en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/748971 Comments by jonnyhammer http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2011/11/01/vote-player-performances-v-bristol-city/#IDComment215719955 I listened to my friend in the manager's chair say the following on the radio last night: 1. That last night was a tremendous performance 2. It was one of the best team performances for a long time 3. It was a far better performance than against Blackpool 4. The fans know nothing, otherwise we would be doing his job, not him I'm sorry but the man is an idiot and seems to be hell bent on antagonising the people paying his wages. I said weeks ago that these dull, boring performances with aimless long ball tactics would turn the fans away. Only just under 28,000 turned up last night, flattered by what has to be one of the biggest away turnouts for a long time. I spent three hours travelling to and from the game and the best part of £50 quid, for what? It wasn't entertaining, it wasn't exciting, there was no flair (despite the best efforts of Noble to grab the game by the scruff of the neck and create someting whilst those around him stood around like statues) and no invention. Piqionne is about as likely to score as my mum, Sears was bizarrely playing left wing (?) when he has no aptitude at all and frankly Nolan was a disgrace in every department to name but a few. I was amazed when he left the first two on and took Baldock off. He's had no service all night, just aimless punts forward and we take off Sears and put on a defensive midfielder???? We then resort to 15 minutes of long punts to two big guys and we got absolutely nothing from it. In fact, City could and should have nicked it in the final minutes. Sorry Sam, you say the supporters have no right to boo (I didn't actually, i never boo my team) but you didnt have to fork out good money to see bad formations, bad tactics and inexplicable substitutions! People are staying away in droves because the offering is on the whole crap. The 'performance' at Brighton, nicking a 1-0 and being totally outplayed by a footballing side, reinforced the decision of those who watched that game on the telly but were bored senseless and who wont pay to watch this anti-football at the Boleyn. BFS says I have no right or reason to complain about the performances - sorry Sam, you are talking out of your backside. Wed, 2 Nov 2011 09:39:25 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2011/11/01/vote-player-performances-v-bristol-city/#IDComment215719955 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2011/10/15/vote-player-performances-v-blackpool-3/#IDComment208016553 Faubert is, and should be a, a right sided midfielder not a right back, he's wadted at the back. He is indeed suspect defensively but he has lightning pace and a good delivery into the box. Him one side and Taylor the other and we'd be cooking with gas. Sat, 15 Oct 2011 20:33:13 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2011/10/15/vote-player-performances-v-blackpool-3/#IDComment208016553 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2011/10/15/vote-player-performances-v-blackpool-3/#IDComment208009806 I posted several times after the Ipswich debacle so only right I should congratulate the team, and most of all the manager who I slaughtered last week, for a cracking performance. Baldock's movement of the ball and touch was superb, Carew held the ball up so well it was like he had glue on his boots, Diop was a giant (literally) in midfield and Collison was back to something like his best. Faubert too was immense and he has to play regularly. Big Sam had the perfect tactics, with Blackpool holding such a high line, we sprung the offside trap countless times and smothered them in midfield. They only had one centre half of any stature so Carew must have thought all his birthdays had come at once! Most of all we played proper football today, on the grass when it right and direct when it was right. No aimless hoofs from the back four at last, we got the ball wide and played through Blackpool like we have all known we can, and should do. I have no voice tonight (too many renditions of bubbles today) but today was a long time in coming, great stuff Sat, 15 Oct 2011 20:09:55 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2011/10/15/vote-player-performances-v-blackpool-3/#IDComment208009806 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2011/09/28/result-player-performances-v-ipswich/#IDComment200533581 BuB Wed, 28 Sep 2011 22:35:20 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2011/09/28/result-player-performances-v-ipswich/#IDComment200533581 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2011/09/27/vote-player-performances-v-ipswich/#IDComment200477995 No offence NCH, but that is an easier view to take when you haven't spent three hours travelling to and from the game only to spend 90 minutes being bored senseless. Wed, 28 Sep 2011 19:59:06 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2011/09/27/vote-player-performances-v-ipswich/#IDComment200477995 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2011/09/27/vote-player-performances-v-ipswich/#IDComment200278932 Yes mate, there was similar around me, in the West Stand Upper, people looking at mobiles, chatting to each other about all sorts but not the game, in fact one guy let out a loud yawn behind me after about 60 mins and we all laughed as we knew what he was going through! I can't remember feeling so bored and disinterested at UP for a long time. Wed, 28 Sep 2011 09:53:53 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2011/09/27/vote-player-performances-v-ipswich/#IDComment200278932 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2011/09/27/vote-player-performances-v-ipswich/#IDComment200260893 The attendance last night was worrying, there were large sections of the BM upper tier empty as there were in the West Stand Upper. I know there was Champions League football on but walking to the ground I was amazed at how few people were going to the ground. The atmosphere wasn't that bad surprisingly, thanks to those in the Centenary lower mainly, but the lacklustre display, the long ball football and the growing frustration at the general lack of entertainment raises concerns about future attendances. In my office there are three guys who have decided to either stay away completely, or will only follow us away, as they cant watch Allardyce's brand of football. I think their ranks will swell......unfortunately like every other season I can remember I have already paid my money, so I'm stuck with him. The sort of long ball fare served up last night will lead to attendances ebbing away to around the hard core 24/25k mark. I'm sorry, it is NOT all about winning regardless of how it is achieved; people are forking out a lot of money and want to see some decent football regardless of the score. We are not like the supporters of many other clubs, we expect something better and for the high prices we continue to pay compared to other clubs isn't that right? We didn't get half decent football under Avram but frankly I think the football at home these first few games has been even worse, it's just the opposition has largely been of such poor quality, a notable few like Bullard apart. At least with that Israeli numpty the ball was on the grass a bit more often..... Wed, 28 Sep 2011 08:52:14 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2011/09/27/vote-player-performances-v-ipswich/#IDComment200260893 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2011/09/27/match-thread-west-ham-v-ipswich/#IDComment200060064 Sorry guys, if you had paid 40 quid to watch this tonight you would be as cheesed off as I am, it was dull, negative, long ball rubbish. Tue, 27 Sep 2011 22:25:59 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2011/09/27/match-thread-west-ham-v-ipswich/#IDComment200060064 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2011/09/27/match-thread-west-ham-v-ipswich/#IDComment200059235 It wasn't 442, nothing like it, cole was out on the left wing most of the time and neither he or the rest of the team seemed to know why! Tue, 27 Sep 2011 22:23:52 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2011/09/27/match-thread-west-ham-v-ipswich/#IDComment200059235 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2011/09/27/vote-player-performances-v-ipswich/#IDComment200054797 Spot on, why persist with that tactic when Cole was winning maybe 1 in 10 of those long balls? Tue, 27 Sep 2011 22:11:27 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2011/09/27/vote-player-performances-v-ipswich/#IDComment200054797 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2011/09/27/vote-player-performances-v-ipswich/#IDComment200053416 Just back from the game and I have to say Ipswich, particularly Bullard, made us look like a bottom of the table team. Incessant long balls which Sonko won nearly every time, constantly giving over possession as a result, we never looked like scoring to be honest. Why have skilful players like Bentley, Collison et al if the ball is constantly flying over their head? I couldn't understand why Cole was constantly out on the left wing where he could do little. Unfotunately tonight's game was the embodiment of all the worst fears I had about Allardyce and his style of football. You cant play pretty stuff every game in this league but I have been attending UP for nearly 38 years and I am dreading another 20 odd games if it means watching dire stuff like tonight's long ball fare. It was a poor crowd tonight ( no doubt affected by the Champions League being on TV) but we really won't fill the ground playing this long ball game, you only had to listen to the comments on the way out, along the lines of "£40 to watch sh** like that?". I know the realities of the Premiership from a financial perspective and maybe I'm being unrealistic but I haven't supported the club all these years to watch this rubbish anti-football. BTW, future England manager?? Pull the other one, it's got bells on! God, I need a drink..... Unfotunately tonight Tue, 27 Sep 2011 22:07:40 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2011/09/27/vote-player-performances-v-ipswich/#IDComment200053416 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2011/06/16/nolan-signs-for-5-years/#IDComment163319759 Blimey, it was hardly hate was it?? It's the same as the inane rubbish most kids fill twitter up with that's all Calm down dear, it's only a forum Thu, 16 Jun 2011 22:52:31 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2011/06/16/nolan-signs-for-5-years/#IDComment163319759 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2011/06/16/nolan-signs-for-5-years/#IDComment163273076 Not much to add to the comments already made, excellent signing IMHO Just checked the list of released players on the BBC website and Dyer isn't listed ? Surely they have released that waste of space? Also note to webmaster, no call this a plea...... Anthony Edgar has been released so please remove his inane witterings from the WHU twitter feed now, the guy is a fruitcake judged by the complete and utter rubbish he posts on there! He has just been released from his club and he is posting about feeling strawberry!? Thu, 16 Jun 2011 19:48:13 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2011/06/16/nolan-signs-for-5-years/#IDComment163273076 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2011/05/07/vote-player-performances-v-blackburn-2/#IDComment150110871 I was one of those who booed that fool Grant yesterday. I don't boo anyone in a WHU shirt but him, he's an incompetent, clueless cretin in a tracksuit.... If he is in charge next August the club will see none of my hard earned cash until he is gone. I have attended on a regular basis or had a season ticket for just shy of 40 years but enough is enough. I, and I hope many others willl vote with our feet and stay away next season if the complete muppets that now control our club do not act (sadly six months too late) and sack a manager who has done such an incredibly bad job for the second season running. Until the, I will as I did yesterday, return home from the ground hoarse from shouting my beloved team on. Sun, 8 May 2011 20:10:48 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2011/05/07/vote-player-performances-v-blackburn-2/#IDComment150110871 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2011/04/16/vote-player-performances-v-aston-villa-2/#IDComment143586022 Delegation? I typed relegation..... :-( Sun, 17 Apr 2011 07:02:30 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2011/04/16/vote-player-performances-v-aston-villa-2/#IDComment143586022 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2011/04/16/vote-player-performances-v-aston-villa-2/#IDComment143585474 Watched the game in an Irish bar in HK and nearly got thrown out for losing it with the inept tactics and distinct lack of bottle throughout the team. Has Scotty Parker to carry everybody, so that when he isn't there they are all looking around for someone else to do all the work??? Had I been able to take up my ticket I'd probably be in A&E with a coronary... Friend of a friend works in the Academy, the youth squad, not the restaurant, and he fears this (delegation) was Gollivans' game plan all along in order to ship out the likes of Green, Parker etc who are viewed as being on daft wages by the powers that be. I laughed when I first heard, but now I am not so sure.... BTW it is no good Brady slating fat Benny in the press this weekend; no one forced us to buy him, the Blackburn fan forums were full of posters laughing at our stupidity in buying a feckless, overweight has-been. The Blackburn management team must have been wetting themselves with laughter as Brady et al left the room with his registration. If ever someone saw a mug coming then it was his purchase. Yes, he's fat, but it the Gollivans' fault for paying him £38k a week regardless.....sums up this useless mob of wide boys (and girls)we have in charge of our club now. Sun, 17 Apr 2011 06:58:55 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2011/04/16/vote-player-performances-v-aston-villa-2/#IDComment143585474 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2010/09/12/questions-for-david-sullivan/#IDComment98495896 I really am intrigued by the apparently contradictory statements that seem to come from the club and would really like to get clarification... If we are so deep in the do-do on the debt front, why then offer a long term deal at £60-70k for Scott Parker that will mean a player on the club's books at this salary level at the age of 34. If he still had 3 years left on his contract why then offer such a large and frankly unsustainable contract? If we are really £100m+ in debt this sort of contract is surely financial lunacy, however popular the player is? Did Benni McCarthy not have a medical before he joined us on a ridiculous £38k a week? I'm overweight and frankly most people can tell pretty easily without a medical degree! Given some of the players who have passed medicals at the club, despite injury records that would make an A & E team cringe, has no one asked for answers from those responsible? Louis Boa Morte has been a huge disappointment at the club and has never rediscovered his Fulham form. Why then, after admittedly a very good last game of the season (the only one I can remember), did we offer him another contract only for him to be yet again this season a fringe player of limited ability? Why has the club taken the decision to raise the price of drinks within the ground by several times the rate of inflation? I dont drink at the ground but it is noticeable how few are this season, perhaps they have taken their business out of the ground and voted with their feet due to the ridiculous prices? Herita Ilunga has struggled to get anywhere near the form he achived in his first season with us and frankly looks off the pace and some might say more than a little disinterested. Why then did we choose to sell or as some allege, give away his 'understudy' Fabio Daprela? The young Swiss U21 had looked very promising and performed well when called upon. Again, going back to the financial argument, why sell an up and coming player for nothing and keep a senior player who clearly does not feel able to give his all for the club and is no doubt on a much higher salary? Matthew Upson is a good centre back, though he is clearly not a 'Big 4' player, yet rumours persist that a contract renewal is on the table. Given that his salary is rumoured to be in the £60k a week range, like Parker, why are the club offereing such an unsustainable salary to a player in the latter stages of his career when we are mired in debt? I come at this a someone who runs a small business as there are many parallels with a club that has to battle against the financial behemoths of the Premiership. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love Parker as a player (his performance against Chelsea was one of the few highlights), but I have taken my claret and blue specs off to see the reality of the financial mess we are in. I really do fear administration, whether we go down or not, I honestly do. As a fan of 37 years I don't expect Premier League titles, Champion's League football or the signing of Beckham or Henry (embarassing nonsense that that was) without a sugar daddy from Russia or the Middle East, but the club has to come clean with the fans and be consistent. If we are running at an annual £30m loss as Mr Sullivan says we are, then why offer more lucrative contracts that we patently cannot afford? Is that not just as reckless as paying an ageing ex-Arsenal player with a terrible injury record, £60-70k a week as the Icelandic owners once did? It is the contradictory nature of the statements and stories surrounding the club that frustrate me the most, not the fact that we cannot challenge for the highest honours. My first game at the Boleyn was a home defeat to Norwich 1-3 in 1973. We were absolute rubbish but I loved every minute of it and was hooked. After Saturday's game I bought my 3 and 7 year olds their first club shirts so they too are doomed to being a happy Hammer. All I ask Mr Sullivan for is consistency, don't say one thing and then do another. Mon, 13 Sep 2010 08:08:32 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2010/09/12/questions-for-david-sullivan/#IDComment98495896 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2010/08/31/rolling-transfer-rumour-mill/#IDComment96164684 Based on the fact that every horse i back loses, every lottery ticket i buy is a clean sheet and every woman i smile at tells me to **** off I predict the following in the hours that are left in today's window... Babel will be pictured wearing the claret and blue then officially sign for the 'Wheeler Dealer' Parker will change his mind at the last minute and join Stoke for 'footballing reasons' Spector will turn down a free transfer to Millwall and then be given a new 5 year contract Cole will join Liverpool for £2m, payable over 5 years, dependent on appearances and Liverpool winning the Champions League and the treble Guy Demel will sign for the Hammers and then be revealed as being fatter than Benni McCarthy Reverse physcology you see (wink)...I am getting desperate Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:53:50 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2010/08/31/rolling-transfer-rumour-mill/#IDComment96164684 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2010/01/21/sullivan-on-transfer-latest/#IDComment53347057 Quashie has left the club and has joined QPR according to the official QPR website. Another legacy of the old regime is gone, though goodness knows what pay off was involved to make this happen as he had 6 months left on his contract. Fri, 22 Jan 2010 12:05:54 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2010/01/21/sullivan-on-transfer-latest/#IDComment53347057 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2010/01/21/could-van-be-the-man/#IDComment53155520 RVN would have to take a significant wage cut OR Real Madrid would have to subsidise his wages for him to go out on loan. His contract expires at the end of this season so RM may view the opportunity to save £40-50k a week on his wages for the next 6 months as a decent bit of business. He is 4th or 5th choice at RM now so he is unlikely to feature in their plans. He is a very expensive reserve for them! Whether he is fit enough only the scouts and a medical could say. Even at 33 he would represent something of a marquee signing. Did anyone else see Sullivan on SSN yesterday? He was coming out of the Chadwell Heath training ground when he took a call, presumably from an agent. The first thing he said was, "What are the wages?" Whatever I or anyone else feared about Sullivan (more than Gold) it is going to be entertaining! Thu, 21 Jan 2010 11:20:09 +0000 http://www.westhamtillidie.com/2010/01/21/could-van-be-the-man/#IDComment53155520