BBC SPORT | Football | Gossip | Tuesday’s gossip column

Sunderland are in preliminary talks with West Ham centre-half Anton Ferdinand and are tracking Manchester City’s £1m-rated defender Michael Ball. (Daily Star)

But Tottenham are monitoring Ferdinand after the Hammers apparently rejected a £6m bid from the Black Cats. (Daily Mirror)

BBC SPORT | Football | Gossip | Tuesday’s gossip column.

I’ll admit that I have a soft-spot for Anton. Despite his injury problems of late and his legal troubles last year, I still think he can develop into a good defender. Maybe not as good as Rio, but still a decent dependable defender.

So I would be gutted if he were to go to Tottenham, and bewildered if he were to take a backwards step and join Sunderland.

On a West Ham level though, the selling of Anton would leave us paper-thin at the back with only Upson and Davenport as our only fit defenders. Hopefully the board will see this, and convince Anton to stay!

BBC SPORT | Football | Gossip | Monday’s gossip column

The Black Cats could also complete a £6m (Daily Mirror) or £8m (Independent) deal for West Ham defender Anton Ferdinand this week.

BBC SPORT | Football | Gossip | Monday’s gossip column.

Reports like this have started making me feel as though our new owners have taken West Ham back to the days of being a selling club. Though £8 million would be a pretty good deal for a defender who has been injured for the better part of a year, it is the back line that is looking particularly thin and if we start leaking easy goals, our season is going to become very difficult indeed!

For lovers of statistics | The Fink Tank - Times Online

If you love statistics, as I do, then you must read Daniel Finkelstein’s Fink Tank column in the Times or on the TimesOnline website. Every week he and his team of geeks come up with some wacky statistics to explain why your favourite Premiership team is in the shape they are.

This week his maths mates and him tried to predict the table for the season. The results of which can be seen online on the Fink Tank Webpage. He picked the Hammers to finish a unimpressive 13th, and gave us a 17% chance of being relegated. He also predicted we had 0% chance of winning the league and only between a 1-3% chance of finishing 5,6 or 7th.

Excerpt from The Fink Tank:

This is not a predictable league at all. Not only are there four teams with 10 per cent or more chance of winning the title, almost half the teams (nine) have a more than 10 per cent chance of going down - Bolton Wanderers (12 per cent), Fulham (32 per cent), Hull City (46 per cent), Manchester City (23 per cent), Newcastle (20 per cent), Stoke City (61 per cent), Sunderland (46 per cent), West Ham United (17 per cent)and Wigan (25 per cent).

Manchester United for the title - but Newcastle United beware | The Fink Tank - Times Online.

Average Hammers see off Wigan

A slight sigh of relief was heard around Upton Park. Three points gained thanks to Dean Ashton and his brace. In typical Hammers fashion though they took their foot off of the accelerator, as they did so many times last season, and tried to coast to a victory - a plan that did not go to well as Wigan ran them ragged in the second half and grabbed a consolation goal for all their efforts.

Bad news also came in the second half when Dean Ashton limped off the pitch with a calf injury, which will keep him out of the England team for the mid-week friendly, and will probably keep him off of the pitch for next weeks trip to Man City.

With all that in mind it was a pretty average day at Upton Park - three points on the table, but the Hammers put in a performance that echos of last season, and personally I don’t see any improvement in the side at all. It’s still early in the season so hopefully things will improve - if not I think it will be a long year in East London.

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Squeaky Bum Time

If you are any where in the region of East London today, and you listen out your window around 4:45pm you will hear one of two sounds - a groan of “here we go again!” or a great sigh of relief.

Yes folks it is the start of the season and Hammers fans around the country are on tenterhooks. Our pre-season was mixed, our transfer workings were poor, and our manager is under immense pressure - and there is no sign of the end of our injury woes!

Personally I am prepared for another season of mediocrity, but I am hoping for a surprise UEFA Cup qualification. In order to achieve anything this season though, I feel we MUST beat teams like our opponent Wigan today… so today it begins, our fourth consecutive season in the Premiership, and the start of ten months of Squeaky Bums (don’t ask me “squeaky bum time” was somebody’s way of describing being nervous, and it just stuck)…

West Ham V Wigan Preview

Our first match of the season and already I feel it is a must win situation.

It will be matches against teams like Wigan, Stoke, West Brom and Hull that will set us up for the rest of the season. If we cannot get it right against these teams then we will have no hope against the stronger teams in the Premiership. And if past performances are anything to go by we cannot get it right against Wigan. In our last three home games against the Latics, we have scored only one goal and gained only one point. 

However, that was then and this is now, and I am not a great lover of history…

I feel we will beat Wigan, and improve on our past performances against the Latics. Steve Bruce has kept the Wigan boat afloat, but I don’t think he has fixed many of the leaks, and I feel if Ashton continues scoring as he has in the pre-season, we should Hammer a few more holes in the good ship Wigan! Prediction: West Ham 2 Wigan 0

Carling Cup Ticketing Information

The ticketing arrangements for the Carling Cup tie against Macclesfield have been confirmed and are as follows;

	Standard	Adult Season Ticket Holder	Senior/Youth Member	All Juniors
Band 1	£25	£20	£10	£5
Band 2	£25	£20	£8	£5
Band 3	£20	£15	£7.50	£5
Band 4	£15	£10	£5	£5

 

The match is to be played Wednesday, August 27, 2008   19:45

Macclesfield date confirmed

The date and kick off time for the second round Carling Cup match against League Two Macclesfield has be confirmed. The match will be played on Wednesday, 27 August with a 7:45pm kick-off. It is understood that the club will offer a reduced ticket price for this match, but the prices are yet to be confirmed by the club.

Carling Cup Draw: Hammers at home to Macclesfield

Happy days for the Hammers or a potential banana skin waiting to happen?

West Ham have been drawn against League Two’s Macclesfield in the 2nd round of the Carling Cup. The game will be played at the Boleyn during the week of August 25th.

Hopefully this match will set us up for a nice cup run… something West Ham desperately need if they are going to get into Europe next season.

Curbishley baffled by the boo boys

From the Soccerblog.org;

West Ham United manager Alan Curbishley has called on the club’s fans to stop booing trialist Ben Thatcher.

“I didn’t quite understand it,” he said.

“I don’t think George will be too far away so we’re looking for some experienced cover and we took the opportunity to give Ben half a game.

“Perhaps the fans don’t understand what the situation is. I’ll have to think about it.”

Perhaps it is Curbs who is in need of a bit of an education… sometimes I think he is a bit slow on the uptake. So I will explain to Mr Curbishley why the fans are booing:

1. Ben Thatcher is a thug.
2. He has also played for Millwall, Wimbledon, Tottenham and Charlton, all rivals of the Hammers… well OK Wimbledon isn’t as they no longer have a team.
3. And most importantly he is a footballer of very questionable talents, so questionable in fact that he was dropped by Charlton… and apparently he has already spent time on trial at Ipswich and Wolves, and neither of those Championship sides wanted him, so why should the Hammers sign him???