Goodbye Allardyce

[bennythedip2]

Sullivan keen to keep Morrison

The West Ham board appear to be at odds with manager Sam Allardyce over the future of Ravel Morrison.

The former Manchester United youngster looked to have a bright future at Upton Park after breaking into the Hammers' first-team at the start of last season.

Morrison quickly became a fan favourite with his skilful, attacking displays in a West Ham side often accused of being negative in their approach.

But, after a slump in form and a number of niggling injuries, the 21-year-old fell out of favour and ended the season on loan at QPR - helping Harry Redknapp's side achieve promotion through the Sky Bet Championship play-offs.

With reported interest from the likes of Swansea and CSKA Moscow, Allardyce would likely listen to offers for the England Under-21 international but Hammers co-owner David Sullivan says the board are keen to keep Morrison at the club.

"Sam has said Ravel is not part of his plans .. but we do - as a board - see him as part of our plans," Sullivan told talkSPORT.

"I think he (Allardyce) said in a press conference, if I read it correctly, he's not part of his plans for this season.
I think he said that in New Zealand but we don't agree with that. We would like to sit down and give him a longer contract."

Discussions between manager and board will no doubt be required to iron out any difference of opinion regarding Morrison, with Sullivan aware that having the player sat on the bench on a long contract would not be beneficial.

"We do like him," Sullivan added.

"We do see him as part of the long-term future of the club but we have to agree it with the manager because there's no point signing a player he's not going to play."

Morrison was left at home as the remainder of the West Ham squad jetted off for a pre-season tour of New Zealand, with the club confirming he underwent successful groin surgery.

Having spent time at St George's Park since his operation, Morrison should be fit and ready to rejoin the first-team squad when they return from the long-haul trip but it remains to be seen if he will feature in the opening Barclays Premier League clash against Tottenham.

Bennys view ..
"This has to be a goodbye meeting for Sam Allardyce and the board ..The season hasn't yet begun and already it's coming apart at the seams for West Ham ..Carroll out for four months and now this nonsense all over again about Morrison ..The board and the fans know how good he can be, and with the right manager he could become an England player .. ..So before the season gets started, lets get this problem sorted out !!
What problem ? some might say ..The problem is Sam Allardyce
When he goes the team can get back to playing football again.. If he stays then we'll end up in another relegation battle and the same problem will be there ..
Cut your loses now Mr Gold and Mr Sullivan .. Get him away sooner rather than later"

[Tony2005]

I think Gold and Sulivan are trying to push big Sam out and that way they wont have to pay any compo.....


Typical of those two ......

[bennythedip2]

Hammers eye new strikers (and hopefully a new manager)


West Ham co-owner David Sullivan is targeting at least one new forward after the club announced that Andy Carroll will be sidelined for four months.

The 25-year-old confirmed on Thursday evening that he would require surgery on the problem and will now sit out the start of the season for the second year in succession.

Having missed a large part of the previous campaign with an unrelated foot injury, the club-record signing has played just 16 times for the Hammers since joining on a permanent deal from Liverpool last summer.

After initially being ruled out of the two friendlies during West Ham's current tour of New Zealand, the east London club have now confirmed he will be missing for much longer.

"West Ham United can confirm that Andy Carroll will have an operation on ligaments in his left ankle in the United States on Friday," a statement on the club's official website read.

"The England international will then have a week of recovery before starting an intensive period of rehabilitation, which is expected to take four months.

"The club would like to again make clear that this is a new injury and not in any way associated with the injury he successfully overcame at the end of last season."

Manager Sam Allardyce has already moved to increase his options in attack even before Carroll's latest setback - with Mauro Zarate on board and only a work permit application standing in the way of Enner Valenicia's move from Pachuca.

But now Sullivan is determined to see another forward join before West Ham's season gets under way at home to Tottenham.

"We have to bring in another striker and we're working on it now to buy one, or loan one, or both," he told talkSPORT.

"You can never have enough strikers and really with Andy gone we haven't got enough. It was desperate last year... We probably made a mistake by putting all our eggs in one basket.

"We can't start the season with the strike-force we've got. I don't think it's good enough, there's not enough height in it and if we get another injury, in terms of quantity, it's insufficient, so we have to sign at least one more player."

Carroll, who had tweeted on Thursday evening that he was 'absolutely devastated' to be injured again, has now said he will strive to return as soon as possible.

"I'm gutted to be missing the start of the season after working hard during the summer and pre-season," he said.

"Although this obviously isn't the news I would have wanted, I'm determined to come back fitter and stronger than ever before. I will be doing all I can to get back on the pitch with the lads as soon as possible."

The latest problem again shines a light on the former Newcastle striker's initial move to West Ham, with Sullivan admitting it was a risk to spend so much on one man.

The record fee for Carroll meant there was little left in the coffers for Allardyce, who ended up re-signing Carlton Cole after initially deciding not to offer the England international a new deal, due to his lack of options.

"Had we known what we know now we wouldn't have signed the player," Sullivan said.

"But it's easy to be wise after the event. We were assured by our physio - who has since left the club - that the player would be available for the start of the season.

"He wasn't available until January or February. A mistake was made and we were given the wrong information. We based our decision and our purchase of the player on what the medical department told us.

"We've changed everything in that department as a result of that. At the same time on his day he is a devastating and fantastic player, we've just got to get him back to his best."

Although Monaco's Lacina Traore, who came close to a loan move to the Hammers in January, is reported to be a target once again his own injury issues are likely to leave West Ham wary of having another expensive acquisition on the treatment table.

There are also concerns over one of Allardyce's summer recruits after the 59-year-old confirmed Senegal midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate requires a scan on his own ankle injury suffered in the 2-1 friendly defeat to Wellington Phoenix.

"Cheikh and James (Tomkins) have stayed behind in Auckland because they've got injuries that mean we've left a physio with them," said Allardyce.

"Cheikh has gone for a scan to make sure there is no more damage than we've initially assessed medically - Cheikh was caught just above the ankle when the boy tackled him and he was rather fortunate he didn't break his leg, so we're pleased about that."

[Tony2005]

Think they are bring back Freddie Sears from Colchester......

[bennythedip2]

On tour in Australia ..

West Ham .. Played two .. Lost two ... Goodbye Sam

[bennythedip2]

West Ham lose again on tour but Newcastle win

West Ham suffered a second defeat on their tour of New Zealand as they were beaten 3-1 by Sydney FC.

The Australian side were a goal up in four minutes after Ali Abbas ran clear of Mark Noble and passed to Corey Gameiro, who fired under Adrian.


A low shot from Alex Brosque doubled the lead on 26 minutes, and the 2-0 scoreline stood at the break as Aaron Cresswell missed the target following a one-two with Carlton Cole.


West Ham began the second half more promisingly and halved the arrears when a Matt Jarvis cross deflected in off defender Nikola Petkovic.


But the A-League side scored a third on 64 minutes through Gameiro, and the goal stood despite West Ham players appealing for handball by Terry Antonis in the build-up.


West Ham manager Sam Allardyce admitted his side had been poor, just three weeks before the start of the Premier League.

"We've played two games and we've played poorly in them," said Allardyce.

"The football was not good enough to get results but we're experimenting and working on more open attacking play and it hasn't worked well from a defensive point of view."
West Ham are so far without a win in pre-season after a last-minute 2-2 draw at Stevenage, a 0-0 draw at Ipswich Town and losses against Wellington Phoenix and Sydney FC.

Their 2014/15 season kicks off on August 16 against Tottenham.

Newcastle ended their pre-season tour of New Zealand with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Wellington Phoenix.

Yoan Gouffran's first-half goal proved to be enough to give Newcastle their second win on the tour after overcoming Sydney FC earlier in the week.

Wellington, who beat West Ham on Wednesday, matched Newcastle for long periods of the game with chances few and far between for both sides.

Newcastle grabbed the only goal of the game four minutes before the break when Gouffran got on the end of Vurnon Anita's cross to head home.

Rob Elliott ensured Newcastle held on for the victory in the second half as he made two fine stops to keep out efforts from Wellington's Jeremy Brockie.

The only negative for Alan Pardew were the injuries to Fabricio Coloccini and Siem De Jong as both players were forced to limp off at the Westpac Stadium with knocks.

Gouffran told Sky Sports News: "We are very happy to win the game and we are very happy to get this (Football United) trophy. This is good for the confidence.

"It's good for the fans from New Zealand, it's good for us to win new fans in the world; we are happy to come here. We have to be ready for the start of the season and we will work very hard on the training ground and we will be ready."

[bennythedip2]

Gold blames jet-lag for Twitter gaff

West Ham co-chairman David Gold has blamed jet-lag for a social media mistake that suggested he wanted to see Sam Allardyce leave his role as the club's manager.

Having travelled with the club on their pre-season tour of New Zealand, Gold favourited a tweet sent to him by a supporter which called for Allardyce to be sacked.

"Is today the day we get rid of BFS?? @davidgold fingers crossed," it read.

Allardyce remains under pressure having survived calls last season for him to be replaced, with 'BFS' a derogatory nickname bestowed upon him by unhappy supporters who are not pleased with the style of football adopted by the former Bolton, Newcastle and Blackburn boss.

Gold, along with co-chairman David Sullivan, stood by the 59-year-old after a series of post-season meetings but uncertainty still surrounds Allardyce's future following two poor performances which ended in defeat on their tour.

With club record signing Andy Carroll once again sidelined for some time through injury, Allardyce will be hoping Enner Valencia is awarded a work permit to complete a move to Upton Park and Gold used Twitter to again publicly support the current manager.

"After a 33 hour flight from New Zealand, I was in my car scanning through my tweets and it seems I accidently (sic) favourited one," he wrote.

"It has made some of the papers today so I should clarify that I did not and would never deliberately or intentionally endorse a tweet that questions our manager's position. Lesson: don't use twitter when you're jet-lagged!"

Allardyce saw his side jeered off the pitch after an unconvincing 2-1 win over 10-man Hull in March, with banners unfurled at later matches urging the board to make a change.

Sullivan also seemed to make Allardyce's position more awkward last week when he revealed the board and the boss were at odds over the future of Ravel Morrison - with the owners wanting to tie the England Under-21 international down on a longer contract despite Allardyce suggesting he does not have a future in his side.