Daily WHUFC News - 13th February 2018

Zabaleta: We want to be safe as soon as possible
WHUFC.com

Pablo Zabaleta would love to be playing in the Emirates FA Cup fifth round, but the experienced full-back says West Ham United will use their free weekend to rest, recover and recharge for Premier League run-in. The Hammers have lost just twice in their last 12 top-flight matches to climb from 19th on 3 December to their current position of 12th, but they remain just four points above the relegation zone with eleven games left to play. Zabaleta, who has started all eleven of those matches and played all but 129 minutes of West Ham 27 Premier League games this season, says he and his teammates cannot afford to relax until their top-flight future is mathematically assured. "We want to be safe as soon as possible," he confirmed. "If you look at the season, we've had so many ups and downs and to be good enough to look up and fight for European qualification or something like that, you need more consistent to give yourselves that chance. "The reality is we are only four points above the relegation zone, so we need four or five more wins to be safe. It's not going to be easy. "I'd rather be playing on Saturday as that would mean we're still in the FA Cup, but we've got so many players coming back from injury and a free weekend will give the manager an extra week to recover them for the next game against Liverpool. "We need the whole squad because everyone is important and we need to give our best to the team in the big games we have coming up."

Two players who will be vital to West Ham's chances of scoring just their second win at Anfield since 1964 will be Marko Arnautovic and Chicharito, both of whom scored in Saturday's 2-0 win over Watford. Zabaleta says the forward pair deserve praise for putting their respective difficult personal periods behind them to show their best form in Claret and Blue. The Austrian has led the line with power and commitment, scoring seven goals and assisting three more in his last nine Premier League appearances, while the Mexican has netted three in his last four games since being recovering from a hamstring injury. "We know Marko is an important player for our team, particularly with the way we play. He is powerful and makes those runs in behind. He's a difficult player to play against. "He gives us strength up front which you need when you're playing with five at the back and three in midfield. You need someone who makes those runs and creates problems for defenders. Marko is this kind of player. He's been really good without the ball as well. "I have to say Chicharito is also important to us and both of them played a great game and I'm happy for them. "There was a lot of speculation in January that he was looking to move clubs, but he has always been very professional, kept training well and was focused on what he was doing. At the end of the day, it was important for our team to keep him because he is important to us and we know what he can give the team. He proved again on Saturday that inside the box he is an important player."

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Moyes: Resurgent Marko, hard-earned praise and a recruitment revamp
WHUFC.com

David Moyes gave a wide-ranging interview with the 'Mondays' newspaper reporters after Saturday's 2-0 Premier League win over Watford. The Scot was not getting carried away, despite seeing Marko Arnautovic star in a victory that saw his West Ham United team pass the 30-point barrier. Moyes was also questioned about David Sullivan's West Ham TV interview, in which the Joint-Chairman revealed, among other things, plans to re-examine the Club's recruitment strategy...

I'm only interested in hard work

David Moyes celebrated passing three months in charge of West Ham United with a 2-0 Premier League win over Watford on Saturday. Playing for the 20th time under the Scot, the Hammers looked a side transformed from the team which lost by the same scoreline to the same opposition in his first game in charge. So, what has Moyes changed since being appointed manager on 7 November last year?

"All I've done is come in and said 'Look, this is the way I am doing things and if you don't want to do it, I'm not interested' and sometimes, when it's fresh and new, some of the players will pick up, some of the players needed it and some were probably hoping it would happen. "Behind the scenes we're really professional. We do our work before the games and after the games, we'll make sure we've covered as much as we can and give the players every chance to win. We're really conscientious about the training we do and we're trying to put the right work into them and will always view it to see how it's gone.
"So, from inside, we're trying to give the players the most experience we've got, Stuart Pearce, Alan Irvine, Billy McKinlay and myself, and this is how it's going to be. To be fair, they've all joined in."

Praise has to be hard-earned

Speaking to reporters after Saturday's victory, David Moyes was asked for his views on Marko Arnautovic's goalscoring, assisting comeback to the starting XI. The Austrian returned after a three-match absence with a hamstring problem to produce another powerful performance which earned begrudging praise from his taskmaster of a manager in his post-match press conference.
Talking to the Monday newspaper reporters, Moyes let his guard down, revealing his admiration for Arnautovic's all-round performance. "If you read Leon Osman's book, he tells you it's really difficult to praise from me, as you have to really earn it. They'll get a pat on the back and a quiet 'Well done' but generally I'm telling them they doing a really good job to be in the position they're in, to have lifted themselves up, and I'll be saying things quietly in one or two ears. "But I want them to earn their praise correctly and Marko is earning it because of what he is doing, his goalscoring and the threat he is carrying, which is incredible. "He looked as if he'd faded and some of us looked a bit tired after 60 minutes, but Marko kept going. The reason we don't remove him is because of what he can do. He can look dead [physically] and then he can go again. Sometimes you think 'Has he run his race?' and then he goes again, and they're the things you get with Marko."

No rest for the Hammers

While previous seasons have seen the West Ham squad jet off to a warm-weather training camp at this time of year, David Moyes will instead keep his players' feet on the ground. With no fixture this coming weekend, the squad will be given a few days off, but the manager does not want to give his team any excuse for standards to drop ahead of the trip to Anfield on Saturday 24 February. "I've just said in the dressing room that we're training hard. We've got 30 points which is a big milestone and the next one is 40, so we're not dropping off. "They'll get a couple of days off but, if you ask me, I'd rather be in the FA Cup next Saturday, I really would."

A change in recruitment strategy

David Moyes has confirmed plans to revamp the Club's recruitment structure, following Joint-Chairman David Sullivan's admission in a West Ham TV interview that changes need to be made to give the Hammers the best-possible chance to identify and sign top-class talent. "We've put together some plans and thoughts about what we're going to do and over the years I had good success with the way we ran it," said the manager, alluding to his eleven-year spell at Everton, where he unearthed a succession of future first-team stars from a variety of courses. "Sometimes it can take a bit of time and you don't get time in management to set up a recruitment strategy and how you want it to go, because you're only as good as your last win in terms of who you sign and what you do, but we are going to try and look at it slightly differently and see if we can do things in a slightly different way than it's been done in the past and hopefully it will work. "I'm going to certainly be heavily involved in the process of helping get it set up, but the Chairman will be heavily involved as well. Everyone at the Club will be to get something that looks right. "The hardest thing is to get things done exactly right at this time because there may be people in jobs who we wouldn't be able to take away just now, so we might have to do it more in-house at this time. "Hopefully we'll find ways of churning it back out and trying to make decisions which are right. They have signed an awful lot of good players here, a lot of good players – Manuel Lanzini, Marko Arnautovic – so there's no criticism, but we're going to set up something that hopefully gives us another look. It's going to come a little bit away from the chairman. The Chairman is going to try to stand aside a bit from it. "I'm a manager who wants to do things correctly well and I've seen what correct looks like. It doesn't mean you win games, and I'll be judged by winning games, but if you think that people are putting the right things in place in any business, no matter how you work in the structure, whether it's me or somebody else, I would hope it's the right way to go."

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Collins: The win gives everyone a lift
WHUFC.com

James Collins says reaching the 30-point mark before a two-week gap between games will give West Ham United a boost, but says there is more to come from both himself and his teammates. The Hammers bounced back from defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion in the best possible way by downing Watford 2-0 at London Stadium on Saturday, with Chicharito and Marko Arnautovic on target. Three points drew the Hammers level with their visitors in the table and had Collins eyeing up further progress when they get back to action at the end of the month. "There's more to come from this team," the Welshman said. "We haven't been happy with the season at all. Saturday was good, but we can certainly improve all over the pitch in terms of consistency. "You compare how we were on Saturday to the week before at Brighton and it's chalk and cheese. "We'll enjoy Saturday – we haven't got a game next week so I can smile now because I wasn't too happy last week! "It's nice going into the break with that and having got to 30 points. If we hadn't won it would have been a long two weeks until the next game. It'll give everyone a lift."

The Hammers were lifted by the return of Arnautovic, following a three-game absence due t a hamstring injury. The summer signing was a nuisance all afternoon and deserved his match-sealing 78th minute goal, earning rich praise from Collins. He added: "Marko is a massive player for us, that's why the Club paid the fee for him. He made such a difference with his work rate, and his touch for the goal showed the quality that he's got. "It certainly makes it easier for the back players if we're clearing balls and somebody's chasing it. We can squeeze up the pitch and it gets the fans on their feet. He got a little bit of stick when he first came, but the last few months he's been fantastic. "If he can stay fit and play as he is, we've got a massive chance of moving up the table."

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Snodgrass and Martinez among loan stars in action
WHUFC.com

West Ham United's loan stars Robert Snodgrass and Martin Samuelsen were both in Championship action at the weekend, while Toni Martinez made his debut in Spain. Scotland international Snodgrass started on the right wing as Aston Villa made it seven league wins in a row by beating Birmingham City – who started former West Ham loanee Carl Jenkinson at right-back – in the Second City derby at Villa Park on Sunday. The victory saw Villa climb back above Derby County into the second automatic place, albeit 12 points behind runaway leaders Wolverhampton Wanderers.

At the other end of the table, Norway international Samuelsen played the full 90 minutes as bottom side Burton Albion collected a creditable point from a goalless draw at Ipswich Town. The home side started Academy of Football graduate Jordan Spence, while Freddie Sears was an unused substitute. Burton remain a point behind Sunderland and four points from safety.

Staying in the Championship, Reece Burke was an unused substitute as Bolton Wanderers scored a 1-1 draw with Fulham at the Macron Stadium to rise to 19th in the table, two points above the relegation zone. Bolton return to action at Cardiff City on Tuesday evening. Elsewhere in the Football League, Moses Makasi was handed a watching brief from the bench as Plymouth Argyle came from a goal down to win 2-1 at EFL League One high-fliers Shrewsbury Town. The Pilgrims will seek to back that victory up when they host AFC Wimbledon at Home Park on Tuesday night.

Reece Oxford was also an unused replacement for German club Borussia Monchengladbach in their 1-0 Bundesliga defeat at Stuttgart. Finally, Toni Martinez was handed his debut for Spanish club Real Valladolid, coming on for the final 18 minutes of their 1-0 Segunda Division defeat at Granada – a result which leaves them tenth in the table, three points outside the promotion play-off positions. The striker could make his home debut for Valladolid at home to leaders Huesca on Friday evening.

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March route announced
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 12th February 2018
By: Staff Writer

The organisers of the forthcoming protest march by West Ham United supporters have confirmed the route fans intend to take on 10 March.

The march, which is set to attact considerably more supprt than the 3,000 who took part in the Brown Out! protests some 15 years ago and which is being arranged in consultation with Newham Council and the Metropolitain Police will begin at 11.30am and start from Stratford Park, a stone's throw from Stratford police station.

After a short march along Stratford High Road, the procession, which is being organised by the Real West Ham Fans Action Group will turn into Warton Road and then head directly towards the Olympic Stadium, where a series of speeches will be delivered before the event finishes well ahead of the West Ham v Burnley match.

The peaceful procession, which has been organised by the Real West Ham Fans Action Group to to which all generations of West Ham United supporters are welcomed, will be led by a series of hearses to signify the 'death' of West Ham United whilst a number of supporters intend to lay wreaths at the entrance to the stadium island.

Fans are marching in order to protest at the current Board's handling of the club since it was confirmed West Ham United would be moving to Stratford. Supporters are unhappy with various aspects of the stadium - some 5,000 fans failed to renew their season tickets after season one at the arena - whic many view as not-fit-for-purpose.

Additionally fans are unhappy with the lack of investment in key areas of the playing squad, the continued unwelcome and unnecessary appearances by members of the Board in the media and their broken promises, the numerous attempts to 'fleece' fans (via premium phone rate club lines, e-purse row, or attempts to renege on season ticket discount offers) and various other aspects regarding the club's current and future direction.

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United we stand
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 12th February 2018
By: Tross

There seems to be momentum gathering to derail the forthcoming march and divide our support base at a time when unity is what will define us as supporters. I think you have to do little more than look at the number of other supporters groups and websites that are joining the march under their own banners, to recognise that the levels of dissatisfaction at the repeated broken promises to the fans of this great club have reached a tipping point. I have nothing but respect for those who have the understanding and foresight to recognise the damage being done, and the prospects of further damage being done without change, to this club.
Many seem to overlook that dialogue and communication was attempted with the club on a number of occasions by a variety of independent supporter groups. The contempt shown to them by the board was little short of a disgrace. The only option left was to march on 10 March.

Football fans come in all shapes, sizes, colours and flavours. Some of us are educated, some are not. A huge number across the spectrum however share a common frustration and disappointment at being constantly over-promised and under-delivered against, and sadly - shamefully in fact - feel they are being systematically detached from the club they have supported for years.

In many cases generations of fans are attending the march, which is being led by the Real West Ham Fans Action Group to highlight frustrations that range from poor stewarding, to bad disabled fan experiences, to under-investment and challenges on how the so called "saved from liquidation" package has become a series of loans with our owners seemingly profiteering from the mistakes of the Icelandic regime.

To dismiss your fellow fan in the manner a number of fans have, without understanding how and why they are exercising their right to protest, is to demonstrate a lack of understanding on your own part.

All I'd ask is that you engage and examine the points and pledges made by the Board, the complete lack of demonstrable progress we have made against them and the lack of value for money that we as supporters are receiving - while the debt at our club fails to reduce significantly despite increased 'investment' from third parties and the sale of the beloved Boleyn Ground, player sales and a number of increased revenue streams.

I can think of no board of directors, in any line of business that would survive after such a failed transition period as has been witnessed at West Ham United.

Those who will march on March the 10th recognise and wish to highlight those failings, hold the current guardians of our great club accountable for their failings, get them to take responsibility for them, and drive the change that we as fans deserve to see given what we collectively signed up for.

As West Ham Fans, our resolve was tested by a previous board with the Bond Scheme. 'United We Stand' was adopted and we drove change, the right kind of change which all supporters benefitted from. On Saturday the 10th March, we march - and with the grace of God, we will once again drive the change that our club needs for the benefit of all West Ham United supporters.

Nothing stands in the way of progress - that much is true - but I'll leave you with a quote from Dr Martin Luther King Jnr from back in the day. "Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself".

And a small ask - please engage and understand the frustrations of your fellow fan, and respect his or her right to demonstrate. Looking forward to and will be proud to march under the KUMB.com banner on the 10th.

Please note that the opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, nor should be attributed to, KUMB.com.

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West Ham co-chairman David Sullivan to hand influence over transfers to boss David Moyes
By Lyall Thomas
Last Updated: 11/02/18 11:27pm
SSN

David Moyes has confirmed that co-chairman David Sullivan will decrease his influence over transfers in a recruitment restructure at West Ham. After the dismissal of chief scout Tony Henry over allegations of racial discrimination, Sullivan has confirmed a new scouting system will be set up, handing more power to the Hammers' manager and incorporating the latest in analytics. West Ham have engaged in significant squad turnover in recent seasons but are still fighting against relegation from the Premier League. The plans suggest Moyes will stay at the helm beyond his current contract, which expires at the end of the season. "Hopefully we'll find ways of churning it back out and trying to make decisions which are right," Moyes said. "They have signed an awful lot of good players here - Manuel Lanzini, Marko Arnautovic - so there's no criticism, but we're going to set up something that hopefully gives us another look. "It's going to come a little bit away from the chairman. The chairman is going to try to stand aside a bit from it. We've put together some plans. The chairman will be heavily involved as well."
Sullivan said ahead of the 2-0 win over Watford on Saturday: "Only the manager can sign players. Going forward, we are going to completely re-jig it.
"I am going to delegate the whole thing to a huge new analysis system and a new head of recruitment, massive video analysis department, increase the scouting. "Every player will be looked at five or six times. We won't be signing a player based on who the manager has never seen play; the manager will watch him play and we hope we will spend our money better. We are not going to spend money for the sake of it."

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MARK O' APPROVAL - IS ARNIE THE NEW DI CANIO OR JUST ANOTHER PAYET ?
By HamburgHammer 12 Feb 2018 at 08:00
WTID

Oh, how nice it is to talk about a much needed home win again after a performance that while far from being perfect still showed a lot of guts, effort and togetherness.
And nothing tends to boost dressing room morale more than three points.

Before the game kicked off I mentioned in the match thread how I was hoping for a complete performance from the lads from start to finish. Admittedly, Watford had a lot of possession of the ball and they had a particularly strong spell in the second half where it looked like a draw might be on the cards after all.

But Adrian and some very determined interceptions from our defenders, namely Collins and Ogbonna, made sure that our sheet stayed clean enough on the day.

Truth be told, we could and should have won by a bigger margin really, bearing in mind we had one very legitimate penalty shout and Hernandez scored from the closest of possible offside positions, you know, one of the "you've seen 'em given" variety. It's futile to argue if the goal would have been allowed to stand if Chicharito was playing for one of the Manchester clubs or Tottenham, but there you go.

Growing up watching football I had heard very early on that with close calls such as this the benefit of the doubt should always be given to the attacking player, presumably to allow more goals to stand and to make the games more entertaining. Luckily enough on this occasion we got the win regardless.

If 40 points is the conservative target to go for in terms of beating the drop, then we have eleven league games left from which to gather a minimum of ten points.
I reckon that indeed is the very doable minimum requirement here. Our actual points haul should be higher than that though, if only to secure a solid position in the final league table, allowing us to approach the summer transfer window with a bit more swagger and confidence.

Make no mistake, our best bit of transfer business might be to hold on to Marko Arnautovic, our man of the match against Watford by a country mile or two.

Arnautovic is certainly a bit of a geezer. At times in his career a very naughty boy.
In some instances a royal pain in the hole. When you browse articles about him, from his time at Inter Milan or Werder Bremen, not to mention the Austrian national side, you don't have to look long in order to find plenty of memorable quotes from and about him.

Jose Mourinho once said Arnautovic showed the mentality and conduct of a petulant little kid. That's because he failed numerous times to get to training sessions and team meetings on time when he was at Inter. Sometimes it was working in his favour though as Arnautovic one day arrived at training in the morning, being unaware that there was no session scheduled until later that day, but Mourinho was already on the premises and he laughingly applauded Arnie for being punctual for once, in fact five hours early. To give his player a bit of a hint he handed over his own watch as a present – knowing Mourinho it surely wasn't a bargain bucket model for a tenner – to make sure Arnautovic missing out on club related appointments ever again…

At Inter he also borrowed a Bentley from teammate Samuel Eto'o which promptly got nicked in the process. Cars were very much the theme for him at Bremen too. To this day Werder fans still reminisce about that ever so slightly illegal night race on the streets of Bremen against teammate Eljero Elia. Werder Bremen ultimately were labelled a dump by Arnautovic, as his way of countering growing criticism from fans and media.

Teammates within the Austrian national squad also got (un)fair share of bother, with one guy having to face insults from Arnautovic in the past and also being threatened with physical violence. A passionate genius of a footballer he was even at that point, however, with a very short fuse to go with it. A ticking timebomb.

One of his most famous episodes was a police check gone Pete Tong by Austrian police when he was still on Bremen's books. Apparently Arnie was on edge as he was on the way home to his then pregnant wife (who was unwell apparently) and obviously Arnie was not really in the mood for a chinwag with the Old Bill, so he took umbrage, telling the fuzz:

Fxxx you! You have no authority to tell me anything. I have so much money I could buy your life. I'm better than you!

Unsurprisingly the officers disagreed slightly and a court hearing was imminent until the matter was settled amicably enough eventually in shape of an honest apology from Arnie plus a gift of free tickets for an Austria game for the policemen in question. So he didn't quite buy their lives, but avoided a lot of trouble nonetheless.

Suffice to say Arnie has always been a bit of a character, struggling with accepting authority figures from an early age as he got kicked out by various disgruntled managers ever since little Marko had started playing football.

But it's fair to say that Arnautovic has somewhat matured over the years, like a complex red wine, and to stay with that analogy, like the claret nectar he may not be to everyone's taste, yet you cannot deny the quality of the vintage.

Arnautovic has admitted in recent interviews how a lot of the stuff in the past was entirely his fault, but certainly not all of it. The media of course are happy enough to circle in on a guy like Arnautovic to pounce on, simply because car races with shiny fast motors at 3 o'clock at night are a more thrilling story to tell than him holding hands with the wife while choosing new curtains for his living room over at the local DIY store on Friday afternoon.

Arnie has held his hands up in a recent interview, saying that especially his time in Germany was a challenging experience, something resembling a witch hunt as once he had been given the bad boy tag and his face was in the public domain, the chasing media pack followed his every move relentlessly, hoping to unearth the next big scoop/scandal.

When he moved to England, first to Stoke, later to West Ham, he finally had the chance to start again, getting a clean slate so to speak. Also his family seems to have somewhat grounded him in recent years, with party days/nights few and far between, never mind street racing under the London lights.

Arnautovic has enjoyed a terrific run of form for West Ham after overcoming his stupid sending off for elbowing early in the season, a lengthy illness and then his most recent hamstring injury. Whenever he is on the pitch he makes something happen, creating goalscoring opportunities for himself or teammates virtually out of nothing.

When he swerves this way and the other, coming out the other end with ball at his feet after leaving four opponents in his wake, fans get out of their seats.
If Arnie plays like he did against Watford he is worth the admission price on his own.

He strikes me as a similar character as Paolo DiCanio who also had a tough upbringing as a kid and various brushes with authority. Like him Arnautovic is a maverick, an enfant terrible, but he is also a bloody good and exciting footballer.

And like Payet in his short spell at West Ham he now is clearly our main guy to make everyone around him play better. If Arnautovic is on the pitch and on fire, West Ham have a decent chance to win any game.

If he is out with injury or suspension, we look a weakened beast. We need him in the side and hopefully he is the kind of player we can build a team around (the Andy Carroll thing obviously hasn't worked as planned – and God knows we've tried for years!). Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but Arnie's goal celebration against Watford looked like a statement of intent, saying "This is my manor! I rule here, I belong here, this is mine!"

Yes, I know. Players kissing the badge has become something of a convenient habit nowadays, to curry instant favour with the fanbase, so when one of your players does it you just hope against hope it is a genuine gesture of affection rather than a calculated charade.

I'd like to think that Arnautovic is enjoying his purple patch and the rapport he has been building up the hard way with the fans. After his unfortunate start at the club he is proving a lot of people wrong (myself included) and he seems to enjoy that almost as much as his football.

It's a reflex as a West Ham to immediately fear the worst. With bigger clubs circling, surely Arnautovic will soon be off to where the grass is a lot greener. But is it really ?

Maybe, just maybe Arnautovic has found his spiritual home at West Ham, settling down with the family and just enjoying his football while being in the headlines for all the right reasons for once. Maybe he enjoys being the biggest pike in a medium sized pond. It's not impossible that he might actually prefer his status as the top cat at West Ham, adored by the Hammers fans, rather than being just another star in a long line of superstars at Manchester City.

I hope we can convince the likes of Arnie and Lanzini to stay, I really do.
The manager has a massive part to play in this. And the board obviously.
What with the march looming large and the unrest among sections of the fanbase bubbling to the surface now, surely NOW is the time to get it right.

Don't allow another Payet situation to develop and fester. Get proactive and make sure that West Ham is a club worth playing for, even for the likes of Arnautovic and Lanzini – and I don't just mean in the financial sense of a nice pay packet.
If we get it right, Arnautovic could be our Austrian version of DiCanio, rather than Payet Mark 2.

I cannot claim to be overly confident that this summer will be different for us in terms of transfer strategy and success. In the meantime I shall try to enjoy seeing a bit more of the Arnautovic magic, dribbling knots in the opposition players' legs before running off towards the fans in another of his trademark goal celebrations. COYI!

PS: If you're wondering why this column has been unusually calm and almost free of board bashing then I have to confess that a personal health issue within my family circle has put things very much into perspective. It's never nice if a beloved one has to undergo not one, but two high-risk surgical procedures in quick succession in order to beat a ruthless life-threatening disease. I have written my column after a highly challenging hospital visit yesterday. Thank God my brother seems to be out of the woods at this point and on the long road to recovery, but it's still incredibly tough to keep a brave face and a smile on your lips if your bro can hardly put together a full sentence or keep his eyes open for five minutes, lying in a bed in the intensive care unit, his system being flooded with drugs and painkillers, with all kinds of tubes hanging out left, right and center. Good thing is, we should now begin to see improvements to his condition and health with every passing day.

Don't get me wrong, I love seeing West Ham win and I am grateful that the three points against Watford have helped to raise my spirits over the weekend. But rather than worrying about the West Ham board and players I'd much prefer to busy myself trusting in the collective competence and skills of the doctors and nurses taking care of my bro now and in the coming days/weeks. I promised to take him to London Stadium in the near future (he already watched us play at the Boleyn years ago) and I intend to honour that pledge, no matter under what board or manager!

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England No1 Joe Hart denied World Cup lifeline as West Ham reject Newcastle's offer to take over loan
The Mirror

The Manchester City keeper isn't getting a game for the Hammers with Russia 2018 just four months awayRafa Benitez failed with a late bid to land Joe Hart on loan last month. The Newcastle boss offered West Ham, where Hart is on a season's loan from Manchester City, one of his reserve keepers in the hope that they would allow the England international to become his no.1 at St James' Park. The Hammers, however, rejected the offer with manager David Moyes insistent that Hart could yet have a part to play in his plans this season.

Benitez instead signed Martin Dubravka on loan from Sparta Prague, and the Slovakia international turned in a top-class display on Sunday as relegation candidates Newcastle pulled off a shock win over second-placed Manchester United. Hart is not wanted back at the Etihad by Pep Guardiola, while Moyes has also benched the England keeper for Premier League games in favour of Spaniard Adrian. The 30-year-old is desperate to play regular first-team football in order to make Gareth Southgate's World Cup squad this summer but cannot even play FA Cup games as the Hammers went out in round four.

Had West Ham agreed to the deal Newcastle were proposing, City would have been happy to sanction it.

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Signs on and off the pitch now pointing to West Ham's David Moyes staying long-term
David Sullivan admits he wants Scot already plotting signings as he eases relegation fears around "many, many years"
The Mirror
ByAdrian Kajumba
Football Reporter
22:30, 11 FEB 2018

His future won't be finalised until the end of the season, but there were a few hints that David Moyes WILL be sticking around at West Ham. First, joint-chairman David Sullivan announced he hopes to keep boss Moyes for "many, many years." Then the Scot ­revealed he had been central to discussions about a recruitment revamp at the London Stadium. He certainly didn't sound like a man who was planning on going anywhere. "Ultimately I'll be judged on winning games," said the former Manchester United and Everton manager, following Saturday's 2-0 home win over Watford. "I want the West Ham fans to think that David Moyes is the right man for the job. I want the West Ham board to think David Moyes is the right man, and I also want to see that West Ham is the right club for David Moyes because I'm ambitious. "I want to be challenging against the big boys. "It took me years to build Everton up and in the end I got a job (at United) which I thought would make things easier to win cups and trophies. I'm happy to do that again, but you need to have the tools so I need to know that when it comes to it we can do a bit of damage here."
Moyes might still need to be convinced but you can see why the minds of the Hammers ­hierarchy are already made up. He is closing in on objective No.1 – survival – having hauled West Ham out of the bottom three and up to mid-table. They are now more defensively organised and their one defeat in their last eight league games, at Brighton, looks like a blip. Moyes is getting the best out of £25million club-record signing Marko Arnautovic and goals out of former Manchester United striker Javier Hernandez. The Mexican headed West Ham into a first-half lead with his third goal in four league games before the outstanding Arnautovic – fit-again and sporting a bold new blond hairdo – sealed the win with a late second. Defender James Collins said of the Austrian: "If he keeps performing like that, he can come to work in a Batman outfit and I wouldn't care! If he can stay fit and performing like that, we've got a massive chance of moving up the ­Premier League table."

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WEST HAM KEEN ON SUMMER DEAL FOR RYAN FREDERICKS
LUKE OSMAN @LukeOsmanRS
ReadWestHam

West Ham will look to secure a deal for Ryan Fredericks in the summer, according to Football London. The right-back is a key component in Slavisa Jokanovic's Fulham side but it appears he will be on the move when the season ends. Fredericks is yet to pen a contract extension at Craven Cottage and will therefore be able to leave on a free transfer in the summer. David Moyes has often been touted as an admirer of Fredericks' abilities and the defender was linked with a move to the London Stadium in the January transfer window. The 25-year-old has often reiterated that talks have been ongoing with Fulham regarding a new deal at the club but he is yet to put pen to paper on an extension with the Championship side.
This, as reported by Football London, has given West Ham confidence that the allure of top flight football could be enough to persuade Fredericks to make the move across London in the summer.

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