West Ham United Blog

Bowyer back?

Transfer grapevine has brought me some troubling news.  Apparently Pards is afer Lee Bowyer and looking to bring him back to Upton Park.  I can't say this excites me in any way.  Bowyer is a disruptive player who for me is past his sell by date.  One thing we have in the dressing room is a harmonous squad who all work hard for each other.  I just Bowyer upsetting that balance.  But it's not just his sparkling personality - I don't think he has had an exceptional season and can't really think of one he had had since leaving Leeds.  He is starting to lose pace and has not contributed with many goals.  That we need another centre-mid is without doubt, but I hope we look elsewhere.

Only other news of note is Clieve Clarke possibly off to Norwich.  Nigel Worthington has admitted interest and I imagine a low cost deal will secure him.

Win a book!

I've got a signed copy of the excellent West Ham United Quiz book to give away.....just answer this simple question(taken from the book); Which Essex side did the Hammers beat in the early rounds of the 1996 FA Cup?  Send your answer in the subject field to w*e*s*t*h*a*m*b*l*o*g*@h*o*t*m*a*i*l*.*c*o.*u*k - take out the asterisks, have to do that to stop horrible spammers.  First one to arrive will get the signed copy.  Feel free to take a look at the book, click on the right hand side for a look at it on Amazon.  Good luck!

Ashton in black and white...?

Reports are coming out that Dean Ashton is wanted by Newcastle United with a £12million fee being mooted.  Quite why Deano would want to go and be managed by Norman Wisdom when he is esablishing himself at Upton Park, I don't know, but Newcastle are a big club and could probably offer him wages we cannot compete with.  I truly hope he does not go, for one, Roeder is not a good manager and I don't think Dean will develop in the same way he would at Upton Park.  All our young lads have been coached superbly and really come on this season.  What will happen with Roeder and Newcastle next season remains to be seen but I think he will crumble when pressure tells and results don't start going his way.

Having said that, £12m would be alot of cash, we could pick up Benni Mcarthy for 6mill and strengthen other areas, although Norwich will get 15% of any profit on him.  But I really don't want him to go, he has the potential to become a Hammers legend.  What's it gonna be Deano?!

I almost feel sorry for them...

Afer the heart-break of Saturday, I'm not really in a position to mock when your team promises to deliver you glory only to have nicked at the last minute.  But still, this sign reminds me something about chickens and eggs hatching.....sorry Gunners fans, but what are you doing on a West Ham blog anyway?

West Ham FA Cup bubble bursts...

Sorry it's taken a couple of days for this post, I needed to get my breath back.  I also wanted to write a less emotional and more analytical piece.  However, the feelings I get when thinking of Saturday are tied up with all sorts of emotions.

The first is absolute pride in a performance that showed we are a team to take seriously, that works unbelievably hard and has bags of potential to push on from this.  Stand out performances were Yossi once again who just appeared everywhere on the pitch, Mattie for coming back from injury and working his little socks off and Danny G for being a rock yet again in the centre of defence.

Unofrtuantely, the second emotion is anger towards Lionel Scaloni, who up to the 90th minute had an acceotable game.  Then kicks the ball out for a non injury right next to our penalty area, then proceeds to lose posession when the ball is thrown back to him.  I was screaming at him as he did it and more so when it resulted in Gerrard's fantastic strike.  Just make sure you do that in Germany Mr G.  That Scaloni was on his own when the end finally came is no surpruse, Teddy had a go at him at the time and I understand nigel was not too happy either.

Our penalties were poor and I would have expected other players to put themselves forward ahead of the defenders who both hit theirs weakly and low, which any decent keeper will deal with.

But look, the seaon is over and 9th, FA Cup Runners-Up and a UEFA cup place are what we have to look back on and forward to.  And that beats trips to Britannia Stdium and Gresty Road any day of the week.  Well done lads and Mr Scaloni, ciao, and don't look back....

Hammers Shop

I am delighted to announce the opening of my mini West Ham store. It's not exactly going to rival the Hammers shop but will certainly sell t-shirts they would not stock!  The items are top quality, I'm happy to offer cash back to anyone who buys and is not happy.  Do take a look, more designs to be added very soon, and if you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them!

Click here to visit...

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West Ham 2 Spurs 1

The final Premier league game of the season and what drama!  When I saw the Breaking Sky News that the game was in doubt, all I could think was how can they with our FA Cup Match coming up?  When exactly would they want to play this game?  And how can they knowing the Arsenal score already?  At any other time of year, I would have had more sympathy with Spurs, but there was too much at stake for this game to be moved.

On to the performance and my Hammer of the year (congrats to Gabbidon who was deserves his accolade fully), Yossi Benayoun, ran the show and deserverdly socred the winner.  Fleatcher bagged his place in the cup side to replace Mullins and Teddy made me question whether his loyalty was left in the kit bag down the Lane with a very poor penalty.  Having said that, did you notice that Robinson was about 6 yards off his line when it was taken?  Mind you, having been chucking up lasagne all night, it would have been uncharitable to not give him a bit of head start.

So, 2-1 over our biggest rivals, a great way to end our league season, and a day out in Cardiff to look forward to. 

But my thoughts are already turning to next season.  I hear word that Luke Young and Matthew Upson are on their way to Upton Park and both would be welcome to shore up our defence.  I'm gutted we missed out on Jimmy Bullard who sneaked to Fulham for 2.5m, think he would have been excellent cover Hayden and Nige in the middle.  We need more depth there.  As for up-front, is Teddy going to stick around for another season?  He seems ready for it but if not, then another quality striker is required, especially with the increase in games we will have in Europe.  Okay, that's enough transfer specualtion for now, we've got a cup final to look forward to!

Walking wounded

So, a 1-0 win over a relegated West Brom, but at what cost?  Well, Mattie felt a twinge in the warm up and of course Deano hobbled off with a pulled hamstring.    And Yossi has a groin strain.   At this rate we'll be playing Dailly up front for the final, well, at least he can do less damage there.  Is anyone out there a Dailly supporter?  He seems a decent bloke so I don't want to lay into him but his Premiership credentials are slim, he is slow, a poor distributor of the ball, gives away free kicks and doesn't seem to get dominate forwards like Anton and Danny do.  There, told you I wasn't going to lay into him!

Our team against Spurs looks to be a second chocie one to ensure players are ready for the FA Cup.  Shame, as I'd really like to put one over Spurs, think it looks like a draw to me, with the crowd lifting West Ham for a final push.  The away form for Spurs is pretty poor and this is a big game for some of their inexperienced players, who will hopefully buckle.  More of a preview later in the week...