
out. It was usually in the mid 20,000's in those days. The minute the
players ambled out for the second half, the singing started again and didn't
stop until the final whistle, later if we'd won.

After the game, I'd join the queue at Upton Park and set off back to the
Elephant and Castle, hiding my scarf along the way, and I'd pick up a copy
of the Evening Standard by the exit to read on the bus. I'd turn straight to
the back pages to get all the results and match reports for the rest of the
day's games and see where they'd left us in the table.

Somewhere in the middle of all that, there was a football match. Some I can
remember, some I can't (although the memories belonging to some of the
posters on WHTID astound me!). I can remember the rest of it like it was
yesterday. I loved it. It was part of my life and has been ever since
although my match day routine has changed enormously.

I've got a season ticket now, in the Bobby Moore lower, just behind the
goal, about half way back. The seat that I stand in front of is next to my
son's. He's 22 now and probably won't be at home for too much longer. He's
out more often than not and I don't get to spend anywhere near as much time
with him as I used to or I'd like to. Consequently, the four or five hours I
get to spend with him, every other Saturday, are special, every bit as
special as those Saturdays almost 40 years ago when I first started my love
affair with West Ham.

There was a lot of talk about fans not renewing their season tickets this
year, because they weren't happy with the football under Big Sam. I joined
in briefly. There was no way that was ever going to happen though, I'm not
even sure it's the football I go for.

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West Ham prospect wants to play for club but hopes 'to catch eye of bigger
teams'
HITC
Mathew Nash

George Moncur admits he would like to play for West Ham United, but is not
limiting his ambition there. West Ham have a proud tradition of bringing
through young talented players. Known by some as the 'academy of football'
the likes of Frank Lampard, Paul Ince and Joe Cole came through the ranks at
West Ham in the past not to mention the likes of John Terry, Michael Carrick
and Glen Johnson. Another is George Moncur, son of the West Ham cult hero
John Moncur. Moncur Sr played for the club between 1994 and 2003 and gained
a reputation as a tough tackling and often volatile character on the field.
John is also a midfielder, and the club have high hopes for his future
development at the club. An England under-18 international, the 21-year-old
has been on loan at AFC Wimbledon and Partick Thistle in the past but is
currently at Colchester United. His time with the Essex club has been
impressive on an individual level. He scored on his debut and he also scored
on his first start against Bristol City. However his personal prowess is in
direct contract to the struggling U's - whose manager Joe Dunne was recently
sacked after a poor start to the campaign.

But Moncur knows he is playing well. And he has been speaking about his loan
spell in an interview with the Daily Star - in which he admitted West Ham is
not the limit of his ambition: "It's hard going to a new team, especially
when you do not know what is going to happen. I am a positive person, I look
to the future and the next match in front of me, and how I can affect it.
Obviously I want to play for West Ham, but I also want to catch the eye of
bigger teams, which is understandable. I really like playing here and enjoy
it. But I am just going to play each game as it comes and see what happens
when my loan is up in January."

It is right for Moncur to be aiming high, even if West Ham fans don't want
to hear such things from one of their shining lights. But Moncur is a good
egg, you can tell by the warm way in which he speaks about Dylan Tombides.
The youngster was a close friend of Moncur. The Australian tragically passed
away earlier this year after a battle with cancer and Moncur, a devout
Christian like his father, admits he always includes Tombides in his
pre-match prayer: "I normally just say thank you to God for this chance and
always include Dylan in it. I know he is watching down on me and is in a
better place now. I had to deal with it, but my faith was a great source of
comfort."

So while he admits he is looking at 'bigger clubs' it is just a part of his
honest and refreshing out look on life. He seems a great character and
Colchester United are very lucky to have him on board.

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Agent's Noble surprise
Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on September 7, 2014 in Whispers
Claret & Hugh

Barry Silkman admits he's 'flabbergasted' that Mark Noble has never been
involved in a major transfer bid from a top club. Stepney-born 'Silky'is
one of the game's Marmite characters – you do or you don't – but as a guy
who has a history of driving a few Irons transfers his views are always
worth a listen. The 62 year old has been involved in many major deals down
the years And raising the subject of Noble completely out of the blue in
conversation he admitted he was dumfounded there had never been a bid for
the Hammers loyalist. He said: "Mark is a great player at what he does and
I'm very surprised none of the big clubs have come for him. "I believe there
was some interest from Fulham at one stage but he's very much a West Ham
boy. "But it doesn't alter the fact that the apparent disinterest really
surprises me – great player."

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Sums add up for permanent Song deal
Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on September 7, 2014 in Whispers
Claret & Hugh

West Ham should have little trouble in finding room within their long term
wage bill to accommodate Alex Song on a permanent basis. The Irons have
negotiated a 'to buy' option in the player's one year loan deal and with
seven players coming out of contract next summer the club will be in a
strong financial bargaining position given the squad's new strength in
depth. The seven players are Guy Demel, Carlton Cole, Ricardo Vaz Te, Jussi
Jaaskalainen, Ravel Morrison, Mark Noble and Winston Reid. The top priority
will be in nailing down another Noble deal and talks on Reid's position are
likely to restart soon with the club looking for an answer on their reported
£60k a week offer. Morrison too will be on the agenda but the other four can
be expected to move on thus freeing up more than sufficient wages to agree a
financial package with Song. The player has already spoken of his enthusiasm
to join the club based in part on our move to the Olympic Stadium and the
Hammers are hopeful of tying him down long term

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Leroy: "Irons must turn on the style"
Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on September 7, 2014 in Whispers
Claret & Hugh

ClaretandHugh's top columnist Leroy Rosenior believes West Ham and Sam
Allardyce are approaching the moment of truth. Leroy – our Number One pundit
– declared in his first columnist that he believes Enner Valencia was a
gamble at £12 million. But he has no such doubts about Mauro Zarate whom he
believes could turn out to be the club's top signing of the summer. And he
reckons that Alex Song's arrival was "inspired business" that could ensure
already that the Hammers enjoy a relatively stress free season. Writing in
ClaretandHugh exclusively he said: "The remainder of the signings are all
unknown quantities to a lesser or greater extent and only time will tell how
good they are. "Chiekhou Kouyate has started well and Aaron Cresswell looks
decent at the back but the jury will have to remain out for a little while."

As a Hammers favourite who knows the Upton Park faithful's mentality and
expectations, Leroy made it clear that he believes the owners and fans are
right to expect to see the style turned on this term. He said: "Everybody
in the game knows what the Hammers are about traditionally. We have always
played a passing game. "Whether you call it the West Ham way or something
else – everybody knows what is expected. "And that's as much a challenge to
Sam Allardyce as anything else. I believe he has done a very good job since
he got to the club in establishing them as a Premier League force. But there
are different expectations now and he will need to play a game which get the
fans back on onside after the troubles of the last campaign. He needs to
take the team to that level. " For me Zarate will play a very important part
in that process. He's a top player and can make it all happen out of his
position in the hole.
"There are a lot of midfielders at the club but for me Zarate is the one who
will make it happen for the team."

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http://vyperz.blogspot.com



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