Born to be a Hammer?

I was speaking to a friend of mine a few weeks ago who's a Manchester United fan (I know, he's a nice guy though).  He asked me whether I will be pushing my 2 year old son into supporting West Ham.  My response to this was to say that I will never push my little boy into supporting West Ham.  I will never push him in to doing anything.  He may even decide that he doesn't like football (God forbid!).  Having said that, I will take him to his first West Ham match as soon as he's old enough.  To be honest, I can't wait for that moment.  There's something very special about going to a football match, especially for the first time.  The buzz of the crowd as you approach the stadium, the smell of burgers and hotdogs in the air, walking up the steps to your seat and that very first look at the hallowed turf.  Thousands of people are brought to this one place for the same reason, the love of our club.  The look on his face and the excitement in his eyes will be a joy to see.

The point of this article is to determine how we become supporters of West Ham.  For me, I never consciously decided to be a West Ham fan, I just was.  My father supported them and my brother is also a huge West Ham fan.  It was just a natural progression. I guess you could say it was in my blood.  Unlike my Manchester United friend, he decided to support Manchester United simply to be different from all the other kids in school - is that a reason?  It just seems to me that there's no emotional attachment to start supporting a club in that way.  Why would you support a club that you have no emotional attachment to? 

Where I live near Maidstone, you see kids walking around with Manchester United shirts on.  I just think to myself, why do you support them?  Will they ever experience the true emotions of supporting a club in which they have a true affiliation too?  Probably not. Will they change their allegiances when Manchester United become less successful?  Probably.  Don't get me wrong, I don't mean to pick solely on Manchester United supporters.  There are thousands of fans that support our more succesful rivals that have supported their club through the good times and bad.  They all share the same passion as we do.  It would be unfair and slightly arrogant of me to suggest otherwise.  I am referring to, as I call them, the "plastics".  What I mean by the "plastics" is people that support a club just based on their success.  People that change their team more times than they change their pants, just so they can been seen as supporting a successful club.  I guess they do this because they have a fear of supporting an unsuccessful club and they don't wish to be associated with failure.  That's not what being a football fan is all about though, not a true football fan anyway.

Going back to my son and whether he becomes a West Ham fan, I like to think he already is - even at this early age.  I would like him to experience what I have experienced.  The adrenalin rush and anticipation of seeing your first game, the feeling of sheer elation when we score as well as the anger, frustration and the feeling of bitter disappointment when we concede.  Added to this there are the massive highs of winning Play Off finals, to the depressing lows of relegation and the heartache that brings.  It may sound terrible that I would wish heartache on my little boy because we all know how painful that can be, but the reason I want him to experience all these emotions is because they will be real.  It's all part of growing up and discovering what it means not just to be a West Ham fan, but what it means to understand that in life you can't always take the easy option.  It's all too simple to support the club that wins all the time, but in reality it will mean nothing.  It will not come close to sharing the emotions of a "true" football fan. 

As I said earlier, I can't wait to take my little boy to his first game, and hopefully many games after that.  When he's older, I would like him to look back with the memories we shared together, be it good or bad, and always be thankful that I introduced him to West Ham. 

James Wallis

Diame Army !!!!!!

The solid tank like midfielder who has dominated the midfield this season has become a West Ham favourite after signing on a free this summer!
 Mohammad Diame played for Wigan Athletic last season and almost joined Liverpool, however we nipped in at the last minute and captured the big man's signature.
 
Many, many fans have been signing the praises of the 23 year old after impressing in games against Aston Villa, Swansea, Fulham, Norwich and Sunderland. 5 games into the season we have gathered a small outlook on how we could fare in the Premier League this season!
After these 5 games, it came to my attention how many fans love him! He has done a fantastic job for the club, and I hope he has a bright future with us.
 
Common chants such as 'Diame Army' have rocked Upton Park, and I wouldn't expect it to stop there, because a lot of people have explained there love of the big man!
 
However bad news has come along and you will be sad to here that West Ham have been offered a staggering deal which is too good to turn down, and so the big man himself will be leaving in January ... Because the Army don't have enough tanks!!!
 
Sorry about that, it was a very poor joke! :) ... Anyhow, just to praise Diame on a superb start to his West Ham career which will hopefully last for many more seasons. I honestly feel he is a key player in our team.
 
How do you think Diame is getting along?
 
And have you got any good chants?
 
Thank you,
 
Ben Edkins

Sunderland Review

This weekend saw us host North east side, Sunderland Athletic in our 5^th league game of the season. The black cats have been in reasonable form taking 3 points from 3 games, and they stole another as captain Kevin Nolan grabbed an equaliser in the dying embers of the game.

The game saw us start of poorly as another James Collins error helped the opposition to grab the opener after 9 minutes. The black cats new signing, Steven Fletcher, was the goalscorer and he has made a huge impact after his £12 million move from Wolverhapton Wanderers this summer.

Sunderland went on to have only one more shot on target as West Ham piled on the pressure, having a total of 11 shots on the Sunderland goal.

After a very acrobatic shot, Kevin Nolan looked set to celebrate, but a magical save from goalkeeper Mignolet kept the Hammers out. Nolan didnt stop there, and carried on rattling at the door, looking for his 3^rd goal of this season.

In the dying moments of the game, new signing Matt Jarvis used his lightning speed to stop the ball going out of play, he flicked the ball back into the area which caught the head of fellow new boy Modibo Maiga, who headed the ball down to Kevin Nola, who showed great balance and strength to swivel his body and get a last minute shot onto the palm of keeper Mignolet, the ball however, still made its way into the back of the net making it 1-1, sending the fans and Kevin Nolan in to ruptures.

After this unfortunate draw, in a game we easily dominated we sit 9^th in the league, and are still unbeaten at home.

West Ham manager Sam Allardyce went on to say “We had pinned them back and were waiting for the quality of finish, which came in injury time.”

The draw, which was very much undeserved for the Black Cats left manager O’Neil frusrated, as they sit one position behind rivals Newcastle, who have 1 more point.

Match Statistics:

West Ham -----------------------------------------------------Sunderland

Possesion:

61%----------------------------------------------------------------39%

Shots:

20 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4

On target:

11 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2

Corners:

10 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1

Fouls:

12 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10

Bookings :

West Ham – J.Jaaskelainen (Yellow)

                     W.Reid            (Yellow)

Sunderland – C.Gardner       (Yellow)

Thank You!

Ben Edkins



Small Technical Error

Hey guys, just to inform you that we have encountered a small technical error with a white background behind each post.

I will look to fix this problem ASAP.

Sorry :(

Ben Edkins

Winston Reid

The New Zealand centre back who was the core of much anger from the West Ham faithful has got to be our most improved player!

From stupid mistakes and very little experience, the youngster was thrown straight into the deep end amidst our problems. Relegation occurred and pain lingered on our hearts, as the mighty West Ham were 'loaned' to the Championship for a season. There in the Championship we saw a very weak player in Reid, one who usually let the team down, allowing the opposition to score.

West Ham played Millwall at Upton Park during our promotion challenge which saw us go down to 10 men within minutes, after a reckless challenge from Nolan, gave the referee no option but to show him red. The score was level at 1-1 with about 20 minutes left on the clock when Reid caught the ball on the volley on the edge of the area, the ball flew through the air like a bullet piercing skin, before it hit smashed into the back of the net! Our amazing fans went absolutely crazy!!!
From here we could probably say we saw a new person in Reid, as the youngster went from strength to strength.

This brand new season has seen fan favourite James Tomkins sit on the sidelines after impeccable performances from Winston Reid and new signing James Collins.
In my opinion Tomkins should be on the pitch rather than Collins, in order to form a partnership at the back, creating a solid defence! 
The two youngsters are both definitely for the future, and could help the club avoid the dreaded relegation and keep us there for many more seasons.

Hopefully in the future we see West Ham challenging for something other than survival in the Premier League.

Winston Reid has been receiving many praises from West Ham fans on twitter, and all this positive reinforcement can do, is make the player better, and stronger!

We play Sunderland on saturday, so let's all put our hands together for 'Winston the pikey smasher!!!' 

The most improved West Ham player in the last 3 seasons! In second place it has to be Tomkins, who was recently called up for Team GB at the 2012 Olympic Games where he made 1 appearance.

Thank you for reading, and please comment with your views.

Who do you think is our most improved player?

And what's your opinion on Winston Reid?

Thank you again, 

Ben Edkins 

Sunderland Team News

Sunderland have a couple of injury concerns for Saturday in the shape of Carlos Cuellar and Adam Johnson:
 
Carlos Cuellar - The Spanish defender will definitely be missing for Sunderland on Saturday.  He has suffered a similar injury to Andy Carroll and will be forced to miss this match.  Losing Cuellar will be a big loss to Sunderland, as he's formed a good partnership with John O'Shea at the heart of their defence.  Titus Bramble will look to replace him.
 
Adam Johnson - The former Manchester City winger is a doubt for Saturday, although O'Neil has suggested there's a small chance he could feature. 

James Wallis

West Ham Team News

The treatment room at Chadwell Heath is looking reasonably empty at the moment, which is great news and a testament to how well the manager looks after his players.  Sam Allardyce has a fully fit squad available, apart from the two main absentees of Andy Carroll and Jack Collison.  
 
Andy Carroll - Our loan signing from Liverpool has returned to light training, but he will not be available for Saturday's game against Sunderland.  A more realistic target for Andy will be our home game against Arsenal on the 6th October.
 
Jack Collison - Jack is still waiting to make his first appearance of the season and no date has been pencilled in for his return.  We hope our dynamic midfielder is back playing first team football very soon.

James Wallis

Is Big Sam Still Our Man?

It has now been just over a year since Sam Allardyce took over as our Manager and it has to be said, a lot has changed during that time.  We have seen a massive overhaul of playing staff, a Championship campaign that certainly had its ups and downs and an amazing Wembley Play-Off Final that saw us regain our position amongst the elite.

Our owners offered Big Sam just a two year contract with one objective - secure promotion as soon as possible.  Messrs Sullivan and Gold provided the funds and Big Sam was left to do the rest.  No pressure then!  It wasn't always pretty, that's for sure.  There were times where it seemed he would not achieve the promotion we so desperately craved - and above all so desperately needed seeing as our financial situation was so precarious. 

In May 2012 promotion was achieved and the dream realised.  The scenes of euphoria that followed the final whistle will live long in the memory for every West Ham fan.  Understandably, the sense of relief was probably the overwhelming emotion that day for obvious reasons.  The failure to gain promotion could have been catastrophic for the club.  Thankfully, promotion was achieved and our attentions soon turned to the Premier League and ultimately what was required to stay there.

An exciting summer followed where numerous rumours littered gossip columns and swamped the pages of Twitter.  Finally the transfer window, as Jim White on Sky Sports likes to say, slammed shut and our transfer dealings for the summer were complete - and what a transfer window it was!  We saw the arrival of Diame, Diarra, Maiga, Jaaskelainen, Henderson, Jarvis, Collins, McCartney, Benayoun and of course Andy Carroll.  Added to this we have the likes of Tomkins, Reid, Noble, Cole, Demel, Collison and the skipper Kevin Nolan.  Our squad is looking the best I have seen it for a long time.

We have a lot to thank our owners for.  After all, it is their financial backing and endless hours of hard work that has made it possible for us to boast the squad we have.  We should also be saying thank you to Sam Allardyce as well.  I believe it's his pulling power as a manager that helped conclude a lot of these deals.  Despite what many fans may think of his tactics, he holds a lot of respect in the game from players.

 

Sam Allardyce has taken an awful lot of stick from the fans over the last year, some of which was justified to be honest because our football at times during our Championship campaign was dreadful.  I must also hold my hands up and admit that I was one of those fans guilty of dishing out the criticism.  I think it's about time though we began to appreciate the fact that we're very fortunate to have Big Sam at the helm.  We must stop this negativity towards him and appreciate the work he has done at the club - especially in very difficult circumstances.  Lets not make any bones about it, the club was a mess when he took over.  There were players in our squad that were not worthy of wearing the claret and blue.  Some of the players in the squad were not even worthy enough to be called footballers.  The spirit within the squad was at and all time low.  However, with the help of Kevin Nolan, Allardcye's first signing as manager, the morale in the West Ham dressing room is at an all time high and as good as it's been for a long time.  The manager and his staff must take a lot of credit for that.

 

The new season has started well and hopefully we'll be celebrating our third league win out of five come the final whistle on Saturday.  We're looking pretty good defensively and our midfield is very strong.  Our strength of depth was evident last Saturday where we had the likes of Tomkins, Benayoun, Jarvis, Maiga, Diarra on the bench and Andy Carroll still to come back from injury.  Yet we were still able to field a very strong team with Nolan, Diame, Noble, Reid (one of the most improved players at the club), Collins and Demel.  Some of the football we have played this season has been far from long ball, especially against Fulham where we played a very good, well established Premiership team off the park.  In fact, this long ball argument is becoming bit of a myth.  There have been times this season where we have adopted that style, but it is unfair to say that's the only football we are able to play.  We have the ability to mix and match our styles, depending on the opponents we're facing at the time.  That can only be a good thing.

 

For the first time in years it's great being a West Ham fan.  Let's embrace these moments and celebrate them, rather then finding ways to criticise and moan.  The title of this article asks the question; Is Big Sam Still Our Man?  For me the answer to that question would be a resounding yes.  I hope he's our manager for a good few years yet.

 

Thank you for reading.

 

Regards,     

 

James Wallis

The Olympic Stadium Debate

Back in January 2010, Messrs Gold and Sullivan took over our great club and brought it back from the brink of administration.  Our joint Chairman installed Karen Brady as the club's new Vice-Chairman.  All three have been responsible for breathing new life into West Ham with their astute knowledge of how a football club should be run.  In contrast, our previous owners went from one horrendous, expensive mistake to another.  

Soon after the takeover our new owners shared with us their dream of moving our home from the much loved Upton Park to the Olympic Stadium.  This was met with protests and anger from many West Ham fans.  I for one wasn't entirely convinced that this would be the best thing for the club.  The thought of playing in front of an athletics track does not appeal to many fans for obvious reasons.  After all, no fan wishes to be miles from the pitch and have a running track between them and the action.  

All of the debates, discussions and arguments raised many questions as to how a stadium predominately built for athletics would convert into a football stadium.  Retractable seating was put forward as a possible solution.  This is not a new concept, as it has been done before very successfully - you only have to look at the Stade de France.  Since this possible solution has been made public it seems there has been a change of heart and many fans, including myself, have come round to the idea of moving to the Olympic Stadium.  I think it's an option we have to seriously consider.

A lot has happened since the fight for the stadium began.  At first when we were awarded the stadium, Daniel Levy and Tottenham threw their toys out of the pram and disputed the decision - even though we met all the criteria asked of us when submitting our plans.  They didn't have a leg to stand on (or so we thought) during this dispute, considering they were not even willing to keep the running track, which was one of the main criteria for winning the bid.  I honestly believe Tottenham had ulterior motives.  Their motive was not to win the stadium, but to push their own council into agreeing to their preferred stadium plans and provide the funding required.  What better way to do that then to threaten to move from their own borough and set up home elsewhere?  Or perhaps their motive was simply to stop us from winning the stadium?  Anyway, whatever their motive, the decision to award us the stadium was reversed and the process began all over again. 

  

In between all of the disputes with Daniel Levy and Tottenham there has been Barry Hearn.  This guy has contradicted himself so many times he doesn't know what he wants anymore.  At first he doesn't want us to move to the stadium because it will take Leyton Orient's supporters away.  No it won't, Barry.  I don't believe for a second you honestly think that, but if you do you're a bigger fool than I gave you credit for.  He then decides the Olympic Stadium is not fit for football and having made these comments, he now has the audacity to want to ground share with us.  Hold on a minute, I thought the stadium wasn't fit for football?  Make your mind up, Barry.  The constant indecisiveness of this media hungry, attention seeking moron is laughable.  Even the club have come out and said they find his comments a great source of amusement.  He has probably changed his stance on the subject of the Olympic Stadium even further in the time it has taken me to write this article.       

Having now seen the Olympic Stadium in all its glory I am convinced relocating would be fantastic for the club.  It would provide a platform to pay off a considerable amount of our debts and help us move forward.  When will we get a chance like this again to move to a state of the art stadium with fantastic transport links?  We have all seen what a fantastic atmosphere 80,000 athletics fans can generate - can you imagine how amazing it would be with 60,000 West Ham fans?  

Opinion is still very much divided amongst the West Ham faithful.  I must stress this is just my view - you may not agree.  One thing is for sure though and that is we should not be afraid of change.  Of course it will be a massive wrench to leave Upton Park.  It has been our home for a long time and we all have wonderful memories.  You can't have a home for that length of time without forming a huge emotional attachment.  Moving to the Olympic Stadium would provide us with the chance to create new, more exciting memories.  It would provide us with the chance, at the very least, to try and compete with the big boys in the Premiership, rather then just existing and hoping we're not involved in relegation scraps every season.  Surely a chance for the club to grow and compete has to be taken over sentiment?    

Now the the famous Olympic flame has finally faded bringing with it an end to a truly remarkable games, a new an exciting future for the Olympic Stadium is set to be announced in October.  I'm hoping it's a future West Ham United can be part of.

Thank you for reading.      

James Wallis