Forum | Non-Football Related

West Ham will 'enjoy' a break from their Premier League survival scrap this weekend because the game against Manchester City has been postponed due to City's Cup endeavours. However any joy will be relatively short lived because after this weekend is the International break during which many of Dino Moyes' team will be off representing their respective nations.

On their return Hammers players will face an April Fool's run of fixtures of what might be labelled as the 'month from hell'! During which, unless there is some serious rescheduling, the club play on: April 2nd, April 5th, April 8th, April 13th, April 16th, April 20th, April 22nd and April 26th!

Eight games in a month might not seem excessive, but for a team that has only just finally managed to have a full squad to choose from since the season began it is a BIG ask. Actually it is a MASSIVE ask! But Dino HAS got what in West Ham terms is a massive squad, compared to teams of the past.

Bare bones there ain't, but a bunch of relatively disparate players there is! Moyes' relentless 'Stalinesque' purge of any players who exhibit individual skills has left him virtually devoid of the creativity that will be required if he is to navigate a path away from the Championship. His single mindedness has almost left him bereft of any glimmer of hope, fortunately players like Pacman (Lucas Paqueta) and when he is finally unleashed Gianluca Scamacca, along with the youth players who haven't had their creativity sucked from them and class players like Alphonse Areola, don't do "Yes Sir"!

Moyes can rant all day long about numbers and stats, but it will be passion that will see the club through if it survives. Ask Mark Noble what is important during troubled times like these, you need to know that the man next to you will stand up and be counted and NOT start speaking to his agent about an early exit!

Eight games in 24 days, one game every three days....thank you FA for doing FA for clubs outside of the top four! - Ed

Conspiracy theories abound at this moment in time regarding the club's descent into the Championship, why would the Board want it? Their share values will go down like a lead balloon following relegation, so why on Earth are they seemingly just watching on as their prized asset's value crashes?

Kretinsky is NOT a club owner in the Gold & Sullivan vein, he is a canny investor who never over stretches himself and one who is content to just make ' money without headlines'. His numerous acquisitions are ALL shrewd long term investments that are designed to stand the test of time while growing in value.

David Sullivan is a different kettle of fish, he made his cash the hard way along with his partner in business David Gold, they had to 'negotiate' with the extremely corrupt Police force of the time and were superb at being one step ahead of the draconian laws that the obscene publications squad were 'pretending' to enforce.

Their premises were raided SO regularly that all the staff knew the set procedures they had to take which invariably involved a phone call and a brown paper bag! So dealing with a stubborn Dinosaur of a manger should be no problem at all, right? Well on the face of things at the moment, NO!

David Sullivan seems to have lost interest in the club and appears to want to jump ship WITHOUT investing any more money, Kretinsky can let sleeping dogs lie and the Gold family are in the position whereby they will reep a decent reward for David Gold's shares. All that guff about the son in law being a life long Hammers fan is irrelevant, put a massive cheque in front of the family and they will snap your arm off!

"Loyalty is pure, not tainted by the lure of things that might be gained" is a naive viewpoint, of course the Gold family will say that them selling their shares will help the club move forward, it will. It will also represent the end of an era when 'elite' English clubs were owned by people from these shores, 'sportswashing' is so common place it is amazing that there are any British owners left!

We believe essentially that Sullivan has had enough, that is not to say that he won't retain SOME shares, his sons David Jnr and Jack will still maintain a 'family' presence, but the old man will be off. There are worse Chairmen around, the trouble is Hammers fans have got so used to disliking Sullivan that they are in danger of not seeing the forest for the trees, now who else does that?

Rumour has it that David Attenborough is going to do this week's presser with the Moyesosaurus to help explain his tactics!- Ed

Picture it now, your team are at home to the League's biggest time wasters and worst 'simulators'. Despite you, your team is still in with a shout for three incredibly valuable points in their desperate scrap against relegation. 60,000 fans are cheering your team on for the closing stages of the game which is finely balanced, the match officials, particularly the linesman on the opposite flank to the dug outs are blind to the 'Villains' perpetual play acting and time wasting, but nevertheless there is is still a good chance of getting a result, so what do you do?

Even the most amateur of armchair pundits knew that this was an ideal opportunity for Dino to bring on his newly acquired £35 Million striker Gianluca Scamacca, the game AND THE CROWD WERE 'BEGGING FOR IT', however Moyes elected to bring on Maxwell Cornet INSTEAD of Scamacca! Moyes and Scamacca exchanged 'words' as Cornet, NOT Scamacca, took to the field. You don't need to be an Italian linguist to have a pretty good idea of what "Ba fungal!" means, Google it if you need!

Suffice to say Dino Moyes is well on course to destroying the young Italian striker who is so highly valued that it caused a public outcry when he was 'whisked off' to London during the summer. Why are we allowing one of our brightest prospects the chance of playing in England when he should be here in Italy entertaining us and developing as a player in our Domestic League they asked?

Well don't worry Italian fans, Gianluca will be back with you quicker than a Venetian Gondolier can fleece you of all your travel money! The look he gave Dino was one of anger and incredulity, the crowd thought exactly the same. The term stubborn bastard sprang to many people's minds, Moyes has reached a point of no return where his obstinacy and stubbornness might well relegate the club.

Too good to go down? Too bad to stay up might be the answer, under Moyes' 'guidance' the club is gone! Only an instant dismissal will alter the car crash that Hammers have become, even then it might be too late, God help us! - Ed

West Ham: Areola, Kehrer, Zouma, Aguerd, Emerson, Rice, Soucek, Bowen, Paqueta, Benrahma, Ings
Subs: Anang, Johnson, Cresswell, Scamacca, Fornals, Lanzini, Downes, Cornet, Ogbonna
Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Mings, Moreno, McGinn, Ramsey, Luiz, Bailey, Watkins, Buendia.
Subs: Olsen, Sinisalo, Carlos, Traore, Chambers, Young, Duran, Digne.