Carlton Cole

The official website has confirmed Carlton Cole has left the club at the end of his contract, having not been offered a new one. He's been at the club for 7 years, never a prolific scorer but always giving 100% he never wanted to leave the club even when we were relegated, unlike many others. He was one of the major reasons why we were able to achieve promotion in 2012 including a supurb performance in the play-off final against Blackpool at Wembley.

Personally I will remember him most fondly for his performance against Millwall last year when we were reduced to 10 men after only 10 minutes. Cole made sure that Millwall could never make the extra player count by sheer hard work and ability, running their defence ragged for the whole game and enabling us to get a vital victory against the odds.

Razvan Rat signs!

Apparently we have signed Romanian left back Ravan Rat, presumably nicknamed Roland. He will be the third Romanian to play for West Ham after Dumitrescu and Raduciou...third time lucky hopefully. I can't say I know much about him but he comes with a good pedigree having played 88 times for Romania and for Shakhtar Donetsk since 2003. He was in the team that won the UEFA Cup in 2009 and played in the Champions League this season just gone. Sounds a good player and left back is certainly a position that could be strengthened, my only concern is his age, at 31 does he still have the desire to make a success of this new challenge?

 

Andy Carroll - stay or go?

A few months ago the question would've been do we want Andy Carroll to stay or go. We always knew he was a good player but his injury problems alongside his cost, fee + wages, meant that it was a tough call and at one stage I got the impression that the owners had decided he was too costly.

However in the last couple of months of the season he has really proved his worth to the team and I think that his loan signing was the key point of the season for us, he really seemed to galvanise the whole club. His debut against Fulham was the best performance I had seen from a West Ham team for years. I don't think there's any doubt the owners now want to sign him, he was their player of the season after all and BFS certainly wants him so the big questions is will he sign? To be honest I don't think so, he has gone on record saying how much he enjoyed his time at West Ham but his tweet after the last game seemed to be goodbye and Kevin Nolan is now saying his signing is not the be all and end all for the club which makes you think he knows which way the wind is blowing as he is a good mate of Carroll's apparently.

It'd be a great coup if we signed him, a current England international and I personally think it would be a good move for the player as well but I'm biased. I suspect he wants to return to the Geordie Nation. If that happens we should thank him for his efforts and move on. The important thing will be to identify the right player and get him instead, there are other good players out there, our problem over the last few years has been getting too many average players in. To be fair BFS and the current owners have a good record on signings so far, especially as they are working on a budget.

West Ham United 4-2 Reading

The win we wanted to guarentee 10th place and a decent performance apart from the first 15 minutes of each half, although it has to be said that we were helped by some poor Reading defending.

A hat-trick from Kevin Nolan, often unfairly criticised by fans, meant he finished the season as top scorer and a couple of assists from Andy Carroll underlined his importance to the team.

West Ham v Reading preview

Nothing on this game as such as reading are already relegated and we are safe but this is a game I would very much like to win because:

1. A win would guarentee a top 10 finish which would be a great achievement the first season after promotion.
2. The difference between prize money for 10th place and 14th, the lowest we can finish, is over £3m.
3. It's against Reading and we never seem to beat them.

The move to the Olympic Stadium

The move to the OS is in the news again with the club revealing that the consultation carried out has revealed 85% of supporters in favour of the move. Nailing my colours to the mast, and the name of the blog might give this away, I am a supporter of the move and I will explain the reasons below. However the atmosphere of a traditional football stadium, like the one we experienced at Everton last weekend and our own Upton Park, puts up a strong argument for staying put and this is what really worries supporters of course, is the move purely a way for the owners to make money from their investment.

Ground moves by other clubs should also be a warning that things can go wrong. Coventry and Oxford both left traditional grounds within walking distance of their respective town centre's to move to sparkling new grounds out on the ring road. Coventry are now down in League One and have to find a new ground for next season as they can't afford the rent and Oxford have struggled since moving from what was, admitedly, a ramshakle but likeable ground.

So if there are risks involved why do I support the move?

1. The OS is known throughout the world and will become a destination that people will want to visit. Playing at a world class stadium will increase the worldwide marketability of the club and hopefully help to move us up from our present level.
2. The olympics showed the OS is an atmospheric stadium and the new roof and retractable seating should add to that atmosphere (assuming the majority of seats/standing areas? are sold).
3. I love Upton Park but to me it is no longer the amazingly atmospheric (and intimidating to visitors if we're honest) ground that I remember from the mid 70's to early 80's. It was run down but on it's day it was the loudest stadium in England, this is no longer the case.
4. Unlike a lot of the new grounds which are only easily accessible by car the OS will be one of the best connected stadiums in Europe, easily accessible by car and public transport.
5. Moving will enable the owners to pay off the club's debts and having £100m or so of debt is not a good position for any company to be in.
6. I trust Sullivan and Gold more than any of the other recent owners and therefore feel they will overcome the challenges and avoid the risks and pitfalls that the move will inevitably throw up.

Everton 2-0 West Ham United

As I suspected Everton and their crowd wanted to give Moyes a good send-off and we looked like we wanted to be on the beach. Can't complain too much I suppose as we've had a great season but still a little disappointing to be so thoroughly outplayed. The only consolation being that in the past we would probably have lost by at least five but thanks to Jussi and the defence, especially Ginge, the score was kept respectable.

Everton v West Ham preview

The big story of the week has been the departure of Fergie & his hairdryer from Man Utd and the imminent arrival of David Moyes from Everton to replace him. Let's be honest though, all we really care about is how that will effect Everton today and if we can sneak a win from what is a pretty barren hunting ground for the mighty 'ammers.

I suspect that an emotional Goodison will give Moyes a good send-off and get behind their team and with the well documented night out that the West Ham players enjoyed in the week this could be another tough one I suspect. It's nice that, for the first time in years, we don't have anything to be nervous about going into the last couple of games but we still want to win obviously and a top half finish would be beyond my wildest expectations at the start of the season.