Forum | General Discussion

Hammers welcome Sheffield United for today's home game, there has been SOME mention of past events in the run up to the game, but to clarify things we thought we would add some additional information for those not in the know.

There are many of the 'new generation' of Hammers fans who only have vague memories of the 'Carlos Tevez' saga. Javier Mascherano's role in the story has almost been completely forgotten despite his arrival at the same time as Tevez.

To briefly sum up the events for those who were too young to remember, Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano were two of the best players in Argentina who suddenly arrived at West Ham as two new signings that even the manager at the time Alan Pardew had no prior knowledge of!

The players arrival was 'arranged' by a company called Media Sports Investments (MSI) in addition to Just Sports Incorporated, Global Soccer Agencies (GSA) and Mystere Services Limited who were fronted by Kia Joorabchian who thought that he had an 'arrangement' in place to purchase West Ham from the majority shareholder Terrence Brown. Tevez and Mascherano hailed from the São Paulo club Corinthians and were baffled at their final destination.

Brown then reneged on the take over deal, having suddenly been offered twice the price that Iranian born Joorabchian had offered, by the 'biscuit baron' Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson, an Icelandic billionaire who installed Eggert Magnusson as chairman.

This course of events totally put Joorabchian's nose out of joint and he began a revenge mission to 'put things right'. It should also be mentioned that MSI the company Joorabchian represented were linked with some rather shady deals for players in South America that were rumoured to be part of a huge money laundering enterprise. The activities of MSI were investigated but witnesses withdrew their statements and any pending prosecutions were shelved.

Tevez did play a role in Hammers survival in the top flight that season, scoring a memorable goal against Manchester United that kept the Irons up, whereas Macherano was a total failure and contributed little to no assistance in the 'great escape' as it was called.

Sheffield Utd were relegated that season and as soon as the ownership issues relating to Tevez and Mascherano were made public by guess who, the Blades sued for damages and requested that West Ham be relegated in their stead. The Premier League flatly refused 'retrospective' action but fined West Ham £5 Million for incorrect registration of player details due to the players' joint ownership with third parties.

Not content with Hammers being fined, Joorabchian forced the issue into the public domain and gave his unofficial backing to the blades. He also enlisted the assistance of a certain Sky Sports TV reporter who acted as a Blades mouthpiece throughout the subsequent 'trial' brought about by Sheffield United who claimed and were granted £20 Million in damages as a result of their relegation!

The hypocritical,part of the story is that the 'dual ownership' issue suddenly dissapeared and Tevez was allowed to sign for Manchester United and Mascherano was allowed to sign for Liverpool, the 'elite' teams getting their way, now isn't that a co-incidence?

It was OK for United and The Pool to deal with shady companies but NOT for little old West Ham! Of course in the event Sheffield failed to return to the top flight and squandered the money received, further more it should be remembered that Sheffield failed over the course of an entire season to survive and that the South American duo hardly played for West Ham initially!

A certain faction of Sheffield fans still blame West Ham for their demise as opposed to criticising their manager or owners, including Sean 'Huge MOUTH' Bean who did his level best to drag Hammers name through the mud. This writer was actually at the 'hearing' that authorised the compensation payment but refused to dock Hammers points, again a certain TV presenter was there doing his upmost to besmirch Hammers but eventually failed.

Joorbachian got his revenge, Blades got their cash and the TV presenter got his moment of fame! Hammers paid a hefty price and their fans watched on as Tevez and Mascherano 'ripped up' the Premier league. So if anyone is entitled to 'sour grapes' they are the supporters of West Ham, NOT Sheffield United. - Ed

West Ham United have been drawn at home against local rivals Arsenal for the next round of the League Cup, not perhaps the draw people were hoping for but at least it will be a home tie. Games will be played the week commencing the 30th of October with the ties being organised to accommodate both West Ham and Arsenal's European competition commitments.

Hammers ex-captain and talisman Declan Rice will return 'home' for the fixture in what will be an enthralling contest!-Ed

Hammers game against Lincoln City tonight will NOT be broadcast at all! There will be absolutely NO streams available from ANY source across the globe so fans hoping to get a glimpse of new signings Mohammed Kudus and Konstantine Mavraponas will be extremely disappointed.

However there is still a distinct possibility that the game might have to be rescheduled due to the potential havoc that may be caused by storm Agnes which is currently 'marauding' its way towards the Irish channel! Met Office severe weather warnings are in force from Wednesday afternoon until Thursday morning., however the precise nature of the storm is still incredibly unpredictable and updates vary depending on which source you use.

According to the BBC 'there are a few uncertainties in the depth and track of Agnes, the most likely scenario is for a swathe of strong winds with gusts of 50-60mph (80-97km/h) to affect inland areas of Northern Ireland, south-west Scotland, west and north-west Wales, Cumbria and Lancashire. Some Irish Sea coastal parts though could see gusts of 60-65mph (97-105km/h) with the most exposed areas up to 75mph (120km/h). These wind speeds have the potential to bring travel disruption with bridges closed or ferry services cancelled.Trees may come down and power supplies may be cut in some areas, there is also the potential for injury and damage to property.'
Things don't look very promising but Lincoln is 90 miles away from Lancashire, where the storm is supposed to hit hardest, so there is a chance the bulk of the bad weather might be avoided. Nevertheless the chances of the game going ahead are only 50-50 and fans are most definitely advised to check before leaving if they are going to the game.

If the game is cancelled and rescheduled for a later date it will more likely that not be televised, which might be fine for armchair fans but will be a pain in the proverbial for David Moyes and his staff. Squeezing another game into what is already a very tight schedule is far from perfect, but it is in the lap of the gods and they will just have to get on with it.

The League cup has never been won by West Ham and this year represents a genuine opportunity to go far in the competition for 'trophy hungry' Moyes. It would be better i the game can be played tonight although if it does go ahead, the blustery conditions may well suit the home side a good deal more than their 'pampered' Premier League visitors! - Ed

Well the Jesse Lingard saga appears to finally have run its course as the player pursues the riches to be found in the Saudi Pro League. For many Hammers fans this turn of events is a blessed relief as they viewed Lingard as a mercenary who was just looking for the biggest pay packet available.

In reality few people would turn down the opportunity of earning massive amounts of money as they come to the end of their career, of course modern day 'elite' footballers exist in a completely different world to 'normal' people and as such their actions are hard to fathom on occasions.

Like it or not Lingard spurned numerous opportunities to re-join West Ham following his successful loan spell at the club and his final rebuff may well turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Lingard's high profile 'so shall' media presence was never going to sit well with 'old school' David Moyes, in fact when he initially arrived at West Ham the first thing Mark Noble did was to tell Lingard that mobile phones were banned during training!

Hammers fan base was split between those who saw value in lingard and those who saw him as a disruptive influence, even those who wanted the player to have a second chance eventually began to come to the conclusion that he was a bit of a 'rotten apple' and that the club should drop its interest in the midfielder.

On reflection, a player who turns up at a club's training ground wearing a watch that cost more than some people's homes should have triggered some alarm bells, the fall out created when his watch went missing had a profound effect, with an unnamed highly thought of youth player having to leave the club as a result of an internal enquiry, this sort of crap is what Lingard brought with him irrespective of his football talent and as such the club are well rid of him.

Hammers dodged a bullet with Lingard, in a similar way that it dodged a bullet by NOT signing Harry Maguire, hopefully David Moyes will now concentrate on getting the best out of his impressive squad that he has available to use, without any 'billy big bollocks' players who think the sun shines out of their proverbial! - LN