Daily WHUFC News - 4th September 2014

Jarvis aims for Hull clash
WHUFC.com
The West Ham United winger is due to be back for the Hammers' first game
after the international break
03.09.2014

Matt Jarvis is raring to get back in to the West Ham United first-team squad
to face Hull City away on 15 September. After picking up a thigh injury in
pre-season, during which he impressed and scored at Stevenage, the England
international is approaching a return to competitive action. Speaking after
meeting hundreds of supporters at the Lakeside Store signing, the winger
said: "I was very frustrated to pick up the injury, so yeah I really want to
get back, work hard and try and get back in the team."

The No7 has been sorely missed with manager Sam Allardyce specifically
naming his absence as a big blow. Speaking about his injury, Jarvis's
frustration is clear: "I'm gutted I'm injured, I can't believe it. I did all
pre-season and then missed all the games. I'm really looking forward to
getting back. So if he (Sam Allardyce) is pleased I'm on the way back, I'm
delighted."

Jarvis's return comes at a crucial times for the Hammers as they face Hull
City away, Liverpool at home and then Manchester United away in three tough
fixtures. "You always relish the big games. They are the games you want to
play in, to play against some of the best players in the world. So, I'm
really looking forward to the big games. I'll hopefully be back, fit and
playing."

Jarvis is not the only player coming back from injury, as on-loan right back
Carl Jenkinson and James Collins should also be in contention for the game
at the KC stadium. Additionally, new signings Alex Song and Morgan
Amalfitano could both make their West Ham debuts. Speaking about the nine
new signings the Hammers have made in a busy summer, Jarvis said: "We've
brought in a lot of quality to the squad. Nine signings, that's a lot and
they've all integrated really well so far and we are all really looking
forward to the season."

When asked about the added competition for places the new signings will
create, Jarvis responded positively: "It is always a good thing. When a
player comes in to your position it makes you work harder, it makes the team
stronger."

Last season Jarvis made 34 appearances in all competitions, scoring four
goals. Talking of his personal ambitions for the season, he added that he
hopes to add get involved in more goals across the board: "My aim is to
score a few more than I did last year, a few more assists for other
players."

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Dicks targets maiden home win
WHUFc.com
West Ham United Ladies will play their first home league match under Julian
Dicks on Thursday evening
03.09.2014

West Ham United Ladies manager Julian Dicks says he could not be more
determined to win his first home league game in charge. Tottenham Hotspur
will be the visitors to Aveley FC's Mill Field on Thursday evening. Then,
not only will Hammers legend Dicks be leading his team out for the first
time at their new headquarters, but they will be seeking to bounce back from
a disappointing 3-1 League Cup first-round defeat at Keynsham Town. The
result was doubly disappointing considering the Hammers had started their FA
Women's Premier League Southern Division campaign with a 2-1 win at Queens
Park Rangers. As a result, Dicks has urged his team to give everything to
get one over their local rivals. "Some of the players on the pitch will need
to start taking more responsibility and dominate people more," demanded The
Terminator. "Some of them are too nice!"

"I was never known as being a nice person on the pitch, but where my team
mates were concerned; I'd be there to look after them. My team are not doing
that. I know that I've got some good players here but they have to believe
in that too. It's about being a team and for me, there are too many
individuals and some are too nice. "You have to be able to demand things on
the pitch from your team mates and be together on the pitch. Last week they
were together and got the result, but this week they weren't! Against
Keynsham, West Ham simply did not take their chances and build on the
first-half lead given to them by summer signing Emma Sherwood. Instead, they
allowed their Somerset-based hosts to turn the tie on its head after the
break. "It was a tough result to take considering that in the first 20
minutes, the girls should've been about 4-0 up," confessed Dicks. "We had so
many chances but it's the same as the game before at QPR, although last week
we luckily came through it with a result but we didn't this time. "For the
second half, we came out and played quite sloppy and to be honest, they
bossed us! They got themselves about, won their headers and tackles and in
the end it was a fair result. "We do shooting and crossing in training every
week, but it's different in training. In games is where it really matters.
It's not just the forwards because we are a team but when those chances
come, we need to be putting them away. "In training, we pass the ball for
fun but when it comes to a game, especially this one, it was like a ping
pong match! The ball was just rattling everywhere! It's now about me working
with the team during training to make things right before we face Spurs on
Thursday."

Striker Sherwood netted her first competitive goal for the Hammers at
Keynsham, but that did not make up for the frustration of losing the tie.
"It was a terrible day at the office for the team," admitted Sherwood. "In
the first half, we started well and created our chances but some of us
didn't take those chances. We came out for the second half like we thought
we were going to win and it just didn't work out for us in the second half.
"We all know what went wrong now though so we can work on it during training
on Tuesday and then put the record straight by smashing Tottenham on
Thursday."

Sherwood has now netted an impressive six goals in five games since joining
from Millwall Lionesses and wants to add to that tally on Thursday evening.
"It's important from a striker's point of view to make sure that you keep
scoring," she continued. "That's six goals in five games now for me which
isn't bad but obviously I need to make sure that I continue scoring so that
we start getting the results we deserve. "Everyone has got a point to prove
now to show that the defeat was a one off and show what we are capable of.
The big players in the squad need to step up now and against Spurs, if we
can get at them quickly and get an early goal then I think we will be back
to our better form."

Kick-off against Spurs on Thursday is at 7.45pm at Aveley FC's Mill Field
Stadium, with admission just £4 for Adults and £2 for U16s.

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Squad list confirmed
WHUFC.com
West Ham United have confirmed their squad list for the opening half of the
2014/15 season
03.09.2014

West Ham United have confirmed their squad list for the opening half of the
2014/15 Barclays Premier League season. The Hammers were required to submit
their squad to the Premier League by 5pm on Wednesday, with eight of the
Club's nine summer signings included in the 24 senior players named,
alongside young professionals Sebastian Lletget and Raphael Spiegel.

Diego Poyet, Ravel Morrison, Dan Potts, Elliot Lee and Reece Burke are all
classed as U21 Players for the 2014/15 season and therefore do not need to
be included in the 25-man list, but remain eligible for selection.

Thirteen of the 25 are classified as being 'homegrown' players - well in
excess of the eight required under Premier League rules. Homegrown players
are those who have been registered with any club affiliated to the Football
Association or the Welsh Football Association for a period, continuous or
not, of three entire
seasons or 36 months prior to his 21st birthday (or the end of the season
during which he turns 21).

West Ham United's Premier League squad is as follows: Amalfitano, Carroll,
Cole, Collins, Cresswell, Demel, Downing, Jaaskelainen, Jarvis, Jenkinson,
Kouyate, Lletget, Noble, Nolan, O'Brien, Reid, Sakho, (Adrian) San Miguel
Del Castillo, Song, Spiegel, Tomkins, Valencia, Vaz Te, Zarate.

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The Big Interview - Carl Jenkinson
WHUFc.com
The on-loan England right-back is ready to return to action and give his all
for West Ham United
02.09.2014

Carl Jenkinson is ready to return from a hamstring injury and make his West
Ham United debut at Hull City on 15 September. The on-loan Arsenal and
England full-back is itching to put on a Claret and Blue shirt for the first
time and help his new Club rise up the Barclays Premier League table. Jenko
sat down with West Ham TV to discuss his imminent return, his assessment of
West Ham's transfer activity and the arrival of his one-time Gunners
team-mate Alex Song.

It is a little more than a month since you arrived, but unfortunately a
hamstring injury suffered against Schalke 04 on 2 August means we have not
seen you on the pitch since then. However, there now appears to be some
light at the end of the tunnel?

"Fingers crossed, I should be back for the next game. It seems like a long
time out, but I have only missed three league games, so it's not been the
end of the world. I'll be back soon and hopefully I can do the business on
the pitch."

You are one of nine players to have joined us during the summer. There will
be a strong squad waiting for you when you return to the dressing room!

"Yes, we've made some great signings and that was half the reason I joined.
The Club is clearly making a big push this season and we've signed some more
players since I signed. I think that's a real sign of intent. "Hopefully the
players we have brought in, along with myself, can do ourselves justice in a
West Ham shirt."

If we put the performance against Southampton down as a blip, the displays
against Tottenham Hotspur and Crystal Palace must have given you cause for
optimism?

"We were very unfortunate against Spurs, to be honest. I watched that game
and we were disappointed because we didn't deserve to lose it.

"Palace was incredibly impressive. We played some fantastic football there
and, like you say, last weekend was a bit of blip. We can do a lot better
than that, but you can have those games during a season. It's not plain
sailing. If we can get back to how we played in the first couple of games
then we'll be fine."
Cheikhou Kouyate and Aaron Cresswell have come into the side and hit the
ground running, immediately becoming favourites with the Claret and Blue
Army.
Presumably you want to make the same impact when you come into the side?

"Yes, exactly, that's got to be the plan because those two boys have come
into the side and done really well and impressed in their own positions. My
aim is to get into the team and show what we can do."

After the international break, we go to Hull City, welcome Liverpool and
then go to Manchester United. It's early in the season, but the big games
seem to come all the time in the Barclays Premier League, don't they?

"If you look at the fixture list, the big games come thick and fast. There
is no easy game in this league but that's the joy of playing in the Premier
League, that's what you want.

"We've got an important game at Hull, a massive game, and then we've got two
very difficult games, but if we can play how we did in the first two games
then we'll have a real chance."

One player who you could make your West Ham debut alongside at the KC
Stadium is Alex Song. You played alongside him at Arsenal, so know him
better than most. What will he bring to the squad?

"Alex justifies the response he got at the stadium on Saturday because
everybody knows how big a signing he is for the Club. He has played for some
of the biggest clubs in the world and you don't do that through luck.

"He is a top player and West Ham have done very well to bring him in. Me, as
much as the rest of the boys and the fans, are very excited to have him on
board because he'll bring an awful lot to the side.

"He hasn't played regularly for a while now, so he needs to get his fitness
up as he has said, but when he's firing on all cylinders he'll be a
fantastic player for West Ham, I'm sure."

The manager has said he will look to Alex to lead and inspire the side. What
sort of character is he?

"I wouldn't say Songo is the most vocal lad in the world, but top players
don't always need to be. He leads by example by the way he plays and he
gives
players a lift. He inspires players by the way he does things.

"That's the most important thing, because you can shout all you want, but
it's about how you play. He'll inspire the rest of the lads and bring him on
himself if he can play as well as he can."

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Mediawatch - 3 September
WHUFc.com
Our daily look at West Ham United in the news
03.09.2014

West Ham United full-back Carl Jenkinson's interview with whufc.com features
on both the Mail Online and London 24, with the Arsenal loanee confident of
being fit for the Hammers' next Barclays Premier League outing at Hull City.
Jenkinson is also impressed with the Club's summer transfer dealings, in the
belief that the Hammers have made a real statement of intent.

Fellow full-back Joey O'Brien is also in the press, as he shares his take on
Saturday's disappointing defeat by Southampton on London 24. Elsewhere, the
Mail Online report that the 28-year-old has withdrawn from the Republic of
Ireland squad in order to undego treatment on a knee injury.

In the midst of the international break, New Zealand skipper Winston Reid is
quoted by FIFA.com discussing his hopes of leading the All Whites to the
2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals.

Elsewhere, Daily Mirror cast an eye over the comings and goings at the
Boleyn Ground this summer, while The Sun (£) examine an eventful transfer
window across the Barclays Premier League.

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'We're only three games in'
WHUFc.com
Despite Saturday's defeat, Joey O'Brien is confident the Hammers can get
their season back on track
02.09.2014

Despite a disappointing 3-1 home defeat by Southampton, Joey O'Brien remains
confident that West Ham United can achieve a top-ten Barclays Premier League
finish this season. The Hammers took the lead on Saturday through a
deflected Mark Noble shot before Morgan Schneiderlin equalised just before
half-time. Southampton were the better team in the second half and were
rewarded when Schneiderlin scored from a quickly-taken corner before
Graziano Pelle secured the three points with a powerful finish. Speaking
after the game, O'Brien admitted: "We were off on all aspects of the pitch.
We weren't at our full complement on Saturday, we were awful. But no
excuses, we got what we deserved."

While defeat may have been deserved, the No17 remained upbeat on the
Hammers' prospects for the season as a whole: "It's only early into the
season. It's important we don't lose enthusiasm or lose focus. The end game
is to finish in the top ten. We're only three games into a 38 game season."

O'Brien is anticipating the Hammers' next league game, away to Hull City on
the 15 September, perhaps more than most, as he wants to erase the memory of
the same fixture last season. Then, he gave away a hotly-disputed penalty
for a foul on compatriot Robbie Brady, who got up to convert the spot-kick
as Hull won 1-0. "Our next game is against Hull and we're looking forward to
performing against them. It's going to be a big game."

Hammers fans have further reason to be positive as Matt Jarvis, James
Collins and Carl Jenkinson should all be back available for selection
following injury issues. When asked about the tough competition for places,
O'Brien responded: "If you perform you get a chance. The manager picks the
best players that he thinks deserve to play. If you train well, perform
well, that's all you can do really."

Another player who will be ready for selection is loan signing Alex Song.
The Cameroon midfielder is a player who the full-back believes will make a
huge impact in a Claret and Blue shirt. "It's a massive signing," O'Brien
enthused. "It's a big positive, bringing in a player of his quality. It's a
powerful sign to bring in someone from Barcelona, he's going to add serious
quality to the squad. Prior to the trip to the KC Stadium, the 27-year-old
will hope to earn his sixth and seventh senior international caps for the
Republic of Ireland. The Irish face a friendly meeting with Oman at the
Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Wednesday 3 September before contesting their
opening UEFA Euro 2016 Group D qualifier with Georgia at the Dinamo Arena in
Tbilisi on Sunday 7 September.

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2014/15 squad list
KUMB.com
Filed: Wednesday, 3rd September 2014
By: Staff Writer

West Ham have confirmed their squad list for the 2014/15 season. With winger
Morgan Amalfitano becoming Sam Allardyce's ninth signing of an extremely
busy summer on transfer deadline day, the manager now has cover in all areas
- expect perhaps at centre half, where James Tomkins, James Collins and
Winston Reid are the club's only recognised first team central defenders.
The completed squad list - consisting of 24 players - for the season is as
follows. Click on a player's name to read their bio and player stats.

Goalkeepers: Adrian, Jussi Jaaskelainen, Raphael Spiegel.

Full Backs: Aaron Cresswell, Guy Demel, Carl Jenkinson, Joey O'Brien.

Central Defenders: James Collins, Winston Reid, James Tomkins.

Midfielders: Cheikhou Kouyate; Seb Lletget; Mark Noble; Kevin Nolan, Alex
Song.

Wingers: Morgan Amalfitano, Stewart Downing, Matt Jarvis, Ricardo Vaz Te.

Forwards: Andy Carroll; Carlton Cole; Diafra Sakho, Enner Valencia, Mauro
Zarate.

Players under the age of 21 who do not need to be registered as part of the
full squad include Ravel Morrison, Dan Potts, Diego Poyet and Reece Burke,
all of whom have seen first team action this season.

The nine signings made by Sam Allardyce this summer are:

May
Mauro Zarate (Velez Sarsfield): nominal fee

June
Cheikhou Kouyate (Anderlecht): £7million

July
Enner Valencia (CF Pachua): £12.5million
Diego Poyet (Charlton Athletic): nominal, tribunal
Aaron Cresswell (Ipswich Town): £4million

August
Alex Song (Barcelona): season-long loan
Diafra Sakho (FC Metz): £4million
Carl Jenkinson (Arsenal): season-long loan
Morgan Amalfitano (Marseilles): nominal fee

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Carl Jenkinson impressed by business at West Ham
Last Updated: 03/09/14 1:01pm
SSN

Carl Jenkinson says West Ham's summer transfer business is 'a real sign of
intent', with some 'great signings' made. The 22-year-old full-back is among
those to have joined the Upton Park ranks, completing a season-long loan
from capital rivals Arsenal. He is still waiting on his first competitive
appearance, with an unfortunate injury having delayed his bow. Jenkinson
has, however, been impressed by the work carried out by Sam Allardyce on and
off the field in his absence. "The club is clearly making a big push and
we've signed some more players since I signed. I think that's a real sign of
intent." Several high-profile additions have been made, with the likes of
Mauro Zarate, Aaron Cresswell, Enner Valencia and Alex Song bringing added
quality and competition for places.
Jenkinson told the club's official website: "We've made some great signings
and that was half the reason I joined. "The club is clearly making a big
push and we've signed some more players since I signed. I think that's a
real sign of intent. "Hopefully the players we have brought in, along with
myself, can do ourselves justice in a West Ham shirt."

On former Arsenal colleague Song, he added: "He is a top player and West Ham
have done very well to bring him in. "Me, as much as the rest of the boys
and the fans, are very excited to have him on board because he'll bring an
awful lot to the side. "He hasn't played regularly for a while now so he
needs to get his fitness up as he has said, but when he's firing on all
cylinders he'll be a fantastic player for West Ham, I'm sure." On his own
fitness battles, with a hamstring problem having kept him out since the
start of August, Jenkinson said: "Fingers crossed, I should be back for the
next game. "It seems like a long time out, but I have only missed three
league games, so it's not the end of the world. I'll be back soon and
hopefully I can do the business on the pitch."

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BOOKED!
By Iron Liddy 3 Sep 2014 at 19:51
West Ham Till I Die

As a confirmed bibliophile one of my hobbies is buying and selling antique
and collectible books and I like nothing more than truffling among the dusty
shelves of a second hand bookshop or charity shop in the hope of unearthing
some literary gem. It was while I was engaged in this activity a few months
back that I chanced upon a 1966 first edition copy of Bobby Moore's 'My
Soccer Story'. My heart skipped a beat as I excitedly checked the title page
for our hero's elusive signature. Sadly the page was unmarked but as I
handed over my pound coin I knew that I'd found myself a bargain. Back at
home I examined my treasure more carefully and apart from a missing dust
jacket, it proved to be in mint condition. Although I had no intention of
selling it on I was gratified to discover that in today's market a first
edition copy of Bobby's words in this condition was worth in the region of
£45. A 450% profit! Not bad for a couple of hours of pottering but
ironically still not enough to buy a cheap seat for a Category A match at
Upton Park today.

Since then Bobby's autobiography has been nestling in my bookcase in the
claret and blue company of Billy Bonds, Geoff Hurst, John Lyall, Harry
Redknapp, Tony Cottee and Paolo Di Canio; but I have a confession to make ….
I haven't read it. Last year I also bought Billy Bonds' autobiography
'Bonzo' but about two chapters in my head began to nod, not because I wasn't
interested in the details of Billy's life and career but because the writing
style was so …well … boring. A quick flick through Sir Bobby's book
unfortunately revealed that his writing style was only marginally less
ponderous and so there it languishes, in the relegation zone of my ever
growing 'to read' pile.

As an amateur writer myself I realise that I'm in danger of scoring an own
goal here, but it's clear that just because a footballer is good enough for
the Premiership it doesn't mean that his skills are necessarily transferable
to penmanship. Surely there must be some footballers whose writing is as
fluid as their dribbling? I decided to find out …..

Albert Camus, is perhaps the most famous literary footballer, with his quote
"All that I know most surely about morality and obligations, I owe to
football" gracing T-shirts on terraces across the land. However, it seems
that the story about him playing in goal for Algeria's national team in the
1930s or the suggestion that he even played professionally might be
apocryphal. What is certain is that he loved the game and played in goal for
Racing Universitaire d'Alger until tuberculosis sadly put paid to his
footballing career when he was 18. The same applies to Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, who served his time between the sticks
for amateur side Portsmouth Association FC in the late 1800s.

For some reason, there appears to have been a disproportionate number of
goalie writers. Like writing, goalkeeping is a solitary business and perhaps
that is why so many writers who played football chose the loneliness of the
green shirt.

Vladimir Nabokov, the author of the controversial novel 'Lolita', was an
ardent keeper in his youth, and in his autobiographical memoir 'Speak,
Memory' he wrote: "I was less the keeper of a soccer goal than the keeper of
a secret." Another amateur keeper was Argentinian revolutionary and writer
Che Guevara, who penned 'The Motorcycle Diaries'. His ambitions to play as a
forward were thwarted by asthma but kicking his heels in the goal mouth
probably gave him the time to come up with lines like this "It is not just a
simple game. It is a weapon of the revolution." Even James Joyce was
goalkeeper for a small team in rural Inniskeen, albeit as a Gaelic
Footballer rather than in the Association game.

In more recent times, but less auspiciously, we have David Icke who had a
youth career at Coventry City and made 37 professional appearances as a
goalkeeper for Hereford United, which he said "suited the loner in him and
gave him a sense of living on the edge between hero and villain." Since
retiring from professional football Icke has attracted ridicule for his
thesis about giant lizards living in caverns at the centre of the earth.
Sadly, it was intended to be non-fiction. So far he has written 16 books,
mostly about the Illuminati, 9/11 and so-called mass mind manipulation.

For notable authors outside of the goalie's area we must look to Barry
Hines, the author of the classic 'A Kestrel for A Knave', perhaps better
known as the Ken Loach film 'Kes'. Mr Hines was skilled with both the pen
and the ball and he played football for the England Grammar School team and,
briefly, for his beloved Barnsley FC.

Then we come to the professional footballers whose literary aspirations
ended up in the bargain bin, as much for being badly written as for being
too much about football. While still playing for QPR Terry Venables once
co-wrote a book called 'They Used To Play On Grass', the blurb of which
reads: "In this story, manager John Gallagher is rocked by a fresh threat to
his dream, three days before one of the biggest matches in soccer history."
Sounds about as thrilling as some of the football we witnessed at West Ham
last year.

Possibly the most interesting thing about the novel 'The Ball Game' is the
cover; which features a naked lady with one foot on a football, brandishing
a submachine gun and nothing but a strategically draped 'Miss America' sash
to preserve her modesty. Co-written by Jimmy Greaves in the 1980s, it
follows the adventures of "cockney striker Jackie Groves" who clearly had
some rather unusual defending to deal with before he could score against
that particular lady. Centre Backs with machine guns ….. now there's a novel
idea.

As unlikely as it may seem, Steve Bruce also wrote a trilogy of football
books while managing Huddersfield Town. Entitled 'Defender!', 'Striker!' and
'Sweeper!'. The protagonist is none other than 'Steve Barnes', manager of
the fictional 'Leddersfield Town'. Where did he get his ideas?
Unfortunately, the books were awash with grammatical errors, inconsistent
character names, bizarre plots and terrible prose and Bruce himself has
described them as "the biggest load of crap ever written." How refreshing, a
football manager who recognises his own shortcomings.

A few professional footballers have made the foray into children's
literature, including Frank Lampard, Theo Walcott and David Beckham.
Beckham's contribution to the English literary canon is 'Charlie Barker and
the Secret of the Deep Dark Woods', which seems to have been published with
very little fanfare. Maybe he needs to find himself a publisher who takes a
more aggressive approach to publicity.

Frank Lampard has also got in on the act and has written a series of
children's books called Frankie's Magic Football. The books follow the
adventures of a school boy called Frankie, his football-loving friends, and
his pet dog Max. Frank has said "the characters are loosely based on friends
and team-mates I've played with over the years." I'm betting Wayne Bridge
has kept Frankie Sandford well away from the 'The Mummy's Menace' since she
gave birth last year.

Frank's books have been very well received and I'm sure that he's as pleased
with them as Arsenal's Theo Walcott was with his children's book, 'TJ and
the Hat-Trick', which he declared to be his favourite book when asked in a
survey.

A few footballers have put pen to paper outside the genre of literature to
write cookery books and travel guides; including Francesco Totti who has
written his own tourists' guide entitled 'E Mo Te Spiego Roma'/'Let's Talk
About Rome'. His effort to educate his foreign teammates about the beauty of
the Eternal City through his own eyes is said to be full of irony and humour
and might be worth a read in preparation for the day that we finally make it
into Europe. Mind you, looking at the cover it might be prudent to ask for a
plain paper wrapping … unless of course that's your usual type of 'Totti'.

Apparently Pepe Mel has written a mystery novel called 'The Liar' which has
been reviewed as 'Lovejoy' meets 'The Da Vinci Code' and is the tale of an
antiques dealer who clashes with The Vatican in his quest to retrieve stolen
religious manuscripts. He's not the only football manager to pen a mystery;
you only have to look at Big Sam's team sheets every week to find another.
Maybe this will be the season that he'll finally write us a thriller and
West Ham will perversely start to move down the 'best seller' list.

So it would seem that while some writers can play football, most footballers
should probably stick to the lines on a pitch rather than the lines on a
page and leave the writing to the professionals.

Speaking of which, without wishing to step on Iain Dale's and Jeff Powell's
toes, Manchester based Hammers may be interested to know that the National
Football Museum are hosting the Manchester Football Writing Festival in
association with Waterstones between 4th – 12th September; which includes an
event on 9th September called Bobby Moore – The Man In Full to launch Matt
Dickinson's much anticipated biography of our very own hero. Matt will read
from his book and take questions from the audience about Bobby Moore, his
life and career. Matt Dickinson is Chief Football Correspondent for The
Times. He won Young Sports Writer of the Year (1993) and Sports Journalist
of the Year (2000). He is most famous for conducting the interview with
England Manager Glenn Hoddle which led to the latter's resignation.

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DIG DEEP FOR WEST HAM LADIES!
By Tommy Wathen 3 Sep 2014 at 14:27
West Ham Till I Die

West Ham United Ladies have today set up a page on GoFundMe and are asking
for any financial support for the current season. The Ladies side are a
totally self-funded team that play in the FA Women's Premier League Southern
Division and various cup competitions. All the current players and staff,
including first team manager Julian Dicks, are all completely voluntary and
take no payment for their services. All the players have recently been asked
for a generous donation towards the running costs of the club (kit, pitch
fees, equipment costs), but are also asking whether fans would like to help
support the women's club by making a small donation. On behalf of the
players and staff at West Ham Ladies, I'd like to thank you for your time
reading this and assure you that any support is greatly appreciated by
everyone at the club.

Also, the club have a variety of sponsorship packages still available. For
details, please contact @westhamladies or @JULIAN3DICKS on Twitter, or leave
a comment below and I'll get in contact with you directly.

Note from Iain: It's hard to believe that the West Ham Ladies team aren't
fully funded by the club, bearing in mind that this season we're getting £74
million from Mr Murdoch. It seems ridiculous that WHU Ladies aren't getting
even a few thousand of that. If only 1% of the people who read this blogpost
they'd easily raise the £10,000 they need to cover the season's costs. So
come on, get your credit cards out and click HERE . It will take you two
minutes to do, and you'll make Iron Liddy a very happy woman.

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West Ham United latest: £10m star to return, part of triple injury boost
HITC
Dan Coombs

West Ham have been handed a potentially significant boost by the news Matt
Jarvis is poised to return from injury. The one-time England international
has not featured since pre-season, but is targeting a return to the squad
for the next Premier League game against Hull City, where the Hammers will
face former midfielder Mohamed Diame. Jarvis told West Ham's website: "I'm
gutted I'm injured, I can't believe it. I did all pre-season and then missed
all the games. I'm really looking forward to getting back. So if he (Sam
Allardyce) is pleased I'm on the way back, I'm delighted."
The club also report that two more players are expecting to return for the
clash in two weekend's time: "On-loan right back Carl Jenkinson and James
Collins should also be in contention for the game at the KC stadium."

Loanee Jenkinson himself added: "It seems like a long time out, but I have
only missed three league games, so it's not been the end of the world. I'll
be back soon and hopefully I can do the business on the pitch."

The Hammers have also registered their 25-man squad for the coming campaign
with the Premier League, which is as follows: Amalfitano, Carroll, Cole,
Collins, Cresswell, Demel, Downing, Jaaskelainen, Jarvis, Jenkinson,
Kouyate, Lletget, Noble, Nolan, O'Brien, Reid, Sakho, (Adrian) San Miguel
Del Castillo, Song, Spiegel, Tomkins, Valencia, Vaz Te, Zarate.

West Ham's website adds: "Diego Poyet, Ravel Morrison, Dan Potts, Elliot Lee
and Reece Burke are all classed as U21 Players for the 2014/15 season and
therefore do not need to be included in the 25-man list. And finally, a West
Ham fan who ran onto the pitch against Tottenham and took a free-kick, who
was fined £305 by the courts, has had the fee paid for by fellow fans after
raising the money online, report the Waltham Forest Guardian.

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CANDH SOLVE SO CALLED 'IRONS CASH RIDDLE'
Posted by Sean Whetstone on September 3, 2014 in Whispers
Claret & Hugh

The Sun Newspaper ran a story this morning headed 'Hammers Cash Riddle.'
The 'story' claimed that the Hammers had borrowed all of next season's TV
money and handed over their Premier League payments to the Vibrac
Corporation. It added that documents at Companies House had been blacked out
and asked the question "Surely fans should be told how much is involved?"
Claret and Hugh however, can exclusively reveal the Sun 'story' contains
multiple inaccuracies and we are more than happy to solve the so called
riddle for our red top colleagues.
We can categorically state that West Ham United has not borrowed against
next season's TV money 2015/2016. Vibrac Corporation insist a club needs to
mathematically safe from relegation before it can borrow against next
season's TV income. With our grand total of three points we are some way
off mathematical safety.
Secondly, the Sun claim papers have been filed at companies house with
monetary details blacked off, again not true. West Ham companies listed at
Companies House have not filed any documents recently and any referring to
Vibrac are over a year old and refer to loans we made in 2012/13 which have
since been repaid. The article seems to indicate we have borrowed all our TV
income which would be between £60m and £80m depending on where we finish.
Yet in the two years we have used Vibrac we borrowed £12.8m in 2012 repaid
in 2013 and £15m in 2013 repaid in 2014.

Sources close to the club have revealed to ClaretandHugh that the Vibrac
facility has been renewed but for a much smaller proportion of this season's
TV income. That is guaranteed to be at least £60m even if we are relegated.
The sum is likely to be closer to the £15m we borrowed in 2013. There is no
mystery or controversy to Vibrac Corporation loans and many clubs including
Everton, Southampton and Fulham also use their facilities.

Up until 2012 West Ham had a revolving credit facility of £12m which was
effectively a bank overdraft. Following the financial crash of 2008, major
banks decided that football clubs were a credit risk and started
withdrawing loans and overdrafts when they expired. This was a common theme
for all football clubs and not just West Ham. The Vibrac Corporation deal is
basically a pay day loan to replace the overdraft previously used the club
to help with cash flow. No mystery, no riddle just normal business practise
in football in these modern times.

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Pitch invader still has a price to pay
Posted by Sean Whetstone on September 3, 2014 in Whispers
Claret & Hugh

West Ham fan Jordan Dunn was spared a football banning order by a Judge
earlier this week and now it appears generous Hammers fans have paid his
£305 fine. Using a website called GoFundMe.com Jordan raised £305 from 37
fans in little over 24 hours! However Amanda Jacks from the Football
Supporters' Federation insists he didn't get away scott free by commenting
"Before a court issues a Football Banning Order they have to be satisfied
that doing so will help to prevent football related violence or disorder. In
this case, while Mr Dunn's actions are not to be condoned or encouraged it
would seem that the Judge understood there were no malicious or violent
intentions, hence not granting the application. There may well be a
perception that Mr Dunn has 'got away' with his actions, but this isn't the
case. He now has a criminal record and may suffer personal or professional
implications because of that."

Mr Dunn may also face a club banning order preventing from him from
attending future West Ham home games. A club spokesman said "We can't
comment on any individual cases but anyone who encroaches on the pitch puts
themselves at risk of being banned from attending future matches"

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Nine in but Irons within the rules
Posted by Sean Whetstone on September 3, 2014 in Whispers
Claret & Hugh

West Ham's summer financial outlay has left the club just within the FFP
wage cap. As previously revealed by Claret and Hugh, the annual wage bill
reached £57m before the signings of Alex Song and Morgan Amalfitano. This
was just £1m under the £58m Premier League Financial Fair Play limit for the
club this season. The big question,however, was how with Alex Song –
believed to have cost a £3m loan fee in lieu of wages- and Morgan
Amalfitano, understood to be on £2m per year, we could have stayed within
the financial rules. Factoring in Mo Diame's departure and a percentage of
Modibo Maiga's wages paid by Metz off the bill left an estimated players
annual bill of £60m – seemingly £2m over the limit. Sources close to the
club explained exclusively to Claret and Hugh that West Ham are able to use
the net profit from the sale of Mo Diame and two thirds of Alou Diarra's
transfer fee written off in previous years to add an extra £2m to the wages
and balance the books. The source added "We are JUST within our wage cap."

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This Irons starting X1 means goodbye Nolan
Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on September 3, 2014 in Whispers
Claret & Hugh

We now have so many options available, working out the Hammers first team is
a little tricky – or is it? With nine new signings nobody will dispute that
this was – as David Gold claimed – "one of the best transfer windows in our
history. But for all the hype and hulabaloo the simple fact is we haven't
seen enough of any of the new arrivals – Kouyate excepted and Song's
pedigree accepted – to know how well they are going to hack it. One thing
that looks apparent however is that Kevin Nolan may well have reached his
shelf life given the number of midfielders who are now battling for a place
in the team. With absolutely everybody fit we have 12 of them but in reality
nine will battle for the available places: Nolan, Matt Jarvis, Stewart
Downing, Cheikhou Kouyate, Ravel Morrison, Mark Noble, Morgan Amalfitano,
Diego Poyet and Alex Song. Along the way Matthias Fanimo, Sebastian Lletget
and Blair Turgott will be looking for a sniff although our exit from the
Capital One Cup has made that infinitely more difficult for them. We are
very thin at the back so the defence – assuming they are all fit -virtually
picks itself whilst up front we have Sakho, Valencia, Zarate and on his
return Carroll to accommodate. As things stand right now here's how we see
the team for Hull given reports that both Jenkinson and the strikers are set
to be fit.

Formation: 4-1-4-1
Adrian
Jenkinson, Reid, Tomkins, Cresswell
Song
Downing Noble Kouyate Zarate
Valencia

Bench Jaaskalanen, Collins, Burke, Amalfitano, Poyet , Sakho, Jarvis

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http://vyperz.blogspot.com



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