West Ham United Blog

First signing of the Summer?

Don't get too excited, it's not a big one, but according to KUMB.com, the Hammers are set to sign Hólmar Örn Eyjólfsson, a teenager from Iceland who can play at centre back or holding in the midfield (does this mean we are getting rid of Mullins?).  The youngster is apparently highly rated and appears in the nations Under 21 side. 

But it would seem he is one for the future and let's hope we are attracting some more high profile signings soon.  I think Spurs's signing of Luka Modric from example is a great deal, and could push the whinging North London scum ahead of us in the league.  We need to make sure we are keeping up and with the squad we have, even fully fit, I'm not wholly confident that will happen.

Ex-Hammer gets Blackburn job

Paul Ince has got the job as new manager of Blackburn Rovers.  I think that is an excellent appointment by Rovers who had the tough task of replacing Mark Hughes.  Ince has the potential to be an excellent manager and did the right thing by learning his trade in the lower leagues, rather than say Alan Shearer who seems to be waiting to walk straight into a top end job.

Games between ourselves and Rovers have always been a little 'spiky', so with Ince visiting Upton Park in a managerial capacity next season, dare I ask the question if it is time that we forgave a cocky teenager and moved on from the judas tag?  Or will he always simply be 'judas'?

Transfer News Updates

Well, still a bit quiet on the transfer front for the Premier Leauge as a whole really.  I'm guessing we'll see a bit more after Euro 2008 has finished.  On that subject, I'm actually really enjoying the tournament, more than I thought I would without England, but there has been some really good games and watching matches without too much emotional involvement can still be fun.

Anyway, back to the transfer rumours, the two big ones doing the rounds at the moment are that both oursleves and the Barcodes are in the chase for Deportivo La Coruna center-back Fabricio Coloccini.  The Argentinian International is a bit of a player by all accounts although it would be nice to bring a South American to the club without a £5 million fine this time round.  The other news, somewhat related perhaps is that Villa are set to come in with a £6 million bid for Anton Ferdinand.  I think Anton would thrive at Villa, alongside an excellent young, English team that Martin O'Neill is building.  He is such a good manager.  It seems like Anton may have reached the end of the road at Upton Park and a new start is probably what he needs.

More speculation/actual happenings as they occur....

Hammers start the season against rivals....

The fixtures for next season have just been published and West Ham start the season at home to our friends from Wigan Athletic followed by an early, tough trip to Eastlands to face Manchester City.  We finish up by sealing our Champions League spot with a home game against Middlesbrough.  As far as opening and closing fixutres go, we've done quite well. 

Due to a ridiculous law, I am not allowed to publish the full fixture list here, so you can check out our full list at the BBC.

Hammers release Solano

West Ham have released tricky winger Nolberto Solano after just one season at the club.  Possibly with one eye on his 33 years of age, the Hammers have decided Nobby is surplus to requirements.  It's a bit of a shame, as Nobby was an excellent set piece taker and always gave his all for the club, even if he did increasingly knackered as the season went on.  There are certainly more players deserving of a kick up the a*se out of the club.  But perhaps his Premier League years are behind him.  Either way, he certainly goes with my best wishes and hope it is not the last I see of him.

Free 2006 FA Cup Final DVD - West Ham v Liverpool

Okay, so the memories might be slightly painful and you will still shout 'get rid!' at Scaloni as he messes about in the last minute, but this match was one of the all time classic FA Cup Finals if not just an all time classic game.  And I've found a website where in exchange for a few minutes of your time, you can get yourself a free DVD of the match, not a bad deal I'm sure you will agree.  At the time of writing, there were only 70 left, so get your skates on.

The site is a free dvd club and they will send you a free DVD in exchange for a bit of info about your shopping habits and that kind of thing.  There is no cost involved so it's all good.  Just click the image below, select sports as the genre and you will see the 'Gerrard Cup final', select that, fill out a couple of pages of the survey and off you go.  And you can always get the X-Men if they run out!  Grab it quick...

West Ham transfer rumours...

West ham have been once again linked with out of favour Barcelona striker Eidur Gudjohnsen.  Gudjohnsen, 29, has apparently been told he can leave Barcelona and this has sparked the interest of a number of Premiership clubs, including the Hammers.  So, do we fancy a bit more Icelandic input at Upton Park?

Last season, I was very excited by the rumour, Gudjohnsen always impressed me at Chelsea with his hard work and clinical finishing.  However, his time at the Catalan club has not exactly been a goal fest with 14 goals in 78 appearances.  Having said that, a number of players have moved there and become stale so it would be hard to completely judge him on this.  I’m not sure what kind of numbers are being cited here, but for £6/7 million, I think he would be worth a punt, if the numbers move into double figures then I’d say we should look elsewhere.  But a fit strikeforce of Ashton, Bellamy and Gudjohnsen sounds pretty good to me.

I also understand that Fulham are inviting offers for Jimmy Bullard.  Having let the lad go and missed out when Wigan sold him, I think the Hammers should snap him up.  He shouldn’t cost a ridiculous amount and he would be a great addition to our midfield and can easily replace Mullins who in my view should leave Upton Park.  Bullard’s energy, passing and eye for goal would be a great addition for us.

That’s the rumour mill for now…

Update: I'm hearing word of us going for Stephen Carr....I sincerely hope this is a joke, is Curbishley buying players so that he actually has an injury crisis?  Carr, whilst a decent player, has had a career ravaged by injury and would siply be another addition to the treatment table, I can't believe our owners would allow this to happem and hope it is agent talk.

Dean Ashton signs new contract

It's way past my bedtime but just thought I'd let you know if you have not heard already, Deano has signed a 5 year deal to stay at Upton Park.  A great signal of intent from the club in keeping hold of a promising young English centre forward.  You can read more via football365.com here and I might add more to this in the morning.

Managerial Merry Go Round...makes you think....

Towards the end of the season, I was very sure I would finish it off with a post about how I think Curbishley should go and how the red carpet should be rolled out for Mr Bilic.  I’m not so proud that I can’t admit that this would have been a mistake and here is why.

I’ve been watching the Erikkson debacle at Manchester City, where a decent manager who had the respect of his players had taken an average side and made them play some exciting football alongside achieving a respectable league position.  And was then ousted.  So put myself in the shoes of someone who does not support West Ham.  If Curbs had been forced out, what would have been their verdict?  Manager comes in to club in complete disarray, saves them from relegation.  The next season he steers them through an injury crisis to safety by February.  On that basis, you could understand why someone might slate us for such behaviour.

Now, we can dig deeper and say that if you buy Kieron Dyer, you should expect an injury crisis.  Or the manner of 3 x 4-0 defeats on the trot is completely unacceptable.  But like I said when Allardyce got sacked, not everyone can win everything.  Every dog will have its day, like we did against Liverpool and United at home but likewise there will be some bumps along the road.  A manager of an average Premiership job sees it as his job to make sure the highs outweigh the lows and you live to fight another day.  Curbs did that and within the time frame he has, that is more than acceptable.

Next season, however, we are entitled to expect more.  Get rid of those simply not good enough, have a fully fit squad, fill in the gaps where we are wanting.  Performances have to start improving and Curbs has to develop rapport with the fans.  There is expectation, but where there is that, then surely a manager has a right to be given a chance to deliver?

West Ham gift for Father's Day with discount code!

We've mentioned them before, but the Getting Personal Personalised football books are a great gift for any West Ham fan but we think even more perfect for Father's Day or even just a treat for yourself.  Produced and bound in high quality leather, the book contains newspaper reports of classic West Ham moments.  As Father's Day is coming up, the kind people at Getting Personal have given us a discount code to pass on which will give you £5 off the football book.

Simply click here and add the code gpfooty5 at checkout.  Enjoy!