RexHammer

Football certainly has changed since those days. It makes me sick when players get touched and go down like a sack of bricks nowadays....makes it even worse when a ref gives a foul for it. Even when a West Ham player does it, it seriously gets on my nerves. As for 'Arry. He might have been an okay manager back in the day, but I think he has finally been found out. I hope they do not come back up and stay down there and rot. I don't mean to be harsh to their fans, who are the lifeblood of the club. But it will hopefully put some rich potential owners off the thought of buying a club. Then again, I suppose that's just delaying the inevitable. Won't be that long till every premier league club has a rich owner.

Yeah I do agree. But I just mean I don't like the thought of it. No club is too big to go down. It is as you say, what you do on the pitch. We deserved to go down under Avram Grant. Funnily enough, I think it was most probably the best thing that happened to us. Had we stayed up, we would have had all those ageing players still on our books and god forbid, Grant still in charge! A lot of you might not agree with this, but Big Sam has worked wonders in his time at our club. I would like to see 'Arry the twitch get QPHahaha up on the first time of asking.

This match will certainly be an interesting one. I will for one be keeping my eye on Andy Carroll's body language. This will give us some kind of indication of where his future lies. I like Newcastle FC. Passionate fans, amazing stadium and had a good laugh with you lot on here a couple of years ago. Sorry to say it, but I really want us to win and boost our chances of finishing in the top half of the league. Hopefully Wigan hit bad form and go down. I would much rather you lot stay up than them. How wrong is it for the premier league to lose a club with such good fans and allow another one to stay up whose fans couldn't fill a black cab. Our home form has been extremely strong lately. It even took a wrongly decided offside to secure a point. Hope both teams really go for it, although I can see your lot putting a lot more effort into it while we try and absorb it and hit back in the 2nd half. I am going for a 2-1 win to West Ham. It is already written in the stars that both Nolan and Carroll will score.

Hi, I am the owner of the West Ham blog called We love you West Ham. I was on here last season, asking members on here what we can expect from Kevin Nolan. I really enjoyed myself here,, which is why I decided to stay for a bit and make a few more posts. The reason I am back is to ask if one of you would be up for a Q and A session with me to hold on our site before our match. Thanks a lot

Nice one, i hope he does well for you! He should get about 20 goals for you next season EASY!! Oh man I am a bit drunk, I had a couple of southerners shandys!

It's refreshing to get an opposition fan who isn't just on the wind-up so feel free to stick about I don't understand what the fan gets out of doing stuff like that. To me it would be a waste of my time and it will get you no where. I will clock on once every so often, but seeing as I am a hammer, I don't really know what your talking about alot of the time.

I have now made the post on my blog which contains your comments on what West Ham fans can expect from Nolan. Once again thank you very much for not massacring me and giving me much needed info! You can see the post here http://weloveyouwestham.blogspot.com/2011/...-to-expect.html. Good luck next season you lot and hope Ba signs for you(unless he decided to stay with us that is)

You can put my forum on the list if you want. www.forum.weloveyouwestham.com

You won't really get that with Demba Ba. He is more of a fox in the box striker who prefers to always be in a goalscoring position. He does track back a bit, but he would rather be in the penalty box on the end of a good cross whipped in. He ain't got that much pace though, but he only needs 1 chance to score. I think he scored his first 4 goals within 6 shot attempts and 1 of those also hit the post! Is Spector as shit as he appears? The thing about Spector is that, he was originally a striker and then Fergie brung him to Manu as a defender. When we took him in we also kept him as a defender and he is a TERRIBLE defender, but the only good thing Grant did for our club is he tried Spector in an attacking midfield role. Once he went into that role he scored those 2 goals against Manu in the cup, after that he scored another 2 goals within a few games....then Grant decided to drop him. Every match that he has played as a midfielder, he has looked quality and always posses a goal threat. He was actually unlucky not to score 2 more goals due to some amazing goalkeeping. I seriously hope we keep him as he does works really hard and a lot of our fans are blinded due to only remembering his mistakes while playing as a defender. It looks like his contract offer was rescinded and he's a free agent. Yeah. I think he is waiting to see what else is available. Maybe him having a bad reputation will be our saving grace.

You won't really get that with Demba Ba. He is more of a fox in the box striker who prefers to always be in a goalscoring position. He does track back a bit, but he would rather be in the penalty box on the end of a good cross whipped in. He ain't got that much pace though, but he only needs 1 chance to score. I think he scored his first 4 goals within 6 shot attempts and 1 of those also hit the post! Is Spector as shit as he appears? The thing about Spector is that, he was originally a striker and then Fergie brung him to Manu as a defender. When we took him in we also kept him as a defender and he is a TERRIBLE defender, but the only good thing Grant did for our club is he tried Spector in an attacking midfield role. Once he went into that role he scored those 2 goals against Manu in the cup, after that he scored another 2 goals within a few games....then Grant decided to drop him. Every match that he has played as a midfielder, he has looked quality and always posses a goal threat. He was actually unlucky not to score 2 more goals due to some amazing goalkeeping. I seriously hope we keep him as he does works really hard and a lot of our fans are blinded due to only remembering his mistakes while playing as a defender.

You won't really get that with Demba Ba. He is more of a fox in the box striker who prefers to always be in a goalscoring position. He does track back a bit, but he would rather be in the penalty box on the end of a good cross whipped in. He ain't got that much pace though, but he only needs 1 chance to score. I think he scored his first 4 goals within 6 shot attempts and 1 of those also hit the post!

Some of, the minority on this board, dont totally agree with that viewpoint. We have looked silly for quite a few years paying mega wages to the useless Mark Vidukas and Alan Smiths of this world and many many more. A calamity jane of an owner true, but one who at least seems to be finally bringing some order back to the club. Most of us will judge this window once it is finished but quite a few realise that we've probably had the best out of Nolan. He played well in the championship in a pretty decent side, playing decent football. How he will fare two years later in a poorer side with the destroyer of football as manager...... I will wager if you pop back onto this forum in August we will all be very excited and very confident about the season ahead. I'll be back mate. I have had a blast here Tonight. And I will let you lot know when I have made my post that contains your posts for which we can expect from Nolan. Once Again....Thanks a lot for the response and I really hope everything works out for your beloved club. Just because of Tonight, I will most probably keeping 1 eye on Newcastle to see how they are doing and another eye on Swindon Town to see how Paolo Di Canio is getting along with his first management job. Take care you lot and good night! You won't be having much of a girarrrrfe with Fat Sam mate, you'll be tearing your cannister ahht before the start of September sahn. Once again mate. I seriously can't imagine Sam being as bad as Avram Grant. There was times that I wanted to eat my monitor due to his subs or LACK of tactics. There was many times where if his Plan A did not work. He would not have a Plan B! There was also times where you, me and dupree could see that the opposition was going to score any time soon due to them being all over us, the West Ham fans would be screaming at him to make a change but.......no change... well not till after they have scored anyway.

Hmmm. I will watch out for that shit. Grant would do the opposite to that and take off a defender and a defensive midfielder then put on 2 strikers. We would have a really weak defense and this tactic always cost us games. How many times did West Ham lose from a winning position? About 5 or 6 times last season! To be honest...what you have just said to me sounds like an upgrade to what we have had for the past 2 seasons. Sam Allardyce has only signed a 2 year contract and his role is to try and stabilze the club and bring us back up to the premiership. That's his only role. I can imagine us getting rid of him once we are back up as many fans will want to get rid of the football style. Well I have no choice but to have faith in what he said in his interview. He said that he would be trying to play flair football at home and play it away if we can. He most probably said the same thing when he joined you, but we will see.

Cheers mate and no thank you. We have enough dross in our team as it is!

Some of, the minority on this board, dont totally agree with that viewpoint. We have looked silly for quite a few years paying mega wages to the useless Mark Vidukas and Alan Smiths of this world and many many more. A calamity jane of an owner true, but one who at least seems to be finally bringing some order back to the club. Most of us will judge this window once it is finished but quite a few realise that we've probably had the best out of Nolan. He played well in the championship in a pretty decent side, playing decent football. How he will fare two years later in a poorer side with the destroyer of football as manager...... I will wager if you pop back onto this forum in August we will all be very excited and very confident about the season ahead. I'll be back mate. I have had a blast here Tonight. And I will let you lot know when I have made my post that contains your posts for which we can expect from Nolan. Once Again....Thanks a lot for the response and I really hope everything works out for your beloved club. Just because of Tonight, I will most probably keeping 1 eye on Newcastle to see how they are doing and another eye on Swindon Town to see how Paolo Di Canio is getting along with his first management job. Take care you lot and good night! Typical southern kid canni take the pace, has a shandy for bed. Shandy? A bit too strong for me mate! I am in the process of heating up my hot chocolate and might even treat myself to a few hob knobs! ....after you've knocked one out over the fantasy channel freeview, obviously. Took the typing right out of my fingers!

Mate we played some awful football under Fat Sam. Plus as I recall the defeatist tactics in some matches were just terrible - hanging on for a draw from the kick off and hoping to nick a goal from a set piece. iirc we even managed to lose to Derby City in a season where they were wupped by everybody and in fact got the lowest points total in PL history. He bought some rubbish players like Alan Smith and Geremi and I remember that when Fat Sam was sacked the new coaches were shocked at the conditioning of the players - so much for the sports science approach which needed legions of extra staff apparently. I know some people rate him and said he didn't have long enough with us, but we didn't have a great experience with him. So I wouldn't be that trusting in the man. Oh man...that was the last thing I wanted to read just before i go to bed. Oh well lets hope he does not do the same at our club. I seriously cannot imagine him being even close as bad a Grant. He has also made a good start considering the fact he is still on holiday! At this rate he should stay there as it might work out better for us!

Some of, the minority on this board, dont totally agree with that viewpoint. We have looked silly for quite a few years paying mega wages to the useless Mark Vidukas and Alan Smiths of this world and many many more. A calamity jane of an owner true, but one who at least seems to be finally bringing some order back to the club. Most of us will judge this window once it is finished but quite a few realise that we've probably had the best out of Nolan. He played well in the championship in a pretty decent side, playing decent football. How he will fare two years later in a poorer side with the destroyer of football as manager...... I will wager if you pop back onto this forum in August we will all be very excited and very confident about the season ahead. I'll be back mate. I have had a blast here Tonight. And I will let you lot know when I have made my post that contains your posts for which we can expect from Nolan. Once Again....Thanks a lot for the response and I really hope everything works out for your beloved club. Just because of Tonight, I will most probably keeping 1 eye on Newcastle to see how they are doing and another eye on Swindon Town to see how Paolo Di Canio is getting along with his first management job. Take care you lot and good night! Typical southern kid canni take the pace, has a shandy for bed. Shandy? A bit too strong for me mate! I am in the process of heating up my hot chocolate and might even treat myself to a few hob knobs!

Some of, the minority on this board, dont totally agree with that viewpoint. We have looked silly for quite a few years paying mega wages to the useless Mark Vidukas and Alan Smiths of this world and many many more. A calamity jane of an owner true, but one who at least seems to be finally bringing some order back to the club. Most of us will judge this window once it is finished but quite a few realise that we've probably had the best out of Nolan. He played well in the championship in a pretty decent side, playing decent football. How he will fare two years later in a poorer side with the destroyer of football as manager...... I will wager if you pop back onto this forum in August we will all be very excited and very confident about the season ahead. I'll be back mate. I have had a blast here Tonight. And I will let you lot know when I have made my post that contains your posts for which we can expect from Nolan. Once Again....Thanks a lot for the response and I really hope everything works out for your beloved club. Just because of Tonight, I will most probably keeping 1 eye on Newcastle to see how they are doing and another eye on Swindon Town to see how Paolo Di Canio is getting along with his first management job. Take care you lot and good night!

Yeah i can understand where your coming from there mate. I have trust in Sam and his tactics. He will use his sports science support system and hopefully get the best out of our players. One thing about West Ham is that we have good players, but Grant and Zola did not have the managerial know how to make most of these players. I believe that Sam will accomplish this as he is a really smart bloke. Some of the starting lineups and tactics that Grant was making last season left West Ham fans brainfucked. That is why we finished bottom of the league and it might actually turn out to be our saving grace. We are given a chance to clear out a shit load of our deadwood and start from fresh. I think our pay role was in the top 6 of the premiership and we was relegated....how does that work out? That was down to our former owners putting people on silly money and then leaving us in a crisis. Things can only get better from now on and it is looking even better than most West Ham fans imagined.

@Christmas Tree:It sounds like a lot of shit is going on within your club! Your club is too big for this childish games and it is making your beloved club look silly. Why don't the owners realize that it is the fans that make a club and they should listen to us...they need us more than we need them. Someone else would come along and take over Newcastle in a shot if Mr Sports Direct decided to stand down.

Thanks for the mini report mate. I will use also use this on my blog if it is ok with you? I don't think his legs not being as good as they used to be will really affect West Ham. I think we will gain more out of his leadership and captaincy. We are full of youth players that are willing to learn and by the sounds of it, Nolan sounds like the man to deliver this knowledge. Our youth players have fresh legs and will make up for Nolan's.

If our lot haven't made Ba signing for us part of the Nolan deal then they want shooting. Somebody may have already said this in the pages I havent read yet, but BA is a free agent and West Ham have no control over him. (iirc) I don't think the clause in his contract is as simple as that. I think we will need to be compensated something, but I could be wrong.

I lived there most of my life and I think it will be the new beginning for our club. I think it alone will attract players and owners as well as bringing in a hefty income. As for the atmosphere...The clubs have ranted on about this special roof that they are putting in and they are telling the fans that the atmosphere won't be dented due to this 'new roof.' They are also looking into putting retractable seating over the running track, but I don't see that happening myself. A lot of fans are disappointed at the thought of leaving all the history behind and I can understand where they are coming from. But me personally, I care more about the future as I want my son to grow up as a proper West Ham fan. This could all end up going tits up and ruining the club, but we have no choice to believe in it working. No point in sitting there being depressed, as that would solve nothing.

I can understand where your coming from mate. Same goes for us and Parker. He'll most probably end up at Spurs and for some unknown reason our fans will end up clapping him even though when Defoe done the exact same thing, they now boo every time he touches the ball at Upton Park. I don't really understand why Nolan is coming to us. Maybe it is down to Big Sam or maybe we are offering him more money, I can't imagine it being a lot more as our owners are trying to cut down on the wages(apart from Bridge that is.)I am sure we will find out Tomorrow as he will be asked who he left a Premiership club for a championship club.....and a championship club in a state at that.

Now then, RexHammer. Nail on heed there. You got incredibly lucky with Ba's fitness. He's struggled with it all through his career, so he'd be a guaranteed perma-crock here. To be honest mate. If his knee was going to give in on anyone, it would of been West Ham. Most of our signings of late have been injury prone or decide to sustain a long term injury just after putting pen to paper. I have heard that Ba's knee injury is over exaggerated and that the effects will only kick in later on, but whether or not this is true.... I dunno. Welcome to the forums matey. And nee doubt if we do end up lucky enough to have ashley and co allow us to bring in Ba, we'll get another 'legitimate tackle on a new signing' a la Ben arfa - and that will kick off the knee xD (not still bitter like) Thanks a lot mate. I was a bit worried that you lot was just going to tell me to fook off or something. I am really happy for the mature response. I can't see there being much maturity between the matches of West Ham and Millwall or West Ham and Cardiff...same for West Ham and Leeds. It is just down to too many of our fans watching Green Street one time too many.