Why is Deano Not in the England Squad?

At least FabiO Capello has seen through his blindness on Robert Green, but can anyone explain why Dean Ashton and Michael Owen are not in the England squad which he has just released? His forward line consists of Walcott, Defoe, Rooney and Heskey. Heskey for God’s sake!!! Capello was at Upton Park when Deano scored a brace against Wigan. He would have got into the squad for the Czech game but for his injury, which wasn’t an injury at all.

What has changed? He played well yesterday. I’m confused.com.

PS Equally confusing is Darren Clarke’s omission from the Ryder Cup team in favour of Ian Poulter. Hey ho.

Carlton Cole: An Apology

I have justifiably come under fire for my rating of Carlton Cole’s performance in my match report yesterday. Having now watched the match on TV I realise I made a huge error. It just goes to show how you can miss things and be influenced by the crowd around you – who, to a man, agreed with my assessment.

It’s easy to understimate the contribution of a player like Cole. Because he looks very awkward at times, and doesn’t threaten the goal in the manner of a traditional striker, you tend to miss what else he contributes. He also looks so languid, that the effort he puts in goes unnoticed.

Anyway, I hold my hands up. I got it wrong. It happens!

Crisis? What Crisis

We’re a fickle bunch aren’t we? Alan Curbishley could be forgiven if he sought to ram this 4-1 victory down our throats. His team answered their critics in dramatic style. Ok, 4-1 was a flattering scoreline, but who’s complaining when Paul Ince is on the other end of it?

Ince was heckled rather than barracked. The abuse was half hearted to say the least. He’s put on a bit of weight, hasn’t he?

My man of the match was Calum Davenport, and not just because of his goal. He was mammoth at the back and could have had another goal too. I didn’t see who it was who lost Jason Roberts for their goal, but I think it was Behrami. He improved as the game went on. I can’t help thinking he would be better deployed in midfield.

Etherington was tireless down the left and Faubert put in a superb performance down the right. He always looked dangerous and when he runs at full pelt he’s like a tank.

Perhaps the best aspect of the performance was the return to form of Parker and Noble in central midfield. They were superb with both putting in hard tackles and distributing the ball well.

Up front Ashton was always busy, but Carlton Cole was largely anonymous. He constantly failed to win anything in the air, his first touch deserted him and he rarely threatened their goal – until the 94th minute, that is!

It was great to see Bellamy back. He buzzed around causing havoc and his goal was no more than he deserved. No doubt he will now go and play for Wales and pick up an injury.

And a word about Rob Green. Brilliant. But I bet he doesn’t get an England callup.
The table looks good tonight, doesn’t it? We’re third.

So let’s say well done to Alan Curbishley and the team for a good day’s work. And now for the player ratings.

Green 9
Neill 7
Behrami 6
Upson 7
Davenport 9
Noble 8
Parker 8
Faubert 8
Etherington 8
Ashton 7
Cole 5

Blackburn Preview

This afternoon should be eventful one way or another. I suspect we will either put on a vintage performnce or get completely tonked. Let’s hope it is the former. I worry about the reaction to Paul Ince. Ince has done his best to defuse the situation in the morning papers, but even though he has admitted he made a big mistake, I don’t detect any mood of forgiveness among West Ham fans. I just hope that people do not go over the top.

Alan Curbishley has a few options this afternoon, but I don’t expect him to make too many changes to the starting eleven. I suspect Lucas Neill may move to central defence with George McCartney making a welcome return to left back. In midfield I think Lee Bowyer may well come in for Mark Noble. Kyel Reid has made a case for a starting place on the left but I reckon he will stick with Matty Etherington. Up front, Cole and Ashton will start, with Bellamy hopefully fit enough to make the bench.

Macari Threatened by Ince Agent

A couple of weeks ago I listened to Lou Macari talking about his new autobiography for half an hour on 5 Live. I hadn’t realised he had a son who committed suicide. Anyway, my copy of the book arrived this morning and I have just finished reading the chapters about West Ham. He says resigning his job at Upton Park was the worst decision of his life and now realises he shouldn’t have done it. He praises Julian Dicks to the skies and reveals that Terry Venables tried to sign him for Tottenham. But perhaps the most interesting part is his view of Paul Ince. Here’s how he starts a chapter…

I didn’t know much about Paul Ince before I walked through the doors at Upton Park, but it did not take me long to get acquainted… I was threatened by his agent, Ambrose Mendy. Agents were still in their infancy in the late eighties. I couldn’t remember having dealt with one before. Let’s just say Mendy was a bit of a lad.

“I think it would be in your interests if you did not stand in his way,” he said. “If you do, it could be a problem for you.”

I may have misunderstood the message, but it seemed menacing enough to me. What else could he have meant? … Matters quicly came to a head … Ince was pictured in a newspaper with a Manchester United short on. no one from United had been in touch with me. And I had no intention of speaking to Sir Alex. Now I had a problem. I was determined not to let Ince leave. No matter what Mendy said, I was ready to dig my heels in. Quite apart from anything else, I knew the fans were not going to stand for any of that crap. The West Ham support is firecely loyal. they saw it as a betrayal. I couldn’t disagree with them… But that picture changed everything. United had already been in touch…

Intertesting stuff, eh? Anyway, you can buy the book HERE. It’s well worth a read.

UPDATE: Ince has put his side of the story in the Dailly Mail this morning.

Ince himself has done his best to defuse the situation in recent seasons but, as he is likely to discover tomorrow, he has had only limited success. He was even moved, not long ago, to explain the notorious shirt episode which so upset the Upton Park faithful. ‘I spoke to Alex Ferguson,’ he recalled, ‘and the deal was close to being done. I then went on holiday and my agent said it wasn’t worth me coming back to do a picture in a United shirt when the deal was completed, so I should do one before I left and it would be released when the deal was announced.

‘The photographer took the picture and put it into the newspaper’s library. Soon after, the sister paper were looking for a picture of me and found the one of me in a United shirt in the pile. They published it and all hell let loose. I came back from holiday to discover West Ham fans were going mad. ‘It wasn’t really my fault, I was only a kid. I did what my agent told me and took all the crap for it.’ The photographer in question has since confirmed that Ince was blameless and, unlike a substantial number of West Ham fans, the Blackburn boss is keen to draw a line under the episode.

I suspect that both versions are actually true.

The Woes of a West Ham Fan

For the first time in years, last night I voluntarily missed a home game. Despite ticking the box to enable my season ticket for all Cup games, I received no email from the club telling me they had debited my card, so I assumed they hadn’t. Reminds me, must check the bank account…

Why didn’t I go? Probably for the same reason as the 20,000 other people who didn’t. I knew what I would be letting myself in for. Instead, when I got home I listened to much of the game on Radio London, having read the Evening Standard story on the train about how morale at Upton Park is at an all time low.

It was humiliating to be losing to a side that is bottom of League Two for 74 minutes. Only when they were down to ten men did we come to life. I’m told Lee Bowyer looked good and the youngster Hines did well, but really, it doesn’t get much worse than struggling against Macclesfield, does it?

And today we hear that Carlton Cole wants to leave as he is not satisfied by his contract renegotiations. Sell him, I say.

It would not surprise me at all if by this time next week we were looking for a new manager. Curbishley obviously feels that he is being humiliated – firstly by the Board and secondly by his players, who he just doesn’t seem to be able to motivate.

It is ridiculous that we are even thinking about a crisis, let alone talking about one, but that’s the mood of the club at the moment. Yes, it was right to trim the size of the squad and get rid of fringe players, but we haven’t really done that have we? Nigel Quashie and Luis Boa Morte are still there. We all needed one big signing this summer to show us that the current board has the ambition we as supporters have. I doubt very much whether that will happen before the Transfer deadline on Sunday.

As you can tell, I am feeling very down, and not looking forward to Saturday at all. But I will be there. Make no mistake about that. We are owed a performance. Big time.

Fire Sale, Anyone?

Anton is off to Sunderland and having a medical today. We now hear that Craig Bellamy may be moving to Manchester City, that Carlton Cole is going to Hamburg or Sunderland and that Matthew Upson is also being touted around. Anyone would think we were having a fire sale.

I cannt believe we could be selling both Bellamy and Cole as that would leave us with only two strikers – Ashton and Sears.

This is deeply worrying. I can certainly see the sense in selling one of the centre backs, and £8 million is not a bad price for Anton. With Tomkins coming through we are well covered in that position, although I would not want to even consider selling Upson, who is one of our most consistent players.

The trouble is that if we sell at this late stage in the transfer window, it only leaves a few days to sign anyone else. It almost beggars belief that Berahmi is the only serious player we have signed recently.

Woe betide Mr Curbishley is it all goes tits up tomorrow night. He will say that these transfers are nothing to do with him, but I am not sure that is very convincing.

Anton Won’t be the Last…

The West Ham Board have accepted a bid of £8 million for Anton Ferdinand. I don’t know why but I feel this event will have far reaching consequences. Alan Curbishley made clear he did not want the player to go. I feel in my water that it won’t just be Anton Ferdinand heading out of the Upton Park gates before too long.

The Shame of Mark Noble … & the Rest

I hope Mark Noble takes a cold hard look at himself on the ride home from Manchester tonight. Until he stupidly got himself sent off West Ham had looked in with a chance of getting something from this game. Although we hadn’t actually had a shot on goal we seemed to be containing Manchester City. After the sending off it was just a matter of time.

But that’s not to say it was just Noble who was to blame. Mot a single West Ham outfield player can look at themselves today and say: “I did myself justice”. Ashton and Cole barely had a kick. Cole was injured and was subbed after half an hour. Sears came on but was subbed at half time due to the sending off, so had little time to impress. In midfield Parker, Etherington and Faubert were all anonymous. Neither winger went on a run during the whole game and Parker might as well not have been on the pitch.

Behrami, who, according to the official site had a stormer of a game last week (what a joke), was as ineffective as he was against Wigan. Lucas Neill had a better first half but in the second was back to his old tricks. And Upson and Davenport looked as though they had only met that day. None of them deserve more than four out of ten.

Utterly, utterly depressing. No spark, no creativity, no life.

The Graphic That Makes Us All Happy

Going down, going down, going down…

Ashton Won’t Be Treated by Hammers Medics

There’s a long INTERVIEW with Dean Ashton in today’s Sunday Times. It’s mainly about his England hopes, but there’s one passage that leapt out at me.

For the past two years, Alan Curbishley and his team had been hampered by a debilitating sequence of injuries. Bad luck, or was there perhaps more to it? “I’m not a physio, but I have my opinions. Let’s just say that I didn’t use the medical team here for my rehab, I used my own man, Jon Green, who has worked with Michael Owen as well.”

That says a lot, doesn’t it?

A Message From Jeremy Nicholas

Jeremy Nicholas has asked if I would post this message on here, which I am delighted to do. There had been rumours that he had been sacked by the club as matchday announcer. He wishes to put the record straight.

Hi everyone,

I thought I better post on here just to put a few things right. I haven’t been sacked, the club just wanted to try out a few different things at the Wigan game. I was given seats in the stand.
A lot has changed in my ten years as the announcer. My debut was the hostile reception for David Beckham in the opening game of the season after his sending off at France 98. In those days my announcer’s box was a shed in the corner of the West Stand and Bobby Moore. I played in the CDs myself and it was all a very small operation.

Now we have big screens and the announcer’s control room is the glass box by the scoreboard three tiers up in the corner of the Dr Martens and Bobby Moore stand. There’s about eight people based in that room now. They play in the CDs, run the big screens, work the plasmas in the concourse, operate the scoreboard and the digiboards around the pitch. There’s even a final cut pro editing station in there, to cut the highlights packages.

I work from the dug out area on a radio mike which is controlled by my assistant Russell who sits up in
the control box. He’s been playing in the CDs for the last five years. Being down at pitchside gives me a better view of the substitutions and allows me to get a better feel for the noise in the stadium. The control room is double glazed and for safety reasons doesn’t have a window that opens. So it can be hard to gauge stadium levels from in there.

The club have been working hard to improve the whole match day experience, with more use being made of visual images. One innovation this season is the reading of the team sheets using players images on the big screens. You may have seen the sticker book format of West Ham players, with the screen zooming in and out on the players as their names were read out. I thought it looked great on Saturday. To ensure this worked smoothly, ADI, the firm who run the screens asked to bring in their own announcer and sound engineer and have them sit in the box with them. The previous week against Villareal there had been communication problems and I was down on the pitch waiting for images that never happened.

I was happy to give way and the club gave me great seats in the stand. Russell was also offered seats. Watching the game, there were obviously a few teething problems, but that happens when you try new things.

It was very strange when Dean scored those two goals early on. I was delighted when we started the game so well, but felt sad that they were the first West Ham Premiership goals in ten years at Upton Park, that I hadn’t announced. I recognised the voice of Martin Godleman as the announcer on the day. He is a true West Ham fan. You’ll know him from the end of season DVDs and the commentaries on the beam back games. He’s also a friend of mine.

The matchday format is moving towards more screen information and less from the announcer. I’m sure this is a good thing as the last thing most fans want is to be bellowed at.

I’ve had a lot of people email me saying ‘where are you?’ and ‘have you been sacked?’. I’ve kept quiet until now, but I thought I better say something, as I saw a petition had started to reinstate me and all sorts of inaccurate comments were flying about.

I haven’t been sacked. I’m very much part of the announcing team, but it is a team and not an individual any more. I look forward to working alongside ADI this season.

I went on a fact finding mission a couple of years ago for the club to see how ADI operate at Aston Villa. It really is a very impressive set up, with the screens, the music and the announcers all coming under one central control. Curiously, when I went they had three announcers, all called Dave! It was very confusing on talkback- ‘Dave, it’s Dave, can you tell Dave…..’ But the end product was excellent.

The club is always keen to hear your views on the matchday experience. You can email matchday@westhamunited.co.uk. Greg Demetriou, our head of media, canvassed opinions on the club website in the summer and further thoughts are always welcome.

One thing I will say is this: You can’t please all the people all the time. Some people like loud music, some want to be able to chat before a game. Some like the atmosphere to be whipped up, some prefer it to develop naturally. Please bear with the club as we try out some new ideas.

I’m very flexible to changing times. I think we should always be looking to improve. The only two things I would never accept are: getting rid of Bubbles (the song not the bear) and playing music after goals. No, no, no, that’s not what we are about.

I hope to die in this job. Some of you may have wished for that to happen at many games in the past. I know I sometimes let my enthusiasm get the better of me, but that’s just the fan in me coming out. For the many who’ve sent me concerned messages over the last few days, I just want you to know I’m still part of the team on a matchday.

Let’s all get behind the team on the pitch. We’ve got a great squad now. Curbs has turned the club around and when they’re all back to fitness, we’ll have a great squad. And best of all we’re unbeaten this season!

Up the Irons

Jeremy

West Ham Above Canada at Olympics

According to a correspondent on the West Ham Mailing List, West Ham are doing rather well in the Olympics.

Mark Hunter, who won a gold medal in the lightweight double sculls, grew up in Poplar, lives in Romford, and is a mad-keen Irons fan. And Christine Ohuruogu, who has just won the 400 metres, is a regular at All Saints’ Church, West Ham, where her mum is a churchwarden.

That means that West Ham has won as many golds as Canada at the moment.

Anyone know any other British olympians who have West Ham connections?

Anton on his Way?

The News of the World says Sunderland will bid £8 million for Anton Ferdinand this week and that the club is likely to accept it. They are not pleased that he has not accepted a £40k a week deal. I can’t really believe that he would want to go to Sunderland or that it would be in his interests to do so.

Wigan Report

My trip to the ground did not get off to the best of starts. Driving up the A20 I suddenly realised I hadn’t put my season ticket in my wallet. Luckily the ticket office happily issued me with a replacement.

But the day soon improved when an on fire Dean Ashton fired us two ahead in the first fifteen minutes. It has to be said that Wigan had had the better of the opening exchanges, and somehow you just knew that West Ham would revert to type and fail to get the all important third. And so it transpired.

We put together some neat one to one play, and always looked dangerous in their penalty area, but just couldn’t find the third. Wigan were by far the better side in the second half and were unlucky to come away with nothing.

Let’s face it, we were lucky to come away with all three points, but having said that, so what? It was a reasonable performance for the first game of the season and we should be grateful it was rather better than last season’s first game against Man City.

While I think of it, it was a bit odd seeing seven subs on the bench. I have to admit I wasn’t aware of that particular innovation. But it’s great, and means that a couple of the youngsters get some big match experience, even if all they do is get splinters in their arses … although I doubt there are many splinters on those new Recaro seats!

So, let’s have a look at some of the individual performances. Deano obviously gets the headlines, but he contributed far more than his two goals. He was really mobile and chased everything. I just hope he hasn’t injured too much. Carlton Cole did well in the first half. He won a lot in the air and constsntly harried. Freddie Sears looked very bright when he came on for Deano. He has beefed up a bit and is more difficult to shake off the ball. In midfield, Mark Noble was hugely disappointing and Scott Parker wasn’t his usual self. Their failure to control the agenda allowed Wigan to dominate the centre of the pitch. Matty Etherington had a storming first half but faded badly in the second. Julien Faubert was my man of the match. He put in 100% effort, was great on the wing, wasn’t afraid to shoot and had a few good dribbles. I reckon he may get 10 goals this season. In defence Lucas Neill was his normal self. He managed to get bypassed on at least half a dozen occasions. Sadly, Behrami was even worse. He was run ragged by the Wigan left winger and must have wondered what had hit him. If right back is his best position then … well, let’s not be too harsh, it was only his first game. In the centre Upson was stalwart and Davenport performed well too. And Greeny was superb.

All in all, a satisfactory start.

Green 8
Upson 8
Davenport 7
Neill 5
Behrami 5
Noble 5
Parker 6
Etherington 7
Faubert 9
Ashton 9
Cole 6

What’s Your Pre Match Routine?

Ok, I admit it, I am a bit excited. In ten minutes I shall set off from Tunbridge Wells and go through my normal routine. Park in the garage in Barking Road, leave my car to be valeted and ‘minded’, drop in to see Viv at the Newham Bookshop, where I meet my friend Jo Phillips. On our way to Ken’s cafe I buy my programme at the corner of Green Street. We quickly scoff Sausage, egg and chips before heading off to the ground, where I buy a copy of OLAS.

So tell us about your pre match routine…

My hopes for today? A thumping 3-0 drubbing with Deano getting two and Freddie Sears coming off the bench to score the third. Having said thay, I don’t think we have ever beaten Wigan at home. Let’s hope we break that record today.

Up the Hammers!

Wish me Luck…

I’m on Radio 4’s ANY QUESTIONS tonight at 8pm. Will you judge my performance on whether I manage to squeeze in a mention of West Ham in an answer on South Ossetia?

Poll: Where Will West Ham Finish?

So, whta kind of season do you think we will have? Vote HERE in my poll on which position you think West Ham will finish in come May 2009.

Wednesday Rumourmill

This one is not a rumour, but a reality. Ben Thatcher has signed for Ipswich. May Allah be praised.

* Joe Cole rumoured to be keen on coming back to us on a season long loan. I’ll believe that when I see it!
* Trinidad international, 21 year old Keon Daniel is to be offered a trial at Upton Park.
*Anton Ferdinand has reportedly turned down a new £2 million contract, trebling his salary. Expect Newcastle to be on the sniff.

I can’t see us selling Anton at the moment, seeing as virtually all our other centre backs are injured. I’d love Joe Cole to come back though. Wonder if Chelsea would be interested in a swap with Boa Morte…

Join my Fantasy Football League

Each year, I run a Fantasy Football League. Last year more than 700 people took part. Today I am launching next season’s league and inviting you to take part and submit a team.

There’s a prize of £100 worth of books and DVDs for the winner.To enter a team (there’s no charge!) click HERE. When you’ve registered your details, follow the instructions to select your team.

When you’ve done that you need to join the Iain Dale League by typing this code 433347-90306 into the relevant box. You need to register before the season starts on 16 August.

I’ve chosen the following players in my team – spot the theme…Green (West Ham), Johnson (Portsmouth), Terry (Chelsea), Konchesky (Fulham), Ferdinand (Man U), Noble (West Ham), Lampard (Chelsea), J. Cole (Chelsea), Benayoun (Liverpool), Tevez (Man U), Ashton (West Ham).