en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/659770 Comments by JockHammer http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2010/02/07/lets-avoid-jerking-our-knees/#IDComment55788992 I hope he does, I think he will but I admit I do wear my claret and blue tinted spectacles. I don't think I'm Dr Pangloss though. I care about my club too much Sun, 7 Feb 2010 22:22:50 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2010/02/07/lets-avoid-jerking-our-knees/#IDComment55788992 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2010/02/07/lets-avoid-jerking-our-knees/#IDComment55775732 Thank you Iain for having the patience to keep this blog going. You have nothing to worry about. The performances in the comments are something to behold, the drama queenery, the attention seeking, the multiple personalities, the tantrums, the hypocrisy, the !!!!!!!!s, the chat brigade, the sandwich board end of the worlders and the make it about me me me chorus. Despite all this you and SJ patiently plough on and I for one am very grateful. Sun, 7 Feb 2010 20:24:40 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2010/02/07/lets-avoid-jerking-our-knees/#IDComment55775732 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2010/02/07/lets-avoid-jerking-our-knees/#IDComment55760880 I'm not just in the "In Zola We Trust" camp, I think its sad people are calling for his head. I think they have to give him til the end of the season. I'd be disgusted if they didn't. I'd reconsider my season ticket because I don't think I could go back to the grim 1-0's again. It is all so much better now, ok we're not getting the results but we're West Ham and this is vintage us. It's like the Golden Years. Fortunately Sullivan & Gold have a record of loyalty that also reflects the West Ham way. I think Zola's improved us immensely, he's inspirational for the players and he's a gentleman. I haven't been proud of the West Ham manager (apart from Sir Trev) since Bonzo which is what, 20 years? Sun, 7 Feb 2010 17:25:41 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2010/02/07/lets-avoid-jerking-our-knees/#IDComment55760880 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2010/02/07/sky-report-on-the-olympic-stadium/#IDComment55742877 Aye Chris, we're three points off 14th with a series of winnable home games and a solid goal difference. The club has new owners who have secured our financial future. We have a manager who is a world leader in terms of talent and character. So obviously "the most serious situation we have ever been in". Clearly the "end of West Ham United" :-) Honestly mate, I don't mean to sound rude but if you must live in a ludicrous distorted fantasy world then there must be more cheerful ones than the doom laden nightmare you've selected. Sun, 7 Feb 2010 16:03:07 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2010/02/07/sky-report-on-the-olympic-stadium/#IDComment55742877 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2009/12/26/vote-player-performances-v-portsmouth/#IDComment49129967 (continued).................................If the fixture list had been the other way round, this is the point where we'd have had to be calming people down about getting into Europe ;-D I also think Zola is vindicated re Kovac as well as of today, so *hopefully* people will get off both their backs too. Happy New Year all anyway. I'm off to the sun, I'll see you hopefully for Round 4! Come On You Lovely Irons. . Sat, 26 Dec 2009 18:12:01 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2009/12/26/vote-player-performances-v-portsmouth/#IDComment49129967 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2009/12/26/vote-player-performances-v-portsmouth/#IDComment49129902 Another great performance. There have been several great home performances this season where we've just been unlucky or simply undone by a bigger club in a second. Today I thought the ref might lose the points for us. Pompey were the dirtiest side I can remember visiting for years, not Stoke ugly, but clearly happy to hack at our best players and the ref didn't have the balls to take it on properly. Two weeks in a row refs have let us down, this time at least it didn't cost us points. Those of us who said we would turn it round are I think fully vindicated (at this point at least) and looking at the home games left, it's all the bottom clubs visiting up to the last day. It would not be a surprise now to see us go unbeaten at home in the league until then. I think it's worth a punt. ................ Sat, 26 Dec 2009 18:10:42 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2009/12/26/vote-player-performances-v-portsmouth/#IDComment49129902 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2009/12/16/i-have-faith-in-zola/#IDComment47466678 Good post Iain. The sound of sense ringing through the white noise of panic. At the moment we're not going down. All of our rivals have still to come to Upton Park apart from Burnley. Sacking Zola is what might send us down because of the instability it would cause and the effect on the transformed players like Cole. Stick by the staff, that's what we do, we're West Ham, TIL WE DIE. Wed, 16 Dec 2009 20:50:33 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2009/12/16/i-have-faith-in-zola/#IDComment47466678 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2009/12/15/vote-whu-v-bolton-player-performances/#IDComment47375176 They're not excuses for the managers, just rational explanations. We're 4 points off mid table with a fixture list where most of our easier games will come at the end. We will not end up in the bottom 5. The management has had its players sold, is coping with a massive injury list, in an atmosphere of financial uncertainty that hangs in the air. Sacking Zola now would be like tying GFZ's arms behind his back and then saying "oh look he's not moving his arms." Constructive dismissal effectively. Personally anyway, I'd rather see us come 12th at 4 or 5 goals a game than 8th at 1 goal a game. There's reasons I'm a Hammer and pretty football as an artform is one of them. Wed, 16 Dec 2009 08:47:31 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2009/12/15/vote-whu-v-bolton-player-performances/#IDComment47375176 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2009/12/15/vote-whu-v-bolton-player-performances/#IDComment47310050 The worst thing we could do is sack Zola. It's not his fault it's Green's time of the month. Sacking Zola would be the antithesis of everything our club has stood for all my life. In the week when Giggs has showed us what loyalty and decency actually means the irony of WHU desecrating its own historic similar reputation would be sickening. I for one am not panicking. We are 4 points off 13th. It's a horrendous squeeze down there which we will climb out of in the new year when we have all our easier home games especially when we have CC and Behrami back. If you'd seen us play at home against Villa, Fulham, Arsenal, Everton you would not be saying sack Zola. We're lucky to have him and Clark. COYI Tue, 15 Dec 2009 23:31:01 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2009/12/15/vote-whu-v-bolton-player-performances/#IDComment47310050 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2009/12/10/parish-notice-behave/#IDComment46576856 I wasn't seriously suggesting it, just taking advantage of the fact that, as I don't set the rules, I can suggest extreme ones albeit tongue in cheek!! I do appreciate your level of commitment. I was the same when I lived in Scotland when I could only travel down to about half the games ( how I got my nickname!) Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:56:24 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2009/12/10/parish-notice-behave/#IDComment46576856 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2009/12/10/parish-notice-behave/#IDComment46531173 To be honest Iain, I think the discussion on your moderated political blog which I follow (like a voyeur at a car crash admittedly) is a 100 times worse than here with vitriol, spite, racism, misogyny, homophobia, bullying and other filth. How you put up with it amazes me. The chat here just reflects what I hear in the BMU and pubs. It gets to handbags in places here but often the exact people complaining about it are as bad or even worse than those they criticise. The hypocrisy is hilarious. Some of your worst troublemakers are also people whose misspellings give them away as having multiple identities. Beware offers of help or Greeks bearing gifts is what I'd suggest. You and SJ do just fine. Me, I'm a uberloyal functionalist Hammer. I'd never criticise the club, I'd give Zola the job for life, I'll still buy my season ticket whatever division we're in. Personally I'd probably prefer it if everyone had to give their season ticket number before being published here but happily it's not my blog!! Keep up the good work. Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:31:24 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2009/12/10/parish-notice-behave/#IDComment46531173 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2009/12/10/parish-notice-behave/#IDComment46530961 To be honest Iain, I think the discussion on your moderated political blog which I follow (like a voyeur at a car crash admittedly) is a 100 times worse than here with vitriol, spite, racism, misogyny, homophobia, bullying and other filth. How you put up with it amazes me. The chat here just reflects what I hear in the BMU and pubs. It gets to handbags in places here but often the exact people complaining about it are as bad or even worse than those they criticise. The hypocrisy is hilarious. Some of your worst troublemakers are also people whose misspellings give them away as having multiple identities. Beware offers of help or Greeks bearing gifts is what I'd suggest. You and SJ do just fine. Me, I'm a uberloyal functionalist Hammer. I'd never criticise the club, I'd give Zola the job for life, I'll still buy my season ticket whatever division we're in. Personally I'd probably prefer it if everyone had to give their season ticket number before being published here but happily it's not my blog!! Keep up the good work. Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:28:59 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2009/12/10/parish-notice-behave/#IDComment46530961 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2009/12/05/6-monday-16-may-1977-a-classic-match-to-remember/#IDComment45926274 SJ I love your work and your contributions really make the difference to this site I think. However there's a mistake in your research for this artcle. It was Sunderland who went down with Stoke and Spurs. Coventry were 19th out of 22 with 35 points. It would take another 20 years plus of astonishing sustained mediocrity before the sky blues finally went through the trapdoor. We, as you say, ended up 17th with 36 points before crashing out ignominiously the following season. Sat, 5 Dec 2009 12:14:16 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2009/12/05/6-monday-16-may-1977-a-classic-match-to-remember/#IDComment45926274 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2009/11/28/vote-player-performances-v-burnley/#IDComment45064367 I was at the game and am basing what I say on Kovac's 95 minute performance. I'm not saying he was great because I think only Parker, Franco and maybe Jack were up to full standard today- but Shropshire sums it up for me about Kovac. I think he worked harder than Jimenez or Junior & got more joy than Spector or Zavon. Sat, 28 Nov 2009 21:04:06 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2009/11/28/vote-player-performances-v-burnley/#IDComment45064367 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2009/11/28/vote-player-performances-v-burnley/#IDComment45057680 I also thought Kovac wasn't as bad as is being implied. 5 goals, 5 scorers can't argue with that. It's not that we got the West ham nosebleed, panic at being 5 up; actuallly we did not deserve to be 5 up anyway , their defending was jawdroppingly horrendous. We've played much better than that this season; even Junior and Zavon were a bit flat all through. Sat, 28 Nov 2009 19:28:23 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2009/11/28/vote-player-performances-v-burnley/#IDComment45057680 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2009/11/24/5-things-could-have-been-so-very-different/#IDComment44612009 Thanks SJ for an absorbing and thought provoking piece. I'm not really old enough to remember the sixties (though I was alive) but I do seem to recognise that lack of aspiration from the sixties still alive and well round our parts and down the A13. Ironically, I don't know that we'll ever change our spots and then when I look at who has, Chelsea or Liverpool or Leeds it does remind me to be careful what I wish for. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:38:56 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2009/11/24/5-things-could-have-been-so-very-different/#IDComment44612009 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2009/11/21/vote-player-performances-at-hull/#IDComment44448506 There are a lot of teams trying to commit Hari Kari down there. Wigan have clearly joined the party along with Hull, Wolves, Bolton and Pompey. Burnley aren't out of it yet either. So I don't think we're going down but I think top ten is optimistic because top 8 was always out of the question in my view. We just need the same points as threee of them assume we dont get a hiding somewhere along the way. I don't know what is meant by "we need". We certainly "need" to stay up but anything else seems to imply a sense of entitlement too far. I'd be disappointed with 17th but not unhappy. 18th would be a disaster. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:13:50 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2009/11/21/vote-player-performances-at-hull/#IDComment44448506 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2009/11/09/west-ham-v-everton-player-performance-results/#IDComment42733365 I report as I see from my perch in the BMU. I've noticed over the years that I'm a bit flakey at what happens up the other end til i see it again but in front of the Bobby Moore, I live it. I'm also not finding it any easier as I get older. In every game I've had to bite my fists with the tension although those moments of ecstasy like when Hines poked in the winner are a very rare thing in life these days and they make it worthwhile. Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:46:33 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2009/11/09/west-ham-v-everton-player-performance-results/#IDComment42733365 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2009/11/09/west-ham-v-everton-player-performance-results/#IDComment42656879 Parker was immense on Sunday, bossed the circle, ran the show, so much so that he got maximum bonus points from the FFL pundits as the best player. He is the obvious choice for skipper I'd have thought. Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:40:05 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2009/11/09/west-ham-v-everton-player-performance-results/#IDComment42656879 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2009/11/08/vote-everton-match-player-performances/#IDComment42487254 I'm very disappointed by that. We played them off the park. I don't even remember Everton having two chances or Green making a save. After the three recent comebacks with Fulham, Arsenal & Villa it was all too much to hope for. It just adds extra pressure on the next two supposedly winnable games. On the bright side, the performance bodes well for if and when we stop making it impossible for ourselves. Sun, 8 Nov 2009 20:51:24 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2009/11/08/vote-everton-match-player-performances/#IDComment42487254