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Preview - Crystal Palace
WHUFC.com

The background

West Ham United make the short journey to south London to face Crystal
Palace this Saturday for their latest Barclays Premier League assignment.
Crystal Palace are currently riding high in fourth in the table following a
fantastic start to the season. The Eagles are on a three game unbeaten run
going into Saturday's London derby. Likewise the Hammers are also on a
terrific run of form; their recovery from 2-0 down to rescue a point away at
Sunderland extended their unbeaten streak to five league matches. In fact,
the Hammers top the away league table with ten points from their four
encounters.

The history

Despite their relative proximity, the teams have only met 32 times
competitively. Thankfully, the Hammers have won 14 of those encounters to
the Eagles' seven. Another good omen for the Irons lies in the fact that the
away team has won the last three consecutive fixtures – both sides' secured
3-1 victories last season. Saturday's game sees former West Ham manager Alan
Pardew pitted against his former employees. The experienced manager has
confounded expectations since taking the reins at Selhurst Park, leading
some to label him as a potential future England manager.

Match info

Team news

West Ham United

Slaven Bilic will make a late check on Winston Reid, who has been nursing a
slight problem in his hip area. James Collins could be given the nod should
the Kiwi not make it. Aaron Cresswell suffered a slight knock in training
earlier in the week and will be assessed on Friday. Angelo Ogbonna and Enner
Valencia returned to full training and are unlikely to feature, however in
his pre-match press conference Slaven Bilic suggested they could make the
bench. Alex Song and Joey O'Brien continue to make good progress in their
injury rehabilitation but are unavailable on Saturday.

Crystal Palace

Captain Mile Jedinak is still unavailable due to a hamstring injury, while
Damien Delancey (groin), Connor Wickham and Marouane Chamakh (both
hamstring) are all unavailable.

Match info

Saturday's referee will be Mark Clattenburg. He will be assisted by Simon
Beck and Jake Collin. Oliver Langford is the fourth official.
Stewart Downing, Mauro Zarate and Carlton Cole scored the goals that gave
West Ham a 3-1 win over Palace last season.
West Ham have the best away record in the Premier League this season, having
won three games and drawn one at the cost of just three goals conceded.
Should they win on Saturday, the Hammers could go second should other
results go their way.
Alongside, Manchester City, Arsenal, Tottenham and Watford Crystal Palace
have the joint best defensive record in the division, having conceded just
seven goals.
The Hammers have won just one of their last seven league meetings with
Crystal Palace (D2 L4).
Crystal Palace are yet to draw a match in any competition this season (W7
L3).
West Ham are unbeaten in their last five league games (W3 D2)
Only Manchester City (19) have scored more than the Hammers' 17 league goals
this season.
Dimitri Payet has been involved in 14 goals (five goals, nine assists) in
his last 16 matches in England and France.
15 of the 18 goals in Palace's Premier League matches this season have come
in the second halves of matches.
The last time Palace had this many points after eight games of a top-flight
season was in 1990/91 when they went on to finish third.
Ticketing, travel, coverage and other info

Tickets have now all sold out. Click here for full information on other
matchday tickets.

Saturday looks like being a dry, if dull day in south London. Temperatures
are on the autumnal side, with a high of 13C (55F) at kick-off.

If you're not heading to the game, our digital channels are where to stay up
to date with all the latest news. Our whufc.com match centre will have live
audio, stats, photos and more, while you can get involved with the
conversation on social using the hashtag #CPFCWHU

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Five wins in a row!
WHUFC.com

Grady Diangana's first-half goal secured West Ham United's fifth straight
Barclays U21 Premier League win – a 1-0 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion.
Diangana's goal came after 26 minutes when, from a West Ham corner, the ball
fell to the attacker just six yards from goal, from where we turned and
smashed low into the corner. The Hammers made four changes to the side that
had made it four on the bounce at Aston Villa the previous Saturday. Sam
Howes returned between the sticks after international duty with England
U19s, as Tim Brown dropped to the bench, while George Dobson, Josh Pask and
Idris Kanu were replaced in the starting XI by Jahmal Hector-Ingram, Matt
Carter and Marcus Browne. It almost started horribly for the Academy when,
straight from kick-off, the Seagulls launched a quick attack on goal and
Danny Mandriou forced a strong save from Howes. Brighton kept up the
pressure, but neither Mandriou nor Tom Byrne could find a way past Howes.
After the opening 15 minutes, though, the hosts started to get some control
on the game and it was the attacking threat of Browne, Diangana,
Hector-Ingram, Joe Powell and Oscar Borg that caused the visitors all sorts
of problems. On 26 minutes, the Hammers won a corner after Borg's shot from
the edge of the penalty area was blocked and from it, Diangana held off his
defender well to spin and finish well into the corner. The Academy ended the
half strongly and took that into the second half as Brighton, who had only
won two of their nine Barclays U18 Premier League South fixtures prior to
Thursday's match, found it extremely difficult to break through the home
side's defensive shape.

West Ham thought they deserved a penalty after 49 minutes when it appeared
that England U17 striker Hector-Ingram was thrown to the floor by a visiting
defender, but the referee showed little interest in the Hammers appeals. As
the second half continued, the hosts could not afford to be complacent and
were almost punished for not picking up their markers when a ball into the
Hammers box was headed off the top of the crossbar. West Ham heeded the
warning and raised the pressure on the Seagulls and had two more fantastic
chances to double their lead, but captain Noha Sylvestre's shot was blocked
by George Cox after he had rounded goalkeeper Bailey Vose, before Borg
watched his header bounce off the post and out of play via Vose's back. The
home coaches Steve Potts and Mark Phillips called for a show of character
from the touchline and their team played out the game well, securing their
fifth Barclays U18 Premier League South victory in a row. That result took
the Hammers up to fourth place in the table, having now won half of their
ten league fixtures to date.

The Academy will be hoping to extend their winning run to six when they make
the long trip to Swansea City on Saturday 24 October.

U18s: Howes, Eggleton, Akinola, Rice, Borg, Carter, Sylvestre, Powell,
Browne (Neufville), Diangana, Hector-Ingram
Subs not used: Brown, Kanu, Lewis, Longelo.

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Noble's not ready to lose unbeaten run
WHUFC.com

West Ham United skipper Mark Noble believes his team are in a good place as
they resume the Barclays Premier League campaign with a trip to Crystal
Palace on Saturday. The Hammers sit sixth in the table following October's
international break, and with a five-game unbeaten run to protect, Noble is
relishing the prospect of a London derby The Eagles, under the management of
former Hammers boss Alan Pardew, have enjoyed a superb start to the season
themselves, so Saturday's match promises to be a special affair. Noble
explained "To go five games unbeaten in the Premier League is a feat in
itself and we're looking forward to playing Palace on Saturday. It's a
massive game for us because they're flying high. They've got some top
players and we've got to go there and put in a performance. "We've let in
some silly goals but there have been a lot more positives than negatives in
those last five games. "You can see what Alan Pardew's gone in there and
done. He's a top manager – he's proved that at Newcastle and he's doing a
great job at Palace."

Noble, who was handed the captain's armband following Kevin Nolan's
departure in August, has two goals to his name this season and is enjoying
the Hammers' start to the campaign. He continued: "I always enjoy my
football, but football is obviously more enjoyable when you're winning and
you're playing well. "Every game is so tough in this league and that's what
people have to realise. You don't just go to teams and roll them over. Every
team has got very good players now because there's so much money in the
game. "There's still a lot of hard work to be done, but we're looking
forward to it."

Since the Hammers' last engagement at Sunderland two weeks ago, James
Collins and Wales secured their berth at Euro 2016 and Noble was thrilled
for his teammate. He added: "For Ginge, it's one of the biggest things in
Welsh history that they've qualified for the Euros. When you look at their
squad now they've got some really special players. "It's a great honour for
Ginge and his family. He's Welsh through and through, his family still lives
there and his whole family must be proud of him "But we have noticed that
Ginge seems to be in every single photo that Gareth Bale is in. I don't know
whether it's he likes having his photo taken or that they're actually really
good mates, I don't know!"

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Etherington praises Pardew
WHUFc.com

As we prepare to face our former manager Alan Pardew on Saturday, there is
one player who knows him more than most and can appreciate the tough
challenge that is going to face the Hammers at Selhurst Park. Matthew
Etherington made 195 appearances for West Ham United during his memorable
six-year spell at the Boleyn Ground and spent the majority of that time
playing under Pardew. The talented winger enjoyed one of the best periods of
his career as he reached two Play-Off Finals at the Millenium Stadium and
was part of the team that successfully gained promotion back into the
Premier League when they beat Preston 1-0. Etherington was also part of the
team that reached the FA Cup Final back in 2006 and suffered heartbreak
right at the death when Steven Gerrard scored with just seconds left on the
clock.

The 34-year-old will never forget the impact that Pardew had on his career
and feels he has carried on his success as a manager and is now getting the
best out of the Crystal Palace players. The south London Club have also
enjoyed a superb start to the campaign winning five of their opening eight
game and are sitting fourth in the table. Etherington feels the Hammers
could be in for one of their toughest games of the season and knows Pardew
will be extra determined to get something from the game. Etherington said:
"Even when Alan was having his harder times as Newcastle manager, I have
always said that he was one of the best managers I played under. "He is
tactically astute and I think people under-estimate just how good he is. He
is proven in the transfer market and has bought some fantastic players over
the years. "I am not surprised to see how well Palace are doing this season.
It will be a very tough game for West Ham at the weekend, but I am sure they
will go there with a lot of confidence. "As a man-manager he is fantastic.
One of the first things he said to me when he came to watch the team was 'I
didn't really fancy you as a player when I was at Reading'. "But he said he
could not have been more wrong and that he wanted to build the team around
me. "For him to say that to me when he first joined the club, I thought I
want to play for you. "It is little things like that as a man-manager which
can make a difference. A lot of people have got things to say about him, but
he is not that way in any shape or form. He is just a very good Premier
League manager. "You look at West Ham's results this season and they are set
up to play away from home this season and they are devastating on the break.
If they can keep things right they have a major chance of winning."

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From the Boardroom - David Gold
WHUFC.com

I feel the international break has been a useful time for both Slaven and
the squad as we look to get a few of the players back from injury. I'm sure
Slaven would have used the chance to work closely with the likes of Enner
Valencia who played his first game in a behind-closed-doors friendly last
week. It is great to see Enner back in contention and we are not too far
away from seeing Alex Song back in action so the signs are looking very
promising on that front. Andy Carroll also played the full ninety minutes
against Reading and got on the scoresheet which is great to see. Whenever I
have seen Andy this season, he is looking so strong and desperate to get
back into first-team action.

I know that the stats are on him are better than they have ever been before
and it shows how hard he has worked throughout the summer, both in the gym
and now out on the pitch again. The obvious downside to the international
break is that certain players like Diafra Sakho and Cheikhou Kouyate have
only just got back with the squad following their return from Senegal. But
the majority of Premier League Clubs have the same issue over this period
and it is something we have become used to. I want to pay special tribute to
James Collins and Darren Randolph who enjoyed a memorable few days for their
countries last week. It proved to be a great night for Ginge last weekend
and he deserves to be at a major tournament next summer. He has been a great
servant for the Club and never lets you down.
Darren was also influential for the Republic of Ireland and played a major
role in the winning goal against Germany. I am sure he would have been
thrilled with the victory that saw them secure a play-off place and will
give him a lot of confidence as he returns to the Hammers.

We are now preparing for a big London derby against Crystal Palace and it is
a top of the table clash! Palace are flying high in the Premier League and
they have certainly had an impressive start to the campaign, but whenever we
play away from home I believe we can get something from the game.

I have said the same thing before our trips to Arsenal, Liverpool and
Manchester City and I feel exactly the same this weekend. I am sure it will
be end to end from both sides with so many good attacking players on show
and we could be in for a high scoring game.
Alan Pardew has done a remarkable job and they were not in great shape when
he first took over. But he has made them into a very good side. I am
thrilled with our start to the season and we added very wisely during the
summer. The new signings have added to the strength of our squad and with
the new manager, everything has come together. I am sure there will be
twists and turns throughout the season but we shouldn't be afraid of anyone
and we are playing good entertaining football. I hope all the fans who are
travelling to Selhurst Park on Saturday have a safe journey and let's hope
we can extend our unbeaten run in the Premier League to six games and come
away with another three points on our travels.

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Crystal Palace v West Ham
KO 15:00
16 October 2015
Last updated at 11:26

Barclays Premier League
Venue: Selhurst Park Date: Saturday 17 October

TEAM NEWS

Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew has been boosted by the return from
injury of Damien Delaney, Mile Jedinak, Jordon Mutch and Lee Chung-yong.
However, Palace are still without strikers Connor Wickham and Marouane
Chamakh and defender Joel Ward.
West Ham striker Andy Carroll is fit after recovering from an ankle injury,
while Angelo Ogbonna could also feature following a hamstring problem. Aaron
Cresswell and Winston Reid have slight injuries but could be available.
Enner Valencia is nearing full fitness after a knee problem and could be
available in two weeks.

MOTD COMMENTATOR'S NOTES

Jonathan Pearce: "Palace's 2014 win at West Ham was highly significant. It
was a coming-of-age match. They showed they were mature enough to belong in
the Premier League. "Now Wilfried Zaha needs to show he has come of age as a
Premier League player. I hope he was jealous of his team-mates on
international duty. He has the ability to be an England player but shows it
too rarely. Against West Brom he was breathtaking. "The game promises much:
Alan Pardew against the club that sacked him; Victor Moses back where it all
started for him; Palace's best top-flight start in 25 years; West Ham's best
away run in years."

Twitter: @jpearcefootball

WHAT THE MANAGERS SAY

Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew: "It is a top-of-the-table encounter.
That is good for two teams who weren't predicted to be there at this stage
of the season. "We're coming off a good performance and West Ham will be
aware of that. I am sure they will be looking to upset our rhythm and what
we do really well."
West Ham manager Slaven Bilic: "They are good in every department, they are
compact but also great on the counter attack. They have great players who
can make an impact instantly, out of nothing, so we need to be aware of
that. "They have a good squad depth, and every player likes to get on the
ball and get behind the defence."

LAWRO'S PREDICTION
I think the Eagles will give West Ham a real examination. Palace boss Alan
Pardew will approach the game differently to the way Arsenal, Manchester
City or Liverpool did when they went on the attack against the Hammers and
got picked off on the break.

MATCH FACTS

Head-to-head
Crystal Palace have only lost one of their last seven league meetings with
West Ham (W4, D2).
However, the Hammers did win 3-1 when the teams met at Selhurst Park last
season.
Both meetings between these sides last term ended in 3-1 wins to the away
team.

Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace are yet to draw a match in any competition this season (W7,
L3).
They have only conceded two goals in their last four league games.
Fifteen of the 18 goals (for and against) in Palace's Premier League games
this season have come in the second half.
The last time Palace had this many points after eight games of a top-flight
season was in 1990-91, when they ended the campaign in third.
Alan Pardew has won 58% of his Premier League games as Crystal Palace
manager, compared to the 36% he won as West Ham boss between 2003 and 2006.

West Ham
West Ham are unbeaten in their last five Premier League games (W3, D2).
They have the best away record in the top flight this season with three wins
and one draw. They have not gone five Premier League away games without
defeat since a seven-match run in January 2009.
The Hammers have scored 17 goals in their eight league games this campaign -
only Manchester City (19) have scored more.
Dimitri Payet has been involved in 14 goals (five goals, nine assists) in
his last 16 league appearances in England and France.

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Crystal Palace v West Ham United
KUMB.com
Filed: Thursday, 15th October 2015
By: Preview Percy

We're earlier than usual with Preview Percy's piece this week. He's gone to
see his lawyer to make sure his ex-wife can't reopen their divorce
settlement. Which she will probably want to do if she reads this....

Next up we make that trip over the water into the god-forsaken London
Borough Of Croydon where we will be hosted by Crystal Palace.

Kick-off is 3pm and there are engineering works a-plenty to consider. C2C
trains are being diverted into Liverpool Street, the northern bit of the
Circle line plus the Met and Hammersmith & City lines are all knackered. If
you're not sure look it up on the web. I know you've got a computer.

If you have ever read this column before you'll know that the ex-Mrs Percy
came from Croydon which, in any sane and modern world, would normally have
resulted in the place being nuked, or at the very least surrounded by a 100
ft tall wall fringed with anti-personnel mines to prevent anything quite as
frightful ever escaping from that benighted hole ever again. The fact that
the place not only still exists but also still has transport links to the
outside world is a shameful reflection on how soft this country is these
days.

Until common sense prevails, therefore, we still have to play Crystal Palace
twice a season. They currently sit in 4th spot, a point ahead of ourselves
who happen to be tucked in behind in 6th spot. They have 15 of your English
points, those coming courtesy of a record that is comprised of 5 wins and
three defeats. The wins came away at Norwich (3-1), at home to Villa (2-1),
away at Chelsea (2-1), away at Watford (1-0) and most recently at home to
West Brom (2-0). The defeats have come at home to Arsenal (1-2), at home to
Man City (0-1) and away at Spurs (0-1). It will be noted therefore that
their home record (6pts out of 12) is slightly poorer than their away record
(9pts out of 12). Remind you of anything?

Thanks to snipers employed by the paramilitary wing of kumb.com's resident
law firm, three of whom have their sights trained on me as I write this, I'm
STILL not allowed to say anything much about their manager, other than he
had a longish playing career at the club he now manages where, for much of
the time he was the butt of all the boo boys, something he only partly
managed to dispel with his FA Cup semi-final winning goal back in the day.
Suffice to say that Preview Alastair was equally unimpressed with some of
his non-footballing activities during his sojourn on Tyneside, not to
mention [name of player omitted for legal reasons].

Talking of the North East, Palace's biggest signing in the last window was
Yohan Cabaye who came in from Paris St Germain whence he had pitched up
having played for Pardew at SJP. It wasn't all "vin et roses" up there.
Pardew left Cabaye out of the side at the start of 2013/14 after Arsenal had
tapped up the player claiming that his mind wasn't in the right place.
Nevertheless, Cabaye returned to action scoring twice against us in December
2013 in what turned out to be his last match for the Magpies. In fact,
Cabaye's second goal turned out to be his last kick in a Newcastle shirt as,
as soon as the window opened, Ashley took the profit and flogged the player
to PSG. He lasted there about 18 months before his former boss turned up.
The fee was described as "undisclosed but a club record" but of course the
work experience kid with the Harry Potter spectacles has a way of finding
out details like that and the figure of £13m is the one he came up with,
though this figure is believed to include £3m in add-ons.

The other big fee was the £9m sent to Sunderland for the services of Conor
Wickham. I know we were linked with him a while back but I couldn't quite
get it myself. Ok admittedly he was the Makems' (joint) top scorer last
season but that snippet of information has to be tempered with the knowledge
with the detail that his total came to 5 league goals from 31 matches. Or 6
if you throw in the one he picked up in the League Cup. Either way not a
great return and the fee paid is more a reflection of the premium fees
payable for players qualified (by birth if not actually by ability) to play
for England.

A further £3.5m went on 'keeper Alex McCarthy, who arrived from QPR where he
was understudy to Rob Green. McCarthy was part of the Reading side that went
down a couple of years ago and played in the last match of the season at the
Boleyn having been selected for the England squad a few days previously. He
had a 'mare against us, not that the Reading supporters noticed. Not unlike
the risible Palace "ultras" (named after a washing powder I believe), they
seemed to be more concerned with how they looked on the telly than with
events on the pitch. Who can forget their plaintive comment: "Once you start
complicating things the result is less inflatables"? McCarthy made only 3
appearances for QPR last season but injury to Julian Speroni has seen him
promoted to first choice at Selhurst Park this season.

The other permanent deal saw Wolves winger Bakary Sako arrive on a free.
Sako's high point of the season so far probably came at Stamford Bridge
where he scored one and made one in their 2-1 victory, a win which, in
retrospect, isn't quite as impressive as it once might have been.

Talking of Chelsea, no club these days is complete without a loan player off
whatever shelf they keep them on over there and Palace are no exception.
They are this year's beneficiaries of the services of Patrick Bamford, who
picked up the Championship Player of the Year award for his efforts on
behalf of Middlesbrough last term.

Their wide guys are getting a bit of press at the moment. Zaha gave West
Brom's Brunt a hard time the other week, though he is one of the unsteady
eddies that everyone knows about, apart from (obviously) our wonderful
referees. He has that habit of going out of his way to find a stray leg to
go over – the irony of Liverpool supporters complaining about him doing so
last season was highly amusing. Pardew has been critical of his player on
occasion this season, accusing him of a lack of concentration on occasion
and he has been replaced at half time on more than one occasion.

The other flavour of the month is French-born, Congolese but raised in
Lewisham Yannick Bolasie. Capped over 20 times by the Democratic (yeah
right) Republic of Congo he was recently nominated for the African Player Of
The Year Award. The work experience kid with the Harry Potter spectacles
tells me that according to the settings of his latest computer game, Bolasie
is rated as a more skilled player than Lionel Messi, something that caused
more laughter here in the Avram Grant Olympic Rest Home For The Bewildered
than that time the aircon accidentally got laced with nitrous oxide. You'd
have to be the sort of muppet that calls himself an "ultra" to genuinely
believe that one. Or a spotty computer programmer with a warped sense of
humour.

At least injury will spare us the embarrassment of seeing us concede a goal
to the useless Marouane Chamakh. Here is a player so poor that even when we
were going through an almost complete lack of strikers couldn't actually get
in our team. Typically he has scored against us on a couple of occasions
now. There is an amusing video of the player looking terrified at one of
those droid things at the tea photo shoot a few weeks ago, presumably scared
by the prospect of losing his place to the thing which appeared a lot more
mobile than he did and, if nothing else, its hamstring won't go at the drop
of a hat.

Us? Bear with me while I try and remember our last game which took place so
long ago people were still giving a monkey's about the Rugby World Cup. Oh
yeah. Sunderland away. Well that match was the living embodiment of the need
to get off to a good start. Gifting Sunderland a couple of goals got their
tails up – if we could now all stop playing those hospital square passes I'm
sure everyone would be jolly grateful. Having said that – and we rode the
luck given to us as a result of Sunderland's insistence of on relying on
journeymen strikers – we kept at it and once we'd got the first before half
time there was an inevitability about the equaliser, even if there was an
assist from the 'keeper. After that their heads went down and only one team
was ever going to win, which made the dodgy start all the more galling. If
we'd gone one up we'd have won easily.

That draw was followed by the international break of course. Dele Alli of
Spurs professed himself to be "surprised" at his call-up to the England
squad. You and us both Dele. Elsewhere, much as happened when called upon in
these parts, Darren Randolph let nobody down when called upon by the Irish
Republic and, just to confirm that some things will always be funny no
matter how often they happen, Scotland appear to have become the only
country in Europe not to qualify for next summer's tournament. As if that
wasn't mirth-inducing enough, the fact that when they turn on their tellies
next summer they'll be watching the likes of Albania v (possibly) Bosnia &
Herzegovina is enough to start us off giggling all over again. Expect a mass
exodus of sorrows-drowning sweaties to turn up in Amsterdam then.

Elsewhere our former manager has apparently decided to abandon all pretence
at dignity by deciding to slag off the supporters who endured his tenure at
the Boleyn. Now he got us up, yes, though with the squad we had compared
with the others in that league we arguably made hard work of it. However,
the last season was a painful experience as we lurched from one week to
another. So being called "deluded" by someone who in the same breath claims
he's worth the England job is surely one of the most amazing examples of pot
and kettle nomenclature ever recorded.

Back on planet earth, the team news is reasonably good for once. The
international break will have done Winston Reid no harm in his recovery from
the minor knock that threatened his participation against Sunderland. The
ankle problem that Carroll picked up against Norwich is almost better, as is
the hamstring belonging to Ogbonna. Best of all we are said to be pretty
close to seeing Enner Valencia back in contention. With Alex Song targeting
Chelsea for a return there's some genuinely exciting selection problems for
Mr Bilic coming up.

Prediction? A difficult one this. On the one hand they've traditionally been
a bit tough to beat. Not actually any good as such but one of those
irritating teams that you get annoyed at losing to. On the other hand, their
form at home has been a bit mixed and ours away from home (the first half on
Wearside notwithstanding) hasn't been bad at all. I'm edging towards another
away win but the fact that rotten things have happened to me in Croydon in
the past is tempering my optimism to a certain extent, so I'll go for parity
on this occasion. So the Avram Grant Olympic Rest Home For The Bewildered's
collection (£2.50) to buy Scotland a Euro sympathy card (we'll get Wales and
Northern Ireland to sign it as well) will be placed on a 2-2 draw and we'll
be off to Winstones the Turf Accountants just as soon as the Swan And
Superinjunction closes.

Enjoy the game!

When Last We Met Over There: Won 3-1 (August 2014) A fine volley from out of
the skies by Zarate and Downing's cut in and low drive gave us a good start.
Chamakh, despite being not very good, invoked the law of the ex to reduce
the deficit before Carlton Cole (bless him) made the points safe.

Danger Man: Wilfried Zaha Gave Brunt a hard time in the West Brom match,
even before factoring in his somewhat dubious form around the box.

Referee: Mark Clattenburg Rode a groundswell of sympathetic goodwill a
couple of years ago when bad-mouthed by Chelsea, all of which sort of
covered up his shortcomings as an official – and they are manifold. He's
pulled off the difficult, possibly unique, trick of being disliked in equal
measures by both supporters and the PGMOL mafia, who have had to stoop to
ludicrous punishments for such offences as "driving home in his own car" to
keep him in his place.

Irritating Celebrity Supporter Of The Week: The bloke who plays Jay in the
Inbetweeners is a Palace fan though it's a bit unfair to put him into the
irritating camp on the strength of the well-written character he plays
(which is clearly based on the wannabee "ultras"). Neil Morrissey is
irritating (I can vouch from that from first hand experience of when I was
unfortunate enough to drink in that part of the world) but top of the
irritating celebrity tree has to be Nigel Farage who must find it oh so
difficult to reconcile his stance on immigration with the fact that their
best players probably wouldn't be allowed to play if he had his way.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Crystal Palace v West Ham preview: London rivals looking to maintain recent
good form
Last Updated: 16/10/15 1:28pm
SSN

Crystal Palace host West Ham at Selhurst Park on Saturday afternoon with
both sides flying high in the Premier League. Alan Pardew's men are
currently fourth in the table, with the last time the club having collected
more points at the same stage of the season being 25 years ago, when they
went on to finish third in the top flight. However, Palace will be wary of
facing a Hammers side who have impressed by going unbeaten on their travels
so far in the league this campaign, including victories at Arsenal,
Liverpool and Man City. And in Dimitri Payet West Ham have one of the most
in-form players in Europe at present, with the French winger having had a
hand in 14 goals, including five strikes and nine assists, in his last 16
league appearances in the Premier League and Ligue 1.

Team news

Pardew hopes to have the likes of Damien Delaney (groin), Mile Jedinak
(hamstring), Joel Ward (knee) and Connor Wickham (rib) all available again
after injury, but the Eagles are still without Marouane Chamakh (hamstring).

West Ham coach Slaven Bilic may be able to call upon the services of Winston
Reid, Andy Carroll, Angelo Ogbonna and Enner Valencia for the trip across
the capital, although this match comes too soon for midfielder Alex Song.

Opta stats

Pardew has won 58 per cent of his Premier League games as Palace manager; he
won just 36 per cent as Hammers boss between 2003 and 2006.
Both meetings between these sides last season ended in 3-1 away wins.
Fifteen of the 18 goals in games featuring Palace this season have come
after half-time (both scored and conceded).
No player has made more interceptions this season than Yohan Cabaye (30,
level with Jordan Amavi).
The Eagles have alternated between victory and defeat in their last six home
league games; they beat West Brom 2-0 last time at Selhurst Park.
West Ham have the best shot conversion rate in the top flight this season
(23 per cent).

Merson's prediction

West Ham are better away from home but Palace are flying, they are a
different kettle of fish. Where can Palace realistically finish this season?
I think it all comes down to injuries, and you look at each player at the
moment and they're all playing out of their skins, above themselves. When
they do lose, they need to make sure they win again as soon as possible, but
I wouldn't rule them out of a top eight finish.

PAUL PREDICTS: 2-1 (Sky Bet odds 15/2)

Betting

Palace are Sky Bet's odds-on favourites ahead of their clash with 14/5 shots
West Ham, with the draw a 5/2 shot. Palace have made a great start to the
season and sit fourth, only three points behind leaders City, and are 3/1
for a top-six finish. Both meetings in this fixture last season finished in
a 3-1 away win and it's 33/1 for another win for the Hammers. The visitors
are unbeaten on the road this season and are available at 6/1 to win with
both teams scoring. Soccer Saturday pundit Matt Le Tissier thinks it will be
tight and is predicting a 2-2 draw at odds of 12/1.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
West Ham striker Enner Valencia may face Crystal Palace
Last Updated: 16/10/15 2:00pm
SSN

West Ham boss Slaven Bilic is weighing up whether to unleash Enner Valencia
at Crystal Palace on Saturday. Valencia has played just 20 minutes in a
practice match since returning to training after suffering a knee injury in
a Europa League qualifying tie in July. Bilic claimed the Ecuadorian forward
is not in contention for the derby clash as he is not fully match fit, but
the 25-year-old's performances on the training pitch have put him in
consideration for the trip to Selhurst Park. "Valencia has been out since
late July, it was a long break but he is back and it's a great thing for
us," said Bilic. "He's one of our biggest weapons on the pitch. He's looking
sharp and very good. Now it is just a matter of fitness and slowly getting
him in shape to be fit. "He's been with us for one week now, but not for
every day. He played 20 minutes against Reading in the practice match and
looked really well. But he still needs a couple of weeks. "He's not in
contention - but then when I see him on the training ground I think 'maybe
Saturday'. He's one of those who makes you think."

The Hammers make the short trip to south London in sixth spot, but Bilic
admits the international break may have upset the momentum created by their
encouraging start to the season.
Palace are a point and two places ahead in fourth, and Bilic knows he will
have to keep French playmaker Yohan Cabaye quiet if his side are to pick up
a fourth win on the road this term.
"Palace are a good team, they are good in everything - defending, contacts,
counter attacks," he added. "They also have Cabaye who can do special things
on the pitch. They are doing really, really good. It's a London derby, it's
a great game and it will be an extremely difficult test. "You can't stop
players losing momentum. You can try to press a pause button but then to
restart it when they come back... even on the best DVDs when you press
pause, you can't make a m eal. "Maybe you can make a sandwich, but then
after one minute it automatically starts again and you have to rush back. We
have to restart it again and I hope we can do it."

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
MATCH PREVIEW: CRYSTAL PALACE V WEST HAM
By Dan Coker 16 Oct 2015 at 08:30
WTID

Blast from the past


Today's blast from the past represents a short trip back to 23rd August 2014
for the Selhurst Park clash with Crystal Palace; Nico & Vinz were number one
with 'Am I Wrong' as West Ham United enjoyed a 3-1 victory in front of
24,242. The Hammers went ahead in the 34th minute when Mauro Zarate
(pictured celebrating his goal) met a half-cleared corner with a stunning
volley from 20 yards which flew beyond Julian Speroni to open the scoring.
The Claret and Blue Army were celebrating in the south London sunshine again
three minutes later when Stewart Downing struck from a similar distance,
cutting in from the right wing before placing a precision effort low to
Speroni's right to extend the visitors' lead at the interval.

James Tomkins headed against the underside of the bar in the opening minutes
of the second half and Palace soon responded by pulling a goal back in the
48th minute, ex-Hammer Marouane Chamakh scoring with a low strike from the
edge of the area. West Ham restored their two-goal advantage after 62
minutes though when Carlton Cole was given too much time and space in the
area to drill a low effort into the corner of the net as the Hammers closed
out a thoroughly-deserved win.

Sam Allardyce's Hammers would finish 12th in the Premier League in 2014/15,
while the Eagles would end the campaign in 10th place after former West Ham
boss Alan Pardew took over midway through the campaign.

Crystal Palace: Julian Speroni, Martin Kelly, Brede Hangeland, Damien
Delaney, Joel Ward, Barry Bannan (Jonathan Williams), Mile Jedinak, Shaun
O'Keefe (Glenn Murray), Yannick Bolasie, Marouane Chamakh, Fraizer Campbell
(Dwight Gayle).

West Ham United: Adrian, Joey O'Brien, James Tomkins, Winston Reid, Aaron
Cresswell, Mark Noble, Cheikhou Kouyate, Stewart Downing (Mo Diame), Mauro
Zarate (Diego Poyet), Ricardo Vaz Te, Carlton Cole (Diafra Sakho).

Club Connections

Marouane Chamakh is injured, ruling out an appearance against West Ham
United with whom he spent a brief loan spell in 2013. Alan Pardew, an
ex-Palace player and now manager of the Eagles, will face the club he
managed between 2003 and 2006. Victor Moses returns to the club where he
started his career. A large group of players have turned out for the Hammers
and the Eagles. Divided here by position, they include:

Goalkeepers: Perry Suckling, Steve Mautone, Vincent Blore.

Defenders: Kenny Brown, Neil Ruddock, Paul Brush, Danny Gabbidon, Chris
Powell, Alan Stephenson, Tony Gale, Matthew Upson, Darren Powell.

Midfielders: Michael Hughes, Hayden Mullins, Carl Fletcher, Jobi McAnuff,
Kyel Reid, Ray Houghton.

Strikers: Ian Wright, Jeroen Boere, Clive Allen, Dave Swindlehurst, Paul
Kitson, Ron Brett, Dave Sexton, Freddie Sears.

Malcolm Allison and Jack Tresadern played for the Hammers and managed the
Eagles, while Iain Dowie played for both clubs and also managed Palace.

Today's focus though is on a former England international forward. Johnny
'Budgie' Byrne was born in West Horsley, Surrey, on 13th May 1939 to Irish
immigrants. He played youth football for Epsom Town and Guildford City while
working as an apprentice toolmaker before his schoolteacher and ex-Crystal
Palace and West Ham goalkeeper Vincent Blore alerted Palace manager Cyril
Spiers to the teenage Byrne's talents.


Byrne signed a professional contract on his 17th birthday in 1956 and went
on to score seven times in 28 matches in the 1957/58 season as Palace
finished in 14th place in the Third Division South. He scored 17 goals in 45
matches in the 1958/59 season as the club became founder members of the
Fourth Division, new manager George Smith leading the 'Glaziers', as they
were known, to a seventh-place finish. In 1959/60 Byrne scored 16 times in
42 matches as Palace finished eighth in Division Four. Byrne became a first
team regular, and was popular with the Palace fans. A new breed of striker,
standing only 5'8 but weighing 11.5 stone, Byrne was adept at dropping off
his marker and finding space before either assisting a team-mate with an
inspired pass or using his own skill, speed and powerful right foot to
create opportunities for himself. In the 1960/61 season, Byrne scored 30 of
Palace's 110 goals as the club reached the Third Division. He left Crystal
Palace in 1962 for West Ham United having scored 85 league goals in 203
appearances.

Ron Greenwood paid a fee of £65,000 to take 'Budgie' to West Ham United, a
record between two British clubs – a jovial character, the nickname 'Budgie'
was the result of Byrne's incessant, cheerful chattering. The fee was made
up of £58,000 plus ex-Palace striker Ron Brett who was valued at £7,000.
Brett was tragically killed five months after the move at the age of 24,
when his car hit a lorry. Greenwood would later compare Byrne with Argentine
footballer Alfredo Di Stefano. Byrne's Hammers debut came on 17th March 1962
in a 0-0 draw at Sheffield Wednesday. He played 11 games in his first
season, scoring a single goal, in a 4–1 home win against Cardiff in April
1962.


The 1962/63 season saw him score a hat-trick in a 6-0 League Cup win over
Plymouth and end the season with 14 goals in all competitions, only one
behind leading scorer Geoff Hurst. Byrne beat runner-up Bobby Moore in the
Hammer of the Year voting in 1963/64 as the Hammers won the FA Cup. Byrne
had amassed 33 goals from 45 games in all competitions for this season,
overtaking Hurst as top goalscorer. This included a league hat-trick in a
4-3 win over Sheffield Wednesday and FA Cup goals in the fourth round
against Leyton Orient, the fifth round against Swindon and two in the
quarter-final against Burnley.

The 1964/65 season opened with Byrne scoring as West Ham and champions
Liverpool shared the Charity Shield having drawn the game 2–2. He also
scored a hat-trick as the Hammers beat Tottenham 3-2 at Upton Park (the
first goal can be viewed in the video below, with all the other goals in the
second video further down). Byrne scored in the first round of the European
Cup Winners' Cup against La Gantoise, the third round against Lausanne and
in the semi-final against Real Zaragoza. In the 1965/66 season West Ham were
again involved in Europe as holders of the Cup Winners' Cup and also reached
the 1966 League Cup Final. Byrne was on the scoresheet in the Cup Winners'
Cup, in the second round against Olympiakos, the third round against
Magedeburg and in the semi-final against Borussia Dortmund as the Hammers
exited the competition. He scored five goals in six games in the League Cup
including one in the first-leg of the final against West Brom which West Ham
won 2–1. Albion won the second leg 4-1 at The Hawthorns though to take the
trophy with a 5-3 aggregate win. Byrne finished the season with 17 goals in
all competitions behind Geoff Hurst who, on the verge of his 1966 World Cup
success, scored 40 goals in 59 games.



Byrne played for England at both youth and Under-23 levels, becoming the
first Fourth Division player to win an Under-23 cap while with Crystal
Palace. Byrne, however, might be described as a talented nearly man, missing
out as he did on places in both the 1962 and 1966 England World Cup squads.
First capped for the senior England team in 1961, for a game against
Northern Ireland and while still at Crystal Palace, Byrne seemed likely to
figure in the 1962 World Cup in Chile having been transferred across London
for a sizeable fee in the months before the tournament. However, Byrne was
involved in a post-match fracas with West Brom and former England right-back
Don Howe in the tunnel at The Hawthorns on 31st March 1962. The story goes
that influential figures at the Football Association – where a selection
committee still carried great influence when picking the team – were
unimpressed by this and consequently excluded him. Byrne notched his first
England goals in June 1963 in an 8-1 away win over Switzerland but perhaps
his finest Three Lions moment arrived in May 1964 when he scored three goals
in Lisbon as England beat Eusebio's Portugal 4-3, Byrne clinching his
hat-trick with an 88th-minute winner.

Byrne helped England beat Wales at Wembley the following season while
playing at inside-left and started in the same position at Wembley again in
April 1965 for a 2-2 draw against Scotland, in a season he comfortably ended
as West Ham's top goalscorer with 25 goals. For Byrne, a man with the world
at his feet, one of the First Division's top forwards, on the verge of a
European final and now having the chance to re-establish himself in the
England team a year before the World Cup finals, this proved to be the last
of his 11 international caps. England were reduced to ten men against the
Scots when Ray Wilson was forced off by injury. With no substitutes allowed,
Byrne slotted in as emergency full back – however, Byrne himself then
suffered an injury to his knee but gamely battled on with the Three Lions
effectively down to nine men. Byrne's injury, however, was serious with
ligament damage to the knee and he had done himself no favours by playing
on. He not only had to sit out the rest of the Hammers' triumphant European
campaign, but he was still not fit come the start of the following season.
Byrne returned but could only show glimpses of his previous form and was
hindered by injury throughout the 1965/66 campaign. His exceptional talents
were never in doubt but, although he scored 8 goals for England in his 11
appearances, he never fully established himself at international level.

Byrne returned to Crystal Palace, by now in the Second Division, in February
1967 in a deal worth £45,000. He scored 1 goal from 14 appearances in his
first season back and 4 goals in 22 appearances in 1967/68. Byrne was
proving to be past his peak as a player and, only a year after rejoining the
club, he was transferred to Fulham for £25,000 in March 1968. Byrne would
eventually go to play in South Africa, where he also went into management.

Bobby Moore was a close friend of Byrne's – according to acclaimed sports
writer Brian Glanville, the two men once sat together on a warm South
African night when Moore said, envisaging a partnership in management: "You
and me, Budgie, you and me!" It was never to be. Moore passed away in
February 1993 and Byrne died, aged 60, of a heart attack in Cape Town, South
Africa on 27th October 1999. A minute's silence was held for Byrne and his
former team-mate Dave Bickles, who had died five days after 'Budgie', at the
0-0 UEFA Cup draw against Steaua Bucharest at Upton Park.



Referee

This Saturday's referee is Mark Clattenburg. The Durham-based official's
record when taking charge of Hammers matches is mixed – he was the man in
the middle for our aforementioned 3-1 victory at Crystal Palace last season,
refereed our 3-1 home win over Southampton in 2013/14 and, in the previous
year, took charge in 2-1 wins at QPR and at home against Norwich. On the
flip side, he had no choice but to send off Kevin Nolan in a 2-1 defeat at
Fulham two seasons ago and was also the man in black for a woeful away
showing at Villa Park in a 2-1 defeat in February 2013. Clattenburg and West
Ham United most recently crossed paths in the 2-1 defeat at Leicester in
April which followed his part in the controversial 2-1 league defeat at
Everton last November when Romelu Lukaku opened the scoring from an offside
position and various tackles, clashes and simulation went unpunished.

Possible line-ups

Crystal Palace will be without injured full-back Joel Ward, as well as
strikers Connor Wickham and Marouane Chamakh. Alan Pardew should have Damien
Delaney and Mile Jedinak fit and available again.

Slaven Bilic could be without Winston Reid and Aaron Cresswell, who are both
rated 50-50 for the trip to Selhurst Park. Stephen Hendrie could come in at
left-back for his Hammers debut. Angelo Ogbonna and Andy Carroll have been
back in training while Enner Valencia could make the bench after Bilic said
the Ecuadorian could play 10 minutes on Saturday. Captain Mark Noble is one
caution away from a one-match suspension – if he gets booked on Saturday, he
will miss the visit of Chelsea the following weekend.

Possible Crystal Palace XI: Hennessey; Kelly, Hangeland, Dann, Souare;
Cabaye, McArthur; Zaha, Puncheon, Bolasie; Gayle.

Possible West Ham United XI: Adrian; Jenkinson, Tomkins, Reid, Hendrie;
Noble, Kouyate; Moses, Payet, Lanzini; Sakho.

Enjoy the game – Up The Hammers!

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Slaven Bilic: I understand why West Ham's Dimitri Payet feels France snub is
an injustice
SLAVEN BILIC
Evening Standard

Dimitri Payet feels an injustice over not being selected for France and I
can understand why. It is not my job to tell Didier Deschamps who he should
pick. All I can say is Dimitri is the one of the highlights of the whole
Premier League so far. It has not been two or three games. He has done it in
every one of our matches. It is not a lucky spell. People might be worried
he feels he has to leave to play at a club in the Champions League but not
all the players in top national teams are also in that competition. Maybe if
you are the coach of Germany then the criteria could be only players who
have won the Champions League! When I was coach of Croatia, I didn't have
that possibility. It was much more important that the player is doing well
and he would fit in my team. I divide the outfield players up as
locomotives and wagons. You can have five wagons and they are playing in
great clubs, the Champions League and everything. One might play for Inter
Milan, one for Real Madrid, one for Arsenal and so on. But they are not the
main players at those clubs. And then you can have five players who are not
playing for those big clubs but they are leaders in their teams. They are
the main players who take responsibilities. A mix is best but it is better
to have that second group of players than the first.

Payet is a locomotive. The quality of his performances — and the level of
opponent he is doing it against — is amazing. For me, he should be in any
national team. To be fair, France maybe has the biggest selection of quality
players in Europe. But Payet did not come here as a new name. His last year
in Marseille was great and he came here as a national team player, having
played for France in June. The Champions League is important because
everybody is watching and you get recognition from people who are not
crazily dedicated football fans. But he is still at a Premier League team.
It would matter if he was playing in Portugal, no disrespect to them, or
Turkey and a national coach might say you want to see him playing top level
games.

But that is exactly what you get every week in England. You don't have to
play in the Champions League to have a successful international career. I
didn't.Look at the team from the 1998 World Cup which won the bronze medal.
We played with three at the back. It was me, Igor Stimac from Derby and West
Ham and Zvonimir Soldo from Stuttgart. None of us played in the Champions
League but the three of us were the players who were among the two or three
leaders at our clubs. We won the bronze medal because we were strong
characters on the pitch. We were players that the manager called up to speak
to if things were going well or not. After that, Croatia had a defence made
of players who played for AC Milan, Juventus and other Champions League
clubs but they were either not regulars or not leaders. Of course, there is
a difference if one guy is playing in the Croatian league and the other is
at Manchester United. But even then, I had three or four Croatian-based
players in the team I managed and we still beat England twice in qualifying
for Euro 2008. If it is the same top league, I wouldn't see a difference as
an international coach if one guy is playing for Leicester and the other guy
Manchester City. They are good enough because they play every week. It is
more about the quality of the player, their character and how they gel with
others. Payet fits everything on that list — and that matters more than
anything else.

Remember Brendan now he walks alone

Jurgen Klopp plays his first game in England tomorrow but I want to say how
sorry I feel for Brendan Rodgers. People say he is on big wages and it is a
well-paid job but it doesn't make you less human. It is hard to cope with
pressure from the modern media when every fan who wants to spend 10 minutes
a day behind a computer is like a journalist. They voice opinions and
opinions nowadays are mostly negative. People forget how good they were two
years ago. I know it is part of the job and comes with the territory but I
feel bad for him. Now they have all moved on, Liverpool and Klopp looks like
a perfect match. They needed Klopp to wake up the extra qualities they have:
the fanbase, the energy, Anfield becoming a fortress again. It is great to
have him in the Premier League. Liverpool are a special club, a cult club
and sing 'You'll Never Walk Alone'. They should not forget Brendan is
walking alone now.

Eagles mustn't clip our wings

The international break has made preparing for the Crystal Palace game
difficult. The last time we were lucky because we played Newcastle on
Monday and had two more days. Now, Cheikhou Kouyate and Diafra Sakho only
returned to training yesterday and I haven't seen many of the players for
nearly two weeks. It is the same for a lot of clubs, of course. Palace are
very solid at the back and up front they have six players from which they
are choosing four. Those six are sharp, fast and direct. With Yohan Cabaye,
especially, they have good delivery from all areas. It is important we keep
the momentum going. We need points. The League can change so quickly — you
can find yourself flying one moment and then in trouble the next. We want to
keep flying.

Don't mark England down after their amazing 10 out of 10 in Europe

England won all 10 Euro 2016 qualifiers but I hear people saying it doesn't
mean much because the group was bad. I'm not buying that rubbish. Yes, it
is easier because of what UEFA president Michel Platini has done by allowing
two teams to go through directly and a third in a play-off now the finals
are increased to 24 teams, but nobody qualified as easily as England.
Italy drew twice with Croatia and once with Bulgaria. Spain lost their game
in Slovakia and Holland didn't even qualify. What England did was amazing:
it has only been done five times before in history. I said to Julian Dicks
at training on Wednesday: "Congratulations on 10 out of 10 — it is
unbelievable." He replied: "Yes, but look at the quality of the teams."
Put Manchester City in League Two and make them play 10 games. I am not sure
they would win them all. Winning 10 on the trot is difficult, no matter who
you play. Okay, if you play San Marino and Andorra every week, you probably
will. But Slovenia, Lithuania and Estonia are better than that. Everybody
expects too much. Sometimes it feels like people are just waiting for
failure by focusing on the negative. Then it becomes a problem.

It is the same with my country. Croatia qualified because Italy beat Norway
this week. When a team qualify for a European Championship or a World Cup,
it is about more than football: it is a matter of state interest. The prime
ministers celebrate and it is a big thing for every country, not only for
Wales, who have been waiting for so long. I watched the highlights of Italy
beating Azerbaijan and they celebrated like crazy. That's Italy! Turkey
qualifying was like a fairytale for the country in general. For me, England
fans should react like this: it is brilliant, 10 out of 10, only five teams
have done it in history and then say, "But we are expecting much tougher
games and we must improve". The team should be praised first off. They
deserve it.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Hammers track Serie A ace
Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on October 16, 2015 in News, Whispers
C and H

West Ham United are watching developments between Lazio and their left sided
midfielder Senad Lulic and could move in with a bid in the summer. The Serie
A outfit want him to commit to an extension as his current contract comes to
an end in 2017 and with only a year left at the end of this season they may
be forced to sell for what they can get if they fail. The Hammers have
confirmed to ClaretandHugh that he's a player who is on their radar if the
29-year-old refuses to do a deal. He is reported as wanting around £35k a
week – personal terms well within the Irons reach – but Lazio are refusing
to meet his requirements. Lazio – meanwhile – have apparently stuck a 15
million euros on the player but will be lucky to get half of that if they
should fail to get a deal.
A Hammers source said: "He's a player ho interests us but lots can happen
between now and next summer.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Irons issue hands-off warning
Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on October 16, 2015 in News, Whispers
C and H

West Ham today described midwinter departures from the club as "highly
unlikely." Despite speculation linking various players with moves away
ClaretandHugh was told by a very well placed source: "We see no likelihood
of anybody making a permanent move." David Sullivan has put it on the record
that James Tomkins is definitely staying despite speculation and despite
suggestions that Andy Carroll could be on his way, Slaven Bilic is
determined to keep the club's record signing. We were told this afternoon:
"Some players are being seen as possible targets but it really is very
unlikely that anyone will be leaving. "Mauro Zarate has also been linked
with a move to Europe but he has become a key squad member and wants to
stay. Cheik Kouyate has also been discussed as a target along of course with
Aaron Cresswell but they are going nowhere. "There really is a feeling that
this is a great squad and everybody is fighting for a place. We don't want
players leaving." Only James Collins and Joey O'Brien would be considered
for moves with Sunderland boss Sam Allardyce believed to be interested in
possible loan deals given the problems he has in defence.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Gold talks on his away 'home' game!
Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on October 16, 2015 in News, Whispers
C and H

David Gold is again at the centre of some banter – friendly this time after
his week on Twitter – from his mainly Crystal Palace-supporting workforce.
The co-chairman's offices are deep in Palace country and he told
ClaretandHugh: "All the scarves were out this morning when I walked in and
shouts of 'We'll have you tomorrow Chairman.' There was slim chance at one
stage that Gold and David Sullivan could have taken over Palace after being
approached by former oner Simon Jordan but once West Ham came onto the
market there was only one club for us. Gold said: "I looked at the books and
whole situation but once the Irons was available that was it for both of us.
"I get the same banter every year from the fans and it's just down the road
for me to get to. I always look forward to my day at the Palace! "What makes
it so much better is that this season we are going everywhere expecting to
win. It is a great game at this stage of the season and a good test for us
but I expect a result." The only doubts are Aaron Cresswell and Winston Reid
expected to be on the bench as the manager sticks by the team which drew at
Sunderland – injuries permitting."

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
West Ham turn a profit again
Posted by Sean Whetstone on October 16, 2015 in News, Whispers
C and H

Karen Brady has revealed that West Ham made a profit in their last financial
year for the second year running. Lady Brady was asked on twitter by Andrew
Yule "When did West Ham last turn a profit?" Brady replied "Last Year
actually. Quite unusual for a football club I know… even for ones like us
with a £120m turnover." West Ham last published financial accounts up to
May 2014 revealed a turnover of £114.9m and a profit of £10m. Brady's latest
social media comments appear to suggest that turnover has increased by £5m
to £120m in the year ending May 2015 and West Ham have continued to make a
profit for the second year running. Unfortunately the financial accounts
will not be published until January next year so we will probably have to
wait until then to find out the details. West Ham are unlikely to make a
profit in this current financial year with reports suggesting the Hammers
went £17m into the Red to afford out summer transfer spree ahead of our last
season in the Boleyn Ground. Speaking a West Ham financial insider this
morning Claret and Hugh were told: "We will lose between £7m and £20m (this
financial year), projected middle figure is £13m-but there are many
variables. The last two years we made money. I think approx £3m last year
(to May 2015) although the accounts are not finalized yet and £10m (profit)
the year before"

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Irons make Jenkinson decision
Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on October 16, 2015 in News, Whispers
C and H

West Ham will not be pursuing Carl Jenkinson for a third loan spell and at
the price wanted by Arsenal will cold shoulder any move to bring him to the
club permanently. The Hammers paid a loan fee of £1.5 million and wages of
around £40k for a player who signed a new deal with his parent club before
arriving at Upton Park for a second loan spell this term. The Gunners want
around £8m – £10 million should a club move in to sign him but that club
will not be West Ham United. However, with defensive reinforcements having
arrived at the club the manager will not be rushing into the January
transfer window but instead will rely on what he got. James Tomkins has
performed admirably at eight back when pressed into service in the position
and Joey O'Brien, despite being down the pecking order, is also available in
emergencies. We were told: "There's eight months for us to find a right back
as we reckon we are okay for the rest of the season. However, there's always
a chance somebody might became available in t he winter so we keep an open
mind. "Jenks is a top player but it's obviously going to be difficult to do
a deal at the sort of figures Arsenal are probably looking at so we will be
looking all over."

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I'll keep an eye on Andy Carroll after Sam Allardyce's warning about his
off-field conduct, says West Ham boss Slaven Bilic
Sam Allardyce accused Andy Carroll of poor off-field conduct on Thursday
West Ham manager Slaven Bilic says he will keep an eye on the striker
Carroll has suffered injuries that have blighted his Upton Park spell
Bilic has had no problems with Carroll but is wary of his problems
By SAM CUNNINGHAM FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 09:30, 16 October 2015 | UPDATED: 09:30, 16 October 2015

Slaven Bilic has revealed he will keep an eye on Andy Carroll to make sure
he behaves and looks after himself off the pitch. The striker was criticised
by former manager Sam Allardyce who accused him of lacking interest in the
game and not conducting himself correctly off the field. Bilic admitted on
Thursday that he was aware Carroll did not take care of himself properly in
the past and will monitor the 26-year-old to ensure he is taking his job as
a professional footballer seriously. 'I will have a talk when and if that
happens,' Bilic said. 'If I see that he is not training properly, he is not
looking after his body, then of course I am going to say something.'
Allardyce indicated in his new autobiography, which is being serialised in
The Sun, that Carroll 'treats life too casually' and 'gets himself into
situations off the pitch which a manager can do without.' The player has
been unable to play regularly for West Ham since Allardyce, recently
appointed as Sunderland manager, signed him from Liverpool for £15million
two years ago.
A raft of serious injuries have ruled him out for several months at a time.
Bilic has been managing Carroll's return from injuring his knee in February
by forcing him to treat the start of the campaign like it is pre-season. He
has been impressed with Carroll's commitment since he took over from
Allardyce, but confessed he was aware of the player's history. 'I heard that
because first of all I'm a football fan,' Bilic said. 'I didn't have to
become West Ham manager to know Andy Carroll. I heard about that, that
before sometimes he gets injured because he's not totally dedicated to be a
footballer. 'These are the stories from my first day, he was long injured
when I came here. But the way he's working, especially in these six or eight
weeks of struggle when you have to work individually, which is boring and
which is not ideal type of fun or enjoying football. But he has done it
really as a great professional and now we are expecting the big benefit out
of that. 'The people are talking those stories, there is something behind
them, they are true. It's very rarely that people are making up stories.
There's got to be something there.'

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Crystal Palace vs West Ham: Team news, kick-off time, probable line-ups,
odds and stats for the Premier League clash
By SPORTSMAIL REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 10:57, 16 October 2015 | UPDATED: 11:37, 16 October 2015

Ahead of this weekend's Premier League action, Sportsmail will be providing
you with all you need to know about every fixture, with team news,
provisional squads, betting odds and Opta stats. Here is all the information
you need for West Ham's trip to Crystal Palace.

Crystal Palace
(Team news to follow...)

West Ham
Team news

West Ham can welcome back Andy Carroll, Enner Valencia and Angelo Ogbonna.
Carroll has recovered from the knock which kept him out of the draw at
Sunderland a fortnight ago, fellow forward Valencia is over the knee injury
he suffered on Europa League duty in July - although he is short of match
fitness - and centre-half Ogbonna is fit after a hamstring problem.
Defenders Winston Reid and Aaron Cresswell hope to shake off minor niggles,
but midfielder Alex Song (ankle) is three weeks away from returning.
Provisional squad: Adrian, Randolph, Tomkins, Collins, Ogbonna, Reid,
Cresswell, Hendrie, Jenkinson, Oxford, Noble, Obiang, Kouyate, Cullen,
Payet, Antonio, Moses, Lanzini, Zarate, Sakho, Valencia, Carroll, Jelavic.

Kick-off: Saturday, 3pm
Odds (subject to change):
Crystal Palace: Evens
Draw: 11/4
West Ham: 3/1

The last time that Crystal Palace had more points after eight games in a
top-flight season (15 this season) was in 1990-91 (16 points) – they
finished third that season. Dimitri Payet has had a hand in 14 goals (five
goals, nine assists) in his last 16 league appearances (Premier League &
Ligue 1 combined). Alan Pardew has won 58% of his PL games as Crystal Palace
manager; he won just 36% as Hammers boss between 2003 and 2006. Both
meetings between these sides last term ended in 3-1 away wins. Marouane
Chamakh has scored both of Crystal Palace's goals in this exact fixture in
the last two campaigns, against the side he spent time at on loan in 2013.
15 of the 18 goals in games featuring Crystal Palace this season have come
after half-time (both scored and conceded). No player has made more
interceptions this season than Yohan Cabaye (30, level with Jordan Amavi).
West Ham, unbeaten in four on the road, have not gone five Premier League
away games without defeat since January 2009 (7). The Eagles have alternated
between victory and defeat in their last six home league games; they beat
West Brom 2-0 last time at Selhurst Park. West Ham have the best shot
conversion rate in the top-flight this season (23%).

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Daily WHUFC News -

Boleyn Memories - Alan Pardew
WHUFC.com

West Ham United travel to Crystal Palace on Saturday, where they will come
up against a man with fond memories of the Boleyn Ground. Eagles manager
Alan Pardew spent more than three seasons as Hammers boss between October
2003 and December 2006, leading the east London side through a largely
successful period. Under Pards, West Ham reached two Play-Off finals, gained
promotion to the Premier League and reached the FA Cup final. During the
same period, Pardew's Hammers also produced some outstanding performances at
the Club's historic home. Among them were an unforgettable Play-Off
semi-final victory over Ipswich Town in 2004, and outstanding Premier League
wins over Aston Villa, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur during the
2005/06 season. Pardew's passionate character also saw him become embroiled
in a memorable touchline spat with Arsene Wenger during the 2-1 home win
over Arsenal in November 2006. The man himself told West Ham TV that the
atmosphere at the Boleyn Ground was among the best he has experienced
anywhere during his 30-year career in the game. "Certainly, for me, the
atmosphere on a number of occasions was unbelievable and the Ipswich one
really was something special," said Pardew. "I had a few here where the
hairs on the back of your neck stand up and I'm sure you hear that many
times in reference to this place. They are great memories and I'll treasure
them forever. "You can't help but get wrapped up in it sometimes and jumping
in the crowd or whatever I was doing, dancing, it was all part of it."

Pardew paid tribute to the Claret and Blue Army, whose vociferous support no
doubt inspired him and his players to greater heights during his three years
in charge. Among those players were the likes of Teddy Sheringham, Yossi
Benayoun, Bobby Zamora, Marlon Harewood and Tomas Repka, who all became firm
favourites among the Boleyn Ground faithful. "This is a great stage for
players, it always has been," he enthused. "There have been some greats here
and I was lucky to manage one or two of them. "I'll always be indebted to
the West Ham fans and whenever I see them they thank me for the cup run and
I thank them for their support. It goes hand in hand. "It is a special
place. It's special because the memories linger here and you're constantly
reminded, in a nice way, of the greats who have played here. For me, the
memories are a bit more personal."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Slaven Speaks - Crystal Palace
WHUFC.com

Ahead of the Hammers' trip to south London to face Crystal Palace, Slaven
Bilic faced the media. During his pre-match press conference, the boss
answered a range of questions on team news, the Eagles and maintaining the
Hammers' unbeaten run...

Good morning Slaven, what's the team news ahead of the London derby with
Crystal Palace, there were some good news about Enner Valencia, Angelo
Ogbonna and Andy Carroll?

SB: "Of course I am very pleased, they are very important players.
Thankfully Andy's injury wasn't too bad, we didn't risk him against
Sunderland but he's back now. The other two have been out for longer so we
needed to be more patient but they are back in training and looking good.

"Enner played 20 minutes in the friendly against Reading and looked really
good, he's been out for a while so he still needs a few weeks. But when I
see him in training he does things that make you think 'maybe he could 10
minutes on Saturday', but I think it'll be two weeks until he's fully
ready."

Any news on Alex Song, how long do you expect him to be out for?

SB: "Two weeks maybe, maximum three. He's working hard and we're looking
forward to having him back, he's a fantastic player."

And Aaron Cresswell and Winston Reid?

SB: "They're not too serious thank God, but we will have to wait. We will
assess them in training today and tomorrow and then make a decision if
they're available for the Palace game."

Sam Allardyce has spoken about the West Ham Way, do you feel under pressure
to play a certain style?

SB: "As a West Ham player and West Ham manager the fans always want us to
play good football. They were always clapping when we did well and really
got behind us. We went through a bad run in 1996/97 and got some stick but
that is the same from all fans.

"Now I feel that they are really behind us, they are really with us. We feel
them home and away, they are great fans, of course."

Sam Allardyce this week has been critical of Andy Carroll work ethic, what
do you make of Carroll's effort since you arrived?

SB: "I heard what he said, when I arrived Andy was injured but he's been
working unbelievably hard to get fit. He's a great professional, it's hard
when you're working on your own every day but he did it. Since I've been
here, in training and during his rehabilitation, he's been top class."

Dimitri Payet has been vocal about French manager Didier Deschamps, do you
think he should be in the national team?

SB: "It's hard when you don't know the full situation. I know as a national
manager, that it can be hard to select everyone. France have a wide pool to
choose from, a lot of quality players. If you ask me do they have many
players like Dimitri, then maybe not. There aren't many players like him and
I think he could fit into any national side in the world.

"Not only his quality on the pitch but off it too. He's a quiet guy and
quite shy but everyone likes working with him and he's a great guy."

Where are Crystal Palace's main threats going to come from?

SB: "They are good in every department, they are compact but also great on
the counter attack. They have great players who can make an impact
instantly, out of nothing, so we need to aware of that. They have a good
squad depth, and every player likes to get on the ball and get behind the
defence. Great credit to Alan Pardew, he's done a great job and Palace are
now a very dangerous and difficult team to play. I'm sure it'll be a great
game and a very difficult test for us."

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Duo shortlisted for awards!
WHUFC.com

West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic and playmaker Dimitri Payet have been
shortlisted for two prestigious Barclays Premier League awards. Bilic is one
of four bosses battling for the Manager of the Month award for September,
having guided the Hammers to victories at home to Newcastle United and at
Manchester City, and a 2-2 Boleyn Ground draw with Norwich City.
The Croatian is one of four managers shortlisted, alongside Manchester
United's Louis van Gaal, Everton's Roberto Martinez and Tottenham Hotspur
boss Mauricio Pochettino. Should he win, Bilic would emulate the
achievements of predecessors Harry Redknapp, Alan Pardew – who he faces at
Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon – and newly-appointed Sunderland
manager Sam Allardyce in winning the trophy. Payet, meanwhile, is up against
Leicester City's England striker Jamie Vardy, Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper
Hugo Lloris, Watford forward Odion Ighalo and Manchester United pair Anthony
Martial and Daley Blind. The Frenchman scored two goals and recorded two
assists in September, helping the Hammers to maintain their position in the
Barclays Premier League's top six. Should he win, Payet would follow in the
footsteps of Stuart Pearce, Anton Ferdinand and Scott Parker, who have
previously won the award. Everyone at the Club would like to congratulate
the gaffer and Dimitri and wish them good luck!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Chadwell Chatter - Andy Carroll
WHUFC.com

Hello,

I am feeling great at the moment and have been on the pitch most days
throughout the week. Getting ninety minutes under my belt against Reading
last week was a great feeling. I have been training now for a few weeks, but
you don't get fully fit by just training. Playing in the game last Friday
gives you a lot more match fitness and I feel good after it. There were no
niggles and I felt really good throughout the game. In the past maybe I came
back too soon from my previous injuries, but this time I have had a long
break and it has been nine months since I had the operation.

I have been working hard over the summer and stayed at the Club. I didn't
get a break and have been in every day. It was about a month to six weeks
before I really got involved with the lads so the pre-season I have done has
been really hard, but also really good.
It has been a while since I have played for England and if I didn't have
injuries I think I would have been in a few of the squads. If I can get
goals and games under my belt hopefully I can get back in there.

I don't think about it (the Euro Finals) because it will take away my focus
on West Ham and that is the most important thing at the moment. If I do well
now hopefully it will happen. The depth of our squad is good and everyone is
getting back to full fitness. The lads who have come in have been fantastic
and they have slotted in nicely.

Dimitri Payet has been a fantastic signing and he could go on to become one
of the best signings that the Club has seen for years. The quality he has
got is fantastic. In training he is different class and he can pick you out
from any area of the pitch. He gets the ball and you know he is going to
pick someone out.

Everyone wants to be in the starting XI and it is obviously hard when the
lads are doing so well which is a great thing to have in the team. There is
a lot of competition and there are only a few places that can be taken. So I
just need to keep working hard, keeping fit and getting into the starting
line-up. We know we are in for a tough game on Saturday and we cannot expect
any team to be a turnover.
We need to go to Palace and keep working hard like we have done throughout
the season and carry on getting points. They have got pace and power and it
will be end to end. Hopefully we can come away with the three points.

Away from the pitch, I am enjoying life as a father and he has been
brilliant. We managed to have a little break last weekend and took him away
for the first time. Everything is going well. We also got a new rabbit this
week.We went into the shop to get some dog food and the rabbit had been
abandoned by it's previous owners so I had to rescue it and bring it home.
It has settled in well and found a little spot with the underfloor heating
and chilling out on the floor.

The dogs were not too keen but they will be alright!

AC

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Enner Valencia: West Ham striker nearing return after injury
BBC.co.uk

West Ham striker Enner Valencia is "a couple of weeks" away from returning
to full fitness, says Hammers boss Slaven Bilic. The Ecuadorian damaged his
right fibula in a Europa League qualifying tie in July. Valencia, 25, scored
four goals in 32 Premier League games last season. Midfielder Alex Song, 28,
who is yet to make an appearance this season because of an ankle injury, is
"a maximum of three weeks away", according to Bilic. Valencia apologised to
the club and its medical staff in August after claiming he had been
"forgotten" by the Hammers in a radio interview after his injury. Striker
Andy Carroll, 26, and defender Angelo Ogbonna, 27, are available for
Saturday's trip to Crystal Palace (15:00 BST) after recovering from
injuries. Left-back Aaron Cresswell, 25, and defender Winston Reid, 27, have
minor knocks and are rated at 50/50 for Saturday.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Envious Pardew tips West Ham for Euro spot
KUMB.com
Filed: Thursday, 15th October 2015
By: Staff Writer

Former West Ham boss Alan Pardew believes West Ham are contenders for a top
six spot this season - along with his current club, Crystal Palace. Pardew,
speaking ahead of this weekend's London derby at Selhurst Park admitted that
he had been impressed by the work done by Slaven Bilic since arriving in
east London during the summer. And he admitted the Eagles would have to be
very wary of West Ham's pace and power on Saturday afternoon, particularly
when counter-attacking. "I think he [Bilic] knows the culture of the club
and he's started very well," Pardew said whilst addressing the media in his
pre-match press conference this afternoon. "Their results against the best
teams have been very strong and he's got a very good squad of players. "With
them going to the Olympic Stadium at the end of the season, they needed to
be strong - and they are. I think they've got a fantastic chance of securing
a European place. "They're very good on the counter so we need to protect
ourselves when we [attack]. I expect us to get a grasp of the game like we
did against West Brom and dictate proceedings. "But knowing that isn't going
to stop West Ham from winning the game. We need to be very organised in our
attacks and possession, otherwise they'll counter us really quickly and
we'll find ourselves behind in the game."

Pardew also admitted that he was "envious" of West Ham's forthcoming move to
Stratford - but delighted for the club's supporters, with whom he enjoyed a
largely positive relationship during his time at the Boleyn Ground. "We're
envious, I guess - we would love a stadium of that magnitude," he admitted.
"We're going to have to work towards it in a different way. I'm very pleased
for the West Ham fans, it's a massive bonus for them and the Board has done
particularly well to secure it."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Song and Valencia close as Bilic eyes full fit squad
KUMB.com
Filed: Thursday, 15th October 2015
By: Staff Writer

Slaven Bilic has revealed that he expects to be able to call upon both Enner
Valencia and Alex Song within a fortnight. Neither player has kicked a ball
in the Premier League this season but both are set to be available for
selection imminently according to Bilic, who addressed the press this
morning ahead of Saturday's trip to Crystal Palace. "We needed to be more
patient but they are back in training and looking good," he said. "Enner
played 20 minutes in the friendly [last weekend] against Reading and looked
really good. He's been out for a while so he still needs a few weeks. "When
I see him in training he does things that make you think maybe he could do
10 minutes on Saturday - but I think it'll be two weeks until he's fully
ready."

And on Song, he added: "Two weeks maybe, maximum three. He's working hard
and we're looking forward to having him back as he's a fantastic player."
There was also good news regarding Andy Carroll, who missed West Ham's last
outing - the 2-2 draw at Sunderland - after sustaining a knock. "Thankfully
Andy's injury wasn't too bad, we didn't risk him against Sunderland but he's
back now," added Bilic. "He's been working unbelievably hard to get fit.
He's a great professional. It's hard when you're working on your own every
day but he did it. Since I've been here, in training and during his
rehabilitation, he's been top class."

With Angelo Ogbonna also back from injury, Bilic is close to having a full
squad to select from once again - although both Aaron Cresswell and Winston
Reid are nursing minor knocks.
"They're not too serious thank God, but we will have to wait," confirmed
Bilic. "We will assess them in training today and tomorrow and then make a
decision if they're available for the Palace game."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
The price we pay
KUMB.com
Filed: Thursday, 15th October 2015
By: Staff Writer

West Ham United's Category A match day ticket is the second costliest in the
Premier League, a new survey has discovered. Non-season ticket holders have
to pay a budget-breaking £95 to watch Category A matches against the likes
of Chelsea and Manchester United at the Boleyn Ground this season - way
above the average of £56.63 for top-price Premier League tickets. And only
Arsenal fans will have to pay more to watch Premier League football during
the 2015/16 season, with the costliest match day ticket at the Emirates
weighing in at a whacking £97.
In stark contrast Leicester City offer the cheapest match day ticket at just
£22 - almost two-thirds cheaper than West Ham's cheapest at £60. West Ham's
plans for 'affordable football' look even more unlikely when taking into
consideration costs to season ticket holders too. The cheapest West Ham
United season ticket is 20 per cent higher than the Premier League average -
whilst the most expensive West Ham United season ticket is 8 per cent above
the league average. West Ham's proposed £299 season ticket for the Olympic
Stadium - which will be available to just a small percentage of the planned
54,000 capacity - comes into effect from next season.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Bilic and Payet in contention for monthly accolade
KUMB.com
Filed: Thursday, 15th October 2015
By: Staff Writer

West Ham United's Slaven Bilic and Dimitri Payet have been shortlisted for
the Premier League Manager of the Month and Player of the Month awards
respectively. Bilic has been nominated for the award having led his side to
two league wins - against Newcastle United and Manchester City - and a draw
against Norwich during the month of September. Meanwhile Payet - who was
named last week by Alan Smith as one of his top five players in the Premier
League so far this season - is one of six players shortlisted for the award
having scored two goals and provided two assists during September. The
French midfielder has been nominated alongside Jamie Vardy (Leicester City),
Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspur), Daley Blind, Anthony Martial (both
Manchester United) and Odion Ighalo (Watford). Meanwhile Bilic - who is
currently preparing his team for this weekend's tricky trip to Crystal
Palace - is up against Roberto Martinez (Everton), Luis Van Gaal (Manchester
United) and Tottenham's Mauricio Pochettino. The winners of both awards will
be announced tomorrow morning (Friday).

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
West Ham boss Slaven Bilic pleased to welcome back key players
Last Updated: 15/10/15 12:53pm
SSN

West Ham manager Slaven Bilic is delighted to have Andy Carroll and other
key players returning to fitness after the international break. Carroll is
available for Saturday's London derby with Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park
after recovering from an ankle injury - the latest in a series of setbacks
that have blighted his career. The England international has also faced
criticism from former Hammers boss Sam Allardyce who believes the striker
does not have the "right attitude". But Bilic has defended Carroll,
insisting the former Newcastle and Liverpool player has worked hard and
shown an impressive attitude in the time the Croatian has been at the club.
"I have to make comments on what I see. Everyday training, rehabilitation,
especially in period was top class. That's why we are expecting to have big
time benefits from that because he was taken care of," said Bilic. Angelo
Ogbonna is also available for selection having overcome a hamstring problem,
while Enner Valencia and Alex Song are closing on returns to first team
action. "I'm pleased with how Enner, Angelo and Andy have recovered and it's
good to have them back [in training]," said Bilic. "Valencia is one of our
biggest weapons. He has been with us one week now, on and off - not every
day. He still needs a couple of weeks. "Alex Song is a maximum of three
weeks away. [Aaron] Cresswell has a minor injury and we'll see how he is.
Reidy [Winston Reid] is not a big one and again we'll see if one, both or
neither of them will be involved in the game on Saturday."
France international Dimitri Payet has made an immediate impression with
four goals in 10 games since joining from Marseille over the summer, which
comes as no surprise to Bilic and, he suspects, the opposition. "I think
teams have given Payet attention already. Maybe he was unknown to some of
the fans, but everybody involved in football knew Dimitri Payet before he
came to West Ham," said Bilic.
"He plays in a position where you have to close that space, whoever plays
there. I have no worries that there'll be extra attention on him. He's got
the quality that teams are trying to mark him."

As for Saturday's opponents Palace, Bilic admits his players will need to be
at their best to maintain an excellent start to the season that sees them in
sixth place. "Palace are a good team - good in defending and great on
counter-attacks. Every one of their attackers runs behind without the ball,"
said Bilic. "Big credit to him [Alan Pardew] because he's doing a great job.
Add to that Yohan Cabaye, who can do special things. He's a top class
playmaker. We're looking forward to the game. It will be a difficult test
for us."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Andy Carroll does not possess correct attitude, says Sam Allardyce
Last Updated: 15/10/15 11:09am
SSN

Sam Allardyce says Andy Carroll has the ability to become a first-choice
striker for England but "does not possess the correct attitude". Writing in
his new autobiography 'Big Sam', the former West Ham boss says Carroll
"treats life a bit too casually."
Allardyce, who has recently taken over as manager of relegation-threatened
Sunderland, said in an exclusive serialisation in The Sun: "Andy could be an
even better player if he pushed himself and put the work in. "He needs to be
more responsible and realise that a football career passes in the blink of
an eye. He gets himself into situations off the pitch which a manager can do
without. "He treats life a bit too casually. He also gets himself into
situations off the pitch which a manager can do without - and so can he. "He
doesn't really like watching football and isn't interested in the history of
the game. But, when fit, he should be England's regular centre-forward."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Ravel Morrison spent Christmas in Manchester to dodge West Ham's relegation
fight, claims Sam Allardyce
0 COMMENTS 16:57, 15 OCT 2015 UPDATED 16:58, 15 OCT 2015
BY JAMES WHALING
The new Sunderland boss takes a swipe at his former player in his
autobiography, Big Sam, which is currently being serialised
The Mirror

Former West Ham boss Sam Allardyce has alleged that Ravel Morrison spent
Christmas 2013 in Manchester in order to miss the club's relegation battle.
The Hammers were involved in a dogfight over the festive period, following
their defeat at Old Trafford on December 21. Morrison then apparently stayed
up north, missing defeats to Arsenal and Fulham and a draw with West Brom.
In a serialisation of his autobiography, Big Sam, published in The Sun,
Allardyce said: "The end came after we'd played at Manchester United. "Rav
stayed up north to see his family and didn't come back. He wasn't injured,
he just didn't fancy getting involved in our festive relegation battle. We
couldn't get hold of him until the lads saw a picture of him on Facebook
enjoying Christmas lunch with his family while they were preparing for our
Boxing Day game. "Rav was potentially a £50million player but he has blown
his career and it's unlikely to happen for him now." Sir Alex Ferguson had
warned Allardyce about Morrison when he sold the player to West Ham. The
22-year-old is now on the books at Serie A club Lazio.

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Rush Green to receive further investment
Posted by Sean Whetstone on October 15, 2015 in News, Whispers
C and H

The Rush Green training facility will continue to receive investment to
gradually make it a state of the art facility fit for the Hammers first
team. Yesterday Jack Sullivan revealed Chadwell Heath would be kept and not
sold off but our sources say the club will continue to invest in Rush Green.

Claret and Hugh's most senior source told us this afternoon:

"We've spent £2.5m so far, it needs another £10m. Rightly or wrongly we've
spent our money on players, but GRADUALLY we will upgrade Rush Green"

West Ham purchased the freehold interest in the 29 acre Rush Green Ford
Sports Ground from the Ford Motor Company in 2009 for £1.4m with plans to
transform it into the a state of the art training complex.

rushgreenWe remain some way behind our London Premier League rivals even
after we invest £12.5m.

Spurs built a new training centre at their 77 Acre Bulls Cross site at a net
cost of £30m. They have 15 grass pitches across the site including four
dedicated solely for First Team Training and one and a half artificial
outdoor pitches with floodlighting. It also has a pool and hydrotherapy
complex, altitude room, large-scale gymnasium and specialist sports
rehabilitation suites

The Arsenal Training Centre covers an area of 143 acres with ten full-size
pitches which was build in 1999.

rg2Chelsea's training centre in Cobham, Surrey is based on a 140 acre site
and houses all of the club's football activities, from the first team to the
academy, reserve and women's teams. It features the latest in training,
rehabilitation, medical, pitch and media technology and includes 30 football
pitches (three with undersoil heating and six to Premier League standard),
an indoor artificial pitch, a media centre, a medical centre, gyms, cold
immersion pools, a sauna, a steam room, a HydroWorx pool and a 56 ft
hydrotherapy pool.

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Leroy: "Sam has ridiculed West Ham's history"
Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on October 15, 2015 in News, Whispers
C and H

I know Sam Allardyce and I've always believed him to be an okay guy who
knows the game of football inside out and backwards.

But after reading some of the stuff he's come out with in his book this week
I need to get things off my chest because he's out of order.

He was paid a fabulous wage by West Ham, did a job for them, and apparently
left amicably having decided himself he wanted to call it a day.

Yet from the way he's been carrying on you would have though he'd been
given the sack and it really isn't good enough to say: "Oh he has a book to
sell."

He has again been mocking the "West Ham Way" and is still claiming he
doesn't know what it is which is ridiculous. Of course he does. It's about
playing with style and panache, getting the ball down, moving it quickly
through midfield and getting an end product.

Sam knows the West Ham way of playing as well as anybody else. "

It's the way the West Ham Academy down the years has brought players up to
play, as described above. We all know the "Sam Allardyce Way" and that we
didn't want much more of it.

But look how upset he gets when people criticise his way of playing. If he
doesn't want criticism of that he shouldn't hand it out on ours!

When he keeps on as he has been he is simply ridiculing the club and its
history and I find that very disappointing. Add into that his decision to
call our fans "delusional" and it's easy to understand why many, probably
most, wanted him to move on.

He has a new job and he'd be better off concentrating on that. He really
hasn't helped himself this week with the serialisation.

He needs to move on. Everybody else has! I haven't a clue why he's decided
to unload like this but it hasn't been good at all!

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Pardew : Irons bigger and stronger than us
Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on October 15, 2015 in News, Whispers
C and H

Alan Pardew is extremely wary of the Irons and believes that even though
Palace may dictate at Selhurst Park this weekend they could easily finish up
beaten.

It's the counter attacking game that concerns the former Irons boss who
declares: "They're very good on the counter."

He explained: "I expect us to get a grasp of the game like we did against
West Brom and dictate proceedings but that's not going to stop West Ham from
winning the game. We need to be organised in our possession otherwise they
will counter us really quickly and we'll find ourselves in the game.

"West Ham have a bigger and stronger squad than us. But if we can stay clear
of injuries and keep this group together, we can compete with them and
that's what we've got to hope to do."

"It is a top-of-the-table encounter," he added.

"That is good for two teams who weren't predicted to be there at this stage
of the season. We're coming off a good performance and West Ham will be
aware of that. I am sure they will be looking to upset our rhythm and what
we do really well."

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Hammers high on expensive ticket tables
Posted by Sean Whetstone on October 14, 2015 in News, Whispers
C and H

A BBC study on the price of football has revealed although no Premier League
ticket is above £100, Arsenal's most expensive ticket is £97 and West Ham
follow closely with a £95 match ticket against an average across the whole
Premier League of £56.63. West Ham sell the most expensive away ticket in
the Premier League at £70 which is £6 more than Arsenal as the second most
expensive club for away supporters. But West Ham's cheapest away ticket is
priced at £25 which is significantly less than Chelsea charge at £47. In the
top flight, 11 clubs put the price of this season's tickets up, contributing
to a 6.54% year-on-year rise. It now averages £30.68, up from £28.80. In the
season ticket category, both the cheapest and most expensive rose about 1%
to £513.95 and £886.21 respectively. West Ham's rose by 5% That works out at
£27.05 and £46.64 a game.
The study, which also gathers prices for pies, programmes, tea and away
tickets across the UK, found replica shirt prices rose 4.8% year on year.
Premier League clubs released 50 outfield strips this summer and a home
jersey bought in a club shop will now cost an average £49.68. But more than
a third of the clubs sell a match-day ticket for £25 or less during the
course of a season, with Leicester City's £22 offering the cheapest.

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Slav was in two minds over Nolan
Posted by Sean Whetstone on October 15, 2015 in News
C and H

Former Hammer Don Hutchison has told the Chronicle that Kevin Nolan is a
good fit for Sunderland and his Georgie roots wouldn't stop him. He also
reveals that Bilic was in two minds whether to keep him or not. "I think Sam
is inheriting a team in Sunderland who are probably not equipped to play the
way he wants at the moment, so the job is to get through until January and
have another look then," Hutchison wrote in the Chronicle. "Kevin Nolan
lives not far away from me in Essex and I'd heard from a pretty reliable
source that he might be going to Sunderland, which is a move that I think
would be a good one from Sam and for the Black Cats. Hutch"It would add some
serious spice to the derby game and I know that Newcastle United fans'
opinions of Nolan will change overnight but it's just business as a
footballer. I was born a Newcastle fan and my old man was the same, but if
you get an opportunity to play at a big club then you have to take it.
"Kevin's been training with Leyton Orient recently. Believe me, if you're
down there in League One or League Two it's very, very tough. I had it when
I was at Luton – you've played at the top for so long, it's difficult to
really motivate yourself to play at that level. "Everything is different. If
you get the chance to play at Premier League club under a manager who trusts
you, can you say no? "Kevin isn't a Geordie lad, he doesn't live there any
more, he's in Essex and I don't think he'll settle in Newcastle when his
playing career is over. You have to be realistic – it's a very good
opportunity if it comes along." My approach would be to offer him quite a
low basic wage but with a heavily incentivised contract. I think that way it
suits both parties – Sunderland won't want to be landed with another big
earner and Kevin probably has to accept he's not quite at that level
anymore,"

"But can he do a job? He definitely can. I was actually at the training
ground at West Ham in pre-season and I went into speak to Slaven Bilic and
he was raving about Kevin. He spoke for 20 minutes about him being the
fittest, the best trainer and beating all of the other lads hands-down in
the running and the fitness tests. "He was in two minds about keeping him –
it was just a case of looking for something a bit more dynamic and a bit
more fluid in midfield. If he couldn't guarantee Kevin game time – and he
couldn't – he didn't think it was worth keeping him. It was probably a
budget thing more than anything. "But he said he was a terrific influence on
the dressing room, a very popular guy who would do well at the next club he
went to – exactly what Sunderland need."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Gold defends money grabbing claim
Posted by Sean Whetstone on October 15, 2015 in Sean's Blogs, Whispers
C and H

David Gold was forced to defend himself by declaring "David Sullivan and
myself care passionately about the club and have not received a penny in our
6 years tenure" after one Hammers fan tweeted him saying "the board didn't
care about the club or fans – only the money."

David Gold and David Sullivan do not receive a salary or claim expenses from
the club since joining in 2010.

The highest paid director thought to be a Lady in the House of Lords has
received £2.95m in salary and bonuses in the first four years as an employee
of West Ham. £1m of that is believed to be a bonus for winning the Olympic
Stadium bid which is paid over 5 years. She is thought to earn a basic
salary £636,000 so the total amount is over £3.5m when the last financial
year is included although financial accounts have yet to be released in
January.

Gold and Sullivan have personally lent the club over £49.2m in share holder
loans over those years and that is lightly to increase this year with claims
they have gone £17m in the red to fund the summer transfer spree.

They do claim interest on those share holder loans which amounted to £2.88m
in the last published accounts for 2014, but this is accrued in the accounts
and as David claims they haven't received a penny of it. Previously they
have claimed they were advised to charge interest for tax reasons and it may
never be paid.

In 2013 David Sullivan also acted as a bank to the club loan a further £3.8m
as part of a deal to refinance bank debt. This loan needs to be repaid by
31st December 2016. He is thought to receive interest repayments on this
loan but it is fair to say this would have been paid to bank and Sullivan
only stepped in when no only bank could not be found to fill a 15% short
fall.

Sullivan and Gold also own interests in a telecoms company called Telecom2
Limited which provides £46,757 worth of services to the club. Whether they
indirectly benefit from that arrangement through their shareholding is
unknown.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Hammers to sell Boleyn Turf?
Posted by Sean Whetstone on October 15, 2015 in News, Whispers
C and H

Is there a secret plan to sell the hallowed Boleyn Ground turf to West Ham
fans at the end of this season? Jack Sullivan, son of West Ham Chairman
David Sullivan might have let the cat out of the bag with the Hammers plans.

15 year old Jack was asked on social media "Will the club sell bits of the
pitch next season, in those little glass cubes?"

Sullivan replied on twitter "I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say" with
several winks and smiley faces.

However some West Ham season ticket holders might have their own ideas of
keeping their own mementos after the final whistle of the last match of this
season. It is unclear what would happen if there is a pitch invasion after
the last game of the season but technically each and every fan identified
could receive a life ban.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Bilic sends France boss a message on Payet
Posted by Hugh5outhon1895 on October 15, 2015 in News
C and H

Slaven Bilic believes Dimitri Payet could fit into any international side in
the world despite him being ignored by France. Didier Deschamps continues to
give the Irons star the cold shoulder and questioned in his presser this
morning Bilic claimed :"I think he could fit into any international team in
the world." He added: "It's hard when you don't know the full situation. I
know as a national manager, that it can be hard to select everyone. "France
have a wide pool to choose from, a lot of quality players. If you ask me do
they have many players like Dimitri, then maybe not. There aren't many
players like him and I think he could fit into any national side in the
world. "Not only his quality on the pitch but off it too. He's a quiet guy
and quite shy but everyone likes working with him and he's a great guy."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Grays Athletic boss Mark Bentley welcomes West Ham United's rumoured
interest in Dumebi Dumaka
thurrockGazette.co.uk

GRAYS Athletic manager Mark Bentley says he welcomes speculation surrounding
his star players after Blues were handed a tough final hurdle in their bid
to reach the FA Cup first round.
Grays will host Welling United, of the National League, over the weekend of
October 24/25 as they bid to reach the first round of the competition for
the first time since 2008. Dumebi Dumaka scored an injury time penalty to
see Grays into the fourth qualifying round, adding to a first half strike
from Jay Leader at the lower-ranked Hanwell Town. The lethal striker, who
has netted 13 times in all competitions this season, was linked with a move
to West Ham United last week, with local scouts reportedly keen on inviting
the forward to Chadwell Heath's training HQ. Midfielder Nathan Ferguson has
also been linked with a move away and Bentley says he has no problems with
the rumours, as it puts the club in the public eye. "I always want players
to go on and become professionals," he said. "There have been some rumours
surrounding our players in recent weeks but I don't know any more about that
than anyone else to be honest.
"DD (Dumaka) is doing really well at the moment and is scoring some
important goals for us but I don't know anything about West Ham interest.
Nathan has been linked with Burton Albion in recent weeks as well but it's
news to me. They both have agents so maybe it is their doing. But it is good
publicity for the club and the players so it is fine with me."

The Welling clash will see Grays assistant manager Glen Little come up
against the side he left a year ago, after former Grays boss Jody Brown was
sacked by the Kent team. And Bentley says the match is a great chance for
his players to make a name for themselves. "We would have liked a lower
ranked team but it wasn't to be and we head into the match with nothing to
fear," said Bentley. "We know a bit about them and we won't be favourites
which will be slightly strange for us as we are often expected to win the
matches we play, but that might work in our favour. "We are on our own pitch
and that will help us so we just have to make sure we exploit their
weaknesses and play our game. "It is a chance for the young players to
potentially experience the likes of playing at a Portsmouth or Sheffield
United and that is exciting for anyone. The boys are excited about the draw
and so am I. "It was a good game Saturday and I was pleased to get through
it in the end and now we are so close to the first round we are all
desperate to be there." Bentley added a first round appearance and more
prize money wouldn't do the club's chances of a move back to Grays any harm.
The club is working with Thurrock Council as it bids to return to the town,
and Bentley says the more money the club can accumulate the better. "This
club needs a home," he said. "Getting into the first round would bring in
even more money and that can only help. Hanwell Town have a lovely little
set-up so a club like Grays, historically a big non-league club, needs a
home as well. But the squad is good and we will try and push on in the
league and beyond."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Crystal Palace v West Ham: Wickham and Ward set to miss out for Pardew's men
GIUSEPPE MURO
Evening Standard

Crystal Palace will be without the injured Connor Wickham and Joel Ward
against West Ham on Saturday. Alan Pardew had hoped Wickham (calf) and Ward
(knee) would be fit to return after the international break. But they have
not recovered in time and will miss the game at Selhurst Park. Palace, who
are fourth in the Premier League, have been boosted by the return of Damien
Delaney, Mile Jedinak, Jordan Mutch and Lee Chung-Yong. Pardew was pleased
all of his players returned from the international fixtures fully fit and
was delighted to see Joe Ledley and Wayne Hennessey help Wales qualify for
Euro 2016. "It was really pleasing for them because they have been an
integral part of the qualifying campaign," said Pardew. "A lot of heart and
effort went into that. They will very good about it so that is very good for
me." Palace host West Ham looking for their third straight win. Pardew said:
"It is very difficult to win home games in the Premier League. It was
fantastic for our fans last time because everything fell into place against
West Brom and it was our best performance of the season. We are coming off
the back of a really good performance and West Ham will be doing everything
to upset our rhythm."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
West Ham boss Slaven Bilic can only praise Andy Carroll's professionalism
after Allardyce claims
ANDY SIMS 54 minutes ago0 comments
Evening Standard

Slaven Bilic has brushed off Sam Allardyce's criticism of Andy Carroll and
claims the striker is totally focused on getting fit this season. In his
autobiography, being serialised in The Sun, former West Ham boss Allardyce
questioned Carroll's dedication during his injury-hit spell at Upton Park.
Current Hammers chief Bilic, who replaced Allardyce in the summer, admitted
he was aware of Carroll's reputation before taking over in east London. But
Bilic insists the 26-year-old, who has made three appearances since finally
overcoming a long-term ankle injury, has been a model professional this
term. "I did not have to become West Ham manager to know about Andy
Carroll," said Bilic. "I heard about that before, that sometimes he got
injured because he was not totally dedicated to being a footballer. "From my
first day, he was injured. But the way he was working - in six to eight
weeks of struggle that was boring and not ideal and not fun - he did it as a
great professional and now we are expecting big benefits out of that. "Those
stories are definite, there is something behind them, they are true. It is
very rare that people are making up stories. "There is something there, but
it looks much worse. I don't want to comment on the stories. "He's been out
a few times, but his rehabilitation and training, especially in that period,
was top class."

Bilic made Carroll undergo his own mini pre-season, rather than rush him
back into the team, in a bid to avoid the frontman breaking down again. "We
tried to explain to him that he needed to work for six weeks and have a
pre-season, not to train for 10 days, roll up his sleeves and play the
game," he added. "He did his time and we should all benefit from that."
Carroll has shaken off the knock which kept him out of the 2-2 draw at
Sunderland a fortnight ago and is fit to face Crystal Palace on Saturday. He
could be joined in the squad by fellow forward Enner Valencia, who was
injured during the Europa League tie against Astra Giurgiu in July, and
defender Angelo Ogbonna following a hamstring injury.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Sam Allardyce's opinions have little value, says Real Madrid boss Rafa
Benitez
Evening STandard

Rafael Benitez has hit back at claims from Sam Allardyce that he had nothing
to do with Liverpool's 2005 Champions League success. In a wide-ranging
interview with Spanish radio station Onda Cero, former Liverpool boss
Benitez also revealed he was interested in signing Gareth Bale during his
time at Anfield. And he insisted there are no problems between Bale and
Cristiano Ronaldo at his current club Real Madrid, expressing confidence his
side would win La Liga. Allardyce, now the Sunderland manager, has a
long-running feud with Benitez dating back mainly to his time in charge at
Bolton and Blackburn, which coincided with the Spaniard's stint at Liverpool
from 2004-10. Benitez oversaw a stunning Champions League victory at
Liverpool, with his side recovering from 3-0 down against AC Milan in the
final in Istanbul. "Do you know who Sam Allardyce is? Do you know how many
trophies he has won? Well that's my answer"

But Allardyce, in his new autobiography 'Big Sam', wrote: "Of course he can
say he won the Champions League with Liverpool, which is something I never
did. But it was nowt to do with him.
"I don't blame Benitez for claiming credit but as managers we know the
truth. It's like when you make a substitution in desperation and it comes
off. You get all the credit for your tactical brilliance when it's often
just luck."
Benitez dismissed this remark, saying: "Do you know who Sam Allardyce is? Do
you know how many trophies he has won? Well that's my answer. It is what
happens when someone has a book to sell. His opinion does not have a lot of
value."

Benitez inherited a squad that includes world-record £85million signing Bale
when he took over at the Bernabeu in the summer. He has been a long-term
admirer of the Welshman but rubbished claims from former Liverpool defender
Jamie Carragher that he did not sign him for the Reds because he rated John
Arne Riise better. Benitez said: "Back in 2006 I went to see
Bolton-Southampton. We transferred a player to Southampton but they wouldn't
give us Bale. "Then when we tried to buy him, we couldn't. I've known for a
long time he was a great player.
"Carragher has made the mistake of saying I preferred Riise when it wasn't
like that."

Benitez now has to deal with Bale on a daily basis and a perceived clash of
egos with star player Ronaldo. He insists there is no such thing and
suggested such stories are spun by agents.
He said: "Coaches have to control a group of professionals but not what
their agents say. I talk to the players and when there's a conflict, it's
solved. There's no problem between Bale and Cristiano. "Everything is
magnified in Madrid. Sometimes it's out of jealousy or to attack. I am
surprised." Under Benitez, Real have made a strong start to the season and
are currently unbeaten, just a point off the top of the Primera Division. He
has no doubt about the credentials of his squad. Benitez said: "I told my
wife that I'm sure this Real Madrid team are going to win the league."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Ravel Morrison stayed in Manchester because he didn't want to get involved
in West Ham relegation battle... now he's blown his career says Sam
Allardyce
Former West Ham manager Sam Allardyce has lifted the lid on the breakdown in
relationship between the club and Ravel Morrison
Allardyce claims that Morrison refused to play for West Ham during a crucial
run of fixtures back in the 2013-14 season
He alleges that Morrison was not injured, but simply unwilling
Allardyce believes Morrison, who now plays for Lazio, has 'blown his career'

By TOM BELLWOOD FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 13:21, 15 October 2015 | UPDATED: 13:21, 15 October 2015

Sam Allardyce has revealed that Ravel Morrison spent Christmas in Manchester
rather than returning to London for a busy festive period in which the club
were fighting a relegation battle.
Morrison emerged as a highly promising youngster at Manchester United but
was released by Sir Alex Ferguson, who warned Allardyce of the problems he
faced trying to rein in the gifted attacker. After a failed spell at Upton
Park, Morrison is now plying his trade in Italy with Lazio and the former
West Ham boss has lifted the lid on how the relationship between club and
player began to break down. Morrison missed three matches over the Christmas
period during the 2013-14 season which followed the 3-1 loss to Manchester
United, the 3-1 home defeat by Arsenal, the 3-3 draw with West Brom and the
2-1 loss to Fulham on New Year's Day. He was then involved in the
embarrassing 5-0 FA Cup defeat by Nottingham Forest.
In a serialisation of his autobiography 'Big Sam' published in The Sun,
Allardyce said: 'The end came after we'd played at Manchester United. 'Rav
stayed up north to see his family and didn't come back. He wasn't injured,
he just didn't fancy getting involved in our festive relegation battle. 'We
couldn't get hold of him until the lads saw a picture of him on Facebook
enjoying Christmas lunch with his family while they were preparing for our
Boxing Day game. 'Rav was potentially a £50million player but he has blown
his career and it's unlikely to happen for him now'.

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http://vyperz.blogspot.com




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