Chicharito: "It was a great goal, but we can not repeat the same mistakes"
WHUFC.com
Javier Hernández did not come out with the best face after the game against Brighton. The defeat of 3-1 embittered the Mexican's gesture despite the fact that, in the first half of the game, he had scored one of the best goals of his career. Despite this, our Chicharito talked with us about the duel at Amex Stadium and many other things. Here your statements.
On the result and the circumstances of the game
"A bittersweet feeling, we can talk about the goal and it was very nice and that a forward gives him a lot of confidence. At that time it was a very important goal because we were down on the scoreboard very quickly and I had that opportunity and thank God I could convert. " "Unfortunately, in the second half the crucial move was their second goal. I think it's one of the best goals of the season. Sometimes, no matter how hard you work, whatever you do, it's impossible to predict those things. Sometimes the quality of the players or some play like that totally changes the game. They knew that it was a goal of those who do not leave every weekend. "
The bad weather and the conditions of the court
"It can affect but it is not an excuse because they could also have been affected. They scored 3 goals, we 1. They defended better, they controlled the match better and we did not. We already know that this is the Premier League, we already know that this is the way it is, with good courts, sometimes the weather does not help, sometimes it helps other rivals but I think that has nothing to do with today's result ".
His situation with the team after the speculation about his departure ...
"As I mentioned, despite what was said, I always try to be a professional and now my head is here 100%, I will dedicate myself to 100 as in all institutions I've been, to save ourselves from the descent, which is the goal we all have, from the coach, the players and all the staff that works in the club. We want to save ourselves and we will do everything possible to do it. Now we have to prepare this week for the game against Watford a very complicated opponent, who changed coach and we will see how it goes. "
How to face a fight against the descent that seems very similar?
As we have faced it up to now. I do not remember if last week or two weeks ago we got to be in the 10th place, in the middle of the table practically. So, this is so, you can have two bad results and you are down, you can have two very good results and you are up. This is how it will be. We obviously want to be more consistent, which is obviously the key to saving us as soon as possible and not reaching the last days suffering.
Coach David Moyes said the team had not generated enough opportunities for you , do you think the same?
I do not like to talk about myself. Obviously, I do not think West Ham has anything else to play for a striker, for me or anyone. The reality is that many things were missing, one of them, obviously, that we practically did not have any arrival in the second time, but I think that nothing else was that, it was a set of circumstances that we have to pay attention to next week to work them well and not repeat them against Watford.
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Talented goalkeeper Matrevics aiming to stand tall for the Academy
WHUFC.com
Rihards Matrevics is a difficult person to miss. Although he is just 18-years-old, the goalkeeper towers over, well, just about everyone else at West Ham United.
He has been with the Hammers since 2015, but Matrevics' height is still cause for team bonding. "I'm 6'7" which, I think, makes me the tallest person at West Ham!" he laughs. "To be honest, I thought the lads would be used to it by now but they still give me banter about it every now and then."
The Latvian is softly spoken, despite his imposing frame, but there is excitement in his voice when asked about his debut for the Hammers' U23s earlier this campaign. Matrevics was given the nod to play against Leicester City in Premier League 2 Division 1 in September – an experience the shot-stopper will never forget. "To get the nod in that game was incredible. What made it especially great was that the match was played at the King Power Stadium – the ground where Leicester had arguably the best-ever Premier League season. "To be able to stand there and play in a place with so much history – I'll never forget it. Of course, the result, losing 3-1, was disappointing but it was an amazing experience. I want more of those memories."
Standing in Matrevics' path to regular U23 football is England U20 goalkeeper Nathan Trott, who has made the place in Terry Westley's team his own in recent months. Matrevics knows he has a fight on his hands to prise the starting spot from Trott, but recognises that he and his colleague can improve through the competition between the two of them. "Nath is a really good guy and a very talented goalkeeper. He's great to train with as well. The standard is always high in our sessions and we help each other focus. "Obviously, we know we're both fighting to play for the U23s and to progress through the Academy, but it's a healthy competition and we make each other better because of it."
An international player himself for Latvia U19s, Matrevics has featured between the sticks since the age of ten, and names the legendary Italian Gianluigi Buffon – who was a part of the Juventus side that played in the official opening of London Stadium in 2016 – as his all-time hero. "I look up to Buffon, mainly because of the way he bravely attacks crosses. But he also has a sense of calm about him that I would love to bring into my game. Maybe it's his experience, but he's been one of the best for so long."
Emulating Buffon is some way off, though, and Matrevics' more immediate aim is to help the Hammers climb off the bottom of the U18 Premier League South table. "I want to help get the U18s higher up the table and break the spell of bad results. I'm hopeful some good performances might get me another chance in the U23s as well. "The Club has helped me improve a lot over the last three years. This season has been a test for our character but I'm hopeful we can finish the year strong."
Should he do that, Matrevics may soon be gaining the attention his giant frame deserves.
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MONDAY'S NEWS ROUND UP: OBIANG OUT FOR THE SEASON, CRESS URGES SQUAD TO STICK TOGETHER, HERNANDEZ UP FOR THE FIGHT
AUTHOR: DAN CHAPMAN. PUBLISHED: 5 FEBRUARY 2018 AT 4:42PM
TheWestHamWay.co.uk
Hello everyone. Here is what has been in the news regarding the Hammers today:
Pedro Obiang is set to miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery on a knee injury sustained in last month's defeat to Wigan. (Evening Standard)
This goes to show just how badly we needed to sign another midfielder in the January transfer window. We knew that Obiang was potentially out for the season, but yet again the board have left us in a bad position.
Michail Antonio has told the West Ham squad to ignore the unrest around the club. (Evening Standard)
I do find it quite ironic that Antonio is the one to say this, but he still has a point. The players need to remain focused on the pitch, and I am sure that they will be.
Aaron Cresswell has urged the West Ham players to stick together after the 3-1 loss to Brighton at the weekend. (Sky Sports)
I agree with Cress. The boys need to stay together and get us out of trouble, because that is the most important thing for us this season. I am sure the boys will stick together, and I believe that they and David Moyes will guide us away from trouble.
David Sullivan says that West Ham had a £25million bid rejected for Stoke midfielder Joe Allen on transfer deadline day last week. (90 min)
West Ham are interested in signing Porto duo Yacine Brahimi and Vicente Aboubakar in the summer. (The Sun)
I am refusing to believe any transfer rumours from now on, purely because we just know that we will only be left disappointed. The board simply do not care about us progressing as a club, as they will not spend the money to sign any top players.
Javier Hernandez insists he is ready for a relegation battle, and will give his everything for the cause. (90 min)
Javier has picked up a bit of form recently, and we need him to keep it up. We have Arnie and Lanzini coming back soon to give us more attacking threat, and hopefully they will give us some fight and fire us to safety.
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WHO THE F*** IS VALON BEHRAMI?
AUTHOR: EXWHUEMPLOYEE. PUBLISHED: 5 FEBRUARY 2018 AT 8:30PM
TheWestHamWay.co.uk
Written by @farehamhammer
"I hope Hugill crashes his car on the way to his medical "was probably the worst of the negative crap spouted about Jordon Hugill. There were loads of the sneering "next level" and "Sullivan special" jibes as well. Without even having seen him play, many are writing the former barman off. This, is the same Jordon Hugill who Roy Hodgson, a shrewd judge of a footballer, tried to sign for Crystal Palace. The same Jordon Hugill, who Harry Redknapp said, was a handful and had the makings to do well at West Ham. It is a myth that Hugill is a "Sullivan special". David Moyes has deep rooted connections at Preston North End, he no doubt took soundings about the player, as well as scouted him personally, liked what he saw and signed him. We have got to trust our manager! Not good enough? Seen him play? Of course, the doubters haven't! The real reason for the negative attitude towards the player is, because he is British and plying his trade in The Championship.
A few years ago, I went to watch our pre-season friendly against Southampton at St Marys, we had just signed Valon Behrami from Lazio for 5.5 million. Believe you me I follow a lot of football, but I freely admit, I'm not someone like @RockyWhu who is a virtual footballing encyclopaedia. I'm sitting in my seat before kick off when the lad next to me shouts: "We have signed Valon Behrami!" I turned to him and said: "Who the f*** is Valon Behrami?" It was like a boxer being caught cold! He, didn't have a bloody clue! If, you look on twitter you would think that nearly everyone is a 'expert' on foreign players! No, they are not. A leak will suddenly appear about a player been linked to a Club. Sometimes a player has no intention of leaving his Club, but just looking for a better deal. The players agent will then use another Club's alleged interest to secure that deal.
The next thing you know social media is on fire, with everyone claiming that this or that player is class, just what we need to take us to the next 'level'. Reality being that few people have seen enough of a player to have a sound opinion of a player. More than half hop on to YouTube have a look at a player's best highlights and think, WOW this or that player is MUSTARD we MUST sign him! I, hold my hands up, I did it with Julian Faubert. Sadly, YouTube does not show anyone the worst of a player. There have been many wonderful talents from foreign shores, who have graced the beautiful game in this country. Players, better technically and far better skill wise than our own, players who have played the game the way Ron Greenwood always envisaged it should be played, with beauty and intelligence.
But in latter years a lot of players have arrived on these shores with great reputations and costing big money. Players who have not settled or have simply not been good enough. Players costing between £25-£30m. Six months later they are either loaned out or sold to someone else if lucky. Otherwise they are kept on your wage bill earning 60,000 per week for doing nothing, crippling clubs financially. Then people wonder why the transfer window was so quiet this month- it's not just a West Ham thing! There is an ever-decreasing pool of talent worldwide, for a variety of reasons: Smaller families, kids have a whole variety of attractions. Children everywhere are far likely to be found on Facebook than kicking a ball around. You CAN still pick up a bargain in Europe and elsewhere, but it is much harder to do so.
Obviously, the transfer window was not a great success. BUT there were aspects that pleased me. First, off Moyes gave the kids a chance and most were found wanting. Football is a brutal game as Toni Martinez found out, now back in Spain and highly unlikely to be back. The, big plus about this window has been this: As long as David Moyes is manager of West Ham United we will not see Sullivan 'specials'. Cheap South American imports from the likes of Barry Silkman or Mark Mackay specials. A striker signed from Brazil's third division, who has scored 63 goals in 80 matches. The days of bum of the month is over believe you me. You heard what Moyes said: "No lucky dips" If Sullivan and the rest doubted him, they will have got the message by now. We have a strong and principled manager, who is more than capable of standing up to The Board.
I would have liked to have seen us get a couple more quality players in this transfer window. But at the same time, I am glad we did not sign absolute dross. Indeed, it is a mouth-watering prospect thinking of João Mário, Lanzini and Arnautovic on the same pitch. I am equally happy to trust our managers judgement, on the young and bustling Jordon Hugill. A player who was so happy to sign for us, on the pitch more than capable of keeping opposition defences busy, allowing the likes of Hernandez to feed off the scraps. Stay, away from West Ham? G&S killed our Club? No and No, we support and back the team! Not the Owners! Neither, can they kill The Club. WE ARE THE CLUB! It's in the blood! No one can kill that! As our song would have it: Just like our dreams they fade and die. Many a time our dreams have indeed died. But that has not stopped us coming back for more. And it never will.
We are more than a football Club, we're are a way of life!!
COYI!!
Farehamhammer!!
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Moyes to depart at end of season
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 5th February 2018
By: Staff Writer
David Moyes will almost certainly leave West Ham at the end of the season whether the club remain in the Premier League or not. According to an article by Matt Law in the Telegraph, West Ham will almost certainly seek a new manager at the end of the season regardless of how the remainder of the current campaign pans out. And Rafa Benitez, who has been on David Sullivan's hit list for the last three or four seasons is considered hot favourite to be offered the position - although former Hull and Watford boss Marco Silva, who is currently out of work, is also a candidate.
Moyes, who has improved the team's fortunes to a certain degree since succeeding the Slaven Bilic last November has steadfastly refused to talk about his future since joining West Ham. Having failed to impress at Manchester United and Real Sociedad, both of whom fired him with 12 months of taking the job, Moyes was widely considered to be drinking at the last chance saloon when he joined Sunderland - from whom he resigned after failing to keep them in the Premier League last season. His position at West Ham was therefore widely considered to be his last opportunity to impress as a top-flight manager.
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I made £25m deadline day bid, claims Sullivan
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 5th February 2018
By: Staff Writer
Under fire David Sullivan claimed this morning that he made a transfer deadline day bid for Stoke midfielder Joe Allen. The co-chairman, who is facing a supporter revolt with fans set to march in their thousands against the Board next month told Sky Sports and Talksport presenter Jim White that he made the huge bid for the Welsh international - an offer that was rejected by his club. White, who met Sullivan at Brighton on Saturday also revealed that the 68-year-old had appealed to the fanbase for unity - though as several fans pointed out in reply, the fans appear more united presently than they have been for some considerable time due to their collective opposition to the current regime. The Talksport and Sky presenter was widely criticised by West Ham supporters last week for suggesting Sullivan and his co-chairman David Gold has been "jostled" by supporters following the FA Cup defeat at League One Wigan.
The fans are unified - we want him and @davidgold and @karren_brady gone. No doubt you asked him about the lies ; the failures in the transfer windows ; where the money has gone ; the undermining of our own players ; why we moved to an athletics stadium. You being a journalist??
— Simon Brown (@si_brow) February 5, 2018
White's comments were followed by another slur on West Ham's travelling supporters by fellow Sky anchor Kaveh Solhekol, who claimed that it was "unacceptable for owners to be treated this way", adding that Sullivan and Gold were "doing all they can" to arrest West Ham's disintegration.
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Sullivan: unity is the key to our success
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 5th February 2018
By: Staff Writer
Co-chairman David Sullivan has called for fans to 'unite' behind the team for the remainder of the campaign. The under-pressure co-owner appealed to supporters today just a matter of hours after it was revealed that a supporters' action group had raised almost £25,000 for an anti-Board march next month. Speaking in a statement read out by Board-friendly Sky Sports and Talksport presenter Jim White on his radio show this morning, Sullivan implored fans to get behind the team instead of continuing with anti-Board chanting - as was heard loud and clear at Brighton on Saturday. "Chants of 'sack the board' and opposition to myself and co-owner David Gold will achieve nothing," said a belligerent Sullivan in the statement. "I ask the supporters, every one of them: get behind the team. "Through unity we can turn it all around. We don't want to find that a disappointing season has turned into a disastrous one."
Sullivan's request did appear however to largely fall on deaf ears - with callers to White's radio show united in their condemnation of Sullivan and his fellow Board members.
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The Sound and the fury
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 5th February 2018
By: HeadHammerShark
"What happened to ya?
We were one of a kind"
- Ian Brown, "What Happened to Ya? Pt 1"
This article started life as a match report of the game between West Ham and Crystal Palace. That was in January when life was simple and we were a top half team. Then circumstance took over and it has morphed somewhat. Of course, things were different back then. West Ham wasn't a racist club. People at the club seemed aware that we needed new players. Han Solo was Harrison Ford.
But so much has gone under the bridge that as I tried to write this piece I felt like a man using an umbrella to try and catch a fish; wholly unsuited to the task and unable to keep up. I've been abroad with no access to this account so I couldn't post up this piece, and yet with every passing hour it mattered less because the content was rendered obsolete by further developments. I honestly didn't think a club could dissemble this quickly without Mike Ashley being involved.
And now all we hear is sound, and every where we turn is fury. All of which leads inexorably to one simple question:
What has happened to my club?
What. Has. Happened. To. My. Club?
Perhaps it has always been this way. Maybe when other fans were telling us that we were their second team, they weren't simply saying it because of our helpful tendency to play nice football and at the same time roll over for them. I'm now wondering if that faint praise and those half smiles merely disguised a sense of being thankful that it wasn't them. Not for them the constant threat of humiliation and embarrassment. That was our sole preserve.
It is the lot of football club owners that fans will generally always hate them. Supporters place no limit on our ambition, and demand that owners follow our lead. But they are bound by such inanities as money and overdrafts and cashflows and rules and the realities of trying to keep such febrile businesses afloat. I don't doubt that running a football club properly is a job that demands high levels of skill and competence, perhaps outstripping a regular business because those enterprises do not come under such high levels of public scrutiny over every single decision they take.
Next Level
But is anyone still labouring under the misapprehension that West Ham is a well-run football club? Surely even those who refuse to see anything wrong with our leadership so long as they make the crossed Hammers can't call me a Quisling for suggesting that they could be doing their basic tasks a little better than they currently are?
It is February and with the team bereft of fit players due to our annual injury crisis, the Board have allowed five players to leave the squad and brought just two in. They have made our squad smaller at a time when our Premier League place is not remotely secure and when our medical staff appears to be unable to stem the constant flow of injured players. And yet all of that garden variety incompetence doesn't even make the top three things they fucked up most on deadline day.
No, instead we have other crises to manage, namely the insinuation from our (newly minted) Head of Transfers, Tony Henry, that we no longer wished to purchase African players and then the revelation that Leicester will simply not do business with us due to some inane public comments from Karren Brady in her Sun column.
The beauty of this is that at the same time Henry was allegedly emailing out this "club policy" about African players to agents, the deal that was scuppered with Leicester was for the Algerian forward, Islam Slimani. We apparently can't even be racist properly.
And so it came to pass that West Ham fans must once again ponder why our club should always be so different. All fans love to feel they are hard done by, but telling people you support West Ham nowadays invokes an involuntary sense of sympathy from fellow supporters. They might not know the intimate details - the failure to qualify for the League Cup semi final because we forgot a player was cup tied, the requirement to pay Sheffield United £30m+ for the Tevez saga despite their being no legal grounds for it, the record signings who get injured on debut, the homesick player from Oxford, the preternatural gift for identifying soon to be bankrupt sponsors - but in a way, that doesn't matter. In the style of the Trump White House, it has ceased to be relevant what the drama is so long as there is some drama to distract fans.
We have been overwhelmed by a cavalcade of uselessness.
***
"We got to pump the stuff to make us tough,
From the heart"
- Public Enemy, "Fight the Power"
Before all of this happened we actually took a break from causing incredulity and played a game of football. That seems like a quaint nod to a bygone era now, like MTV playing a music clip or Government ministers being competent, and yet it does actually remain the primary activity of West Ham United.
Crystal Palace were in town and they arrived with a fair wind behind them. Since Roy Hodgson took over, they have been surging, with their results finally catching up to the underlying analytics which have suggested all season that they were a good team underperforming.
With the squad decimated, Moyes was forced to improvise and so we saw Pablo Zabaleta deployed into midfield and new signing Joao Mario given licence to roam widely in support of the lone striker, Chicharito, and both did all we could have asked of them. Historically the Mexican has been incapable of performing that role but here he battled and worked and generally did everything that he could to hold back the tide. Behind him Mark Noble and Cheikhou Kouyate stepped manfully into the breach and combined with Zabaleta to take the fight to the visitors, and if we were somewhat fortunate to be on level terms at half time, that engine room drove us forward to a surprisingly progressive second half display.
Legend
I have latched on to Noble somewhat on recent weeks, as a kind of emotional life raft in the roiling sea of being a West Ham supporter. Because the owners are so rarely incapable of projecting a positive image of our club, we are forced to look elsewhere for things to be proud about and Noble couldn't be making me prouder right now.
Forget the longevity and the fact he is a Hammers fan, because those things are nice but they aren't all that relevant. Instead focus on the way he cares. Focus on how he carries himself. Focus on how he represents our club on and off the pitch. As a footballer Noble is having his own resurgence as his experience and ever excellent technical ability allows him to continue controlling games from the middle of the park. But off the pitch he is also everything that this club is supposed to be. He is devoted to his community and an exemplar of how to treat others and give something back to the people who make up West Ham United, whether it's through his soccer schools or his housing project or just the simple ability to talk about football fans with a scintilla of empathy.
At a moment when those who lead our club off the pitch routinely make me ashamed, Noble and his footballing brothers have found a way to restore my faith in the badge by what they do between the lines (you're probably correctly guessing here that this bit was written pre-Brighton). Here they were, battered and tired and with their numbers depleted by boardroom incompetence and yet they more than matched a tough opponent. It hasn't always been the case, but when you take a step back and view this match as dispassionately as possible, our players did us proud.
Supporting Noble was Kouyate, who suffered a nasty head injury early on and returned as the second coming of Ian Bishop. He suddenly found a passing range, and began dominating the game in a way I haven't seen him do before. His astute pass found Chicharito just before half time, from which he and Mario fashioned a chance which was only interrupted by a James Tomkins foul.
Penalty. Noble. You knew he wouldn't let us down.
In the context of what was to later be revealed, it was stirring to see the return of Kouyate to his best form. We need his rangy athleticism and ability to, well, cause mayhem from central midfield in the absence of our more artisanal forwards. How ironic that our best ever African player should be so instrumental in leading the team to this crucial point.
Mario looked lost to start but grew into a physical and frenetic game that saw possession routinely coughed up by both sides with startling frequency. The Portuguese conjured a lovely pass to free Chicharito for the penalty and generally looked the kind of quick-witted, intelligent footballer who will link beautifully with Manuel Lanzini and Marko Arnautovic if they are ever all fit at the same time. I also enjoyed that his first touch involved him dribbling straight out of play while Moyes looked on, bemused. Levity amid the gloom.
But the true calling card of Moyesian football seems to be the ability to construct a rock solid defence from the softest of materials. Here he was shorn of yet more bodies and he merely shrugged and rearranged the deckchairs to keep the Titanic afloat. So Aaron Cresswell went back out wide and reminded us all that he crosses with the consistency of a chicken on a High Street, and in came eighteen year old Declan Rice to the middle of the back three and nobody really batted an eyelid. Palace helped us out there somewhat, by channelling almost all their attacking play through the electric Wilfried Zaha. The Ivorian is one of those players who makes you inch forward involuntarily when he gets the ball, even as you're encouraging Sam Byram to kick him. And to be fair, Byram did, repeatedly.
But generally we swarmed Zaha when he got the ball and on the one occasion that Palace didn't go through him, Andros Townsend surged to the byeline and crossed for Christian Benteke to head the opening goal. Had they done this a little more often we might have had a tougher evening, but as it was the visitors were indebted to Wayne Hennessey for a terrific save from a second half Chicharito header to keep things level. A point was, all things considered, a pretty fair result.
And then we went to Brighton, and I didn't see that game because I was overseas and sometimes you just have to be grateful that the Universe has been kind to you.
***
"You thought I was cheap, you were the sale of the century,
Creased ourselves up on the way down"
- Sleeper, "Sale of the Century"
And so as we all drifted away through the thin sheen of rain that covered the stadium like mist, the talk turned to the transfer deadline. They've got to do something, we thought. Kudos to Moyes and the boys for that performance, we all thought, but now they need help.
Of course, I should say that such thoughts go against the grain for me. I don't like David Sullivan buying anyone because he doesn't understand football, but I particularly don't like him buying anybody in January because he doesn't seem to understand footballing economics either. So, after a history that includes Mido, Benni McCarthy, Robert Snodgrass and Nene, and public commentary from both Sullivan and Brady that they considered these transfers as failures, it felt natural that we should want the club to sit this window out. After all, they couldn't make any stupid decisions if they didn't make any decisions.
But the other hallmark of the club in recent years has been the chronic failure to keep our playing staff fit. Whatever the club is doing in this regard is not working and it tends to have an overwhelmingly negative impact on the handwritten scrawl on the back of a lottery ticket that our owners laughably call our business plan.
Not only do we drop points due to the weakened sides we constantly have to field, but it has caused the Board to act rashly in trying to plug the gaps. Hence they spent £10m of this summer's budget on Snodgrass when they really only needed him for a few games to cover a player shortage last January, and now they can't even recall him from Aston Villa to do the same this year.
A poor signing, treated poorly
But what was different last year was the context of our league position and the fact that we were just about to emerge from our injury crisis. We enjoyed a brief revival to lift us up the table and by the time that Fonte and Snodgrass arrived it was already pretty evident that we were not going to be relegated. Thank God for Sunderland.
But this year is different, with a whole glut of similar teams all scrabbling around for the same few points, and our playing resources likely to be paper thin for a while yet. As it happens, I think Moyes gives us an advantage over those other teams, but our injuries have reduced his options to the point that we couldn't name a full substitutes bench at Huddersfield. This was not a window in which to suddenly decide to keep our powder dry, and such inertia could prove fatal. Sullivan has taken a huge risk.
And so it was that we came limping into the deadline having failed to do anything beyond add Joao Mario on a loan and Jordan Hugill from Preston North End. I have no issue with the purchase of Hugill, particularly as he has come from Preston and will have been properly scouted by Moyes and Alan Irvine as a result. In a time when English clubs are awash with money, and previously unheralded overseas leagues are churning out good players at higher rates than ever, it is entirely possible that divisions like the Championship and the Scottish Premier League are once again the best place to get value for money. And lest we forget, Cresswell, Michail Antonio and Dele Alli all came from somewhere.
Hugill is perhaps a little older than we might like, at twenty five, but he should know his own game and has already demonstrated a considerable amount of fortitude in rising from the Glen Hoddle Academy to the Premier League. In a team with our problems, I see no issue with adding a player prepared to run himself into the ground, and if he fails, then he is young enough to be resold in a year or two for some sort of return. He is, in that sense, the very antithesis of Benni McCarthy.
Tattoo sleeve, beaming smile. You'll do, son, welcome aboard
The problem with the signing is not with the player but the context. With Diafra Sakho finally gone, and scoring against PSG immediately, we were already light up front. Thus the sale of Andre Ayew for £18m was baffling on a number of levels.
Ayew is, by my estimation, the only footballer under thirty whose value has dropped in the last two years. At a time when Moussa Sissoko costs £30m and £20m is an opening offer for pretty much every Premier League player, we are once more selling our players into a totally different market then we buy from. This is the problem when we feel the need to offer such astronomical wages to attract players to West Ham in the first place. While the owners might think that having the thirteenth largest wage bill in Europe is a sign of ambition, most others see it as a sign of chronic inefficiency and it makes players very hard to shift without reducing their transfer fees drastically. We have fallen into the age old trap of paying players for what they have done elsewhere rather than what they will do for us. Say what you will about Hugill, he will earn his money through his performances in claret and blue. Ask yourself if that could really be said about Joe Hart.
So off went Ayew, Sakho, and Toni Martinez and if anything happens to Chicharito on Saturday then we go to Liverpool with our line being led by Preston's striker. It's a curious time to be alive, no?
***
"How could it ever come to pass? She'll be the first, she'll be the last
To describe the way I feel"
- The Stone Roses, "She Bangs The Drums"
All of which is skirting around the main issue, which can be simply laid out in the question I asked above, namely "What the hell is happening to my club?"
Rumours have swirled around for days now about why we are losing players when we need to add them and why we would be apparently offering ludicrously low amounts to try and pry players away. Those rumours range from the owners asset stripping in preparation for a sale to both HMRC and criminal investigations into our transfers, via a massive cashflow issue to straight up incompetence - the latter still being my best guess.
I understand that transfers are complex and hard to get done, but so are brain surgeries and you don't get to have a go at them because you bought a private hospital. Fans are furious, and while that might not always have a basis in rational thought, I happen to agree that if nothing else, we deserve better than we are currently getting. We shouldn't kid ourselves that our reputation was glittering when they took over, but we were promised that with Karren Brady and her ultra professional stewardship we could look forward to a rehabilitation of our public image.
Instead, they have stumbled from crisis to crisis, stopped off to get into a slanging match with Sporting Lisbon, fallen out with their own players, while slating some we haven't even bought and topped all that by alienating the entire taxpaying population of the country. It might wind us all up, but Jack Sullivan's Twitter account is pretty small beer.
Goodbye
On 10 March the Real West Ham Fans Group are planning to march on the Club, and while I don't really agree with the action I understand it wholly. The burning sense of frustration that is searing through the West Ham support has been grossly underestimated by those in the boardroom. "Wait until the next transfer window" might suffice for the apparently tepid self examinations that pass for Board meetings but that is no comfort to fans driving back from Wigan into a howling gale and wondering why they just surrendered their Saturday for a club that can't help but give off the signal that it despises them.
And now.
Now somehow we have plumbed new depths. Tony Henry's comments made his position untenable. He may have been stitched up by the Mail, the last bastion of anti-racism, but his apparent confusion about why his comments were a problem didn't show that he wasn't being racist, but instead showed that he didn't understand how he was being racist. That's not the same thing. Our club, the first English top flight team to have three black players, does not need such people in it's employ.
And what it all highlights is the total shambles that is our corporate governance. Henry doesn't want African players but we still try and loan Slimani on deadline day. He doesn't think Russian players settle very well in England and still we try to get Fyodor Smolov until the player calls it off because he thinks his club are being lowballed.
Best of all is Henry's concern about how well Italian players adapt when our player of the season so far is literally an Italian of African descent. When Cheikhou Kouyate posts an Instagram picture with the caption "African and Proud" then the club must surely understand that this is beyond their agency to stage manage. You don't get to tell people how they feel. Henry is gone, but significant questions remain.
Ade Coker (and Clyde Best and Clive Charles). Heroes - let's learn our own history
And as an aside, perhaps if the club properly celebrated men like Clyde Best, Ade Coker and Clive Charles a little more obviously, instead of constantly regaling us with tales of a team who finished third, then their employees and fans might be a little more attuned to the relevance of racism in our history. And yes, I realise being black is not the same as being African, but I think we're in the same territory here.
Overriding all of that is the concern about who else knew about Henry's "policy" and why he was talking to the press without apparent supervision. As the lads at Hammers Chat pointed out, Sullivan has been keen to play up links to Henry in the past:
That's vague enough to allow Sullivan to say he was unaware, but if he was then it really doesn't reflect well on a structure that can allow such activity from a senior employee to go unnoticed. This, of course, is the problem with an owner who only wants association with successful transfers. There is a huge hole where a proper, functioning Sporting Director or Director of Football would sit. And you all know where I'm going with that.
As for Karren Brady and her inane column in The Sun, I remain confused as to why this is even a thing. Sullivan's assertion that he would have to pay her more if he didn't let her go off and write for Murdoch, shill for Alan Sugar, help out Philip Green and sit in the House of Lord's doesn't really hold up to scrutiny when she's getting £900,000 a year from us.
Either way, our Karren sure can pick her business associates.
I wonder what Brady's own position would be if a West Ham employee cost the club a transfer due to an artless thought posted online or in a newspaper. I suspect they'd be gone before they could yell "what about slapping women?" through the window.
I've defended Brady many times because I think she is criticised primarily by a lot of West Ham because she is a woman, and for no other reason. In this case, she cannot be defended. Her desire for fame seems to outstrip her desire to do a good job for us. That's a problem.
Which brings us back to that march by the Real West Ham Fans group. As I mentioned, I don't particularly agree with this initial course of action, because it feels like dropping a nuclear bomb as your opening gambit, but that's up to them. I also can't help but concede that they are probably right to think this is the best way to motivate change. But it's a specific problem for the board now. They are toxic and their constant failures are magnified by the media storm they insist on creating around the club. The problem when you're so desperate for attention is that you don't get to duck out when that attention is negative. Where we once went for the Cearns Family and Terry Brown, now it is the current owners, and once that particular rock starts rolling it will be nearly impossible to stop.
I don't want to reach the position where the owners and their families are being abused at games, but it's also possible to see why fans don't feel they have any choice but forceful protest. All of the purported fan engagement ideas of the last few months have led nowhere meaningful. The club is still run disastrously, and we are regressing at an alarming rate. A change has to come. It has to.
I would call once again for the owners to step back and disappear from the spotlight. Hire a Director of Football and give that person carte blanche to modernise the Club. Send the Sullivan boys to German clubs where they can learn their trade at the cutting edge, and not by serving coffee in our club cafe, if it truly is the intention that they are going to one day run this club.
Have Karren Brady reduce her extra curricular efforts and focus her energies on West Ham as a community enterprise. Let's see her turn those formidable talents that we hear so much about and see so little of, to endeavours that matter to fans - Isla's Fight would be an easy cause to pick up and gain ground with fans, so too the long term funding for the Supporters Club, or engaging with WHUISA on all sorts of fan matters. She might argue that she does that already and I might argue that I wouldn't know because I only ever hear about her doing things that are nothing to do with my club.
And that, after all, is what this is all about. This club will endure because it always has, but I find it hard to grasp how badly our owners are currently letting us down. When a player can walk over to the travelling support after a defeat at a promoted club and ask where the money has gone, you know things are bad. The manager deserves scrutiny too, of course, especially as we seem incapable of defending against weaker sides, but the backdrop to all of this seems to be a boardroom culture of incompetence that is suffocating all else inside the club.
So, back to my question, because we are running out of time to get a satisfactory answer.
What is happening to my club?
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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Action group appeal smashes target
KUMB.com
Filed: Monday, 5th February 2018
By: Staff Writer
The Real West Ham Fans Action Group justgiving fundraiser has reached its £20,000 target - just four days after going live. The strength of depth of anti-Board feeling amongst West Ham supporters has been demonstrated by response to the appeal fund, which smashed through its target figure at the weekend - just four days after the campaign began. And at time of writing, the appeal had topped £24,000 - with almost 1,500 supporters having contributed financially to the group's appeal for donations.
RWHFAG have since announced that they are planning to protest against the Board on 10 March. The short walk from Stratford to the Olympic Stadium is expected to be supported by several thousand West Ham supporters of all ages. The peaceful march is being organised in conjunction with the Metropolitan Police, with the safety of those expected to attend paramount. In addition to a Police presence, Boleyn Ground stewards - many of whom lost their jobs when the club moved from Upton Park - are being asked to marshall the event.
It has also been confirmed that any funds remaining after the march has taken place will be redirected towards Isla's Fund.
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Pedro Obiang set to miss rest of West Ham's season after undergoing knee surgery
Last Updated: 05/02/18 12:16pm
SSN
West Ham midfielder Pedro Obiang is set to miss the rest of the season after undergoing knee surgery, according to Sky sources. The 25-year-old suffered medial ligament damage following a tackle from Wigan midfielder Max Power in the Hammers' 2-0 FA Cup fourth-round defeat at the DW Stadium last month. Obiang underwent surgery on the injury at the weekend and is now set for a lengthy period of time on the sidelines. In the immediate aftermath of the match on January 27, David Moyes said: "Pedro looks as if he's got a medial knee ligament, we will have him sent for a scan to tell us exactly what's wrong."
Prior to the injury, Obiang had featured 26 times for West Ham this season, scoring twice, including a spectacular long-range strike against Tottenham at Wembley.
West Ham are without a win in their last four games in all competitions and suffered a 3-1 defeat to Brighton on Saturday to leave themselves three points above the relegation zone.
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Karren Brady confirms West Ham are not affected by latest London Stadium athletics event
The Hammers vice chairman was asked about the latest event to take place in E20
Football London
BySam Inkersole
West Ham Correspondent
18:00, 5 FEB 2018
West Ham vice-chairman Karren Brady has said the World Cup of Athletics will not mean the Hammers will be unable to use their home ground for the first few weeks of next season. The new athletics event was announced to be held on July 14 and 15, a little less than a month before the start of the 2018/19 Premier League season, which is due to kick off on the weekend of August 11/12. A week after the world cup event, the London Stadium will also play host to the IAAF Diamond League meeting in the capital, which means some of the seating will need to be taken out of the arena so the running track can be exposed. Brady was asked on Twitter if the club will be playing their first few games of next season away from E20 once again as a result of the new event coming in and the vice-chairman responded, as you can see below.
Lady Karren Brady
✔
@karren_brady
Thanks for the tweet I can confirm that the entire stadium will be back in full football mode by 1st August &WHU fixtures take priority. For the IAAF - the contract to host that tournament was signed before we signed our agreement, so that was the only exception to priority rule https://twitter.com/themadduck/status/960515151488339970 …
3:31 PM - Feb 5, 2018
113 113 Replies 17 17 Retweets 53 53 likes
In her tweet, Brady said: "I can confirm that the entire stadium will be back in full football mode by 1st August and WHU fixtures take priority. For the IAAF - the contract to host that tournament was signed before we signed our agreement, so that was the only exception to priority rule." At the start of this current campaign, the Hammers were forced to play their first three games of the season away from home - they lost all three - after the World Athletics Championships were held in the former Olympic Stadium last summer. The retractable seating takes at least a fortnight to put back in place, transforming the stadium from athletics mode to football mode and costs around £4m every time to do it as well. For the world championships this past summer, only the seats in front of the east stand were removed to try and speed up the process, which is expected to happen again ahead of the new football season coming around. The event in July will see eight nations - Great Britain, the USA, South Africa, Poland, France, China, Germany and Jamaica will battle it out over a £1.42m prize pot over the two-day event in E20. One male and one female from each nation will compete in each event. The stadium is also hosting the Anniversary Games on July 9 and the Diamond League meeting the weekend after the World Cup event, with the London meeting scheduled for July 21 and 22.
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Exclusive: David Moyes unlikely to remain at West Ham beyond end of season - even if club avoid relegation
Matt Law, football news correspondent
5 FEBRUARY 2018 • 4:03PM
The Telegraph
David Moyes is unlikely to extend his stay at West Ham United past the end of the season – whether or not the club stay in the Premier League. West Ham's 3-1 defeat to Brighton put them back in relegation danger and meant the club have not won any of their last three Premier League games. During their poor run, the Hammers were also dumped out of the FA Cup by League One Wigan Athletic. Despite the fact Moyes dragged West Ham away from the bottom three after succeeding Slaven Bilic on a six-month contract, the club are already expected to be searching for a new permanent manager in the summer. Rafa Benitez remains a possible target with his Newcastle United future seemingly dependent on whether or not Amanda Staveley's takeover bid is successful, while Huddersfield Town's David Wagner is well liked. The fact Marco Silva is now out of work and would not cost anything in compensation to appoint would be interesting to the Hammers.
West Ham sacked director of player recruitment Tony Henry last week following accusations of racial discrimination, although his departure will have no bearing on the future of Moyes.
There have been tensions behind the scenes regarding West Ham's transfer policy with Moyes failing to land a number of targets in January. Although West Ham signed Jordan Hugill from Preston North End, they missed out of Islam Slimani and Ibrahim Amadou at the end of the transfer window and Moyes now looks short of players after being hit by injuries. West Ham also made a failed bid for Anderlecht's Leander Dendoncker and could move again for him in the summer, even though Belgian sources claim Moyes is not particularly keen on the player. Moyes has already made it clear that he will assess his options at the end of the season and is not planning talks about his or the club's long-term plans before then. Should he keep West Ham in the Premier League, then Moyes may well have options elsewhere and if he does not then he is fully aware there is little chance of West Ham keeping him on. Other than having to face questions over Henry's departure last week, Moyes has also seen co-owner David Sullivan give an interview in which he revealed his son had told him not to sign Jose Fonte and Karren Brady criticise the signing of Robert Snodgrass in her Sun column.
It later transpired that Moyes had been interested in recalling Snodgrass from his Aston Villa loan. West Ham fans have turned their anger on Sullivan, co-owner David Gold and vice-chairman Brady, singing 'sack the board' and unveiling banners calling for them to leave. A number of supporters' groups are planning to march together, under the banner of West Ham Groups United, before the home game against Burnley on March 10th and have discussed hiring 20 hearses to signify the 'death' of the club and its tradition. Sullivan, though, has claimed any protests against him will achieve "nothing" and insisted the Hammers need unity.
"I ask the supporters, every one of them: get behind the team," Sullivan told TalkSport. "Through unity we can turn it all around. We don't want to find that a disappointing season has turned into a disastrous one."
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