Youth Reporter 10:45 Sat Mar 17
West Ham Online
The West Ham United has been known as the Academy of Football for nearly 50
Years. It has produced many talented footballers that have gone on to very
successful careers both at club and international levels. World Cup winners
Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters all started their careers at West
Ham and since then, through the last 5 decades the Academy have continued to
produce many more, even this season we have seen the debuts of Dan Potts and
Rob Hall. Trying to add their name to that impressive list is Blair Turgott
who at just 17 years of age has already signed a professional contract with
the club. I caught up with Blair after today's match to find out a bit more
on one of our most promising youths and get his thoughts on The Academy.
YR: Tell us a bit about yourself before joining The Academy?
BT: My Dad (Bob) runs a football team in South London where I grew up and at
about 6 years old myself and some lads got together and played for him. We
got quite good and so entered a league, then when I was 9 I got a trial at
West Ham.
YR: Were any other clubs interested in you at that time?
BT: Yes, most of the other London clubs were interested in me, Charlton and
other South London clubs wanted me and I was close to signing for Arsenal.
YR: How did it feel having big clubs interested in you and Why did you
choose West Ham?
BT: It was brilliant, but especially having West Ham interested because they
are known for their academy. When I heard they wanted me I knew that's where
I wanted to be. My brother had been here a few years ago so I knew it was a
good place to be.
YR: Did you know the scout was watching you, how does that work?
BT: No not really, a couple of times after a game a scout would come up to
my dad or the manager after a game and give him his business card and say
I'm interested in this player or that player. I remember once there was a
big cup final game between us and our closest rivals and we knew that a lot
of clubs would have been watching, so although I was quite nervous when
you're so young you just concentrate on enjoying the football. From that
team about 6 or 7 players went on to sign for league clubs, including me and
Lamar Hurley here at West Ham.
YR: Describe an average day at The Academy?
BT: We come here to Little Heath in the morning and have certain jobs that
have to be done, only once the jobs are done do we start training. After
morning Training we come back in and change before heading over to Chadwell
Heath to have lunch and in the afternoon either do another training session
or a gym session.
YR: Do you get to mix with the first team and manager at all?
BT: Yes, quite a lot actually. On a Friday we have a 11 v 11 game with the
starting 11 First team for the next match against the U18's, We are asked to
watch videos of the opposition and then line up and play as we expect them
to. So for instance when we play Leeds I was asked to play the role
Snodgrass would play, hopefully it gives the 1st an idea on what to expect
and we get to learn from the first team plus it means Mr Allardyce gets a
good look at us too.
YR: I've seen you play Right midfield, Left Midfield and striker, where do
you think is your best position?
BT: Probably right midfield, but I also like to play the number 10 free role
just off the striker where you're not too restricted and can get involved
with play more.
YR: Who is the best player you have played against?
BT: Really hard question because there is a lot of talent around at youth
level , when I was 15 I was playing for the U16's and came up against Josh
McEachran and he was really good.
YR: You made your England debut in 2009 against Northern Ireland, explain
how that felt?
BT: Ah it was just amazing! There was a camp before where we did light
training and got the squad together. The night before we all sit down and
there is a small power point presentation of who is in the team and how and
where we are going to play, when I found out I was playing I was just
buzzin' had butterflies the lot. Pulling on the England shirt, walking out
the tunnel and singing along with the National Anthem was one of the best
experiences ever. Sadly I'm too old for Under 17's for the Euros this year
but I aim to push into the U19 squad for next year.
YR: How would you like to see your career progress?
BT: I just want to keep playing football, keep doing well and hopefully
break into the West Ham first team. When I first started out I just wanted
to do the best I could, now when I'm around a big club and big players I
want to fulfil my potential and of course the dream is to play in the
Premier League.
YR: Do you think you are good enough for the first team now?
BT: I still need to strengthen up my frame, playing against men I know I
need to work on getting a bit stronger, technically I'd might be in with a
shout but I just need to work hard and be patient and whether I'm in youths,
reserves or 1st team just work hard and be the best I can.
YR: Lots of the youths seem to go out on loan, is that something you'd be
happy doing?
BT: It's something I would consider of course, I need to concentrate on
doing well for the development squad next year and then if clubs see me and
want to take me on load I'd consider it then. Getting first team experience
is needed, it's all very well doing good with the reserves but that 3
O'clock kick off in front of lots of fans is different and going out on loan
can give you that experience.
YR: What other players should we be looking out for from The Academy?
BT: As a group we have some very good players, it would be unfair to mention
just 1 or 2 as there are quite a few who have a good future. We've already
seen Rob Hall and Dan Potts get their debuts this year but I really think
that in the next year we could see a few more.
YR: Is there more or less of a chance of that happening should we get
promoted?
BT: It's hard because when we get in the Premier League the aim will be to
stay there so a manager could be tempted to go and buy experienced players,
but if as a reserve player you're doing well in the Development squad or out
on loan then there is no reason you wouldn't be in with a shout.
YR: @blairturgott is your Twitter name, you seem to enjoy it on there, why
should people follow you?
BT: Ha yeah I enjoy it, I like the banter. I speak my mind and don't take
myself too seriously. It's good to be able to go somewhere and be able to
speak you mind.
YR: I have to ask this for the website I post on – what is your favourite
flavour crisps?
BT: (laughs) Salt and Vinegar
YR: Thanks very much for taking the time to chat, when you get your first
team debut maybe I can interview you again?
BT: Nice one Little Man, yeah I'd like that, thank you it's been good.
I would like to thank Blair again for being good to chat to in my first
(hopefully of many) interview with the youth team. Blair will be starting
his second year of his professional contract next year and will be moving on
to the reserve team/development squad. We wish him well and look forward to
seeing him progress into the first team. You can keep up to date with him on
Twitter @blairturgott or with the whole of the youth team by following me
@WillisJamieson
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Championship
Saturday, 17th March 2012
Leeds United 1
West Ham United 1
by James May
KUMB.com
Another game, another point.
The undefeated run may well have stretched to eight games but with
Southampton and Reading both recording wins this weekend; we lose more
ground on our promotion rivals.
In all fairness, a point at Elland Road against a rejuvenated Leeds side who
have been on form and on a high since Neil Warnock took charge is not a bad
result. And the last minute equaliser courtesy of new boy Danny Collins made
the point seem that much sweeter.
However, all in all the performance yesterday was uninspiring and average at
best. The last three performances, all ending in one all draws are not
performances of a side trying to gain automatic promotion back to the
Premier League. With ten games to go, we need to start converting these
points into three or otherwise another nervous playoff campaign will have to
be endured.
West Ham took 4,000 fans to Yorkshire, making for an electric and intense
atmosphere. Julien Faubert, Papa Bouba Diop and Winston Reid were all ruled
out, all of which were big losses. For me, Diop has been a major loss in the
past few weeks as he is the only defensive midfielder we have and offers us
great power and drive in the middle of the park. Faubert has been very good
this season and his pace, which we often lack from elsewhere, and width has
been key recently.
Big Sam went with a starting line-up of Green in goal, O'Brien, Faye,
Collins and McCartney at the back and a midfield trio of Tomkins, Noble and
Nolan. Collison and Taylor played wide with Nicky Maynard being the solitary
man up top. The bench consisted of new loan signing Stephen Henderson, Gary
O'Neil, Ravel Morrison, Sam Baldock and Carlton Cole.
I think given the options available to Allardyce, the team was not really
surprising. Perhaps playing Maynard over Cole was the toughest decision to
make but given our performances away at Blackpool and Cardiff, where Maynard
started, it was fair to stick with him up front.
The game in truth was not the most pleasing on the eye and never really got
going until the final 10 minutes. In the first twenty minutes of the game
there were very few chances for either side as the game developed into a
midfield battle. The dangerous Robert Snodgrass fired a hopeful shot wide
and a very optimistic penalty claim for handball from Leeds was all the game
could must in the early stages.
Just after the twenty minute mark we produced our first meaningful chance.
After some good football in the midfield Nolan found Taylor who flicked it
into the path of Maynard. The frontman's touch took it away from the Leeds
defender but unfortunately was just too heavy. Maynard and Leeds keeper Andy
Lonergan met the ball at the same time and unluckily for West Ham Lonergan
came out with the ball.
Just minutes later Leeds almost found a way through. After some good work
from Snodgrass cutting in from the left, his pass looked to have put in Ross
McCormack who had the goal at his mercy. However back came Matty Taylor to
crucially intercept and clear his lines to keep the scores level.
From then on until the half time whistle, chances really were few and far
between. It just seemed that neither team were brave enough to attack in
numbers and really take the game to the opposition. Nolan sliced a shot
horribly wide after Collison had dragged it back from the byline. While
looking very solid at the back, we were struggling to break Leeds down and
lacking creativity and width.
Leeds had their best spell of the half for the final ten minutes before the
break. Snodgrass hit a 25 yard free kick agonisingly wide, although I'm sure
Green will tell you he had it covered. Five minutes before the break Adam
Clayton fired just wide from the edge of the area after some pinball in and
around the West Ham box.
We managed a couple of corners late on in the half with Faye rising highest
for one of them, only to see his header cannon off the defender and wide.
Leeds did find the back of the net in added time but the goal was disallowed
by referee Peter Walton after a clear push on Nolan. There were no
complaints from the Leeds players.
It was a dour first half and no surprises that the game was still 0-0 at the
break. I feel this time Allardyce got it wrong. I have no problems with
playing 4-5-1 away from home and it certainly has worked for us this season
on our travels. However we were consistently knocking 40 yard balls from the
back up to Maynard who isn't the tallest and greatest in the air and
therefore he unsurprisingly won very little against the Leeds defenders. If
you are going to play that way, then Allardyce had to play Cole up top as he
is a big presence and can hold the ball up there. We were giving the ball
away far too much in the first half and our midfield was just not affecting
the game enough. A big improvement was needed in the second half.
HALF TIME: LEEDS UNITED 0 WEST HAM UNITED 0
I would love to say the second half was a completely different game and was
action packed. Unfortunately up until the final 10 minutes it was much of
the same. Even more disappointingly James Tomkins, who suffered a knock just
before half time didn't come out for the second half and was replaced by
Gary O'Neil. I couldn't tell what injury Tomkins had suffered but he was
limping badly but hopefully it's not too serious. He has arguably been our
player of the season this year and has even been doing an excellent job in
an unfamiliar midfield role over the past few weeks.
The game just couldn't get out of first gear and both sides seemed content
with the point. Aiden White shot comfortably wide after a Luciano Becchio
knock down in the only chance early on in the second half. Our creativity
was next to nothing and Allardyce had to change things up and he did. 10
minutes into the half Carlton Cole was brought on for Nicky Maynard, who had
found it difficult all afternoon being isolated and receiving very poor
service. I would have liked to see Maynard stay on and Allardyce go to 4-4-2
just to mix things up and give Leeds something different to think about.
Cole almost made an immediate impact just before the hour mark. He took the
ball down well out wide and put in an inviting cross. Unfortunately the ball
just eluded Nolan who swung a leg at it just eight yards out. Cole's
introduction certainly gave us a lift and we began to take control of the
game and enjoy our best bit of pressure.
Abdoulaye Faye headed wide a Noble corner and just minutes later Collison's
audacious volley was blocked and found its way to O'Neil whose goalbound
header was blocked by a defender. Then came probably our best chance in the
68th minute. A typically excellent delivery from a free kick out wide from
Taylor found Cole, whose header went narrowly over. It was a good spell from
the Hammers but we just couldn't find the breakthrough.
Back came Leeds. Ross McCormack whipped in a vicious cross which was flicked
on by Matthew Connolly and brilliantly saved from Green. For the first time
the game had opened up and it felt like a goal was coming. And with 10
minutes left a goal finally did come.
Snodgrass crossed it to the back post, Connolly rose highest and saw his
header cannon off the bar. However, fortunately for the home side the ball
kindly fell to Becchio who nodded home from three yards.
It was an unlucky goal to concede and one which Leeds didn't deserve. We had
been defensively solid throughout and certainly didn't deserve to lose the
game, even if we hadn't done enough to win it.
Initially our response was poor. Leeds, clearly on a high from the goal,
looked the more likely to score again and dominated possession for the last
10 minutes. However when it looked as though the 4,000 travelling claret and
blue were going back down south disappointed we got a corner as the official
put up four minutes additional time.
Mark Noble delivered an inviting ball and up stepped Danny Collins to head
home and send the travelling fans into delirium. Despite not playing well,
it was certainly a deserved equaliser and who knows how important that point
may be come the end of the season.
It was Collins' first start for the club and in truth I thought he did look
shaky at the back and struggled against Becchio for large periods of the
game. However he popped up with a crucial goal and it will do his confidence
the world of good.
All in all, unlike the previous two draws, I think we have to be happy with
the result. Leeds are a decent side and could still just sneak into the
playoffs if they finish the season well. Defensively we were solid, which we
generally have been all season barring a couple of disaster displays.
Abdoulaye was immense at the back and marshalled the defence quite
brilliantly. Attackingly once again we were poor and lacked creativity.
There was not enough pace or guile in the midfield and Faubert was a big
loss out wide. In hindsight, Allardyce should have started with Cole as he
looked dangerous when he came on and there is simply no point in just
hitting long passes up to Maynard.
It was very disappointing to hear Southampton had turned it around to beat
Millwall and that Reading had thumped Barnsley as both moved further ahead
of us at the top of the table. However we still need to be positive and if
we win our game in hand we go level Reading and two points behind
Southampton.
There are still plenty of ups and downs and points to play for this season
and who knows, we all might be looking back on that late Danny Collins
equaliser at Elland Road as a crucial crucial point.
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COULD WE HAVE BEEN IN RANGERS, PORT VALE AND PORTSMOUTH'S POSITION?
Posted on Sunday, 18th March 2012 by Etwal Teja
Forever WestHam
Recently Rangers FC, Port Vale FC and Portsmouth FC have gone into
administration and as a result they have been deducted ten points. They have
gone into administration because of the huge debts they had. They are now in
danger of going into liquidation and the fans are the ones that will suffer
the most. A couple of years ago West Ham United were in a bad state and run
badly by the owners. They could have possibly gone into administration if
David Gold and David Sullivan did not buy the club.
When an Icelandic Consortium bought West Ham in 2006 they set their targets
high of reaching the Champions League within five years and moving away from
Upton Park. In order to achieve these targets the new owners set out to
spend heavy. They
bought players like Lucas Neil, Freddie Ljungberg, Mathew Upson and Kieron
Dyer and gave them 4 or 5 year contracts. They paid excessive fees for these
players and offered them high wages. Eggert Magnusson gave Alan Curbishley a
free bank cheque to purchase who ever he wanted.
Curbishley bought players that were simply not worth what he was paying.
They offered players like Dyer, who has a well known reputation of being an
injury prone player a five year contract worth at least £70,000 a week. Most
of these players had
no interest in playing for the club and just wanted the high wages the club
were willing to pay. With no decent cup runs, no European qualification and
mid table finishes, the club was simply not making enough profit. This put
the club into huge debt and they were forced to sell a few players. The club
were rumoured to have paid off Ljungberg so that he can terminate his four
year contract with them. The Icelandic owners put the club up for sale but
no one wanted to purchase the club with its huge debts. The future of the
club did not look good and quite possibly could have gone into
administration.
Thank god that did not happen because life long West Ham fans David Gold and
David Sullivan bought the club they love so much. Sullivan revealed that if
they did not become owners West Ham United would have gone into
administration because the Icelandic Bank's could not afford to run the
club. DG and DS also revealed that the club was in debt of £110 million and
they will balance the books after the crazy wages the Icelandic owners paid
that brought the club to its knees. For many of the West Ham fans the
takeover was a relief because quite simply the club could have
folded if the two did not become owners of the club.
Since their takeover in 2010 Sullivan and Gola, alongside Karen Brady have
decreased the debt and the club is run properly with people that care about
the club. The club no longer offer silly wages to players and do not pay
excessive fees for players.
They have also planned to relocate to the newly built Olympic Stadium. The
West Ham fans quite simply are grateful to the trio for putting the club in
a stable condition. The club could quite simply been in the same situation
as Rangers, Port Vale and Portsmouth had they decided to stay away from West
Ham. I hope we West Ham fans never experience what Rangers, Port Vale and
Portsmouth fans are going through right now with their troubled clubs. For
now The West Ham fans can worry less about the financial situation
surrounding the club.
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Leeds United v West Ham United: We can take final promotion step - Allardyce
Yorkshireeveningport.co.uk
Published on Monday 19 March 2012 05:00
Hammers boss Sam Allardyce refused to see his side's 1-1 draw at Leeds
United as two points dropped and insisted that his faltering club could
still claim automatic promotion. The West Ham manager declared himself
satisfied with the result after Danny Collins' last-gasp goal averted their
eighth defeat of the season. The London club were under mounting pressure
having dropped out of the Championship's top two on the back of four
successive home draws and they are now three points behind second place
after Reading and Southampton claimed victories on Saturday. West Ham have
long been favourites not only for automatic promotion but for the
Championship title and they hold a game in hand over both of the sides above
them. Asked if his players remained confident of a top-two finish, Allardyce
said: "There's no problem with that. "We're a bit edgy because of what we've
allowed to happen – too many draws – but we're confident we can take the
final step. This isn't a slip-up for me. It's a slip up at home against
Crystal Palace, Watford and most disappointingly against Doncaster Rovers.
That's been the crux of our slip up. We're on an eight-game undefeated run
but we've simply had too many draws. "However, it still boils down to us
knowing that the sort of points total we need to get to is 90 plus if we
want automatic promotion. Last year QPR went up with 88 but we can't rely on
88 getting us up. We've got to rely on 90."
A tight and competitive game at Elland Road saw few clear chances but West
Ham's performance improved in the second half after Allardyce withdrew
ineffective lone striker Nicky Maynard and introduced England international
Carlton Cole. His team were stung seven minutes from time when Luciano
Becchio broke the deadlock and it fell to Collins to rescue a point with a
goal which Leeds boss Neil Warnock disputed bitterly. "At the position in
the game leading up to the Leeds goal, we were in our best spell," Allardyce
said. "We were in attacking mode and looking like we'd get an opportunity to
score. Unfortunately we slipped up so to come back and get a draw, you have
to accept it as a good point. "The players defended very well and that's the
basis of prompting your team to go and attack. Bringing on Carlton Cole made
a difference. "I thought we'd find an earlier opportunity to stick one in
the back of the net and we failed to do that but we came back brilliantly to
get a point."
Allardyce suffered a blow, however, when influential midfielder James
Tomkins limped out of the game at the end of the first half. West Ham are
dealing with an increasingly-lengthy injury list and Allardyce was forced to
leave Ricardo Vaz Te, Winston Reid, Julien Faubert and Papa Bouba Diop in
London. "They were all unable to travel and now we've got another injury,"
Allardyce said. "It's a good job we've got a good squad because it was
tested to the full by Leeds but we need these players back."
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