Forum | General Discussion
Rice DEC lares For England And Ups His Value By £20 Million
Having taken what seems like an age, West Ham midfielder Declan Rice has finally pledged his international future to England, Rice has won three senior Republic of Ireland caps, all in friendlies, having played for his grandparents' country ever since he was a youngster. In August the London born central defender said he needed time to decide his future, as winning a competitive cap for the Republic would have tied him to that country.
"This has been an extremely difficult decision," he said. In a long statement on Twitter, he said: "I consider myself to be of mixed nationality. I have equal respect for both England and Ireland and therefore the national team I choose to represent is not a clear-cut, simple selection."Ultimately, it is a personal decision I have made with my heart and my head, based on what I believe is best for my future." Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy said: "Declan rang me today and said he has decided to give it a go with England, and I say Good luck to him."
It is perhaps the measure of how 'Moore like' the affable 20 year old is that he ended his 'communication' with the following, "I would also like to make it clear that, in requesting to transfer my national team representation, I am not taking for granted a call-up to the England squad."
The club will have seen one of their prize assets rocket in value, and If Hammers can hold on to him, Rice will be the future captain not only of West Ham, but possibly even England! - Ed
An Image All Hammers Fans Have Been Waiting For-Lanzini Back Training
It is hard to imagine the consequences and how far reaching the effect of the long term serious injury sustained by Manuel Lanzini while training with the Argentine national team ahead of last summer's FIFA World Cup in Russia. For the player himself the injury was devastating, Lanzini was just about to fulfill his lifetime's dream of representing his country in a major tournament, furthermore his guide and mentor was none other than one of the greatest football players in the World, Lionel Messi.
The injury must have been heartbreaking for the player nick named 'the little gem', and while it was a terrible event, injuries are part and parcel of the modern game. However apart from the dreadful personal effect the injury had on Lanzini, it also had a profound effect on the fortunes of West Ham United. The club had already had one season ruined having been forced to cope without the creative guille of Dimitri Payet following his incredibly disloyal forced move to Olympic Marseille, so to have the planning of virtually an another entire season ruined was bad luck indeed, although there are those who would say planning a team around one player is highly unadvisable, putting your eggs all in one basket etc.
Samir Nasri fleetingly showed the creative spark that has been so sorely missed all season, that was before he succumbed to the traditional 'initiation' injury that all new West Ham players have to endure. During the matches Nasri played Hammers looked a different team, it is to be hoped that Manuel Pellegrini will soon not only be able to call on the services of the 'little gem', but also those of Nasri as well! - Ed
Gordon Banks
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What might have been? West Ham were offered Gordon Banks in the sixties, but Ron Greenwood had promised Kilmarnock (Scottish Champions at the time) to buy Bobby Ferguson.
funny film scenes
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Chatting at work today on this subject and thought i would share two all time favourite comedic scenes and older orgers on here will rmbr and appreciate these i don't doubt....feel free to share yours
Hammers High Hopes For Spain Trip- However Holiday It Isn't!
Manuel Pellegrini has taken his West Ham squad to Malaga where they will spend four days of warm weather training before returning to London, the break is intended to provide recovery time for some of the club’s injured players and the Hammers boss expects to have Samir Nasri back from his calf injury against Fulham, while Manuel Lanzini and Fabian Balbuena could also return in that game.
Pellegrini hopes Lanzini could be on the bench when Fulham visit and make his comeback after seven months out with the serious knee injury he sustained while training with the Argentine national side ahead of last summer's FIFA World Cup. The 'General' Fabian Balbuena might need a few more weeks to overcome the knee problem he suffered before Christmas, but the defender is close to a return, his virtually telepathic understanding with Issa Diop has been sorely missed as Hammers' results have borne out during his absence.
"I said after we lost at Wimbledon that we wanted to continue in the FA Cup, that was our intention but we couldn’t do it," Pellegrini said of the break."But in another way I think it is good for some players that are playing too many games from the beginning of the season - we continue with eight players injured - so I think that this stop up until next weekend will be very useful for us. We are not going on holiday, we are going to work, maybe better weather than here but also to take them out some days it is good for the group, so there is a lot of things that I decided why to take the team there."
Short term winter breaks for the Hammers have had mixed returns in the past, Sam Allardyce in particular favoured trips to Dubai, however on reflection the destination probably had more to do with his potential real estate investments as opposed to the 5 star training facilities available. It is not clear as to whether Hammers arranged their trip using one of David Gold's remaining executive jets, or utilised the latest in executive jet travel by using fractional private jet ownership. There are those who argue that going away breaks up the team's inertia, well Hammers inertia hasn't been that great of late so that won't be an issue! The benefits of a warm weather training camp can also be seriously negated if the air travel involved is too invasive, flights to the far east and beyond can have a very negative effect on player's well being whereas flights to Spain are rapid and far less demanding.
Hammers strong latin american contingent will feel at home in Spain, the training facility the club are going to use belongs to Malaga football club, the club that Manuel Pellegrini managed to qualify for the Champion's League in his first season there. The location is also conveniently close to David Sullivan's Marbella spread which is up on the hill overlooking Puerto Banus, the poser's paradise. The squad taken to Spain will undoubtedly benefit from a few extra rays of sunshine, so long as they keep Big Andy and themselves out of Sinatra's bar in the Port. - Ed
How long can we hang on to this diamond
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The weird part about the Daily Express’ claim that Tottenham want to sign Declan Rice is that they suggest he will be a replacement for the outgoing Christian Eriksen.
They tell us ‘Spurs are preparing for the possible exit’ of the Dane, and that ‘Rice has been on Tottenham’s radar for some time’. Yeah, but not as a creative midfielder.
Anyway, West Ham apparently ‘face a battle’ to keep Rice despite him signing a five-and-a-half-year contract at the club two months ago. Liverpool want him and Manchester United have previously been linked, but it is Spurs who are ready to firm up their interest with a £35m offer.
As an aside, that bid is mentioned only in the headline, not in the actual story body. Seems legit.
Live Crystal Palace FC v West Ham United Team Sheets And Links
Crystal Palace : Guaita, Wan-Bissaka, Kelly, Sakho, Van Aanholt, McArthur, Milivojevic, Schlupp, Townsend, Zaha, Benteke Subs: Hennessey, Ward, Dann, Meyer, Ayew, Batshuayi, Sako
West Ham : Fabianski, Fredericks, Diop, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Noble, Rice, Antonio, Anderson, Snodgrass, Hernandez Subs: Adrian, Zabaleta, Arnautovic, Carroll, Obiang, Masuaku, Diangana
Pellegrini-Run In Begins Today At Palace-Injured To Return
As we go in to the business end of the season, Hammers boss Manuel Pellegrini will be secretly content with what he has achieved so far, despite a catastrophic injury list that almost beggars belief. The 'Charming Man' has had to negotiate the difficult task of taking what was a disparate set of players and moulding them in to a team of believers with a big club mentality.
Being deprived the services of almost an entire starting line up and changing the team ethos has been a difficult task, but one that 'Pelle' has managed to negotiate, and although there is still a long way to go before he is able to select from the group of players he would like access to, things are definitely looking up. The prospect of Manuel Lanzini and Fabian Balbuena linking up with the squad is mouth watering, in addition Andrily Yarmolenko and even Carlos Sanchez along with Winston Reid have begun light training leaving only Jack Wilshire and Sam Byram on the 'not to return this season' list.
Fit again bad boy, the Austrian Sulk' that is Marko Arnautovic, is finally ready to start a match since his ill fated attempt at forcing a lucrative move to the Chinese super league, and Ryan Fredericks has already returned to the match day squad for the Palace fixture, unfortunately it will just a game too soon for Samir Nasri who is expected to be fit for the home game against Fulham next week.
Manuel Pellegrini will be spoilt for choice when all his injured players are available, however as this is West Ham, the club is only one game away from a player sustaining a serious injury so there will need to be a constant flow of replacements available! Joking aside, the amount of injuries sustained must surely be cause for concern, and as Pellegrini is rather meticulous it is fair to say that the medical team will probably be due for a 'fancy a drink' chat with the powers that be as they are shown the door!
Early team news for the match against Palace is encouraging, Hammers Old boys James 'Tonka' Tompkins and Cheik Kouyate are both unavailable however Roy Hodgson will be able to utilise Michy Batshui up front alongside fellow Belgian Christain Benteke. Given the 'bad blood' between West Ham and Batshui, he is a 'shoe in' to score against the club that he has rejected joining on THREE seperate occasions, hopefully 'Arnie' will step up to the plate and show 'shui' what a real striker can do!
The media have rather enjoyed analysing Hammers Jekyl and Hyde inconsistency, they do seem to have missed the point that 'Pelle' has not been able to field the team he wants since before the beginning of the season, his whole plan was to build the team around Manuel Lanzini before the latter's horrific injury sustained while training with Argentina ahead of the World Cup. The whole season has been one of fighting a rear guard action and 'making do', maybe when the some of the key missing players return the media might like to re-appraise! Of course they won't, because there will be another team lined up to be in the cross hairs, Everton more likely than not, they have been the team to receive this month's kicking, it makes a welcome relief. - Ed
Moronic Supporters Past And Present Ignorance Is The Key
The angry bigoted man images of the abuse hurled at Liverpool's Mo Salah during Hammers 1-1 draw with the match officials has received plenty of coverage and rightly so, normally rational people, in a similar way to some car drivers can suddenly become either vile or monstrous or both in just a split second. In no way do we countenance such behaviour, however we do need to look at the root of the problem, and there is a problem but it is one born out of ignorance and fear, not generally loathing.
The unknown is frightening to some, particularly to those who are ill-informed and take most of their information from the red top' newspapers who have no qualms about sensationalising racial and religious issues to sell more copies. Back in the day when the wonderful Clyde Best first turned out for the Hammers he received abuse from both sets of fans because of his colour, he shut them up the only way he could, by smiling and scoring! It wasn't a period that West Ham or any other top team could be proud of, but bit by bit the prejudice was lifted and soon Clyde became 'one of our own'.
Best led the way for other black players to join the Hammers, and when they arrived they were generally treated with so much more respect than that had previously been shown. Similarly when Yossi Benayoun joined West Ham there were those who were 'uncomfortable' with his religious status, but after a short while their voices were not heard. The club won't tolerate the sort of vile rant aimed at Mo Salah, and in a statement said they have “a zero tolerance policy to any form of violent or abusive behaviour, we are an inclusive football club. Anyone identified committing an offence will have their details passed to the police and will face a lifetime ban from London Stadium. There is no place for this kind of behaviour at our stadium.”
The thread is of course ignorance, before black players arrived racism was rife and still is in certain aspects of life, but from a sporting point of view things improved massively. Players of the Jewish faith were also 'targeted' as were many others who were not 'traditional', but through the course of time and through a learning curve such outdated opinions fade away. Being angry at Mo Salah because he is a Muslim is such a short sighted and incorrect way to be, it is obvious that the person who was highlighted 'lost it', and perhaps the club could offer him the chance to apologise instead of just banning him. Salah is a bright and deep thinking man, he might even welcome the chance of discourse with this man. - Ed
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