Daily WHUFC News - 8th September 2016

Gentleman Ginge says sorry
WHUFC.com

James Collins apologises to young fan Ryan Evans after hitting him with a
wayward shot
Six-year-old was watching warm-up ahead of Wales' international with Moldova
Collins contacted Ryan's father Darren and has sent a package of West Ham
United goodies

Giant defender James Collins has shown his softer side apologising to a
young Wales fan he accidentally hit with a wayward shot. The Ginger Pele was
warming up for the Dragons' FIFA World Cup qualifying tie with Moldova at
Cardiff City Stadium when his awful effort caught little Ryan Evans in the
face. The West Ham United star, who is ironically in the running to win the
Hammers' August Goal of the Month award for his strike at Chelsea,
immediately went to Ryan's aid in the stand. Gentleman Collins handed over a
shirt donated by his friend and Wales captain Gareth Bale and posed for a
photograph, with six-year-old Ryan looking understandably shocked by the
experience. Collins himself posted the photo on his Instagram page asking
for help in contacting Ryan to check on his wellbeing, and the young fan's
father Darren quickly responded to the request via Twitter. Newport-born
Ginge, who earned his 50th cap in the 4-0 victory, has now got in touch with
the Evans family and will be sending a package full of goodies back to his
homeland. "I'm so glad to hear Ryan is OK," former Cardiff City star Collins
told whufc.com. "I'm very sorry because it was an awful shot! "I've got
three kids myself so I understand how concerned it must have made Ryan's
family feel and how upset Ryan himself must have been. I should probably
stick to defending rather than shooting! "I've been in contact with Darren
and have got Ryan's clothes and shoe size, so I'll be sending a few West Ham
and Wales bits out to him to say 'Sorry'. "Despite the shock of being hit by
one of my shots, I hope Ryan and his family enjoyed the game on Tuesday
night. Their support was fantastic and we'll be doing all we can to get to
the World Cup in 2018."

Ryan's father Darren, from Birchgrove in Cardiff, told Wales Online: "It was
a hell of a thump, he just didn't see it coming. It gave him a massive shock
and he was obviously very upset to begin with. "Ginge came straight up into
the stands to check on him and then said he'd be back with a shirt. "I
didn't know if he would but he came straight back with Gareth Bale's shirt,
gave Ryan a hug and had his picture taken with him. It was a lovely thing
for him to do and we just want him to know Ryan is fine. He actually wants a
James Collins shirt now as well! "You often hear that footballers don't care
but he was great."

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Browne relishing PL2 return
WHUFC.com

Midfielder Marcus Browne is looking forward to returning to competitive
action on Friday
West Ham United PL2 host Wolverhampton Wanderers in the latest round of
Premier League 2 fixtures
Brownevs side have won two and lost one of their opening three matches

Marcus Browne says the West Ham United PL2 squad is a great place to be at
the moment, as the team prepares to resume their domestic action against
Wolverhampton Wanderers on Friday.
The Hammers host Wolves at Chigwell Construction Stadium in Premier League 2
at 7pm, with free admission for London Stadium Season Ticket Holders. Browne
has been one of the standout players in the side which has picked up six
points from three matches in the newly-formatted Premier League 2, and
expects he and his teammates to improve week on week. The attacking
midfielder has been with the Academy of Football since the age of eight and
was part of the triumphant Development Squad which won the U21 Premier
League Cup (now Premier League Cup) in a dramatic penalty shootout against
Hull City in May. The young Hammers have been drawn in Group E of the PL Cup
along with Leicester City, Nottingham Forest and Brighton and Hove Albion
and Browne is relishing the tests coming up. úI think we started the season
quite brightly and positively. Wevve been playing some good football,î said
Browne. úI think the last two results we had in the Coventry game (lost 4-2
in the EFL Trophy) and Swansea game (lost 2-0 in PL2) didnvt really
correlate to how we played because I think we played quite well in both.
There are positives to take from the last two games but wevll carry on.
Wevve got some good games coming up and the lads are looking forward to
them. Therevs mixed emotions going into the Cup. Therevs going to be a bit
of pressure on us again, considering we won it last year. Obviously teams
will know that we won it so theyvll come at us a bit more than they did last
year and itvll be a lot harder for us. I think with the team wevve got, the
personnel wevve got and the way wevve been playing, therevs no reason we
canvt do as well as we did last season. Terry Westleyvs men entertain Wolves
in their fourth Premier League 2 fixture of the season on Friday evening and
Browne is expecting a tight encounter. Both sides have an identical record
in the league so far, with two wins and a defeat apiece; the Hammers sitting
a place higher than their West Midlands opponents in second because of their
superior goal difference. úIt should be a good game, considering we beat
them 4-0 last season. Theyvll come here and wonvt make it easy for us. úWe
know what type of players theyvve got and theyvre a good team so wevre
expecting a good test. Admission for non-Season Ticket Holders is priced at
£5 for Adults and £3 for O65s/U16s. There is no parking available at
Chigwell Construction Stadium itself, but there is plenty of street parking
available nearby.

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From the Treatment Room
WHUFC.com

Head of Medical and Sports Science Stijn Vandenbroucke issues an update - in
association with Spire Roding Hospital...

Hello everyone,

I would like to start this week by welcoming our three new signings, Alvaro
Arbeloa, Simone Zaza and Edimilson Fernandes, to West Ham United.

Second, I would like to congratulate Adrian and Michail Antonio on their
first senior international call-ups for Spain and England respectively.
Even though they were not involved in the matches, the experiences they had
will have been great for them and we look forward to hearing all about them
in the treatment room!

We have now had reports from all of our players who went away on
international duty and I am pleased to tell you that we have not suffered
any injuries, just a few bumps and bruises, and all our international
players should be available for selection on Saturday against Watford.

Dimitri Payet and Havard Nordtveit both played for their countries, France
and Norway respectively, in their opening World Cup qualifiers and will have
benefited from the game-time after missing the Manchester City game.

They will all return – those above plus Darren Randolph, James Collins,
Angelo Ogbonna, Reece Oxford, Cheikhou Kouyate and Gokhan Tore – to training
with the squad on Thursday, when we shall all train together for the first
time.

Sofiane Feghouli also remained with us as he completed his rehabilitation
from a thigh injury and he has been in full training this week and will also
be available to face Watford on Saturday.

We have four injured players at present – Andre Ayew, Aaron Cresswell, Andy
Carroll and Diafra Sakho.

Aaron is doing well with his rehabilitation. He has started running and
works two times a day with physiotherapist Dom Rogan. Cressy will return to
team training in October.

Andre is also working hard in the morning and the evening, he is extremely
motivated to play football as soon as possible. We have made great progress
and he will get back stronger but the reality is that it will take time.

With Andy and Diafra, both are making progress but it is too early to put a
timeframe on their return to first-team action. I will have a better view on
their return date next week.

Stijn Vandenbroucke
Head of Medical and Sports Science

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Lanzini - I'm very grateful to the fans
WHUFC.com

Manuel Lanzini insists he will always be grateful to the West Ham United
fans for making him feel at home in east London and is thrilled to have
pledged his long-term future to the Club. Lanzini became a fans favourite in
just his first full year in the Premier League and played a major role in
helping the Hammers enjoy a memorable final season at the Boleyn Ground. The
Argentine attacking midfielder scored seven goals and few could forget his
memorable strikes against Everton and Chelsea. Following his season-long
loan from Al-Jazira last summer, Lanzini put pen to paper on a permanent
four-year contract with a further two-year option.
The 23-year-old says he will never forget the support that the West Ham fans
showed towards him and cannot wait to play his first game at London Stadium.

Lanzini said: "I'm very grateful to the West Ham fans. They've always
treated me very well since I arrived and I really like them and their
passion for the club. They've made me feel at home which is very important.
"I'm also very grateful to the board, the coaching staff and my teammates
who've helped me settle in and make me feel at home. "I'm happy to have
signed a permanent deal here and will stay here for more years which is what
I wanted, so I'm very pleased. "There were fantastic moments last season and
we had a great year in which we achieved a lot for West Ham. We tried to
stay as high in the table as we could and on a personal level, I felt very
happy last year. I hope that will also be the case this year. "I am excited
to be playing at the new Stadium. I played in a similar stadium in Argentina
in front of 65,000 people and it's brilliant to be on the pitch because you
feel the people around you and it's great to be in the stands. "The new
stadium takes West Ham to a higher level which is very important."

Lanzini was forced to miss the opening six games of the season with a knee
injury, but he returned to the substitutes bench for the last game against
Manchester City and is now pushing for a first-team start against Watford on
Saturday. Having forged an impressive partnership alongside Dimitri Payet
last season, Lanzini says he cannot wait to team up with the French star
once again following his superb display at the European Championship Finals
during the summer.

Lanzini added: "Dimi and I get on very well. He has a great personality.
He's a great player and when I'm on the pitch, I always try to link up with
him because I know he's the player who can make the difference and can play
that pass which means the rest of us enjoy ourselves. "It went quite well
for us last year and we hope to continue in that vein so that we give the
West Ham fans many more happy moments."

Lanzini is relishing the chance to come up against his Argentine compatriot
and former team-mate Roberto Pereyra on Saturday. The duo played together at
River Plate and Lanzini has no doubts that Pereyra will be a major success
at Watford following his £10.4million move from Juventus during the summer.
"We played for the same club in Argentina and we were in the youth ranks
together for a long time. He's a bit older than me, but we've stayed in
touch and he's a great guy.
"He's a good player and has shown that at Juventus, a very big club. That
gave him experience and added to his personality, so I think that if does
well in terms of his game and shows his personality, he's going to be a
success."

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More stewards reveal OS fears
KUMB.com
Filed: Wednesday, 7th September 2016
By: Staff Writer

Further stewards have come forward to share their tales of woe following the
publication of KUMB's Olympic Stadium revelations.

Yesterday a former Boleyn Ground steward, who has moved with the club to
Stratford, revealed that both they and a number of fellow OCS employees were
considering resigning from their roles as a result of the numerous issues
which have blighted West Ham's move to E20.

'Hammers4ever', who also used to work at the Boleyn complained that the
feedback offered by stewards had been totally ignored by the stadium
operators, LS185. "It's just and shame that both OCS and the stadium have
not taken in what we have been saying from the start," they told KUMB.

"What make it worse for the old guard is that at every game we are told that
we work for the stadium, not the club - and that what we used to do at the
old ground will not do here.

"Hopefully they will find out soon that if it isn't broken, don't fix it!
What we use to do at Upton Park worked. If we are having problems now, what
is it going to be like when the big boys come to our ground?

"I hope the top staff at West Ham read this and start to put some pressure
on both OCS and the stadium operators to sort it out. All this bad press
could be avoided if you only put the club first; get the right staff in the
right positions and let them do their jobs."

Another steward who has worked both grounds, posting as 'Esthameian' was
also in agreement with our source's thoughts.

"Unfortunately, OCS do not seem to understand that stewarding at a Premier
League football club is a totally different challenge to stewarding the many
other kinds of events with which they are associated," they said.

"When stewards arrive for duty for matches at present - hours before they
are actually needed - they are allocated completely at random to different
areas of the ground for each game, so there is no continuity and no rapport
built up with the fans.

"The majority of Stadium 185 stewards are 'mercenaries' who have no specific
interest in the club or the fans. One I spoke to said 'I'm Millwall - I hate
West Ham - but it's a job'.

"Unless something changes, and soon, I'll be off too - I just don't want to
be part of such a shambles and possibly involved in a dangerous and tragic
situation - I believe there is a real risk. Such a shame, but so avoidable."

Meanwhile a third steward told KUMB that they were on the verge of throwing
in the towel, having become equally disenchanted at the situation. "I'll
give them another couple of matches and if it doesn't improve, I'll quit,"
said 'another one'.

"I agree 100 per cent with every word the source quoted in KUMB's article
has said and the other former Boleyn stewards I know all agree too. Some of
them have quit already and everyone else I know is on the verge of doing
so."

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Simone Zaza's father admits striker only joined West Ham after Napoli
snubbed him
20:38, 7 SEP 2016
BY DARREN LEWIS
The Italy star joined West Ham from Juventus on loan with a view to a
£25million deal next summer
The Mirror

Simone Zaza's father has admitted the striker only joined West Ham after
Napoli snubbed him. The Italy star has signed from Juventus on loan with a
view to a £25million deal next summer. He is in line to make his debut in
Saturday's Premier League home game against Watford. Zaza's Dad, Antonio,
however revealed that the Hammers succeeded in landing him because interest
from Italian giants Napoli suddenly went cold. He said: "There was a strong
contact with Napoli, then we didn't hear from them, and they did not even
explain why. "I have no problem saying that his proposal was also very
important. Then, however, we did not hear anything. "Simone has never
refused Naples, this must be clear. He would wear more than willingly the
blue shirt, anyone to think otherwise. "Thank God, we were spoilt for choice
and there was the important proposal of West Ham, a great project. "Simone
in Turin was fine, but he decided to change because he was very conscious of
there being very little space to play at Juventus - and his desire was to
play more."

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West Ham star: I rejected offers in Italy and Spain to complete Hammers move
ALVARO ARBELOA has revealed he rejected a number of offers before agreeing
to join West Ham.
By DAVID WRIGHT
PUBLISHED: 13:51, Tue, Sep 6, 2016 | UPDATED: 14:08, Tue, Sep 6, 2016
Express.co.uk

Alvaro Arbeloa says he snubbed offers in Spain and Italy before West Ham
move. The 33-year-old defender signed a one-year deal at the London Stadium
on deadline day after leaving Real Madrid at the end of last season. The
former Spain international admits he was at one point in advanced talks with
Serie A giants AC Milan and also snubbed La Liga clubs to remain loyal to
Real. And now Arbeloa, who previously spent two seasons at Liverpool, is
looking forward to getting started under Hammers manager Slaven Bilic. "The
conversations with AC Milan were at an advanced stage but the Chinese
takeover of the [Italian] club complicated the deal," Arbeloa told Spanish
radio station Cadena Cope. "I took a decision not to continue with this
option and fortunately, this offer [West Ham] came along. "I had offers from
Spain but I didn't want to wear any other shirt than that of Real Madrid in
Spain so I opted to leave. "The choice of West Ham, the club, the city, the
coach and the fans, felt good in every way and here I am. I'm very happy, I
am where I want to be and I'm looking forward to playing."

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Man-of-the-match Randolph happy with a point
Updated / Sept. 5, 2016 23:31 1
rte.ie

Man-of-the-match Darren Randolph declared himself happy with a point after
Ireland opened their World Cup 2018 qualifying campaign with a draw away to
Serbia. It was far from a vintage performance from Ireland but goals from
Jeff Hendrick and Daryl Murphy, along with a string of saves from Randolph
saw Ireland claim a point in some testing conditions. Speaking to RTÉ Sport
afterwards, Randolph said: "It's a tough place to come. The manager said
inside that it could be a very important point come the end of the group, so
yeah, I'm very happy to get a point in the first game of the group. "I just
want to do my part for the team. I got lucky today when I needed it, other
times I just happened to be in the right place at the right time but as
everyone says it was a team effort, for the boys to keep battling on to the
end and big Murph' getting the equaliser. "We knew it was going to be
tough, especially being the away team you're going to come under pressure,
with the pitch out there it was difficult at times. But again, we dug in and
typical Irish we battled out way and got something out the game."

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