Daily WHUFC News - 2nd October 2017

CLUB OWNERSHIP, MONEY BALL, FINANCES AND A NEW INVESTOR
AUTHOR: EXWHUEMPLOYEE. PUBLISHED: 1 OCTOBER 2017 AT 8:10PM
TheWestHamWay.co.uk
Written by @StevenMcCarthy9

I find myself as dismayed and disappointed, as many of you do with the start
of our season and the end of the transfer window. This won't be another
board out article nor will it be one where I am "up the owners arse!" as I
was so eloquently accused of being the other day. What it will be is a
totally unbiased and neutral view of finances under their owners at this
point. This week I think I have finally grasped just how much damage the
high expectations set by our owners have caused. I'll also focus upon
exactly how they are attempting to try and compete with the resources they
have. How I believe that they simply cannot do, compete without outside
investment, so buckle up, this is a long one.

Before I am accused of making excuses and being on the owners side, I will
give my personal opinion on the investment into the club: I personally feel
in the past 2 summer windows, we were tricked into believing the owners
would spend big on a 20+ goal a season striker and the "top talents" around
Europe. That in the end we have payed the price for looking at cheap deals
on potential or ageing players and quantity of players brought in, rather
than looking to wisely spend on quality. However when you take a step back,
what we did was pay high wages, high agent and signing on fees whilst
writing large appearance fees to a number of under par players! So we did
in fact spend, we just did so in different ways, paying a certain Algerian a
few million in a signing fee and big 70,000 a week wages (before various
bonus fees). I cannot and will not defend that, because whilst you can sign
players "cheaply" in the modern game due to contract lengths and in
Hernandez's case a release clause. I think we should have really dug deeper
and been willing to spend more, because in my opinion in terms of league
finishes, TV rights and potential European competitions, it would have more
than paid itself back.

A perfect example of this is the Carvalho debacle, we have all heard the
basics by now and we all know that despite a player, who is generally very
highly regarded having a release clause many saw as low, we refused to meet
said price.
We wanted to pay a rumoured 8million euros upfront and the rest on an
instalment and clause basis. Which club would accept that for their star
players? I know we certainly fought hard to keep Payet and subsequently
tried hard to achieve 25 Million. In my opinion, we simply took the mick.
We low balled and relied on the hope that Club Sporting would rather sell
than pay Carvalho a loyalty bonus of 5million Euros and in the end, we got
strong armed and firmly f'd…with the use of our own well publicised sex toy.



But now I've swerved any hint of board loving, this window in particular, we
felt the vast resources of numerous Premier League clubs do nothing short of
eclipse us in terms of spending! Some were expected in the forms of
Manchester City and United, Liverpool and Chelsea, however I keep hearing
the same and ultimately un-researched angry shouts about the likes of
Everton, West Brom and Leicester outspending us as a lack of ambition, this
is simply not the case. I hate seeing teams around us grow over us just as
much as any other fan! We should be looking to finish above and around
teams like Everton and West Brom. I believe had we spent wisely last
summer, and further added to this year with the players brought in, this
challenge would be something the fans would not even be questioning.
However, let's take a look at precisely why it is: Why have we been left
behind in terms of spending by these clubs? The long and short of it is
outside investors or outright ownership in the case of clubs like Everton,
Leicester, West Brom and Bournemouth.

First up, that team I always see popping up on my twitter feed with fans
baying for each other's blood!

Everton:

Everton spent big after the £90million sale of their most coveted asset in
Lukaku! However the spending we have seen from them was done so with the
sale and added riches of a new owner and the money he brought to the club as
the biggest factors. Farhad Moshiri is said to be worth twice the total of
Gold and Sullivan combined at an estimated figure of over £3billion!
Moshiri is a well known character to anyone following the football money men
as his ties to an eager to spend and unhappy board member at Arsenal, in the
form of Alisher Usmanov are clear. Now whilst the Arsenal man has publicly
stated he isn't a part of the Everton takeover, his investment company USM,
which possesses vast holdings in Russian mining and metals, and digital
corporations has pumped money into Everton by sponsoring its Training
ground…yes. A deal rumoured to be worth £30million over 5 years…for a
training ground sponsorship! If we want to go into the realm of gossip, it
is rumoured that Usmanov is said to be so unhappy at Arsenal's fall from
grace that he is considering selling his shares completely and buying into
Everton. Usmanov is worth an estimated 15 Billion Dollars…a figure almost
10 times that of Gold and Sullivan combined. I am not stating we should not
be ambitious and spend, but when being realistic about it, in terms of
finance I think that even removing the rumour of personal investment from
Usmanov we cannot compete financially with Everton when you view the
sponsorship and future developments they have planned. This is a club who
are looking to achieve a similar goal stated by our owners, to compete for
top 4 eventually, they are not setting there sights on the League yet, but a
trophy and strong finish. One thing Everton are doing very differently (and
I will add, that in my opinion they are doing properly) is building their
own stadium at the Bramley Moore dock with a proposed capacity of 55,000.
The city council have already agreed to the proposed deal and hinted at
financial aid in the project, this allows Everton a greater budget toward
the transfer funds and player wages they already have. However this new
investment and now secure plan for growth and future increase in gate money
has also allowed Everton the chance to sustainably offer the same large
wages we at West Ham were able to give through our ticket sales, marketing
and overall turnover.

Take for example Wayne Rooney, Sandro Ramirez and Davy Klaassen who are all
supposedly on over 100,000 a week. Yannick Bolasie on 80,000 and both
Michael Keane and Jordan Pickford on 90,000 a week. The overall Everton
wage structure is now growing beyond ours. At the moment, we have
Hernandez, Arnautovic and Hart are all on high wages at our club, said to be
over 100,000 a week. Why is it that Everton can offer this? Well Moshiri
instantly cleared Everton's debt with a loan, giving them a much stronger
base upon which to develop the above plans.

In our case we were well and truly in the midst of a potential financial
meltdown before G&S were involved, something that was only made worse by our
impending relegation. From there on, it was an uphill climb for the owners
to settle our debts and make us an attractive proposition for lucrative
investment from sponsors, based on anything other than club history. It
was only by securing the high capacity of the London Stadium that we are
able to sustainably give multiple players high wage contracts. Hernandez is
on 140,000 a week before bonuses, this is a figure that had we remained at
The Boleyn we would more than likely have only been able to offer to 1
player. However now we are seeing the likes of Lanzini and Antonio being
touted as high earners onto of the Hart and Arnie contracts mentioned
previously, with the club having the ability to offer far higher wages
across a squad than we have ever had at the club.



West Brom and Bournemouth are interesting points of debate and the main
reasons for me writing this long article.
Both have been the beneficiaries of outside investment and whilst the full
scale of the Chinese investors finances is not entirely clear, I was able to
find that Lai Guochuan, the outright owner of West Brom is said to in the
latest "conservative" estimate I could find online for his net worth be
around 2.8Billion GBP! And that is without the backing of his Chinese
investment group. They however have no known plans to develop a stadium and
will be relying solely on owner wealth and marketing turnover from now on.
And the aforementioned Bournemouth now have the considerable finance of 25%
steak holder in the form of US based investment group Peak6. Going off
figures online I found with a simple google, this company is worth almost
$12.2Billion. Bournemouth also show plans of future stadium development and
with that in mind they have been able to buy big in terms of both funds and
wages.

What we do have in favour of us though, is our position in terms of overall
revenue. As of July 17th we are placed at 15th by Forbes in terms of the
Worlds Richest Clubs, but this creates a notion that I think is dangerous
for fans.
It is giving us purely the amount of money generated by the club alone
during a financial year and it's judged value by way of assets and marketing
power. We are marketed at a value of 634million dollars, with a revenue of
$213million. This is were our budgets are made under Gold and Sullivan, we
take out loans based upon our value and ability past and present to pay
those loans.
The more money we make, the more money we can spend, However what we cannot
do financially is compete with the mentioned Billionaires above. To put
this into context, Gold and Sullivan are said to be worth around 1.4Billion
GBP combined. We are simply unable to compete on a larger scale with clubs
who have such investment available.

I want to say thank you for reading the article if you made it this far! I
believe that with wise spending we can easily cement a top 10 place for
years to come, however we cannot hope to compete at a top level on anything
other than a freak like Leicester season if we cannot find investment for
the owners due to the mind boggling numbers we are seeing spent these days
The news that American Billionaire J.Albert "Tripp" Smith has purchased a
10% stake in our club is fantastic! Personal Wealth estimates and figures
were hard to find on this man, as the sale was done through him alone and
unlike Bournemouth, there is seemingly no group behind him. What I did
manage to find was that he had sold his company GSO Capital Partners for a
cool $1billion (Dr.Evil stance). Purchasing a 10% stake in our club does
mean we can have the added deep pockets of Mr.Smith behind us, but also
means that Gold and Sullivan remain in majority control. Which regardless of
your views on their ownership does mean that we are experienced and dare I
say, steady hands when it comes to the running of our football club.

But before I finish this article, I believe that the best way for us to
really make up for a lack of spending this Summer is to make the London
Stadium a place players from the opposition hate to come! And I hope this
season we can replicate the electric atmospheres we witnessed against Spurs
and even West Brom last year.

Thank you Ex and all @TheWestHamWay should they post this, I'm
@StevenMcCarthy9 and thanks for reading

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CHANGES AFOOT
AUTHOR: EXWHUEMPLOYEE. PUBLISHED: 1 OCTOBER 2017 AT 7:53PM
TheWestHamWay.co.uk
By Malcolm Atkins @malatk

Amid all the talk around our form, league position and Slav's future, a
rather interesting week off the field seems to have almost slipped by.

The 10% of the club that was still owned by the Icelandic connection was
sold to a very rich American by the name of J. Albert (Tripp) Smith – no, I
had never heard of him either. A bit of research , well google search,
showed that he is a Senior Managing Director of Blackstone, an investment
capital operation that bought the company, GSO, that Tripp and two
colleagues formed and grew.

This seems to have made relatively small waves so far, which is odd in
itself. Blackstone are big players, handling Billions of Dollars' worth of
investments for their clients and themselves. Apparently Tripp has invested
independently rather than as part of Blackstone, however it seems unlikely
that this is the result of some sudden sentimental fondness for football in
general or West Ham in particular. Although it is stated he has no plans to
increase his holding, GSO's modus operandi has been to invest themselves in
organisations they recommend to their clients, I suspect there is more going
on here than anyone is saying. That may be a good or bad thing. On the
surface, access to Billions could be very exciting, however these guys are
in the process of making money, that is not necessarily bad for the club as
they would want to build the brand but I guess we will have to wait and see.

So will Gold and Sullivan sell? I know they claim they intend to keep it in
the family but – well, they would say that wouldn't they! David Gold's
daughters have their own business interests and the Sullivan boys are a long
way off being ready to run a premier league club. I have always believed
that is the plan, build the value of the club and sell on, maybe keeping a
seat on the board in the process if possible. What about the timing though?
Well I started this thought process adding 2 and 2 and making 5, looking at
a possible combination of events. I read that the penalty clauses for
selling the club (following stadium move) last five years, I was wrong – it
is nearly ten. The five years tied in with the other news of the week.
Birmingham looks set to be awarded the commonwealth games for 2022. So how
does that affect West Ham? Well they are going to upgrade the athletics
stadium in Birmingham into a shiny new 50,000 seater arena which would
reduce to 25,000 after the games.

With the Olympics not due back for a generation and the world's having been
in London this year it will be some time before another major games is in
the UK, the prohibitive cost of transforming the London Stadium and West
Ham's right to influence dates would leave the Birmingham stadium ideally
placed to be UK Athletics preferred home.

I initially though the Commonwealth dates tied in to the penalty clauses but
was wrong! What my searching did tell me though is that the clauses are not
that spiteful; especially as the formula to be used factors in debt. The
more debt, the lower the penalties; which would go a long way to explain the
model of loans from the directors to the club. The interest they are
recouping would offset the penalties. A 350 million pound sale would mean
around 19 million in penalty clauses paid to the public purse, 95 million
debt to be paid off (Mostly to Gold and Sullivan) would leave 265 million
for Gold and Sullivan – a profit of around £130 million over what they have
paid for shares so far (source City AM.com) – so the figures work for them!

That is not to say that the Commonwealth games are not relevant. A new home
for Athletics would clear the way for the stadium to be sold to West Ham.
Money could be recouped to the taxpayer, Athletics would have its own
stadium and the London Stadium could be reworked into a permanent football
ground.

All of this makes West Ham extremely attractive to potential US investors
already well aware of the Premier League brand. London is one of the most
important cities in the world; hence the board being so keen to promote the
London name and the Premier League is the biggest brand in football.

This is not meant to knock Gold and Sullivan, they are not perfect but those
of us that have long felt West Ham are a potentially much bigger club than
they have ever demonstrated are vindicated by Gold and Sullivan being able
to sell 52000 season tickets. That combined with the potential of owning the
stadium which sits a couple of miles from one of the centres of world
finance makes West Ham, as I have said, quite an attractive prospect.

For me, and I could be way off, a lot of things fall into place. The debt
model, the relative recent silence from the board and the reduction in squad
size; this coupled with caution with funds at a time when it should be
freeing up and the procrastination around Bilic's position. Are they at the
beginning of moves to sell up? I could be wrong as I say but I believe this
recent acquisition of 10% is the precursor to a take-over. We shall see.

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West Ham United 1-0 Swansea City
By Timothy Abraham
BBC Sport

West Ham manager Slaven Bilic felt a sense of "relief" after Diafra Sakho's
late goal secured victory over Swansea and eased the pressure on him. The
atmosphere at London Stadium had been tense with fans unhappy about the
performance of Bilic's side for the majority of the game. But Sakho eased
some of the scrutiny on Bilic when he got on the end of fellow substitute
Arthur Masuaku's cross in the 90th minute and stabbed the ball home from
close range. "It is a relief, a great three points for us," Bilic said. "I
know it is shallow when the manager says there is pressure, but that makes a
difference. "To keep the support of the crowd we need to keep producing
minute after minute and we did not do that in the first half. The guys on
the bench lifted the team and crowd."

Swansea were positive with their approach but a long-range effort from
Wilfried Bony, parried by Joe Hart, in the first half was the best they had
to show for their endeavour. Home fans chanted "sacked in the morning" at
Bilic when his side trailed 3-0 in a 3-2 defeat by Tottenham last weekend.
For the most of this contest there was little respite for the Croat as his
side laboured against a disciplined and organised Swansea side. Indeed there
were jeers and boos for Bilic's double substitution when Masuaku and Sakho
were introduced for Javier Hernandez and Andre Ayew. Ultimately, the
49-year-old's decision to throw on both players made the difference, though,
as Masuaku's superb run and cross found Sakho's perfectly timed run. With
West Ham's next three matches against Burnley, Brighton and Crystal Palace,
Bilic will hope the confidence from this victory can spur his side on to
greater things.

Swansea solid but lack cutting edge

Swansea managed just 10 shots on target before this encounter, which head
coach Paul Clement blamed on a hectic end to the transfer window. Their play
was largely tidy and they used the ball intelligently, with Renato Sanches
in particular catching the eye for the visitors. However, there was a stark
lack of cutting edge to Swansea's play. Despite the presence of Tammy
Abraham, Jordan Ayew and Bony - for the first half at least - they managed
just one shot on target in the entire contest. "A combination of the
delivery and the movement need to be better in the final third," Clement
said. "We are closer to getting the balance right, but there is still work
to be done."

Swansea's first away defeat sent them into the bottom three and, unless
Clement gives them more bite in attack, another relegation battle beckons
this season.

Man of the match - Andy Carroll (West Ham)

The powerful striker's partnership with Javier Hernandez never really
clicked but he was a menace to the Swansea backline. Carroll seems to be
getting sharper and his all-round workrate was unrelenting. He was
unfortunate not to score when he struck the corner of the goal with an
improvised shot.

Swans lose away record - the stats

This game produced a total of just 15 shots; only Burnley v Huddersfield on
23 September featured fewer in the top flight this season (13).
West Ham have registered three clean sheets in their last four Premier
League games, after managing none in the five before that.
Swansea conceded their first away Premier League goal in 495 minutes of
action and suffered their first away defeat of the season.
Four of the 10 Premier League games where winning goals have been scored in
the 90th minute or later in 2017 so far have been against Swansea.
Diafra Sakho netted his first Premier League goal since November 2016, when
he scored against Manchester United.
Six of West Ham's seven league goals this season have come in the second
half, which equates to a league-high 86% proportion.

'Fans have a right to their opinion' - what they said

West Ham goalkeeper Joe Hart: "It was a difficult atmosphere in some ways.
I'm never going to criticise the fans, they come here and pay their money
and have a right to their opinion. "We have to focus on the win. We have had
seven points since the international break [at the beginning of September].
"It is on all of us to take the pressure off. We don't get sucked into the
speculation, we just stick together and fight hard."

Clement expects better from Swansea attackers

Swansea head coach Paul Clement: "I think the result was a little harsh in
that I don't think that they weren't better than us as such. "We just did
not defend that last attack very well. They created a really good scoring
chance, which is what we didn't do. "We did not stop the cross coming in,
did not defend it in the box and if you concede that late you do not give
yourself much chance."

West Ham manager Slaven Bilic: ""We did not play well in the first half
after a good first 10 minutes, making basic mistakes and Swansea were much
better on the ball. We have to play better and we can play better. "The
changes were crucial with Manuel Lanzini, Arthur Masuaku and Diafra Sakho
coming on. "We played a very offensive formation in the first half but
lacked the link between the defence and attack and that was why Lanzini made
a big impact."

What's next?

West Ham face a tricky trip to Burnley on Saturday, 14 October (15:00 BST),
while Swansea host newly promoted Huddersfield at the Liberty Stadium at the
same time on the same day.

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Keeping a fully fit West Ham squad happy is 'impossible' for Slaven Bilic
JACK ROSSER
ES Sport

Slaven Bilic believes it will be impossible to keep all his West Ham
forwards happy as they return to full fitness. Bilic welcomed Manuel Lanzini
back to the fold during their 1-0 win over Swansea City, while Michail
Antonio recovered from a groin injury picked up a week ago. The Hammers
manager, has had persistent battles with injuries to key players over the
past twelve months, now knows he has hard task in finding balance in the
squad. "My job is not to make them happy," Bilic said. "I mean it is a bonus
if they are all happy, but it is impossible to have all the players happy.
"I have to make a fine balance between being solid and being dangerous when
we have the ball. "Sometimes it gives you a headache, who you will play when
they are all fit. But my job is to look after the team and to treat every
one of them in a good and decent way, then to try and keep them [on their]
toes for the whole season. "Put it this way, if Diafra Sakho and Arthur
Masuaku weren't on their toes last week or the week before they shouldn't be
able to perform like this [combining for the winner], and that is what I
have to do."

The Hammers would have been at their full complement going forward if it
were not for Marko Arnautovic's absence. The summer signing withdrew from
the squad on Friday night through illness, but come the end of the
international break, Bilic should be a full roster to pick from - meaning
there is plenty to think about for the manager. "But you are right," Bilic
added. "When we are thinking about our team I want to be solid and you have
to be solid when you play on this level of football but we were trying to
build a team that can also play with the ball and pass with the ball and be
dangerous, so it is good to have them back."

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WEST HAM 1, SWANSEA 0. LATE RELIEF TO CALM THE STORM.
By David Hautzig 30 Sep 2017 at 17:15
WTID

When Carlo Ancellotti was sacked by Bayern Munich the other day, my heart
skipped a beat. I recalled the time when it was reported, or maybe
manipulatively leaked, that Karen Brady was after the Italian a few years
back. Every sense of logic and common sense told me that replacing Bilic
with Ancellotti was an absurd pipe dream of the highest order. But I decided
to ask a friend of mine who knows the former Milan, Madrid, Chelsea, and now
Bayern manager if there was any reason for me to fantasize.

No was the pretty succinct answer.

I made my feelings about Slaven Bilic known after the Newcastle match. While
many agreed with me, and with Sean Whetstone in his rather controversial
piece the other day, there were those that expressed….displeasure, shall we
say….with both of us. Sean took far heavier punches than I did, I must
admit. Just imagine if Nigel Kahn had let either of us feel his wrath!

There was a healthy dose of irony in the starting eleven to me. When we were
chasing Andy Carroll after his loan spell, I remember the almost minute by
minute updates on Twitter. I genuinely believed signing him would virtually
guarantee we wouldn't ever have to look over our shoulders. Once that bubble
burst from his almost comical injury list, I always thought his return to
the lineup would be the panacea to all that ailed us. That has all changed.
So when the original projected lineup today did not include him, I was
pleased. Then Arnautovic caught my son's ear infection or what have you, and
there he was. Number Nine. And my spirits dropped. Which may be unfair, but
that's how I felt. Then there was a clamor that Bilic was going to set us up
4-4-2, but I wasn't so sure. When things seem obvious for us, it never
happens. Today didn't go according to plan, but at least it ended well.

West Ham asked the first question in the fourth minute when Cresswell sent a
cross into the box. Antonio met the delivery near the far post and slammed a
volley into the ground. It bounced high and towards the far post, forcing
Fabianski into a diving save with his right hand.

The next ten minutes were a little worrying in that Swansea had more of the
possession by some margin, and when the home side did get the ball they
either ran wildly with it, eventually losing it, or sent a pass to nobody.
It culminated in the 15th minute when Bony received the ball just on top of
the West Ham 18 yard box. Fonte and Reid backed off, and Bony let it go.
Hart made a diving save, and the contest thankfully stayed at nil-nil.

By the time we hit the halfway mark of the first half, the crowd at The
London Stadium sounded restless. With good reason I might add. Swansea had
enjoyed 70% of the possession, and West Ham looked rather dire. Bilic
switched Antonio and Ayew on the flanks, but it had so little impact it took
minutes for me to notice the change. Passes were terrible, touches were made
of lead, and the side looked genuinely lost. Against a side with more
quality, it could have been a much uglier scene. I looked for things to be
optimistic and hopeful about. The Blueberry pie from a terrific local farm
that the wife was bringing home later came to mind immediately.

From the perspective of clutching at straws, West Ham at least made everyone
pay attention in the 37th minute when Antonio sent a long pass to Carroll on
the right wing. Not exactly where you want Carroll to receive the ball, but
whatever. Carroll crossed to Ayew in the box, not exactly where you want
Ayew to receive a high cross, but whatever. Ayew sent a weak header that
Fabianski cradled like a stuffed animal, but whatever.

West Ham looked a bit better in the final five minutes of the opening half,
sending in a few crosses for Carroll and Company to chase. We even won a
corner. Thank heavens for small favors.

Halftime
West Ham 0
Swansea 0

If you wanted a highlight that described West Ham this season so far, Mark
Noble's complete mis-kick in our penalty area at the start of the second
half would be perfect. And in all fairness, Noble played well against Spurs
and wasn't as awful as the rest of the side in the first half today. So I
wasn't having a go at the captain.

In the 53rd minute, I thought West Ham were going to open the scoring when
Antonio looped in a cross from the right to the far post. When Carroll began
his run to meet the ball, I thought he would get there. In the end, he was
half a yard short. Would that signal an upturn in fortunes on the day? Time
would tell.

The crowd went from restless to openly annoyed in the 58th minute when Ayew
lost the ball while attempting a run into the Swansea penalty area, which
was followed quickly by an awful cross from Cresswell, which was then
followed by Noble losing the ball when West Ham were on the offensive. It
was all going quite badly at that time, and West Ham needed a spark.
Something to give the crowd a reason to liven up.

Cue Manuel Lanzini for Noble. I would have taken Ayew off, but what do I
know?

By the 70th minute, something dawned on me. Despite playing the 4-4-2 so
many were asking for, I couldn't recall Hernandez seeing the ball. At all.
Which only added to my concern about what I was watching and what we were in
store for the rest of the season. This squad should look at least like a
competent Premier League side, and we didn't by a country mile.

In the 75th minute, West Ham were extremely fortunate to not go down one-nil
when Olsson ran the ball from the left to the top of the West Ham penalty
area and tried a curling shot on goal. If there had been more curl on that
shot, it would have gone in because Hart was beaten. The fact I was ready to
accept an abject nil-nil draw at that point wasn't a good omen.

I scared the absolute life out of my poor cat in the 86th minute when
Masuaku sent a low cross into the box that Carroll got a little touch on and
curled a shot towards goal. Fabianski didn't move, and the ball looked to
move in slow motion as it floated and then banged against the post. I
slammed my fists on the desk holding up my IPad, causing it to fall down. My
electronics looked a lot like my team.

If there has been one man on West Ham that has made a difference when he has
come on this season it has been Masuaku. The past few matches have seen him
deployed as a substitution on the left side of midfield. He has shown skill
and endeavor, particularly with his crossing. In the 89th minute, he made a
run down the left that looked almost exactly like the one he did last week
to set up Kouyate's goal. Today, he delivered a ball that beat two or three
Swansea defenders and Sakho was there to tuck it in to the top corner of the
net.

Final Score
West Ham 1
Swansea 0

"What a good change from the manager. Well done the manager. Great change.
The manager has made an inspirational decision for me" said Tony Gale. I'd
add the Sakho inclusion to that commentary, because those two made the
difference to me. And despite the concerns that remain for me about Bilic,
he was the man that made those changes so he must be applauded for them.

There was a very famous basketball coach and executive for the Boston
Celtics named Red Auerbach. Think of him as the Fergie of basketball. He won
more NBA Championships than I can even count. One of his best players, and
one of the best players in the history of the sport was John Havlicek. And
he almost never started a game. In fact, the NBA has an award for the best
"Sixth Man" that was created in his honor. Auerbach used to say he didn't
care who started a game for him, that it was more important who finished it.
Maybe Bilic could borrow that ideal and twist it a bit because for me the
eleven who finished the match deserve to wear the shirt in two weeks. Or
maybe not.

I'm just happy we won.

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http://vyperz.blogspot.com

Daily WHUFC News - 1st October 2017

Sakho strikes at the death to sink Swans
WHUFC.com

West Ham United 1 - 0 Swansea City
Premier League

West Ham United left it late but secured their second Premier League victory
of the season as Diafra Sakho's 90th minute goal proved enough to see off
Swansea City. The points looked destined to be shared on an afternoon of few
chances at London Stadium, but the Hammers finally found the key to unlock
the Swans defence at the death with Arthur Masuaku delivering and Sakho
finishing. Victory was West Ham's second in three home games and sees them
sign-off for the international break having taken seven points from four
September games. The Hammers started with Andy Carroll and Chicharito in
attack together, but it was the hosts' two wide players who combined for the
afternoon's first opportunity. There were four minutes on the clock when
Andre Ayew sent over a deep cross from the left. Michail Antonio volleyed
down into the ground and Swans keeper Lukasz Fabianski dived to his right to
push the ball away. Ten minutes later, the Chicharito-Carroll pairing posed
a threat, as the former controlled in the area and laid back to Carroll, but
the No9's shot took a heavy deflection and was easily smothered by
Fabianski. Swansea countered to the other end, and Wilfried Bony let fly
from range, forcing Joe Hart to dive to his left to parry. Seven minutes
later, Renato Sanches made a break into space from midfield, heading towards
the edge of the area before passing left to Tom Carroll. The shot was on,
but Pablo Zabaleta closed down the space quickly to block on the slide. And
that was about that for a first half in which both sides struggled to find
the spark needed in the final third to make the difference.

Swansea went for a change of plan at the break, introducing Leroy Fer for
Bony, but it was West Ham who were the first to go close when a deep cross
from the right found Carroll in space, but the home striker couldn't quite
catch up with it and toed wide. Still chances were at a premium though, so
just past the hour Slaven Bilic turned to his bench to give Manuel Lanzini
his first home run-out of the season in place of Mark Noble. With 15 minutes
to go Swansea's Martin Olsson went close with a right-foot curler from the
edge of the area which just missed the far post. Eleven minutes later, the
Hammers went yet closer as Masuaku delivered a bouncing cross from the left
and Carroll guided it goalwards with his left boot, only to see the shot
bounce off the crossbar and away to safety. It looked as though the goal
would not come, but a minute from time the deadlock was broken as two of
Bilic's subs combined. Masuaku did brilliantly to head towards the by-line
and fashion space for a cross, and his low, pacy delivery was left on a
plate for Sakho to slide home at the far post.

West Ham United: Hart, Zabaleta, Reid, Fonte, Cresswell, Antonio, Noble (C)
(Lanzini 62), Kouyate, Ayew (Masuaku 78), Chicharito (Sakho 78), Carroll
Subs: Adrian (GK), Ogbonna, Byram, Rice
Goal: Sakho 90
Booked: Kouyate, Carroll, Sakho

Swansea City: Fabianski, Naughton, Fernandez, Mawson, Olsson (Clucas 87),
Sanches, Carroll, Britton (C) (Mesa 69), Ayew, Abraham, Bony (Fer 46)
Subs: Nordfeldt (GK), van der Hoorn, Narsingh, Rangel
Booked: Sanches

Referee: Roger East
Attendance: 56,922

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Bilic vindicated by substitute Sakho's strike
WHUFC.com

Slaven Bilic felt vindicated after his three substitutes combined to score a
vital 1-0 Premier League victory over Swansea City. West Ham United produced
a listless first-half performance at London Stadium, leading to the Hammers
being booed off by an unimpressed Claret and Blue Army at half-time. Bilic
admitted he and his players deserved to be criticised, but hailed their
ability to come out after the break and produce a better display, inspired
by the introductions of Manuel Lanzini, Arthur Masuaku and match-winner
Diafra Sakho from the bench. "We deserved to be booed," said the manager,
who was criticised in some parts for his substitutions in last weekend's 3-2
home defeat by Tottenham Hotspur. "The fans pay their money and they are
entitled to their opinion and we didn't play good in the first half. In
fact, we were poor. It wasn't good enough. "On the substitutions, it's all
about the decisions that you make and if you are not happy about the
position and you believe in something, you should not be worried about
booing. "It was ten minutes to go and sometimes, a lot of times, it's not
about how the players play on the pitch, but that you have quality players
on the bench who can change the game and lift us, and that's what we did
with Manu Lanzini, then with Arthur and with Sakho, and it was what lifted
us and it was definitely a good decision. "We did the same against
Huddersfield and it worked. We did the same against Spurs and it didn't turn
the game around, but it helped. Also today, you have to believe in your
players from the bench and it was the right thing to do."

West Ham's victory was secured with 45 seconds of normal time remaining when
Masuaku collected a pass from Lanzini, drove past Kyle Naughton and crossed
low and hard for Sakho to slam home at the far post. All three had been
introduced after half-time and Bilic observed that his team got a noticeable
lift from their arrival on the pitch. "It's a great three points for us," he
said. "It's a clean sheet, so nobody can say that we didn't deserve it
because, as the game was dragging on in the second half, I had the feeling
that it was more us that was going to score the goal. "In the second half it
was better, especially when we made some changes and we had Lanzini on the
pitch, because Lanzini is the one that we have been missing so much. He
takes the whole team up in dangerous areas.
"We knew we needed to get into dangerous positions on the wings, so that's
why we made the change by bringing on Arthur and Diafra. "We stopped them
having the ball, we stopped them counter-attacking and we put some good
balls in. From one, we hit the crossbar and from the second one, we scored
the great and very important goal for us."

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Sakho: I'm just happy!
WHUFC.com

Diafra Sakho was delighted to score the winning goal against Swansea City on
Saturday - in more ways than one. First and foremost, he was thrilled to
play his part in securing a vital three points for his team, sliding in at
the far post to convert Arthur Masuaku's pinpoint cross. Secondly, the
Senegal frontman was happy to send a valued colleague off with a nice
leaving present after dedicating his goal to masseur Will Storey, who leaves
the Hammers this week after spending nearly a decade with the Club over two
spells. "I'm just happy," Sakho beamed. "I'm happy for the team to win the
game, and it's a very important moment for all the players to win before the
international break. "I worked with Will Storey for three years and he has
looked after me with the massages. I'm sad that he is leaving the Club, but
happy that I scored the goal for him. "He does everything for me -
stretching, massage - and every day when I come in he gives me a smile. "If
I could I would keep him at the Club for a lot of years and I want to thank
him for all the support and help he has given me. "Before I went on I told
him I would score for him. I did, so I'm happy!"

Sakho will now head to international duty with Senegal with a spring in his
step, hoping to earn his first caps for his country in nearly three years
when they take on the Cape Verde Islands next week. "The national team need
my help, and I'm looking forward to showing the fans that I'm here and
hopefully I can score one or two goals for them," he added. "I hope to score
more goals for West Ham when I'm back as well!"

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Cooper: Ladies will fight to change fortunes against Lewes
WHUFC.com

West Ham United Ladies are desperate to use this weekend's match with Lewes
as a way to change their season around and get some more points on the
board, according to captain Amy Cooper. An unfortunate run of results has
left Greg De Carnys's side without a victory since the home win against
Cardiff in August, while a late penalty last weekend stopped the Ladies from
claiming a hard-fought draw against Portsmouth. Cooper has bemoaned a few of
those games as not reflecting the team's true ability but acknowledges that
the West Ham Ladies now need to get some more points to push up the league.
The captain told whufc.com: "We've all been training really hard so
hopefully we can get a result that we need and a result that we deserve.
There's been a couple of games where we feel our efforts haven't quite
matched what we've taken from the game, but we're eager to change that this
weekend. "It's important we put on a big performance on Sunday, and show
just what we're capable of as a team. Obviously, recent performances haven't
been what we've wanted and we really need some points to get our season up
and running."

The midfielder missed the match on Sunday with Portsmouth but is eager to
return to the field and help her team get a win this weekend. "I can't wait
to get back on the field," she admitted: "I was absolutely gutted to miss
out against Portsmouth, and that I couldn't help the girls, but it will be
great to get back on the pitch.
"I'm excited to support the girls and hopefully put on a good personal
performance."

With the backing given to the Ladies in the summer, and a new long-term
project in place, West Ham are eager to prove they belong higher up the
league and up the divisions. Cooper is adamant that those ambitions are
still in place but also admits that the side needs to recognise their
current situation, and work together to grind out more results. She
insisted: "Our aspirations remain the same. We want to be fighting at the
top of the table. "But we also have to take stock of where we are and just
get some points on the board. Hopefully we can do that against Lewes and
climb up the table."

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Hart: We fought hard for Swansea success
WHUFC.com

Joe Hart hailed the fighting spirit in the West Ham United squad after
Saturday's 1-0 Premier League victory over Swansea City. While the
goalkeeper said the Hammers were 'relieved' to achieve their second
top-flight win of the season, courtesy of substitute Diafra Sakho's
90th-minute goal, he was also honest enough to admit that they did not
produce their best at London Stadium. But, having kept three clean sheets in
his last four top-flight appearances, Hart says there are foundations on
which to build when he and his teammates return to action after the
international break. "We're relieved, of course we are," Hart began. "It was
a difficult game and a strange game and it's not going to get a lot of
air-time, understandably. "It was important that we stuck together as a
group. It was a difficult atmosphere, but we stuck at it and got an
important win. "We've just got to focus on the win. We've picked up seven
points since the last international break with two wins, a draw and a loss,
which is good. We stuck together as a group of players and staff and
hopefully the fans have gone home happy, but it's a difficult one to assess.
"I'm never going to criticise the fans. Their entitled to their opinion as
they pay good money, they come here and expect good and big things from us.
"The one thing I can't criticise is the team's effort. It was not quality, I
was not high quality today, but the effort was there. We're not quite doing
it at the moment, but hopefully it'll come if we all stick together as a
group and we're going to pick up wins. "We've not been fluid all year, but
we're searching and working hard. Confidence is huge in football. If you're
going to us [my England teammate] Harry [Kane] as an example, he's scored
goals and now there's no stopping the guy. "The only way we're going to get
more confident is if we pick up wins, we stick together as a team and we
keep clean sheets and move forward."

Hart saved his praise for substitutes Sakho, Manuel Lanzini and Arthur
Masuaku, who combined superbly in the 90th minute to secure a
morale-boosting victory for their team. "We stick together, we train hard
and fight for each other and we fought on Saturday," the goalkeeper
continued. "We didn't play particularly well, but we fought. "The changes
were brilliant. Arthur came on and changed the game for us, it was good to
have Manuel Lanzini back and you can't ask for much more than what Diaf gave
us. "It's been difficult for him after the issues he had at the end of the
transfer window, but he's come in, he's scored goals in the Carabao Cup and
when he got his chance, he won us the game. A lot of praise should go to
him, because he has settled a very nervy affair and sent a lot of people
into the international break feeling happy."

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Back five set foundation for Swansea success
WHUFC.com

Arthur Masuaku and Diafra Sakho will rightly take the headlines from the 1-0
Premier League win over Swansea City. However, the foundations for
Saturday's success were laid by the back four and goalkeeper Joe Hart, who
produced another solid performance at London Stadium. West Ham United made
it four clean sheets in their last five games in all competitions, with
Hart, Pablo Zabaleta, Winston Reid, Jose Fonte and Aaron Cresswell standing
firm to restrict Swansea to just six goal attempts and a single shot
on-target - a first-half effort from 30 yards from Wilfried Bony that the
goalkeeper dealt with comfortably. In front of him, Fonte was the
statistical stand-out, with the Portugal centre-back making eight
clearances, four interceptions and winning a tackle. To his right, Zabaleta
continued to build his reputation among the Claret and Blue Army with
another committed, composed performance at full-back. The Argentina
international was on the front foot all afternoon, winning a team-high five
tackles, making two interceptions and blocking a goal-bound shot from Tom
Carroll to keep the game goalless.
Alongside Fonte, Reid was at his consistent, physically-dominating best,
making a team-high 14 clearances - twice as many as Swansea leader Alfie
Mawson's seven. At left-back, Cresswell put his body on the line when he
thundered into a first-half challenge with Renato Sanches, winning the 50/50
and risking injury when his shin collided with the Portugal midfielder's
boot. The No3 also delivered two key passes - the same number as the man who
provided the assist for Sakho's winner, his fellow substitute Masuaku.
Masuaku was undoubtedly effective when he emerged from the bench with 16
minutes remaining, completing all five of his passes and both of his
crosses, including the pinpoint delivery for Sakho's last-minute winner.
Talking of accuracy, Manuel Lanzini was almost perfect, with 21 of his 22
passes reaching their intended target for a 95.5 per cent completion rate.
The Argentina star also embarked on two successful dribbles, adding new
impetus to West Ham's play when they needed it most. Cresswell and Zabaleta
also put in the hard yards for their team, literally, covering 10.63km and
10.44km, putting them third and fourth in distance covered behind teammate
Michail Antonio, whose 11.31km led his team ahead of Cheikhou Kouyate's
10.93km. For the record, Antonio also made 79 sprints to lead his team.

Overall, West Ham covered nearly 3.5km more ground than Swansea - 110.27km
to 106.81km - showing that, while their performance may not have been
vintage, the home side certainly did not shirk on the hard work required to
win a Premier League match.

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West Ham 1-0 Swansea: Substitute Diafra Sakho scores vital late winner
By James Kilpatrick
Last Updated: 30/09/17 7:49pm
SSN

Diafra Sakho scored a late winner to lift West Ham out of the relegation
zone and condemned Swansea to another late loss. West Ham's two substitutes
Arthur Masuaku and Sakho combined for the Senegal international to convert a
low cross to hand the hosts a crucial victory. Swansea, who were strong
defensively throughout the match, will feel hard done by after conceding
another last minute winner, but the result means West Ham jump up to 15th in
the table, with the visitors dropping into the relegation zone in 17th. The
contest started in an open fashion with both keen to set the tempo early.
Michail Antonio had the game's first chance as he slammed a volley into the
ground which Lukas Fabianski did well to parry away. Ten minutes later, and
Wilfried Bony's driven shot from outside the box was strongly punched clear
by Joe Hart.

Man of the match: Alfie Mawson

Swansea's Renato Sanches got himself into hot water after he raised his
studs in a late challenge on Aaron Cresswell, forcing referee Roger East to
issue a yellow card. Otherwise, it was a slow half with plenty of sloppy
play evident from both teams. West Ham came out a revitalised side in the
second-half and nearly took the lead seven minutes in as Antonio's dangerous
ball was aimed at the back post for Andy Carroll, but he couldn't quite make
the connection. The game entered a very scrappy period until Martin Olsson
came close for Swansea with a curled effort from outside the box which went
agonisingly wide of Hart's left post.

West Ham continually pushed to break open the deadlock, with plenty of long
balls up to Carroll, but Alfie Mawson did extremely well all afternoon to
contain their target man. Carroll did hit the woodwork in the 85th minute
with a first-time shot following Masuaku's cross in what was arguably their
closest chance in the match.

But substitute Sakho would produce the heroics in the 89th minute. Masuaku
went on a fine run down the left flank, driving past Kyle Naughton, before
playing a lethal ball across the goalmouth for the Senegal forward to tap in
and give West Ham their second victory of the season.

Opta stats

This game produced a total of just 15 shots; only Burnley v Huddersfield on
September 23rd saw fewer in the top-flight this season (13).
West Ham have registered three clean sheets in their last four Premier
League games, after managing none in the five before that.
Swansea have still never kept an away clean sheet at West Ham, conceding 75
goals in 32 games in all competitions, stretching back to an FA Cup match in
1922 (W2 D7 L23).
The Swans conceded their first away Premier League goal in 495 minutes of
action, since Wayne Rooney scored for Man Utd against the Swans on April
30th.

The pundit - Paul Merson

"I think it has saved Bilic's job, yes. I thought with ten minutes to go
that he could go. It was the performance. "Then he made the substitutions.
He brought off Hernandez and the crowd went mad. But it went to plan, as the
two subs worked a treat. Swansea don't get the ball forward quick enough.
Their one shot was from 25 yards."

Man of the Match - Alfie Mawson

Although he was on the losing side, Alfie Mawson produced a confident
performance at centre back and did an excellent job of containing Andy
Carroll, who was arguably one of West Ham's most dangerous players
throughout the 90 minutes. He successfully beat Carroll to a number of
crucial headers and was positionally aware throughout the game. The
23-year-old was unlucky to be on the losing side.

The managers

Slaven Bilic: "It's all about the squad and it showed today because the
substitutes made a huge impact. "We started well and on the front foot, but
after that they had much more of the ball and we were losing it with simple
passes. It drains the confidence out of the players. "We are under pressure
and the players feel it but at least we showed the determination, character
and teamwork and that's what gave us the three points today."

Paul Clement: "We're clearly frustrated to concede a goal in the last
minute. Over the course of the game we were very much in it and we were the
better side, particularly in the first half when we had good control of the
game and got the ball forward in the attacking third. "What was missing for
us was the first and second bit of quality that you needed to convert good
opportunities."

What's next?

West Ham travel to Turf Moor to face Burnley in the Premier League next
weekend. Swansea, meanwhile, play Huddersfield at home on the same day.

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West Ham open talks with teenage star Domingos Quina over contract extension
to keep him at London Stadium
The Hammers are determined to keep one of their most promising youngsters
and give him a long-term deal
The Mirror
BYJOHN CROSS
11:40, 1 OCT 2017UPDATED11:42, 1 OCT 2017

West Ham have opened talks about a contract extension for teenage midfielder
Domingos Quina. Quina, 17, is seen as one of West Ham's most promising
youngsters and the club are keen to tie him down to a longer deal.
Portuguese starlet Quina's current deal expires in 2019 and West Ham want to
make sure his progress is rewarded. Quina was a regular on the bench last
season and was given a chance in the League Cup this season. West Ham
managed to sign him ahead of Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United while
Paris Saint German have been keeping tabs. The Hammers want to make sure
Quina stays with them with bigger clubs still looking at him as one of
Europe's most exciting young midfielders.

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Carlton Cole has not heard from Crystal Palace but is open to a transfer
Last Updated: 01/10/17 12:47pm
SSN

Carlton Cole admits he has not heard from Crystal Palace but is open to a
move to the Premier League strugglers. The 33-year-old has been without a
club since leaving Indonesian side Persib Bandung last month and is keen to
play in England again. Cole has made 398 career appearances, scoring 86
goals for eight different clubs including a nine-year stint at West Ham. And
with Crystal Palace having failed to score in the Premier League this
season, he has been linked to a move. Cole was the special guest on Goals on
Sunday, and he says there has been no contact from Palace, but would
consider a move to the south London club if the opportunity presented
itself. "I've not heard anything," he said. "You never know what happens in
football. Clubs need strikers to take the pressure off. Obviously I'm here
and ready to go."
Cole believes he is still capable of scoring goals in the Premier League,
despite his advancing years. He added: "I don't know what's going on
[regarding his agent fixing a move] to be honest. I'm just waiting for a
phone call to see if a team is ready for me to go there and see where that
takes me. "I'm scoring goals and playing up front in the Premier League is
hard but I obviously think I've got what it takes and I know what it takes.
It's all rumours at the moment so we'll keep it like that. "I want to stay
in England. I don't want to go abroad anymore, I've done that. Anything
close to home would be good for me."

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http://vyperz.blogspot.com

Daily WHUFC News II - 30th September 2017

Creator-in-chief Lanzini gives Bilic attacking options
WHUFC.com

Manuel Lanzini's return to the West Ham United squad gives manager Slaven Bilic welcome selection and tactical headaches. Bilic has confirmed the Argentina playmaker is back in the matchday squad for Saturday's Premier League fixture with Swansea City at London Stadium, immediately and markedly increasing the Hammers' threat. To give some indication of Lanzini's importance to West Ham's play in the middle and final thirds of the pitch, the No10 led his team in virtually every attacking category last season. Lanzini created more Premier League chances than any other Hammer in 2016/17 with 56, nearly twice as many as second-highest Michail Antonio's 31. Unsurprisingly, he also played more key passes (54) than any of his teammates. The skilful South American played more forward passes (877) attempted (1,564) and completed (1,367) more passes than any other midfielder or winger, giving him a team-high 87 per cent pass-completion, and serving as further evidence of his incredible influence. He also scored, too, netting eight to finish second to Antonio in West Ham's goalscoring charts last term.
While it is not quantifiable, Lanzini also possesses the invaluable ability to keep the ball in tight situations, using his outstanding technique, impeccable close control and low centre of gravity to wriggle out of trouble and keep his team on the front foot.

So, with the diminutive star now available for selection after recovering from a knee injury, the challenge for Bilic is to work out how to best utilise his unique talents. Statistically and numerically, Lanzini's best position is as a No10, playing in the space behind the centre forwards and between the opposition's defence and midfield. But, in recent weeks, Bilic has opted to use a 3-4-3 formation, with two central midfielders sitting slightly deeper and the attacking work being done by a centre forward – either Andy Carroll or Chicharito – and two wide forwards – Antonio, Chicharito, Andre Ayew or Marko Arnautovic.

All four wide forwards mentioned are versatile and could adapt to a change in system, and the Croatian may be tempted to revert to the 4-2-3-1 shape he used 12 times last season to accommodate Lanzini in his preferred position. Alternatively, he may choose to stick with the three-man defence that has helped shore up the back line, meaning Lanzini would most likely be deployed as one of two attacking midfielders in a 3-4-2-1 formation. Antonio, who is himself in line to feature after recovering from the minor groin problem he suffered last weekend, and Arnautovic both impressed against Tottenham Hotspur and will be disappointed not to be selected from the start. The same can be said for Chicharito, who scored against Spurs, Ayew, who netted in the home win over Huddersfield Town, and Carroll, who has netted five goals in six appearances against Swansea in Claret and Blue. With captain Noble and Kouyate also available, whichever formation he opts for, Bilic has eight senior players vying for five or six places in his team, including the most creative member of his squad, Manuel Lanzini.

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Hammers legends to be honoured at Champions Place
WHUFC.com

Three West Ham United legends are to be permanently honoured at London Stadium when the second phase of Champions Place stones are installed in early October.

Alan Sealey, Frank Lampard Sr and Alan Devonshire have been confirmed as the latest former players to have their career and achievements recognised at our iconic home.

Their images will be placed alongside the thousands of specially-engraved supporters' stones, inscribed with personalised messages at the north-east corner of London Stadium.

Over 1,000 Champions Place stones will be installed in the first phase alongside the three legends from Sunday 1 October, to be in place before the Hammers' first home game after the international break against Brighton & Hove Albion.

A second phase will commence in March, meaning Champions League stones are again available to purchase, giving supporters the chance to take their place in history at the Hammers' home at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Champions Place provides a lasting tribute to all the players and fans, past and present, that have made West Ham the team we love.

Personalised stones are available to order from just £60 – giving you the chance to make your mark at our new home or purchase a unique Hammers Christmas gift.

Alan Sealey will forever be remembered as the goalscoring hero of West Ham United's greatest-ever victory – the 1965 European Cup Winners' Cup final triumph against TSV Munich at Wembley.

The London-born right-winger joined the Hammers from local neighbours Leyton Orient in 1961 and went on to make 126 appearances for the club, scoring 28 goals over the course of six years under legendary manager Ron Greenwood.

Just weeks after his Wembley heroics, Sealey sustained a badly broken leg in a freak training ground accident. The injury severely curtailed his career and he made just a further five appearances for the Hammers before joining Plymouth Argyle in November 1967.

After finishing his playing days with non-league Romford and Bedford, Alan settled back in Essex, but tragically suffered a fatal heart attack at the age of just 53 in February 1996.

Frank Lampard Sr is second only to the great Billy Bonds in the list of all-time appearances for the club, having turned out 670 times in the claret and blue over the course of an 18-year career.

After progressing through the youth ranks, the East Ham-born defender made his debut in a 3-2 defeat against Manchester City at Upton Park on November 18, 1967 and went on to establish himself as one of the most consistent and reliable defenders in the club's history.

Most comfortable at left-back – although he could also play on the right – Lampard is one of only three players, alongside Bonds and Sir Trevor Brooking – to win the FA Cup twice with West Ham, in 1975 and 1980, when he famously scored a memorable extra-time winner in the semi-final against Everton.

Capped twice by England, after leaving in 1985 Lampard later returned to the club as assistant manager to his brother-in-law Harry Redknapp from 1994 to 2001, during which time the Hammers reached the second-highest top flight finish in the club's history and qualified for Europe in 1999.

Alan Devonshire remains one of the most popular and revered midfielders to have worn the claret and blue shirt. Signed from non-league Southall for just £5,000 in September 1976, the slightly-built former Crystal Palace trainee quickly established himself at the highest level.

A skillful, tricky wide player who could use both feet to equal effect and formed an almost telepathic midfield partnership with Trevor Brooking, Devonshire famously provided the cross that led to Brooking's winning goal in the 1980 FA Cup final against Arsenal.

Capped eight times by England, a tally that would have been far greater had he not suffered a serious knee ligament injury during an FA Cup tie against Wigan in January 1984.

Despite the injury ruling him out for more than a year, Devonshire returned to play a key role in the record-breaking 1985-86 campaign and eventually finished up making 448 appearances for the Hammers, scoring 32 goals, before moving to Watford in May 1990.

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WEST HAM V SWANSEA PREVIEW
AUTHOR: EXWHUEMPLOYEE. PUBLISHED: 30 SEPTEMBER 2017 AT 7:36AM
TheWestHamWay.co.uk
Written by @deportivohammer

29/09/2017

Deportivo Potter

Nothing gets under my skin more than losing to Spurs. But as a club and a team we have to put this game behind us very quickly as there is no time to dwell on what might have been. I must admit that at 3 down i feared to worst, I actually felt at the time that we were going to go on and lose by a big margin. Fortunately that didn't happen and what we did see was a little bit of a fight back and while I was disappointed we couldn´t find the final goal, it was not the hammering I feared.

So on to Swansea City who travel to the London Stadium on the back of a home defeat to high flying Watford. They have only managed to win 1 game this season and that was against Crystal Palace who everyone seems to be able to beat this year. But there is a stat that needs to be watched. They have yet to concede a goal while on their travels in the league this year. This tells me they are set up well, and organised. Not good for us. They are 15th in the league and have just the one point more than us and I fully expect them to be at the bottom of the league this year after selling their best 2 players in the summer.

Ex West ham United academy graduate Leon Britton could return to the team after a knee injury while other midfield options , rejected Renato Sanchez and Tammy Abraham are also small doubts for the game. Nathan Dyer is still recovering from an Achilles injury.

West Ham´s form does not read much better but only the 1 defeat in the last 3 games is something to cheer at least But we need to start picking up 3 points in games now and make sure that by Christmas we are not looking over our shoulder. Will Super Slav be given till then? I hope so as that will mean better results.

Good news regarding our injuries Antonio looks to have been declared fit for tomorrows game which is a real boost to the team. His pace and ability to be a goal threat will be vital in what should be an attacking team for us. Manu Lanzini will hopefully be on the bench as will Hernandez who passed a late fitness test. James Collins and Pedro Obiang will both miss this game but are not thought to be long term injuries.

Predicted Line ups :

West Ham United : Hart, Zabaleta, Reid, Fonte, Cresswell, Noble, Kouyate, Arnautovic, Ayew, Antonio and Carroll

Swansea City : Fabianski, Olsson, Mawson, Fernandez, Naughton, Clucas, Mesa, Sanches, Abraham, Ayew, and Bony

Slav has changed from a back 4 and a back 5 so many times this season its hard to keep up but I think he will try and have as many of his attacking players on the pitch as he can which means I think he will start with 4 at the back. Now I think he will play Carroll up top because he always seems to play well against Swansea plus Ayew will be wanting to do well against his old club and his younger brother. Hernandez I hope we get to see at some point but I think our top goalscorer this year will have to make do with a place on the bench for this game. I will also predict that we will go on and win this game comfortably, much like we did in the Huddersfield game with a nice easy

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WHAT ARE THE ODDS: SWANSEA AT HOME?
AUTHOR: EXWHUEMPLOYEE. PUBLISHED: 29 SEPTEMBER 2017 AT 11:02PM
TheWestHamWay.co.uk

Written by Martin Backhouse @martinbackhouse

Let's get it right, we were very lucky not to get embarrassed last weekend. It wasn't pretty even though the result on paper scoreline suggests it was close. However, we move on! We welcome Swansea to the London Stadium on Saturday in what some are saying is a must win. I'll be honest, I think we need to win this too. A draw wouldn't define our season but a win would do absolute wonders for the confidence of the squad going into the international break. We're 10/11 with Betway to win this one, with the draw at 5/2.

We have only lost one of our last nine Premier League games against Swansea (W5 D3), and they have never kept an away clean sheet at us, conceding 74 goals in 31 games in all competitions, stretching back to an FA Cup match in 1922 (W2 D7 L22). Bearing this in mind, it might be worth a bet on a 1-0 or 2-0 correct score at 11/2 and 7/1 respectively. These two choices are also backed up by the fact that the Swans have allowed their opponents 72 more shots in total & 23 more shots on target than they have attempted themselves in the Premier League this season; the biggest negative differential by a team in 2017-18 so far. They've also scored just three goals and attempted 10 shots on target in the Premier League this season; the same goal tally as Javier Hernandez (3) who has attempted seven shots on target alone.

Talking of the Mexican, he has now scored 40 Premier League goals – all inside the box. The only players with more goals in the competition to have all come from inside the box are John Terry (41) and Tim Cahill (56). Our sponsors have priced him up at 4/1 to score first, 6/4 anytime. Rumour has it he'll start on the bench on Saturday. I hope we play him and Carroll up top together to be honest but I'm not hopeful. Does this mean a return to the starting line-up for Manuel Lanzini? I hope we don't rush him back so a place on the bench would be fantastic. He's available at 13/5 anytime if anyone wants to put their faith in our jewel. Andy Carroll has been involved in eight goals in six Premier League games against Swansea for us, scoring five goals and assisting three. Carroll has been involved in six of the eight home goals we have scored against the Swans in the Premier League (three goals, three assists). He's 4/1 to find the net first, 13/8 anytime.

As you may or may not know, Betway have started to price up some extra markets for West Ham games. There's only one as I type this, and that's odds of 14/1 for West Ham to win, West Ham to have more corners than Swansea, Noble to get carded and Chicharito to score.

I'll be lumping on a West Ham win at 10/11 this weekend; it's going to happen! Good luck with your bets! COYI

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BIG SAM WOULD HAVE MADE A FAR BETTER FIST OF THINGS WITH THE SQUAD THAT SLAVEN HAS AT HIS DISPOSAL
AUTHOR: EXWHUEMPLOYEE. PUBLISHED: 29 SEPTEMBER 2017 AT 10:07PM
TheWestHamWay.co.uk
Written by @farehamhammer

We play it on the floor, we play it on the floor, we are West Ham United and we play it on the floor, The Cusp ear episode, the self-egotistical approach to management. It is easy to see why certain sections of our fan base, didn't take to well to Sam Allardyce. Like him or loathe him, one would have to concede that Sam Allardyce, with the help of Kevin Nolan dragged The Club up by the proverbial jockstraps. The Club had just been relegated under Avram Grant, and was out for the count when Allardyce, took the managerial reigns at The Boleyn Ground. That we are an established Premier League Club is down to one man and that is 'Sam Allardyce'. Now I'm not advocating that we bring Allardyce back to The Club by any means, but I am in no doubt that he would have made a better fist of things, with the squad that Slaven has at his disposal! Than Slaven has done! I will go as far as to say, if Allardyce had been manager in our final season at The Boleyn Ground, with Payet and Lanzini playing at the top of their game. We would have qualified directly for the UEFA League.

Hands up, I was one of those who bought into Slaven, being one of us having played for The Club, and having managed the very attractive Croatian team. I was about to witness the much fabled West Ham 'way' football. Wonderfully inventive football on the deck. My own personal experience of The West Ham 'way', being pitching up at the likes of Charlton, Reading, Blackburn, Bolton and Luton Town, then losing 4-0 or 5-0 and the rest. Players taking the piss, and not bothering their arse, cheating on West Ham and The Club's supporters. I had nagging doubts about Slaven before he signed, but in the euphoria of it all, I put that to the back of my mind. Besiktas supporters had warned us that he would start of well off well but would fade away soon, he would fall out with players, would make poor substitutions and was not the best tactically. I also remembered how easily Fabio Cappello, had outwitted him when he was England manager. England beat Croatia 5-1 in Zagreb, Bilic having no answers, just standing arms folded in the rain. Still it was all about Super Slav and Big bad Sam, when Bilic became The Club manager. I defended him to the hilt, loved the guy's passion, and still do.

Sadly passion does not make you a good football manager. We have resembled an absolute shambles on the pitch lacking in fitness, shape, unbalanced and prone to basic school boy errors. That's what happens when players lose confidence. They may like Slaven as a person, but belief in him as a football manager, has been on the wane for the best part of sixteen months. Six wins in 25 games speaks for itself. All sorts of excuses have been made for Bilic. Squad not good enough, injuries, Sullivan not landing the manager's top targets and acting effectively as Director of Football. Yes Carvalho was not landed, and the squad is three or four players short of having a top squad. As for interference by Sullivan, no sympathy for Slaven. He had no problem outing Dimitri Payet, so I presume he would be prepared to take Sullivan to task, if he was out of order.

And Sullivan's role as director of football? I have always been of the opinion that the manager should have the final say in transfers. I still do. But I also understand why Sullivan, and a few others have an input regards Club transfers. One of the greatest myths is that Bilic identified Dimitri Payet. No he didn't. Payet was first identified by Allardyce and his team, as far back as 2013. It was David Sullivan who brought Payet to The Club. While interviewing Marcelo Bielsa, for the vacant managerial position, he asked Bielsa, if he could bring one player to The Club who it would be. Bielsa identified Payet. The rest is history. What made me really baulk, was when Slaven, tried to bring in Atiba Hutchinson 34 to The Club for eight million pounds. That on the back of bringing Gokhan Tore to The Club. The player arriving on a very expensive loan deal and big wages. So one can understand why Sullivan, wants a hands on role as far as transfers are concerned. Although he has not got a perfect squad, you can bet your bottom dollar, Bilic would be laughed out of town by Sam Allardyce, and if he complained about the hand he has been dealt! Bilic has a squad at his disposal that Sam Allardyce could only have dreamed of, during his tenure as manager of The Club. He would have the squad organised and playing good football! Yes football was dire under Big Sam at times, but make no mistake, it's been just as bad if not worse under Bilic. The big difference being, the quality of player at Sam's disposal, has been far inferior to what Bilic has had. Whether one likes it or not that is a fact. Big Sam would have the likes Ayew, Arnautovic, Hernandez, playing at the top of their game. It would have been a happy and motivated squad, a squad that knew exactly what they were doing and what was expected of them individually.

Given quality players, Allardyce will give you any style of football you want. Speak to Sunderland and Palace fans, they will confirm that. Wilfred Zaha, the talented but enigmatic Crystal Palace winger, admits that he enjoyed and played his best football under Big Sam. He would have made the likes of Lanzini an even better player. One of the great myths spouted about Allardyce, is that he does not like flair players, and wouldn't have been able to attract big name players to the squad. Well you don't attract the likes of Okocha, Djorkaeff, Campo, and Anelka if you are a crap manager. Those are quality players, whom Sam Allardyce got the very best out of. I'm afraid if I was having a party, Slaven, Jack Daniels and Guns n Roses would be the one, however if I had a choice between the two to manage my football club. It's Sam Allardyce who would have been by choice. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, moving to The London Stadium was never going to take The Club instantly to the 'next' level. How could it? When the majority shareholder, David Sullivan has liquid assets of roughly £500m.

It was always going to take time for the extra revenue, created from the move to The London Stadium to kick in. It's going to take steady growth, as more money becomes available we will be able to attract a better class of player. Which will see us climb the table. We may not have landed all our transfer targets, no Club does. But we have should be far higher up the table than we are. The buck stops with the manager. I just cannot see things improving long term under Slaven Bilic, we may win a few on the bounce. But it will always be a case of two steps forward, and three steps back under the likeable Croatian. Whether it is now or the end of the season, The Board is going to have to appoint a new manager. It is going to be a hugely important appointment, we will have spent two years at The London Stadium, and should be ready to compete with some of the bigger clubs. I just hope they ignore social media, that also lead to a lot of negative opinion regards Allardyce for starters. Poll after poll: Should The Manager stay or go. People with agendas. Negativity on the internet spreads like cancer believe you me. I have said it once and will say it again. Forget Rafa and the rest as manager! Brendan Rodgers would be a perfect fit as West Ham manager. Big Sam? He would be looking at the youth we have coming through and our squad, sigh and think: if only. Enjoy the game tomorrow! Remember to take your seat early. The Board are having a minute's applause for Hugh Hefner! Only kidding 😊!

We are more than a football club, we're a way of life!

COYI!!

Farehamhammer!!!
(Edited By Danny Twigg)

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West Ham United v Swansea City
KUMB.com
Filed: Friday, 29th September 2017
By: Preview Percy

Preview Percy takes a look at our last match before the forthcoming international break. So if you want to know what links the collapse of civilisation as we know it with Swansea City, here might be a good place to start. Maybe.....

In a turn up for the books we find ourselves at home for the second week running – nothing to do with the fact that we were late starting at home I am told, just a quirk of the computer. We will be hosting Swansea City. Kick-off is gloriously at 3pm on Saturday (don't get used to it). Trains? Well Shenfield, Wickford Witham and Colchester all feature large on the disruption list this weekend so, as ever, check before you leave.

Swansea then or, if you prefer, Abertawe. Currently 15th in the table with 5 points from their 6 played thus far, leaving them three places and one point above us with their 1-2-3 record. The one win that has come their way this season was the 2-0 defeat of Palace, an achievement for which I understand that they are considering not awarding points in the future. The other two points gained so far have come from goalless draws, both on the road, firstly at Southampton on the opening day of the season and then a couple of weeks back at the Bobby Moore Stadium against Spurs. With the Palace win also coming away from home they are in the unique position of having won all their points this season abroad. Palace's failure to score in any of their matches this season may well have deflected attention away from the fact that Swansea have netted just the three times in the league this term, suggesting that a point might be their first priority this weekend.

According to the work-experience kid of as yet-to-be determined gender wearing a hoodie who seems only able to communicate with some strange grunting noises, they did bring in a number of strikers during the window as the likes of Fernando Llorente disappeared in the direction of the Severn Bridge en route to being allowed to elbow Andy Carroll. I was most disturbed to hear about the re-arrival at the Liberty of former player Wilfried Bony. Nothing against the chap himself and clearly things weren't working out at Man City for him – so much so that even a loan period at Stoke seemed attractive. I'm not even put out by the size of the fee - £12m for a player they had sold for £25m looks decent business on the face of it. No, the thing that annoys me to the extent that we should all march on Parliament to demand a points deduction the equivalent of a small nation's defence budget is this: on his return he has taken the squad number "2". This is just plain wrong on every level. I appreciate that squad numbers are here to stay and that we have become used to people "making the coveted no.37 shirt their own" but dear lord the first eleven shirts ought to at least bear some nod to tradition. Your no.2 ought to be your right back. Or at the very least a defender. You can't stick a no.2 shirt on the back of a centre forward. It's just not right. Civilisation will collapse you mark my words.

The other principal striker brought in came in courtesy of the statutory loan from Chelsea in the form of Tammy Abraham. Abraham impressed on loan (of course) at Bristol City last season and, for all I know, is a perfectly decent young fellow. However, as regular readers will know, this column despairs of the names given to modern footballers. Back in the day your right-back – wearing the no.2 shirt of course was often a balding bloke called Bert. Whatever your inside forward (in the no.10 shirt) was called it certainly wasn't a girl's name like "Tammy". Further investigation from the work-experience kid of as yet-to-be determined gender wearing a hoodie who seems only able to communicate with some strange grunting noises shows that the player's first name is actually "Kevin" and that the "Tammy" bit is short for Tamarebi, deriving from the player's Nigerian heritage. I guess "Kevin" is just a bit too dull for the modern pampered player of today. It was good enough for Kevin Lock who won a Cup Winner's medal back in '75 though, although granted he did have a bit of a girly haircut at the time. Abraham (to get back on topic please - ed) netted 23 times in 41 league appearances for Bristol City earning him both their young player and player of the season gongs and he has been capped by England at U18, U19 and U21 level. On hearing of his ancestry there were recent rumours that the Nigerian FA were to come-a-knocking and these rumours were followed by further rumours that the player might respond positively to such overtures. However the player himself acted promptly to declare that he wanted to continue in the England system. Although only a youngster (19) he has adapted well to the lifestyle of the young professional footballer and already has an incident of driving without a licence or insurance incident under his belt.

The other loan arrival was Portuguese midfielder Renato (dangerously close to a girl's name that) Sanches. Sanches was awarded the "Young Player Of The Tournament" trophy at the conclusion of Euro16 as part of the victorious Portugal side that defeated France in the final. He missed out on this summer's Confederations Cup tournament held in Russia having been sent to Poland to take part in the U21 Euro tournament. Whether the player had been sent to the kids as an attempt to bolster the junior squad or as a reflection of poor form is a reasonable question to pose. Having made a €35-80m (around £30-70m depending on how stingy Thomas Cook were being that day) transfer from Benfica to Bayern prior to Euro16, he failed to make much of an impression in Bavari,a with Lothar Matthaus being quoted as describing the player as "one of the three worst" in Germany last season. Don't hold back Lothar – speak your mind mate. Now depending on whose version you believe Slav was offered Sanches during the "not signing Carvalho" debacle, an offer which, if true, sort of makes you wonder if anyone actually realised just how different Carvalho and Sanches are in terms of position played. It's a bit like going in to sign Lionel Messi and being offered a goalkeeper instead.

Sanches ended up on loan at Swansea, starting the 1-0 home defeat to Newcastle. It's fair to say that it wasn't quite the dream debut he might have wanted. Carrying what is euphemistically referred to as "a bit of timber" he proceeded to give the ball away on numerous occasions before being replaced, leading to what most people have described as "mixed reports" in the press. The reports weren't mixed – they were universally poor.

They also rescued Sam Clucas from Hull as they were circling the plughole en route to the Championship. Clucas has an interesting CV. Starting off at Lincoln City he dropped out of the league having appeared only in cup competitions for the Imps. He joined the Glenn Hoddle Academy, an organisation which, in between telling players how to earn a living as a football pundit despite having nothing interesting or intelligent to say about the game, also takes players who have fallen out of the league system and prepares them for a return to the pro ranks. At the time the Academy had a tie-in with the marvellously named Jerez Industrial who were plying their trade in the Spanish 4th Division. Returning to England he had spells with Hereford, Mansfield and Chesterfield. He signed for Hull in 2015 for £1.3m and left them this summer for over ten times that amount (£15m) which represents a good profit for the Tigers. However the best thing about the player is the fact that he has a cap – just the one mind – for the England C team, the existence of which is always a delight to those of us who live in the Avram Grant Olympic Rest Home For The Bewildered.

Us? Disappointing last week. We didn't play well for the middle third of the game which is when all the damage was done. However, one rather got the impression that the officials were determined to make our part in proceedings an irrelevance. Back in the day when the offside law was first formulated (ah yes I remember it well) the idea was to put paid to the art of goal hanging, that is simply leaving a player to stand for 90 minutes in the box. Kane's first goal was precisely the sort of thing that the law was set up to counter and in the good old days he would have been pulled up for being offside in the build up. Having been allowed to continue there wasn't a hope of a defender getting back to cover – and if scoring a dubious goal isn't obtaining an advantage Lord knows what is.

Then there's this new initiative about diving. The idea is that players get punished retrospectively for the scourge of the modern game that proper supporters hate. However, so restrictive are the requirements for sanction a player has to get another sent off or gain a penalty before anyone can do anything. So Alli's embarrassing effort that gave them the free-kick from which they got their third will remain unpunished because he had the foresight to do it outside the box.

Spurs had adopted much of the traditional Liverpool (the Tottenham of the North) tactics including the committing of foul after cynical foul in order to break up and disrupt play. Possession of anything resembling a vertebra has never been one of Oliver's strong points and his constant tolerance of persistent foul play was just what the doctor ordered for the visitors. Aurier should have received four yellows and a straight red before the first of the two yellows that actually sealed his fate, the red would have been for the shirt pull on Arnautovic in the first half when clean through. That was one of three penalties that should have been awarded, Aurier's flicking the ball away with his arm in the first half and the shove on Carroll at the end being the other two.

I see that the clubs have now been fined £20k each failing to control their players, the melee at the end arising when a frustrated Carroll gave away a foul having just dodged an elbow – which, unsurprisingly, Oliver chose to ignore. I wonder what his reaction would have been had Carroll been the perpetrator rather than the victim? Actually, scrub that I know full well. I have seen elbows thrown four times this season and the only one punished at the time was the one thrown by Arnautovic. In the meantime no punishment will be handed out to Oliver whose gutless efforts were the sole and cause of the melee at the end. In the meantime the good Baroness ought to send the bill to Oliver. The threat of bankruptcy might just get the sods to think about refereeing match properly and if they end up flogging the Big Issue it's no more than PGMOL deserves.

Injury news is that there is talk of roles for Lanzini and even, amazingly, Antonio, though Ginge and Pedro are looking at "after the break" for their return. Other than that everyone else is available.

Prediction? Well there was enough in the second half last weekend to show what could be done if you play with confidence. That confidence had disappeared either side of the interval which was why we were three down. This week will be a different kettle of fish and I am feeling bullish – never a good sign admittedly.

Their lack of goalscoring prowess is something that will concern them and, for that reason, I will this week go for a home win hey let's go the whole hog and go for a clean sheet too as I pop down to Winstone The Turf Accountant and place the £2.50 I was going to contribute to Hugh Hefner's farewell party on a scoreline of 2-0 to us.

Enjoy the game!


When last we met at the Olympic: Won 1-0 (Premier League 8 April 2017)
A five game losing run that had us looking over our shoulders at the form of the principal relegation candidates finally came to an end with a win that was a lot more comfortable than it sounds. An excellent Kouyate goal that deserved a better match than this one was enough to give us all three points.

Referee: Roger East
Well at least he's not a showboater like Oliver, Dean, Jones etc I suppose. Competence is probably a bit much to hope for though on his past form.

Danger Man: Jordan Ayew
Like his brother he has been chipping in with the odd goal here and there and sibling rivalry might just add to his game.

Percy's Poser: Last week, in honour of so-called "Big club" Spurs and their 23,000 "crowd", we recalled a similar-sized crowd at Stamford Bridge by asking: On 26 August 2003 Chelsea were in so-called Champions League action in front of 23,408 "supporters".

Our question was in two parts: 1) What were West Ham doing that evening?, and 2) In front of how many people were they doing it? Congrats to Mrs Constance Lake who was first out of the hat with the responses 1) Beating Bradford City 1-0 and 2) 30,370. So to summarise, we got about 7,000 more for a Championship match than Chelsea got for the so-called Champions League. Those big clubs eh?

For this week's poser we go back a few years to February 1996 when Kevin Cullis took over as manager at Swansea. We ask you : How long was Cullis's reign at what was then the Vetch Field? (and, in true Question Of Sport tradition there will be bonus points for knowing "what happened next?"). First prize will be all the lavabread you can eat.


Good luck everyone!

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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Slaven Bilic believes West Ham are finally ready to shoot their way up the table with attacking stars all available
The Hammers can now call on Michail Antonio, Javier Hernandez, Andy Carroll and Andre Ayew, plus Manuel Lanzini for the first time
The Mirror
BYJON WEST
22:30, 29 SEP 2017

Slaven Bilic believes he finally possesses the fire power to get West Ham shooting up the table - and save his job. The Croat is a man under pressure going into today's home clash with Swansea. The Hammers will kick off in the drop zone and Bilic saw Carlo Ancelotti linked with his job just a few hours after the Italian was sacked by Bayern Munich on Thursday. But Bilic can call upon playmaker Manuel Lanzini for the first time this season following a knee injury and with Michail Antonio, Javier Hernandez, Andy Carroll and ex-Swan Andre Ayew all available he was confident of success. He said: "With Manuel back we have all our attacking options and that wasn't the case a few weeks ago. We have the players that we wanted in our team. "Other teams should now be afraid of us and worrying about how to stop us - they should be thinking how they are going to cope with our awesome front players."
But Bilic made it clear he wouldn't be going gung-ho against a Swansea side that has yet to concede away from home. He said: "I told the players who play there - don't leave a hole and make us into two teams, you have to do a job at the back as well." Bilic admitted that an international break was a nightmare for a vulnerable manager. He said: "Sometimes you go into these games before an international break cautiously, thinking 'don't lose this'. "Nobody likes to lose at any time but especially not when you have two weeks to think about it with no game in a couple of days to make it up. "We want to win this game because it won't be a very pleasant couple of weeks otherwise."

Former Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has also been touted as a potential replacement should the Hammers decide to jettison Bilic. Bilic is used to the speculation but finds it frustrating. He said: "It's a cliche to say 'it's part of the job'. What does that mean? It still doesn't make it normal. Should somebody be able to sledgehammer you and say it is part of the job? No - but it's part of the job!"

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Michail Antonio so determined to play for England he got married in Burton - so he was close to St George's Park
Antonio admits that he and his wife Debbie had hoped to marry in Italy but they made plans in case of a call-up
The Mirror
BYMATT LAWLESS
16:24, 29 SEP 2017

There can be absolutely no doubt over Michail Antonio's desire to play for England. So determined, in fact, the Hammers winger celebrated his summer wedding with his partner Debbie in Burton... just so he could be close to St George's Park if Gareth Southgate came calling. "We planned it just in case I got a call-up for England," he said, proudly showing off his diamond encrusted band in an exclusive chat at EA Sports FIFA 18 launch event. "It was about 20 minutes away from the training ground! "We really wanted to do the wedding in Italy. But we decided, just in case I received a call-up, that we'll just do it there. And then I got injured. "Obviously my missus Debbie was like, 'So we could have got married in Italy!' But at least I was there for the honeymoon."

A hamstring setback towards the end of last season ultimately saw him miss England's World Cup 2018 qualifiers last month. But the uncapped star even took West Ham physic Fraser Young on his stag party in Las Vegas, in a bid to speed up his return to action. "Well, it was different," he laughed. "Every morning we were working on my strength." Frustratingly, injury struck the 27-year-old again last week. He pulled up during the derby defeat by Spurs with a groin problem, which cost him his place in the latest England squad. Fortunately, however, the injury will not keep Antonio out for West Ham and he should feature against Swansea on Saturday. Indeed, the man who fought his way through the ranks of non-League football to become a household Premier League name, is certainly no stranger to overcoming obstacles. And he is keen to remind Three Lions boss Southgate that in order to realise his dream of playing for England at next summer's World Cup in Russia. "That's definitely the plan," he said. "I've had the call-up before. All I need to do now is get my toes back on the pitch. "Russia is next year, so hopefully if I keep playing well, I can be on that plane."
Antonio knows Southgate is watching. The England boss told him so this summer when he suffered his first injury setback. "Gareth Southgate gave me a call. He just said, sorry that this has come at a bad time but keep doing what you are doing and it won't be your last call-up. "So, I've taken that on board. All I need to do is keep playing well and hopefully I can be on the plane next year. "It's one of those things that if you solely put attention on that, it will take your mind away from the game. And that's one thing I have always noticed. Just take one step at a time. "And that step is always the game. If you don't play well in your next game, then you won't get a look. I know if I do things right in the pitch, good things will happen off it."

It's not just England who Antonio harbours great hopes for next year. It's West Ham too. After signing Joe Hart, Pablo Zabaleta, Marko Arnautovic and Javier Hernandez earlier this summer, Antonio believes the club have a greater chance than ever before of lifting silverware for the first time since 1980. "Definitely," he said. "That's why when we play in the cup gages, we give our all. "I was asked on Soccer AM, would you rather qualify for the Champions League in fourth spot or win the FA Cup? Well, I'd want to win the FA Cup every day. "So, it's one of those things where we have to aim to push for the cup and push in the league and see what happens." Michail Antonio was speaking at the EA Sports FIFA 18 launch event. The game is available to buy now on PS4 and Xbox One.

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West Ham could target audacious deal for Carlo Ancelotti, he wanted move in 2011
HITC
Olly Dawes

Carlo Ancelotti lost his job as Bayern Munich boss on Thursday. According to The Mirror, West Ham United are eyeing up Carlo Ancelotti as a possible replacement for Slaven Bilic, following the Italian's exit from Bayern Munich on Thursday. Ancelotti, 58, took the reins at the Allianz Arena last summer following Pep Guardiola's move to Manchester City, with the Italian returning to the game after a year out of work following his exit from Real Madrid in 2015. The Italian enjoyed a strong first season, winning the Bundesliga title in his first season, but he has now lost his job after a 3-0 Champions League defeat at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday. Ancelotti is now the biggest name in the managerial market, and The Mirror note that he could be in the frame for West Ham, if they move on from Slaven Bilic. Many West Ham fans want to see Ancelotti arrive after Bilic oversaw four defeats in the first six games of the Premier League season, and a move could be on the cards in the future. West Ham's hopes of landing the former Champions League winner may be boosted by comments Ancelotti made in 2011, after the Hammers had been relegated to the Championship. Ancelotti was quoted by the Daily Mail as saying that he was interested in the West Ham job as he prepared to leave Chelsea, stating that the atmosphere at West Ham was 'amazing'. Things have changed since; West Ham have moved out of Upton Park into the London Stadium, which has completely changed the atmosphere around the club, and Ancelotti may find that the club isn't quite the same as it was six years ago. Still, Ancelotti was popular in the Premier League and may fancy a return to London, but current boss Bilic should be given a chance to turn things around, starting with today's game against Swansea City.

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West Ham to receive investment boost from Blackstone US finance executive
The Hammers have offered the new director a seat on the club's board
Football London
BYGREG JOHNSON
07:00, 30 SEP 2017

West Ham have become the sixth Premier League club to receive investment from the USA. Blackstone director Albert "Tripp" Smith has taken a 10% stake in the Irons and will sit on the board alongside co-owners David Gold and David Sullivan and Baroness Karren Brady. It is understood that the share purchase was made as a private investment and was not funded or secured on behalf of any company. Smith was a co-founder asset management firm GSO Capital Partners and sold out to Blackstone in 2008 in a deal worth around $1 billion.
According to the Financial Times, the shares were purchased from CB Holding which gained control of 10% of West Ham following the collapse of Iceland's Stramur Investment Bank in 2009. The deal brings to an end an 11-year association between the Irons and Icelandic investment following the share purchases of Eggert Magnússon and Björgólfur Guðmundsson in 2006. Director Daniel Svanstrom has also left his seat on the board. While Smith may not be able to match the deep pockets of the Premier League's richest foreign owners and investors his presence on the board may lead to other opportunities in the USA. Despite their poor form of late on the pitch, West Ham remain a team with immense potential off it, not least due to their tenancy agreement at the London Stadium. The former home of the London 2012 Olympic games is currently the third largest football venue in the country on capacity with 66,000 seats. However, the Hammers have faced criticism for the amount of public money spent on building and converting the ground for their use, as well as the relatively low annual rate that they pay for using the stadium. If they can improve their football, their location could hand them a serious advantage in the years to come.

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West Ham Furious After Finding Out They May Not Earn Anything From The Carabao Cup Clash With Tottenham
By Sridhar Bhamidi on September 30, 2017
ToTheLaneandBack.com

Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United are set for an angry clash of cash row ahead of next month's Carabao Cup clash. As reported by The Sun, the Hammers are fuming with the Lilywhites at being told that they may not earn a penny from the match. This clash, which would be played at Tottenham's temporary home, the Wembley Stadium, could attract a crowd of 50,000. This volatile London derby will most likely be classified as Category C – with a high risk of crowd trouble, considering the intense rivalry among both sets of supporters.
The Carabao Cup rules indicate that the teams involved in a game are entitled to a 45 percent share of the proceeds. The rest of the amount goes to the competition 'pool'. But, the Hammers believe that their clash with London rivals may not get them anything. As quoted by the Sun, a West Ham source said:
"They said we might get nothing from the gate as it costs £300,000 to open Wembley."

West Ham are not the only side affected as it is being reported that Tottenham's previous round opponent Barnsley, who played at the Wembley, will not get a penny from the 23,926 attendance at the national stadium for their fixture.
Responding to these reports, a Spurs spokesman said: "As another club renting a stadium, West Ham are aware and understanding of the costs involved for cup games and the difficulty in any profit being made for such fixtures."

Technically speaking, Spurs' inability stems up from the fact that they are unable to use their own stadium, after having bid goodbye to the White Hart Lane, with the construction of their new stadium underway. This is just a new chapter in the frosty relations between these two London rivals in recent times. Both went head-to-head with bids to take over the Old Olympic Stadium following the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, with things eventually going in favour of West Ham.
It was only last Saturday that they had a feisty encounter in the Premier League which ended 3-2 in Tottenham's favour, thanks to a Harry Kane brace. The match that saw Serge Aurier receive a red card also saw an injury-time bust-up between the players from both sides. Both clubs have been fined for failing to control their players.

Let's hope these sides dish out another classy encounter, sans these bust-ups, in the Carabao Cup clash.

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CLARET AND BLUE ARMY HAPPY TO SEE RETURN OF YOUNG STARFeatured Image
Date: 30th September 2017 at 1:00am
Written by: Forever Westham

West Ham fans have been treated with the news that defender Reece Oxford is set to return to the London Stadium only months after joining Bundesliga side Borussia Monchengladbach on a season-long loan. Sky Sports report the youngster is set to return to the Hammers after leaving for the German club in June.
While Oxford featured heavily in the club's pre-season, he is yet to make a competitive first team appearance having been an un-used substitute in all six of club's top flight games so far this season. Oxford signed a long-term deal with the Hammers in December of last year to secure his long term future at the club, however has not featured in Claret and Blue for over a year after two successive loan spells.
Before his short lived move to Germany, Oxford spent the latter part of last season with Championship side Reading, where he too struggled for game time.
The reason behind Oxford's re-call are unclear as of yet, although it is widely believed the defender will slot straight back into Slaven Bilic's side following their disappointing start to the Premier League season. The Hammers have been leaking goals, conceding 13 so far, more than any other Premier League team, and many of the West Ham fans feel the youngster could be the answer to Bilic's defensive woes …

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WEST HAM LINKED WITH SENSATIONAL SWOOP FOR AXED MANAGERFeatured Image
Date: 30th September 2017 at 1:30am
Written by: Forever Westham

Talks of a potential move for axed Bayern Munich manager Carlo Ancelotti from West Ham have already begun, only hours after the Italian was sacked by the German champions. The former Chelsea and Real Madrid boss was let go by the Bundesliga giants yesterday afternoon following Bayern's 3-0 defeat to PSG in the Champions League which concluded a run of indifferent form in all competitions. Bayern had lost 6 of their last 18 games in all competitions and currently reside in third place in Germany's top flight, a run of form that was deemed poor enough to see Ancelotti shown the door. The ex-Chelsea man could find himself with a job offer on the table soon however, with West Ham reportedly eyeing up Ancelotti as a replacement for 'dead man walking' Slaven Bilic, according to The Guardian.
West Ham co-owners David Gold and David Sullivan are desperate to get rid of the Croatian after a poor start to the season and a break down in relations between the trio, and could do everything in their power to bring Ancelotti to the London Stadium in an attempt to turn the club's fortunes around.
Ancelotti is one of the modern eras most successful managers, with a trophy cabinet that includes three Champions Leagues, Serie A, Bundesliga and Premier League titles as well as numerous domestic trophies from across Italy, Germany and England.

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