West Ham United - End of term report

Intro (what kind of season has it been, expectations vs. reality)

The hearts of generations of adults from the East end  will sink when they recall that old school report that proclaimed the simple message: ‘Could do better’ but that epithet surely applies to West Ham United this season. Managers, players and owners all talk about ‘pushing on’ and that was the expectation of Hammers fans in 2013/14. Most will say there has been a good deal of marching on the spot though, while others may even claim the team has staggered back. The truth is – though it is still unpalatable to some -  is that mid-table is an acceptable position when you consider the club’s bank balance and  the way the Premier league is financially structured and, though this an oft-repeated mantra, that won’t really change until the Hammers move to Stratford. However, for most fans it’s not the table position but how it’s obtained that’s the issue and that is where most of the arguments lie. It still seems bizarre to think of the season’s one bright spot - Ravel Morrison - being loaned to QPR; while Injuries – particularly in the crucial period around New Year – were a major factor in how the season panned out. A lot of issues could be resolved if, against all historical precedent, the team were able to get by on minimal visits to the physio’s room, while some semblance of a return to the long-held Academy ideals might encourage less negativity at home.

Star Pupil (team’s best player)

Mark Noble was voted ‘Hammer of the Year’ at the annual awards ceremony and it is testament to the type of season that West Ham have had that the accolade has gone to a favourite son of the club, someone who has shone at times and been not found wanting at others. For though he’s had a solid season with some highlights, even Noble hasn’t always been outstanding; rather this is a reward for years of selfless service to the claret and blue cause. Injuries to last year’s winner Winston Reid has only highlighted the Hammers’ problems this campaign with high-profile signings like Andy Carroll, Stewart Downing and Matt Jarvis either not playing enough or simply not performing to the standards expected. James Tomkins – runner-up as HOTY – was really the only other outstanding individual performer and it was good to see another local favourite show that often the best players are those right underneath your nose – something Sam Allardyce would do well to heed.

Detention (the worst)

In much the same way that Mark Noble’s efforts were viewed this season, so If West Ham were a school there would  a large number of surly looking players all standing outside the Headmaster’s study, kicking the walls, looking at each other and muttering under their breath “It’s his fault we've got detention”. Nobody has been truly awful, it’s just no-one seems to have performed at their peak either. There have been some oddities about the season too. Every time Matthew Taylor or George McCartney drop out of the side, terrace experts – and I count myself among them – confidently predict that their span at the club is at an end and it’s time for them to move on.  The team then start to struggle, the players are re-introduced and suddenly things start to tighten up again. The win percentage with Matt Taylor as holding midfielder is quite staggering and likely to earn the player a contract extension if Sam stays; this though is  a player constantly undermined by supporters and one who I suggested should be sold  during the last transfer window. Similarly, although a little closer to the fans’ hearts – George McCartney just plods away doing what he does well and without fuss. Arguments within the Irons faithful still revolve around captain Kevin Nolan’s role, while it often seems that opposing supporters still view the Liverpudlian as the Hammers danger man. West Ham are that kind of confused club currently.

Teachers’ notes (comment on the manager/tactics)

Ah, Sam Allardyce! Where do you begin eh? Never afraid to lapse into hyperbole, I suggested earlier this season that there was some sort of battle going on for the soul of West Ham United and the man at the centre of that fight is surely Big Sam. Love him or hate him – and the recent cross-site opinion poll seemed to suggest the latter – the ex-Bolton boss just keeps doing what he always does. Obdurate at best, plain ornery at worst, if you look up in the dictionary for ‘bluff Northerner’ then Sam surely has his picture there. Football has always enjoyed a fierce north / south divide and the fan / manager relationship at Upton Park is that conundrum writ large. Sam plays the percentages and will never chase a cause if he feels it’s lost but putting out a youth team to get slaughtered at Nottingham Forest in the F.A. cup – a season low - was a major error and one no West Ham fan ever wants to see again. Nevertheless, this blog has broadly supported Allardyce and – although my enthusiasm isn’t shared by others – I enjoy seeing a miserly defensive performance underlined by this season’s 14 clean sheets. Allardyce needs to meet the supporters some way though and a bit of flair and pace for next season, allied to the manager’s undoubted prowess at the art of defending, will surely send the poll results swinging slightly the other way. I’m not sure there will ever be an Allardyce love-in though. Unlike others, I believe the manager knows he needs to win more, can only do that by attacking and being more creative,  and will attempt to do it where possible with the right players. The problem is that Sam hasn’t really proved he is able to either unearth or purchase those right players. Moving forward, much could depend on if the boss can keep and utilise Ravel Morrison. Assuming Sam stays –expect more of the same next season with a bit more pace and an attempt to play some more expansive football when applicable. If Allardyce goes, expect utter confusion and, if some of the names mentioned get the job, relegation

Final grade (A+, F, etc etc – where do they improve next season?)

West Ham’s final league placing leaves the club in almost exactly the same situation as last year and fans will expect some large investment to the squad to improve performance – particularly in the entertainment department – to push the Hammers into a comfortable top ten place as they go into their penultimate season at the Boleyn. Even those outside of the club could tell what is needed at Upton Park  next season and that is some flair and pace to make the team less one-dimensional. It has to be remembered though that if Uncle Sam’s one dimension isn't as popular or as successful as the manager seems to think it should be, it still produces results and the West Brom keeper Ben Foster’s highly-noted comments that ‘you know you will get from West Ham’ doesn't disguise the fact that knowing isn't enough for some sides to be able to do anything about it.

Grading a injury-hit, frustrating, inconsistent but ultimately mid-table season isn't easy but, if the grades are the same as when I went to school – usually from A to F(ail) – then what can be given other than a mid-table C+ (Spurs results, Semi-final cup run, February, clean sheets) or C- (Crystal Palace results, FA Cup 3^rd round, January, poor entertainment)

Florid Flores

(East London Guardian - February 2014)

West Ham fans are beside themselves with anger over the 3 match ban handed out to Andy Carroll for his alleged ‘assault’ on Chico Flores in the match against Swansea at Upton Park, and quite rightly so.

It seems astonishing that a governing body that prides itself on ‘Respect’ and ‘Fair Play’ can once again ignore evidence that is  put before it  Even if you accept that Carroll’s training arm was intentionally aimed and struck the head of Chico Flores during the match. Video evidence clearly show the arm brushed the top of Flores’ head and was nowhere near his face, and for the defender to roll on the floor clutching his face is cheating – pure and simple. So ban Andy Carroll – perhaps at a stretch, but to let Flores off with not so much as a reprimand? Appalling! Post-match red cards should be given out as well as rescinded. But why wait till the end of the match anyway?

Of course, the issue here is that football’s governing bodies- either at national or international level- are notoriously slow in accepting new technology as a way of enhancing the rules of the game. In Tennis, Rugby and Cricket – to name just three sports – not only has technology been welcomed, it has been proved to have been extremely beneficial - even to the extent of making the games more exciting as spectators watch replays on a big screen.

In football the (poor) argument is that the game is ‘too fast’ to allow stoppages but, while this may be the case in open play, what difference would it make when the game naturally halts. In an offside decision, for example, the play comes to a standstill as the linesman waves his flag or the team celebrates after a goal is scored. What delay is there in not flagging at all for an offside and letting an independent linesman see moments later if the pass was offside or not?

As a reminder of how slow football can be to accept change, consider the time it took to accept goal-line technology. As FIFA began the slow process of asking companies to tender for the technology to decide if a ball had crossed a white line or not, I recall my own attempts to interest Sepp Blatter in something I had myself devised. My ‘invention’ was something I called ‘Tee-Vee’. It’s a little complicated to explain here, but essentially it consisted of a box made of glass and plastic and it sat in the corner of a room and replayed the moments of any match on something I called a ‘Vee-D-O recorder’. I thought it was pretty successful – after all, when Frank Lampard’s ‘goal’ in the 2010  World Cup match with Germany was said not to have crossed the line despite being two yards over, I was able to say with certainty it had before Frank himself had run 30 yards to remonstrate with the referee.

I was astonished when no-one took my invention seriously. Admittedly, my Tee-Vee couldn’t reveal if Geoff Hurst’s goal in the 1966 World Cup final had crossed the line but no technology is 100%.

That's Amore

(February 2014)

It sometimes seems as if whole generations has come and gone without West Ham winning anything. It’s not strictly accurate, of course, but even so it’s a rare week when the Hammers find themselves topping polls and winning awards. This then should be a time for congratulations.

The Manager of the Month Award was deservedly won by Sam Allardyce for his presiding over a four-win February that lifted the Hammers from relegation contenders to the ‘Best of the Rest’ position in 10^th place. Although Sam has had – and will probably always continue to have - a rough ride from certain sections of the Upton Park faithful, there should be a little bit of joy in everyone’s heart - Hammers’ or not - for a club who have stuck with their Manager and actually seen him win through. It would be nice to think that when the pressure builds next season, the immediate plan of the bottom eight clubs won’t be to sack the incumbent manager and install someone who is supposed to be better but often isn't, but rather, perhaps look at what has happened at the Boleyn over the past five weeks, grit their teeth and resolve to fight on with the man they thought was good enough to start with.

As if that wasn’t enough though, the Boleyn is buzzing with the news that West Ham fans have topped a poll for the best ‘terrace’ chant. Directed at former Hammer’s favourite Rio Ferdinand and sung to the tune of Duran Duran’s ‘Rio’, the lines ‘His name is Rio and he watches from the stand’ – a reference to the Manchester United defender’s ban for missing a drug test - was elected to be the best chant in a poll conducted to celebrate the launch of Oulala - a free fantasy football game - in which 1,500 British football fans were polled to find the funniest football terrace chants of the last ten years. It should be worth noting though that the ‘Rio’ song was used when Peckham-born centre-half was a West Ham player - 'He's name is Rio and he's a West Ham man' - and the flipping of a song of celebration to one of derision is one of the more delicious things about a stadium chant.

Odd then the placing of the Runner-up award at the feet of Fulham’s fans for their chant directed at another ex-West Ham player, Bobby Zamora. Sung to the tune of Dean Martin’s ‘That's Amore’ the line ‘When your sat in Row Z and the ball hits your head, that’s Zamora’, the decision will leave many Hammers fans scratching their head as to who sat in judgement of this award.

Now  for those of us who remember the Football League before the ‘Year Zero’ exploits of the F.A., the terrace chant is now something of a  lost art. But when discussing recently if the quick wit of the ‘terraces’ was still available, I cited the song about Zamora as an example of continued excellence. For Bobby Z is a player who still finds a place in the heart of those of us who were at the Play-off final v Preston in Alan Pardew’s second season at the club. It was Zamora who scored the solitary goal in a tense match to send the Irons back to the Premier League and the glorious season that eventually ended in heartbreak at Wembley in 2006. In fact, it was Zamora’s late season and Play-off form that resurrected a poor season and almost single-handedly propelled West Ham back into the top flight.

But after that Play-off victory, in a delirious (but in truth wholly unnecessary) open-top bus celebration, the team were met at the gates of the Boleyn by a Dean Martin impersonator who led the assembled crowd through  various renditions of ‘Amore’ including the one that had the line ‘When the ball hits the net like an Exocet jet (sic), that’s Amore’. The song could be heard in various forms as the team moved through the 2005/06 season to the F.A. Cup final and was definitely sung at the final itself.

However, as the team fell apart in the following season’s ‘Tevezgate’ fiasco, it was deemed – quite incorrectly in most supporter’s views – that Bobby Z was surplus to requirements and he was sold to Roy Hodgson’s Fulham where he went on to have a couple of excellent season’s. Howver, in the next game where West Ham played Fulham, after initially being welcomed back as a popular ex-player, the ‘exocet jet’ lyric was immediately changed to ‘Row Z’ in a superb and highly amusing about-face, that had many fans openly laughing at the quick wit on display.

Quite how then Fulham have ended up with the Runner’s-Up Award is a bit of a mystery. There is no doubt at all that West Ham fans used the chant first and there are even rumours that they borrowed it from Zamora’s previous club Tottenham. I’m even wondering if the ‘Chant Committee’ were at the West Ham v Fulham game and got confused over which end of the stadium was singing the song.

Still, perhaps it’s best not to be churlish. Two awards in a week is probably enough and there’s a good chance the Runner-up accolade might be the highlight of Fulham’s season.

Now leave me alone, I’ve got a song in my head that won’t go away and I’m off to find a Dean Martin CD…

A Taylor Report

(April 2014)

Ever keen to go against the flow – it’s been a problem for me since I was a child so blame my Mother – I’m not at all disappointed to see the debate going on over the standard of referring displayed at last weekend’s game against Liverpool at the Boleyn. Sam Allardyce and his ilk would apparently rather see us discussing the game and not the officials, but without the debate and confusion over decisions like those we saw on Sunday, what is left? Sam says he’d rather lose a game to goals scored in open play and not penalties or free kicks, but this seems to be rather an ironic  comment from a man who has become something of  a master at stopping teams from creating anything on the normal field of play.

In the asinine world of 21^st Century Premier League football, where the top five teams are virtually decided before a ball is kicked and the only ‘interest’ – and I use the term loosely – is in what order they eventually finish, the continuing arguments about what the referee and his colleagues see or don’t see is often the only talking point.

Rather than berate Anthony Taylor for his decisions we should be lauding him for keeping us all guessing as to what is likely to happen on the pitch once the whistle blows. And before the Referee’s Union gets all huffy here and starts telling us we don’t know the rules – we know we don’t know, that’s the fun in it! – I’m not here to haul Taylor over the coals, but rather sympathise with some of the issues the modern game officials face.

I mean, intentional handball in the area resulting in a penalty, is surely the most basic of rules and one that kids in the park can be seen to scream from an early age. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen as many appeals for handball as I’ve seen these past few years though. My guess on this is the newer lightweight balls causes the flight, direction and – significantly – elevation, to confuse defenders who, even with the heightened skill and senses of the modern professional,  can barely move out of the way in time. 

It seems incredible to me that a player at the top of his game would deliberately touch the ball knowing they would face Steven Gerrard or Frank Lampard from 12 yards, but the slight movement of hand to ball – the deciding issue in any penalty regardless of whether it’s awarded by a referee on the pitch or via TV – seems to occur more and more. The increase in this can be marked by the frequent sight of defenders funnelling back into the area with their arms behind their back – what is that about? – surely an indication that there has been some subtle change somewhere. 

My guess – and I’ll admit it’s based on nothing at all other than what I’ve seen or experienced – is that there’s always been an instinct to move the hand or arm, after all the limb has always been used for balance and  elevation,  but the micro-seconds it takes for a top sportsman to realise that would be a mistake and move it away, has been lost by the technological advances in the ball design.

But doesn’t that then cause issues with the definition of deliberate? Had we been able to read James Tomkins’ mind in the split second before he touched the ball, would we have seen the thought bubble that said ‘I’m beaten here, I’ll just see if I can get a touch with my hand and hope the ref doesn’t spot it’. I’m guessing not. I’d be surprised if more that 5% of handball awards were actually premeditated decisions to stop the ball going where it was intended. Of course, that does produce an argument as to the fairness of most penalties anyway, but that aside, at least the following argument - namely whether or not the player should have been sent off for giving away a spot kick as last defender -  is then a non-starter for me.  

We all recognise the ‘professional foul’ – officials best of all – and only the blatantly deliberate stopping of a goal should result in a dismissal; a mistimed tackle or a handball during an attempt to tackle or clearance shouldn’t be enough.  The irony here Is that there is no more blatantly ‘professional’ way of stopping someone than by pulling the shirt – how many penalties get given a season for that though, considering how often you see it on TV highlights? If a shirt tug resulted in a penalty every time, the poor old Sam would be on heart pills.

With regard to the foul being given by an official against a player who touches the ball but ‘follows through’ to tackle an opponent, there is an urban myth attached that seems burned into the minds of many – some of those actually playing the game. Is there ever a week when we don’t see a player making that circular motion with their hands indicating that it couldn’t have been a foul as they touched the ball first? The rules of the game say nothing about this though. When  Hammers keeper Adrian  came out to stop Liverpool’s  John Flanagan’s run, he got a first touch but he didn’t significantly alter the course of the ball, clattering into the attacker on movement alone and sending him sprawling. Under current rules regarding the ‘second phase’ Referee Taylor decided the forward movement was a foul as it stopped the attacking player from staying on his feet and getting another touch of the ball, and it seems this decision has been backed by many retired officials (If only we heard from as many currents refs as we do previous ones!) .

Inevitably this does raise other questions about the rules and their interpretation: First would be was Flanagan or another Liverpool player really able to take advantage had the ‘secondary’ movement not occurred? Secondly – and for me this is really important - if the only way Adrian could have stopped conceding a penalty was to stay on his feet, allow Flanagan to get a shot in and hope to clear it, doesn’t this then effectively make football a non-contact sport? Tricky one this: on one hand the problem could be solved by making ‘first contact’ an actual rule, but what would you then do with a player getting an obvious touch first but with studs high and breaking an opponents leg on follow-through?  Frankly, I don’t see an obvious answer to this bar use of common-sense that I’m sure Anthony Taylor will almost certainly say he applied anyway.

The last talking point is surely the easiest to solve and the least contentious – unless of course you’re a FIFA official. The third referee needs to be away from the touch-line and looking at a TV. It’s true West Ham would have had the goal they did score against Liverpool ruled out but I can think of at least one occasion this season where a point would have been gained elsewhere, had this been employed. It’s a nonsense when a referee is talking to a linesman about what did or didn’t occur when the incident is being played (illegally incidentally) on a big screen behind them. 

As we saw last weekend in the Fulham match, the new goal line technology can show a ball 2 centimetres on the line so why not use that same technology to further benefit the game? Imagine  a miked-up referee explaining over the tannoy why Andy Carroll’s goal had been ruled out, then add why he decided to give a penalty later. Top entertainment! And I say this from someone who would have suffered from the decisions. Add that to the instant offside decision and you have – if you’ll excuse the term – a whole new ball-game.

If only someone had the time and money to replay every Premier league game this season with the hindsight of technology, I wonder how the league table world look? 

In a sport that has evolved to the point where contentious issues are often the only uncertainty, it would be a wonderful paradox to  actually find Anthony Taylor as some sort of championing hero.

The Allardyce Conundrum

It would be too grandiose to say that there is a battle for the soul of West Ham going on -- that one was fought when Terence Brown introduced the Bond Scheme during the tenure of Billy Bonds -- but there is at least a definite movement in place; one that would appear to the outsider to be something of an oddity.

Fans are often turning on the board and the manager -- there's nothing strange about that and, in fact, a rather high-flying example is going on right now over in the North-west of England -- but the one at Upton Park is something of a curiosity to anyone not involved in the club.

Hammers fans, many of whom have never seen any major success bar a cup final runners-up place and a couple of nail-biting Play-off victories, are striking out at a manager who has the temerity to bring them something fans of many other clubs have hankered after for a long time: Premier league mid-table tedium. Sound harsh? Perhaps, but let's look at the real facts.

West Ham United are a club built around a foundation laid in the late 1950s. Promotion under Ted Fenton in 1958 and the Academy ideals under the coaching of Malcolm Allison -- including the mentoring of a young defender named Bobby Moore -- led to the revolutionary ideas of a forward-thinking manager called Ron Greenwood. When the Hammers won the 1964 Cup final and the 1965 Cup Winners Cup -- the latter playing an entirely new brand of football -- they were part of the zeitgeist, even before they provided the backbone of the 1966 World Cup team.

Only the second team after Spurs to win a European competition, West Ham were at the forefront of a new social phenomena, where working-class kids suddenly become celebrities, role models, men to be admired and feted. With it came advertising, sponsorship and world-wide fame. The Sixties was a defining decade and West Ham were its glamour club.

The football though, strained through the beliefs of Fenton, Allison, Greenwood and then John Lyall, provided a legacy that generations of east Londoners have never forgotten. Although that first line of heroes eventually retired, the likes of Trevor Brooking and Alan Devonshire simply took up the mantle and later came Tony Cottee and Alvin Martin, Rio Ferdinand and Joe Cole. The idea of the Academy legacy became so ingrained that even neutrals would speak of imports like Trevor Sinclair, Paolo di Canio and even Carlos Tevez as being 'West Ham players' playing 'the right way'.

The long-term league table

Yet the Hammers have no real league success to speak of. In a league table of clubs who have played the most seasons in the top division, West Ham sit 22nd with 56. Almost out on their own in many ways, they loiter just below Nottingham Forest (European and League winners under Brian Clough), who they will overtake next season. The Hammers closest rivals in this table are teams like Birmingham (20th - 57) and Stoke (19th - 58), winners of a League Cup or so but nothing else. Bolton in 12th are the only club with comparable cup success but no league title -- and they have never won a European competition.

But it's at the other end of this scale where things get interesting. Leeds United (24th - 50), Aston Villa (2nd - 103), and Manchester City (6th - 85) are all clubs that have won the league, a European trophy and have lost their top tier status relatively recently. In fact, all have sunk even further.

When the Hammers have dropped out of the top flight they have always returned in a couple of seasons, always in the running for a quick reinstatement to 'where they belong' even when they have fallen short. They've never dropped into the third tier, never even come close. It depends how you measure your success, of course -- supporters of some clubs may snicker behind their hands here -- but West Ham have been moderately successful for a long time.

But how would some from outside the club view this? Someone from Chelsea or Newcastle or even Bolton, for example? Would they see West Ham as a 'big and successful' club ? Or a middleweight club that once punched above its weight? Of course it doesn't matter what anyone thinks, and there's an excellent argument that says West Ham have suffered historically from poor decisions at the very top and chronic under-investment elsewhere -- they could and should be bigger than they actually are. But the truth is that West Ham's real status is very much what they can expect from their board and manager. Let's not forget that financially, Upton Park is still very much in the pocket of the bank.

Allardyce's motives

I'd argue that as it stands the Hammers are a mid-table team -- comfortably so with the right manager in charge -- and the board are only asking one thing of that man. The remit here is pretty simple. West Ham United are leaving their home of the last century and are moving into a smart new pad down the road. Some want to go, some don't -- but that's another argument. What is certain, though, is that the Hammers need to go into their new stadium in Stratford as a Premier League club and to do that they need to avoid the type of seasons that occurred only too recently under Glenn Roeder and Avram Grant. And if Roeder can claim he was unlucky to be at the helm when the club were relegated with a record 42 points -- just pipped ironically by Sam Allardyce's Bolton -- then Gianfranco Zola might have to admit he grabbed some of that luck back by surviving with 35 points. When you factor in Alan Curbishley’s Tevez-led Great Escape, you have to admit there's something of a trend here.

Sam Allardyce was bought in to get the Hammers back to the Premiership -- something he achieved at the first time of asking albeit via a Play-off -- and to make sure they stay there. Allardyce is a pragmatist who plays a percentage game. He's always looking to make sure his teams score more points than games played because he knows 40 odd points normally secures safety. If his team are 2-1 up with five minutes to play, he will not want his players chasing a third to make sure -- something West Ham fans of all ages would have grown up with -- he knows that under his coaching his team should be able to defend for that time and that almost guarantees three points.

There's nothing inherently wrong with this, and in fact it's something any successful manager would instil into his players. It's also the reason I have more time for Big Sam than some. I like to see a side defend well and I'm wearied by years of watching good positions thrown away in a kamikaze attempt to blitz opponents off the pitch with superior skill and tactics -- not because I wouldn't want to see that, you understand -- but rather because West Ham have rarely had the players to do it.

So if Sam has instilled a sound defensive mentality, what is everyone complaining about? Well, the problem is that the defensive aspect seems to have overridden everything else. The Hammers only route forward seems to be a high ball and there were times against 10-man Hull on Wednesday night when it looked as if the home side were the team a man down. Hull found men in forward space frequently, West Ham only looked behind them.

In fact, some players seem utterly incapable of finding someone with a forward pass and it's awful to see. The fans decided to show their displeasure at the end of the Hull game and, though I can understand Sam's shock at the reception, I'd never deny any fan the right to show what they think. Too many people forget that the only people who actually pay in football are the supporters, and managers, board and players would do well to remember it.

Is the alternative worse?

But is dull, 'successful' (bearing in mind what I've said above) football good enough? What do West Ham fans want? Well, surprisingly, it's not European football. Everyone knows the club is not capable of achieving or sustaining that. Rather I suspect most supporters are casting their eyes just a few places further up the division at Southampton, who have very much become the old-style West Ham equivalent; attractive flowing football, young players coming through the ranks and a forward-thinking manager.

But let's not forget that in the years after the Dell closed and the Saints moved to St Mary's, third-tier football was the order of the day on the south coast -- and that's the very thing West Ham are trying to avoid. If the club continue in mid-table -- dull football or not -- and are still there a couple of years after moving to the Olympic Park, then I think the fans can look at Southampton and think 'at least we didn't have to sink that low to rise up'.

A headline in a London newspaper perhaps unwittingly summed up West Ham’s plight: 'Can the Hammers sack Allardyce and survive?' Notice that -- it's not sack and prosper, but survive. Because survival is what it is all about, and I simply don't understand anyone who wants to see relegation in order to get 'better football'.

Firstly, who says it will come? Really, apart from the 2006 season under Alan Pardew, have West Ham played much 'Academy football' since Harry Redknapp was sacked? And secondly -- and this is an important point -- how is losing football entertaining or better? I was frustrated on Wednesday night, but if I could replay that game in some type of X-box style world, would I have felt worse if West Ham had drawn or lost? I sure would have.

So when Sam Allardyce says "But we won!", I'm fully behind him because I've seen a lot of the rest and it's no fun either. Anyone who thinks Hammers teams of the past would have torn Hull apart haven't been watching the same side I've seen season after season.

So is there a way out of this conundrum? I believe there is, because, though Allardyce will always build his teams around a solid, defensive base, I genuinely don't believe he wants to see the type of inability to get forward he saw in mid-week. He knew Hull couldn't score from 20-30 yards out, but he also knows that given enough space at that distance a killer ball is likely to find its way in, and the pragmatist in him won't want that. It's also painfully obvious that -- cupped ear aside -- Allardyce has been extremely annoyed this season at his side's inability to get forward.

So I believe the two David's will stick with Sam. Allardyce protects their investment and it's simply good business sense. But money will be made available for the manager to buy a couple of players who can use the ball in those situations. Despite what some fans seem to think, wholesale changes aren't required. I believe a forward with some pace and midfield player comfortable on the ball would make all the difference to the side that struggled so woefully against Hull. Even two wing-backs who could break up play and get forward would stop the type of thing we saw in mid-week.

There will be many then who will disagree, but my argument for sticking with Sam Allardyce is pretty much the same as it was when he was appointed. He's not a West Ham man and he doesn't play Academy football, but no-one else has played it either since Paolo last threw a strop. So if I get angry, frustrated, and want to show my dissatisfaction about the poor return for my financial outlay -- and that's my prerogative -- I'm at least doing it against a man who is likely to get results, however unpalatable.

When West Ham are ensconced in the Budweiser Bobby Moore Stadium and Pep Guardiola is playing the new-style Academy football, then I might look back at dear old Samuel and laugh. Right now, though, I believe -- ironically, it seems -- Sam Allardyce is the only way forward.

The Golden Fleecing

It's been a quiet week for West Ham with Hull's efforts in the FA Cup meaning the Hammers have a break they would probably rather have done without. Doubtless though, in a World Cup year, there will be talk of burn-out and winter breaks and all the other things that seem to go hand-in-hand with the Champions League and Premier League, even though several clubs will have players sitting around twiddling their thumbs for the best part of 10 days.

It's made me think -- not for the first time I hasten to add -- just what a bizarre package 21st century football is. A game that wouldn't exist but for the paying customers (i.e., you and me), but a sport that forces those who watch it to shell out eye-watering amounts of money to watch club or country every week, either through the turnstiles or via Sky-high (pun fully intended) TV subscriptions; a game that couldn't survive without us either in terms of finance or support, yet one that, week in and week out, royally dumps on those it professes to exist for.

PA Photos Matches are routinely moved for TV with little thought for the fans.

Take the tedious England game at Wembley. Surely everyone knew a midweek international game in the middle of the serious part of the season wouldn't provide much in the way of entertainment or excitement? None of those players who took part in the 1-0 win over Denmark would have wanted to expend much energy or get injured in the club run-in. So why didn't the FA take the opportunity to pack Wembley by making cheap 10 pound tickets available? Perhaps get the kids in for a fiver and try to instil some passion for future generations? I mean these are the people enabling Wayne Rooney to get a ridiculous 300,000 pounds a week, is it really too much to ask the game to give us something back?

But of course we can never do that. We live in a football world akin to the fairy tale of the emperor's new clothes. Nobody wants to point out the emperor is naked lest we appear foolish. We'll pretend then; pretend that the midweek international no-one wants is a really big test for Roy Hodgson and anyone wanting to see it needs to shell out the best part of 50-plus pounds for the dubious privilege.

In a big FA Cup weekend, Charlton supporters wanting to see their team's game at Bramall Lane would have had to stay in Sheffield overnight. The reason? The FA had moved the tie for TV purposes to a noon kickoff, the early start ensuring there would be no trains arriving from London until after the match had started. What other form of entertainment would treat its paying customers in this way? Can you imagine any other sport, a theatre or a cinema only opening when no one can get there?

I'm reminded of the old joke about the fan who is supporting a struggling club, ringing the ground to ask what time the game starts: "When can you get here?" comes the reply. That joke would have no meaning now unless the supporter says: "Ohhh how about 3 p.m. on Saturday?" To which the club official would probably say: "OK we'll start at 1 p.m. then"

The fascinating thing is that every season the red flag is raised whenever a team is in danger of being relegated. Two seasons in the Championship can almost be a death knell for some clubs if we read the chairman's statements correctly; the amount of money lost in TV revenue alone is enough to bring tears to the eyes of most accountants. Yet every time a team has been relegated and is fighting to return quickly -- usually via the playoffs -- figures of 90 million plus pounds (there is usually a 30 million pound variance depending on what paper you read) are bandied about as the prize for the club that runs out victorious. This money never seems to be reflected the following season, though; few sides spend that in transfers or wages, yet if the club is relatively successful and stays in the Premier League, the successive 90 million pounds never seem to equate to lower ticket prices or even special benefits for fans.

Let's be clear, though: This isn't a complaint particularly aimed at Europe or the bloated Premier League. In fact, football has always treated its fans this way. Through the 1960s and into the 1980s, supporters were herded about like cattle and treated like scum by most everybody.

The Taylor Report, which came out following the Hillsborough tragedy, highlighted this. Obviously the revolution that the report engendered isn't a bad thing; in terms of safety, comfort, crowd control and, for the most part anyway, the authorities respect for the fans, things have improved beyond measure, but as far as treatment of the supporters goes in general terms, fans are still being used and abused -- it's just that this time it's not being done with a snarling face and a truncheon but rather an avaristic grin and bank vault with a black hole at its centre.

The fascinating thing for the football fan though is that this wholesale fleecing of the paying customer is carried out in a style that would have Bill Sykes' pick-pockets purring with pleasure. Every season the supporter is told we have more choice, more matches to watch, more goals to see, more channels and more media to catch it on yet -- in an style of "doublespeak" that George Orwell would recognise -- we're steadily getting worse off. As the ability to communicate becomes easier and cheaper elsewhere, in football it becomes ever more expensive.

Perhaps it's too altruistic to say that supporters should now be getting their football fare for free, but it is fascinating to think that the costs for the football fan rise more and more every year, yet every season the needs of the paying supporter are ignored exponentially. But should we be surprised? The rich have always exploited the poor and the nouveau riche are the worst of all.

The Greatest Comeback?

GettyImages: West Ham United's Pat Holland (left) and Trevor Brooking share a glass of champagne after a

European Cup Winners Cup match in 1976.

Younger readers may be surprised to learn that there were times when a European football night wasn't preceded by heavenly choirs, the dulcet tones of Adrian Chiles, Roy Keane's twinkling Irish charm or a large screen on which an ex-England international gets to play a sort of prematch FIFA Xbox game.

In fact, in those far distant days, when steam radio was king; before the coming of the sainted Tim Berners-Lee (inventor of the World Wide Web), Sky Sports and its associated satellite coverage, all you got - if you were lucky - was live second-half coverage on Radio 2 and highlights on BBC TV at 11:30, and then only if the tie was played on a Wednesday to coincide with the BBC's "Sportsnight" show and your team was involved in the round's "glamour" tie. If Liverpool were playing Real Madrid on the same night, there was a good chance you'd only hear a brief report of your team's progress from the ground on a crackling telephone line, accompanied by a static photograph of the correspondent covering the game.

So imagine the scene in thousands of homes in the East End of London one winter evening in 1976, as Hammers fans turned on their valve radios to hear the second half of a match from Holland: "Welcome to the Hague for the first leg of this Cup Winners' Cup quarterfinal, and Hammers fans may want to cover their ears as we tell you that the half-time score is Den Haag 4, West Ham United 0."

Aarrgghhh! Half-time and already the tie was over. However, we hadn't reckoned on the fact that this was Europe and not a cold night on the Mersey or the Tyne. The Hammers didn't concede another six after the break as they would in the league. No, this was Europe and - despite their limited relationship with the format - European football has always rather suited West Ham United.

In fact, the first half had been an odd affair: a first-half hat trick from Aad Mansveld including two dubious penalties, and a goal scored from a dropped ball that West Ham simply left untouched as a bemused Graham Paddon spoke to the referee trying to find out what had been given. As the referee had already dropped the ball, Lex Schoenmaker simply strode forward, gathered it unchallenged and started running as the West Ham defence funnelled back, exchanging passes just inside the area; Schoenmaker then placed the ball under a confused Mervyn Day. If this had happened today the inquests would have gone on for weeks.

Acting manager Ron Greenwood - John Lyall had been hit by the flu and hadn't travelled - wasn't fazed, though, ordering his team to go out after the break and score a couple of goals to give themselves something to aim at in the return leg at Upton Park. Greenwood knew from good experience that the Boleyn under floodlights, with the crowd standing, singing and chanting, was an imposing place to play for opponents unused to playing on a ground where the supporters could actually touch a player playing wide or taking a throw-in or corner. Ron fancied his team's chances, but they had to hit back quickly. And they did: in the second half, the Irons responded with two goals from Billy "The Fish" Jennings.

Jennings was a handy little striker purchased from Watford in 1974 for 100,000 pounds. He had won a winner's medal at Wembley the year before as the Hammers beat Fulham in the FA Cup final and earned a reputation as someone who was a particularly good header of the ball. In fact, more than that, Jennings - not a particularly tall player - had an odd knack of appearing to hang in the air like a salmon. He was even able to arch himself back and forth quickly to gain height and make the salmon comparisons even more valid.

Claims of the skills of legendary players are notoriously difficult to substantiate, but my uncle Bill - a Docker and ex-Marine who lived in Poplar but who was, nonetheless an admittedly a fanciful man - claims he once saw Jennings rise to a crossed ball in a league match against Leeds and hang there as if on a piece of string for a full two minutes before Jack Charlton tugged his shirt to bring him down and give away a free kick.

Regardless of the dubious veracity of this claim, it was Jennings who was the hero that night. The wonderfully coiffured then-24-year-old was to benefit from two excellent crosses from the cruelly underrated Graham Paddon; one a near-post flick the other a powerful header. They were the most important goals Jennings ever scored for the Hammers, and manager Lyall was spot on when he said after the 4-2 defeat that "We'll do 'em at our place."

Chasing a 4-2 deficit, the second leg was one of the most memorable matches ever played at Upton Park. Under the Boleyn floodlights, atmosphere electric, ground packed and heaving - so loud your ears actually hurt from the noise - and on a bog of a pitch sodden with weeks of heavy rain, West Ham were simply magnificent and blitzed Den Haag with an astounding first-half display, going in 3-0 to the good at half-time with goals from young Frank's old man, Alan Taylor and a Billy Bonds penalty.

The second half wasn't quite one-way traffic but West Ham seemed as comfortable as they ever can when the inevitable happened. Schoenmaker pulled a goal back for the Dutch side 10 minutes from the end and all hell broke loose. With the tie level at 5-5, the Hammers would go through on away goals if the match remained locked, while Den Haag needed just one to see the semifinals.

Cue 10 minutes of panic defending as balls were booted onto the East Stand roof, bodies were thrown in front of anything passed towards Day's goal, while fingernails were bitten to the quick. The 10 minutes seemed to last a lifetime before the ref saw fit to end the heart-stopping drama and blow the whistle. The match ended 5-5 and West Ham went into the semifinal draw on the away-goals rule after having been down and out after 43 minutes of the first match.

It seemed nothing could top that, but the semifinal was to produce another classic - but that's a blog for another week.

Grass Roots Still Green

With no Premiership or Championship football due to the international break, the FA held their annual Non-League day on Saturday 7th September, encouraging fans without a match to watch grassroots football by supporting their local semi-professional or totally amateur side.

Getty Images: Non-League Day gave the author a chance to see former West Ham player Alan Devonshire, now the manager at Braintree Town.

It's a laudable idea and many UK fans were phoning into the BBC to tell their stories of how they planned to take in a game, huge numbers travelling hundreds of miles to join in the spirit of the idea and catch some football without all the frills on a day that grows in popularity every year.

An excellent website allowed supporters to type in their post code and get a list of all the available matches around them featuring sides in the first league outside the Football League itself -- the Conference League now knows as the Skrill Premier and the regional competitions below that consisting of the Southern and Northern League and Isthmian Leagues.

There were several games taking place within an easy drive from Blagg Acres, but I plumped for the opportunity to watch nearby Braintree Town -- now managed by ex-West Ham and England legend Alan Devonshire -- take on one of the teams tipped for promotion to the big boys come next May, Forest Green Rovers. And a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon it was.

From the cheerful admission fee of 15 pounds -- less than a quarter of what it often costs to watch a top Premiership game -- to the 2-pound programme and the more-than-edible burger costing three pounds, this was a fine afternoon's entertainment blessed by a beautiful autumnal afternoon and teams who spared little as they chased the points in what looks as if it will be a hard-fought league.

The game between Town and Rovers ended 1-1 with the home side getting off to a slow start, falling behind to a sixth-minute James Norwood goal from a Yan Klukowski free kick. Norwood could have had a second but for a superb stop by Braintree keeper Nathan McDonald. But Braintree came more into the game, displaying some of the fine play -- particularly in wide areas, the kind that marked the excellent career of their Manager.

Their equaliser was hotly disputed though, a penalty awarded when a fierce shot by Luke Daley was judged to have been handled by Chris Stokes. Kenny Davis coolly tucked the resulting spot kick into the corner of the net on the stroke of half-time.

The second half was a fiery affair, with Devonshire particularly vocal in the dugout about some of the tackling that was allowed to go unpunished -- Braintree have apparently suffered some harsh cards recently -- and both sides had chances although the best opportunity fell to Town's Ryan Peters, who was denied spectacularly by Forest Green's goalkeeper Sam Russell.

As an example of grass-roots football, this was an encouraging introduction -- I'll freely admit I've never been to a non-league game before -- but I'd happily take some more of this type of thing in. The match-day attendance was 944 -- a little under Town's average apparently, which seems a shame on such a day -- but their were an encouraging number of youngsters in the ground and a fair smattering of shirts of both teams and it was good to see some sizeble traveling support for Forest Green, reminding us that it's not only the league teams that see fans in their minibuses and cars every Saturday.

As a West Ham fan, though, I couldn't help but watch the Braintree manager and recall his own rise to the pinnacle of the game. Purchased by the Hammers in 1976 for 5,000 pounds from non-league Southall, there's probably a good argument for claiming the signing of Alan Devonshire to be one of the best examples of talent-spotting in English football.

'Devo', as he was known on the terraces, simply slotted into the First Division as if he'd played there his whole career, eventually making 358 appearances and scoring 29 goals, the most significant of which was the superb mazy run and shot that gave West Ham the lead in an FA Cup final replay at Elland Road as the Hammers defeated Everton 2-1 to advance to the 1980 Cup Final.

That wasn't the end of Dev's contribution in that competition though, it was his skinning of Pat Rice and Brian Talbot and eventual cross that led to Trevor Brooking's famous header that enabled the Hammers to lift the cup on the back of a 1-0 win over Arsenal. That West Ham side were famously in the Second Division then (now the Championship) and Alan's contribution the following season when the team won promotion back to the top tier with a then record-breaking points haul won the midfielder a promotion medal.

Devonshire won eight caps for England; many thought he deserved more and he would surely have done so had he been playing today. But the midfielder is still regarded as a legend in the East End for his amazing displays for the 1985-86 Hammers side that came so close to the league title, eventually falling four points short as John Lyall's team finished third -- still West Ham's highest finish in the top tier.

What so impressed in that season was that Devonshire had battled back from a cruciate ligament injury that was expected to have finished his career, yet he was at times unplayable in that season, laying on countless opportunities for the goal-scoring due of Tony Cottee and Frank McAvennie.

Sadly those injuries seem to have taken their toll on Devonshire's legs; his exit from the pitch as he took the applause of the home supporters Saturday revealed a marked limp. But fans of both West Ham and now Braintree can be grateful for the services of the man who rose from non-league football and, in it's way, that is as fitting a tribute to Non-League Day as any other.

Lies and Statistics

GettyImages: Joe Cole scored from a low cross from Matt Jarvis.

In an excellent post on ESPN FC, Michael Cox makes the brave attempt of trying to ally football statistics with results and comes up with a fascinating insight into a resource used more and more by managers and coaching staff everywhere, but one which, many believe, comes to naught when applied to 'real life'.

By an odd coincidence, on our opening game articles, having not seen the earlier post by Cox, both myself and Cardiff correspondent Mike Morris made mention of some statistics of our own that we'd noted. Mine concerned the amount of balls charged down by Hammers player's - a tactic that breaks up play and also puts goal-keepers under pressure and one that has resulted in at least two goals being scored in pre-season games - while Morris mentions the old chestnut of non-productive possession over meaningful and incisive football. Perhaps after one game where all possibilities are still currently open, this might be the best time to discuss the current use of statistics in the game, especially - as noted by Cox - as Sam Allardyce is one of the leading exponents in the use of technical data.

Amusingly, in the way that these things go of course, Cox's initial focus falls on the number of 'assist' crosses from Matt Jarvis that were left unconverted last season. In what looks an alarming statistic, it seems the 100 or so crosses provided by Jarvis and, the season before that, by Hammers new boy Stewart Downing not a single goal was scored. It is with a sense of inevitably then that we note the low Jarvis cross that Joe Cole spun on and poked home against the Bluebirds just 12 minutes into the new season. I guess the question is now: will it be another 99 times before that successful combination comes up again? I'd have to say, judging by Downing's performance when he came on for Jarvis in the second half of the game against Cardiff, this looks a little unlikely, with Downing whipping in several good crosses, running the full-back and even beginning the move that allowed Mark Noble the pass for Kevin Nolan's volleyed goal.

While I can see the advantage of using statistical data to find out the distance a player may travel during a game and the usefulness of tying this in with important facts such as the number of passes completed/lost, tackles made etc, evidence of the best method of scoring a goal has always proved to be maddeningly, but understandably, unreliable.

In a team game where any one of eleven players may make a pass, block, save or interception one minute that may result in a goal scored a minute or so later, it seems to me a reliance on statistics is akin to the argument that dictates that an infinite number of monkeys hitting an infinite number of keyboards will eventually produce 'The Merry Wives of Windsor'.

Any statistical analysis of goalscoring now is usually carried out because of the very fact that it is so much harder to score goals than it was a few decades back. Those who can score consistently are now diamonds that need to be paid a great deal of money and nurtured accordingly. While it would be wrong to suggest that strikers of yesterday weren't appreciated and sought after, if you look at the career of someone like, say, Bryan 'Pop' Robson who played for West Ham, Newcastle and Sunderland in a glittering career, scoring 30 odd goals a season on many occasions, you see that Robson inexplicably failed to gain a single England cap. Today, 'Pop' would command the type of transfer fee that makes bank managers blanch.

Then again, a quick look at someone like Robson still tells us much about the art of goal-scoring that reams of data don't. Not a tall player, Robson was deceptively good in the air, while his diminutive stature gave him an innate balance and enabled him to control a ball quickly and with a good deal of agility. Robson's greatest asset though was his instinctive ability to just get into the right place at the right time; an uncanny knack of seemingly being in the available space when an opportunity came up. His ability to 'pop' up with a goal convinced Ron Greenwood to pay the then princely sum of £200,000 for Robson after he had destroyed the West Ham defence in a 2-0 win by Newcastle at Upton Park.

Pop's link up play with Trevor Brooking is the stuff of Upton Park legend, both finding one another without even looking up, knowing that the 'space' would be where the other one was. What would be Pop's worth today? The eyes water just thinking about it, while Roy Hodgson can only dream of the opportunity of being able to pick a 30-goal a season player.

Of course, comparing players from different era's of any sport is an utterly absorbing, conversation-inducing but ultimately pointless exercise that ranks alongside discussing statistics; but it does highlight something that is as crucial to football today as it was when gentleman in top hats kicked a pig's bladder on the green. In short, goal scoring is a much sort after commodity and in that vein, amongst the good number of excellent comments on Michael's blog, is a telling post.

Bemoaning the fact that no-one has yet produced an analysis of an efficient way of scoring, one writer, Dan Kennett, goes on to say "..no-one (in the public domain) has really broken down "Manchester United" yet to look at WHY and HOW they are so efficient..."

Well, I hate to disagree but I think we have - it's just the stats are not seen on a computer matrix that measures passes, crosses or shots on target. Rather this machine measures money and influence and, if seen on a computer, it's usually from someone looking at the Current Account. For the best way of measuring goal scoring, is to look at the quality of the striker.

Manchester United are efficient because they usually have the best players, Robin van Persie having the essential skill to convert a large percentage of balls put through to him regardless of from what direction they travel. The key decision for the coaching staff at Old Trafford isn't to find the best way of getting the ball to the Dutchman but rather to make sure Van Persie is actually in the red shirt of Manchester United when the ball comes to him, rather than that of, say, Arsenal.

So us fans will welcome all the statistics and arguments, it keeps us interested at work and gives us hours of fun in the pub, but in terms of what we can glean from the percentages, the analysis and interpretation, I'm convinced the key lies in the amount of 'pretty green' in the vault. What's more, I suspect we'll have a glowing example of this next May when the colour of Wayne Rooney's shirt may well dictate the destination of the Premier League trophy and, if that happens, no-one will be looking anywhere else to see where his passes come from.

Uncensored version of West Ham 2 Cardiff City 0

BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images
Kevin Nolan's second half goal sealed West Ham's season-opening win over Cardiff.

The first game of a new season; common-sense, logic, statistics and history tell you that it's just another match and nothing that happens in this game necessarily determines the way the season will pan out.

But the football fan's mind is an odd thing. It will remember the times that first game did tell you something about what you could expect for the rest of the campaign -- an opening day 3-0 defeat to Villa in Avram Grant's relegation season still brings me out in a cold sweat -- and conveniently forgets the times when it mattered little (No example of that -- see what I mean?)

So, despite what the respective supporters will tell you, it's West Ham fans who will be happier after this comfortable 2-0 win. The home side looked sharper, slicker, fitter and more resolute than the visitor and Cardiff will perhaps feel a bit chastened after this. Jussi Jaaskelainen will surely have few quieter afternoons than this in 2013-14.

It was a warm, cloudy day at Upton Park and the game started in an obviously raucous manner with both sets of supporters in good voice, but it was the Hammers' faithful who seemed to have stepped up a gear with a host of new songs -- none available for comment here! -- many aimed at the Welsh visitors. The contingent from the principality were also welcomed by the home fans with a number of inflatable sheep bobbing around the Trevor Brooking stand. Yep, it was that type of afternoon!

Sam Allardyce named a side that looked pretty much like most of those that he fielded last season; new signings Razvan Rat, Stewart Downing and Adrian were all on the bench as were close-season hopefuls Alou Diarra and Ravel Morrison. Matt Jarvis and Joe Cole started and it was these two who combined superbly for West Ham's opener after only 12 minutes. Jarvis got in behind the full-back and crossed low for Cole, almost on the penalty spot. Cole gathered the ball, turned and struck a low shot just inside the post. As an opener, it was a delight.

If Cole felt under any pressure from the new close-season signings, then there was no sign of it. Possibly unburdened by having to have a J in front of the name on his shirt -- his erstwhile colleague Carlton off to pastures new -- this Cole looked like the one sold to Chelsea back in 2003. He dictated play in front of the Cardiff back-four and the only surprise in the first half was that the Hammers only went in one to the good.

Fans realise that managers have to be positive and say the right things sometimes but it was hard to suppress a smile when Bluebirds boss Malky Mackay said post-match that his side 'had to more clinical'. Cardiff barely had a shot to be clinical with, Winston Reid and former Cardiff player James Collins won every loose ball, tackle and header. In fact, had West Ham themselves been sharper in front of goal then Cardiff could have been sunk by half-time, Cole again probably missing the best chance missing an attempted shot/lob when clean through although Mo Diame also came agonisingly close with a superb strike that took a deflection to fly inches wide.

There was plenty of the usual fare available for Hammers fans of all persuasions; for those unconvinced of the Allardyce style, there was the expected collection of agricultural clearances out of defence -- many of them finding their way to the opposition -- but for those who see much to admire in Big Sam's management, there was the site of claret and blue shirts being thrown in front of every attempted shot. This was so successful that Jaaskelainen didn't have a direct save to make all afternoon. In a world full of statistics, I'd be intrigued to see how many shots and passes are charged down by an Allardyce team every season.

The interesting thing is these passages of play -- and let's be honest, they make up a major part of the game -- is that they almost go unnoticed. At one point in the second half, Diame threw himself in front of an attempted forward pass from a Cardiff defender in the Welsh half, the ball cannoning of the Senegalese player and rebounding back to Marshall in the Cardiff goal. As a disruptive ploy, it is fascinating to watch particularly for a Hammers fan fed on years of cultured play but little physical involvement.

Although West Ham were extremely comfortable all afternoon, there was always that worry that a single goal lead taken into the final stages might prompt a Cardiff push, so it was good to see Kevin Nolan opening his account again with a goal 14 minutes from time, effectively killing the game stone-dead as a contest. Downing -- who had come on earlier for Jarvis to make his West Ham debut -- was also involved and supporters will be mightily encouraged by the first appearance of the ex-Liverpool winger on this form, the England International found plenty of room to take on a man and make several dangerous crosses.

This time it was Mark Noble doing the good work though, threading through a ball for the captain to strike sweetly in from 20 yards. The crowd roared, the taunting of the visiting fans increased and Cardiff, with little else to do, took the game to West Ham for the first time, but other than a Peter Whittingham free-kick that went narrowly wide and a half-chance that fell to ex-Hammer Micky Maynard that was ballooned over, there was little to worry the home fans.

So what to make at the end of another season opener? Well, I suspect both sides will probably play better and both sides will certainly play worse. There are some concerns: although Modibo Maiga did well and was involved in some enterprising play -- particularly in the first half -- the Malian still doesn't entirely convince in front of goal and the search for another striker will surely continue.

But it's early days yet; nothing seen today will make anything certain during the coming autumn and winter...will it? Despite it all though, a win on the opening day makes things feel so much better.

Out of the mouths of babes and Wives

Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images

Maintaining Premier League status is crucial to West Ham - and chairman David Gold, right - as the club prepares for their move to London's Olympic Stadium in three years.

The ubiquitous and glamorous Lady Blagg knows little about football, yet she has had to put up with a lot of West Ham-related horror stories over the years, but through thin and thin and the occasional binge season, she has always maintained the theory that "West Ham are either in mid-table or fighting relegation".

Of course, passionate supporters of their respective clubs will know full well that -- like families -- it may be OK for a member of that family to criticise and point the finger, but if anyone from outside attempts to do it, the family member will immediately jump to the defence and argue the opposite, no matter how appropriate and well-intentioned the original criticism.

Now despite a marriage certificate, the fact is Lady B is from the North-East of England and grew up far away from the sunny environs of the docks of the East End; she certainly has no part in the folklore of the area and has little knowledge of the Cockney idiom. So you can see that it is, with great difficulty and bristling with indignation, I have to concede that her observation has a good deal of merit.

A quick look at any of the Premier League tables -- indeed the old First Division format, too -- will reveal that the Hammers are often battling to stay up, going down unceremoniously, being promoted in blaze of glory or shuffling round in mid-table. There's been precious little else since the 1980s.

The problem with West Ham has always been that the perception of the club from the outside differs little from that of the inside. When the main club page at ESPN FC  -- not written by me, incidentally -- says the Hammers are "arguably the most important club never to win the English league" and that "the most important day in West Ham's history came when they were not even playing" there is little to do but swallow something jagged and smile through gritted teeth.

Opposing supporters, asked what most aggravates about the Upton Park outfit, usually bemoan the fact that Hammers’ fans go on about "winning the World Cup in '66", pretty much missing the point that, in the minds of many, that is exactly what the name West Ham is always associated with. That is likely to continue until either England win another World Cup -- not holding my breath there! -- or West Ham give them something else to think about, and that is never likely to come from the comfort of halfway up the division.

So, with the start of another season a few days away and being as it seems any other result is unlikely, can we expect another mid-table season or are we looking at a fight against relegationć The answer may surprise because, pretty much unlike any other team in the Premiership, West Ham are in the middle of a project; one that should see them in a larger stadium and with a profile they haven't had since the glory days of the mid-60s, and part of the demands of that project insist that the Hammers stay exactly where they are. In short, another mid-season malaise will suit us very well, thank you.

Now don’t get me wrong here. A drive into Europe through a higher league placing or, better still, a cup win somewhere, would be extremely welcome and long overdue, but then I'd expect the fans of most clubs to say that. But with the owners being very generous with the cheque book despite a still eye-watering bank balance, and Sam Allardyce's ability to get the best from a squad through shrewd tactical nous and playing to a side's strengths, there is a very strong likelihood that West Ham could start to fit nicely into those top places that exist in the "league within a league" and a cup run wouldn’t be a major shock either.

Truth is though, although a day out at Wembley would be welcomed, the lure of the secondary European league is pretty minimal and I’m not sure the added expectations of the owner’s or fans -- let alone the added pressure on the treatment room and Bank Manager -- are something that will be needed next season when the requirements will be pretty much the same as they are this.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves; for this season and a couple after, this is a side that needs to be the very model of the word 'consolidation'.

The arrival of Stewart Downing will certainly add to the strength of the squad and give the Hammers a few more options than they had last season, while the outlay can barely be considered a risk for a player still on the verges of the England squad and surely hearing the siren call of the samba rhythms of Brazil next June. In fact, this could well be a very shrewd bit of business.

Nobody is pretending supporters aren't expecting a good double-figure haul of goals from Andy Carroll, but it’s looking less likely that the Hammers may struggle without him if, as it inevitably seems, he is prone to spells out with injury. Elsewhere, the introduction of Razvan Rat and Adrian can only increase competition for places.

Meanwhile, there’s good -- though traditionally not surprising -- news from the youth ranks where several of the Under-18 squad are starting to look very good indeed. In short, West Ham United are looking uncharacteristically healthy.

Any type of relegation involvement would surely be a major surprise and there is a real opportunity to kick-on and gain a couple of rungs on last season’s 10th place. Really though, everyone knows the significant moves are likely to follow in the seasons after the move to Stratford, and all anyone wants right now is for the club not to follow the usual route of shooting itself in the foot nor having ideas above their currently limited station.

So, if the capricious Gods of football want to smile on us for a season then bring it on. But, if, on the other hand -- and the wife may scoff -- the Hammers finish somewhere round about the middle of the table, then you won’t hear any complaints from this blog.

The Return of Captain Olympic

One year on - where the hell did that year go?

Six Foot Two, Eyes of Blue

The word legend is an over-used ephitet is today's language - I was even daubed one last week when I sorted out someone's PC! - but, in football terms at least, West Ham United will honour a genuine one of their own at the Annual Player Awards at the Grosvenor Hotel in London this week.

Billy Bonds M.B.E. is about to become the Club's first recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award; an honour richly deserved, and, to be honest, way overdue. For Bonds has suffered somewhat at the cruel twist of fate that meant his Managership of the club coincided with the ill-fated Bond Scheme, ensuring his tenure was forever associated with the worst of the Hammers 'yo-yo years,' when board fought with the fan base in a battle in which little money was available and team spirit was at a low ebb.

Nevertheless, Bonds secured promotion as a Manager in only his second year on the the coaching staff that he joined after he retired from playing at the end of the 1997/98 season. Although the Hammers suffered the ignominy of going straight back down again, Bonds oversaw another immediate promotion - the club then joining the newly-formed Premier League - before being sadly ousted in a disrespectful manner in 1994 following the coup d'état that saw Harry Redknapp take over the Manager's role.

However, admirable though it is, it's not Bonds managerial acumen for which he is most remembered, but rather as a superb defender and midfield player who made a club record 793 appearances for the Hammers between 1967 and 1988, twice lifting the F.A. Cup - once as a 34 year-old in an immaculate display in the 1-0 win over Arsenal when West Ham were a Second Division (now Championship) side. Bonds also captained the 1976 European Cup Winners Cup side that lost in a memorable final to Anderlecht in Brussels.

Staggeringly, Bonds played until just after his 41st birthday being merited with a PFA Award for his services to football that same season. Four times 'Hammer of the Year' in 1971, 1974, 1975 and 1987, Billy had an incredible level of fitness and the season after West Ham won the cup in 1980, he played an amazing 59 games as the club won promotion back to the First Division with a then record haul of points, while also unluckily losing out to Liverpool in a League Cup Final appearance that went to a replay.

Awarded an MBE for 'services to football' in the Queen's New Years Honours List four months before his eventual retirement, Bonds could look back to an initial retirement four years earlier in May 1984, when he officially handed his Captain's armband to the young England defender Alvin Martin. However, with the club struck by an appalling injury crisis, Billy answered his club's call and returned to duty in August of that same year, playing so well that he was easily able to retain his place amongst younger players who couldn't match his skill, enthusiasm and admirable match fitness.

Although Billy lost the whole of the 1985/86 season to injury, he returned to win his final Hammer of the Year Award proving his longevity and the reverence by which he was held by the fans. For Bonds showed a commitment to the claret and blue cause that can only be guessed at by today's players. He never shirked a tackle, gave up a ball or failed to give 100% as an inspirational player and captain.

Billy joined West Ham in May 1967 from Charlton for £50,000. In terms of length of service and success for a club of West Ham's stature, it must rate as one of the best transfers of all times. Born in Woolwich in 1946, Bonds had debuted for the Addicks as an 18-year-old, making 95 appearances as a full-back before Ron Greenwood spotted his potential and brought the young and raw talent to bolster his sometimes soft defence.

'Bonzo' as he was obviously dubbed, was an instant hit; earning a reputation as a hard man, the young right-back became a fan favourite as he became identified with the still solid working-class support prevalent at the club at the time. It may have been Moore and Peters, then Brooking and Devonshire who showed the culture and artistry that became synonymous with the Hammers style of play, but it was Bonds, flying in to tackle, face grimacing, fists pumped who many supporters identified with.

Billy could have become a bit of an anochronyism as the 60's and '70's melded into the '80's but his ability to adapt and learn had long been spotted by, first Greenwood then John Lyall, as the robust full-back was converted initially into a ball-winning but stylish midfielder and later as a game-aware, positionally excellent, centre-back. Bonds later partnership with the young Alvin Martin may well have been the best the club has ever seen.

As if this wasn't enough, Bonds showed his all-round ability and professionalism by one season becoming the club's top scorer from midfield, netting a crucial 13 games as the Hammers successfully fought a relegation battle during the 1973/74 season.

If there is a hole in Billy's CV it can only come on the International stage. Although selected for the Under-23's, the closest Bonds got to a deserved cap was a place on the bench in 1977 when England played Italy in a World Cup qualifier. It was generally reckoned by his retirement that Bonds was probably the 'best player never to play for England'. However, this moniker in itself just shows the mettle of the man.

For in his younger years, although an excellent club player, Billy would probably have been seen as too wild and unpredictable to play for an England side then still considered to be one of the world's elite. But Bonds was able to adapt his game to the changing requirements as attacking players began receiving more protection from referee's and, in the twilight of his career, he would ooze the class and composure that surely would have seen him as a shoo-in on the International stage had he been 15 years younger.

But whenever fans of a specific club start talking about their great players, it's always the memories and the stories passed down by suppoerters that help cement the 'legendary' status. I can see Bonzo, hair plastered down, bandage around his head from a severe head wound that required several stitches, urging his players on in match I've otherwise long forgotten. The bandage became such a potent symbol that Bill decided to wear one permanently in a guise best described by the late-great ITV commentator Brian Moore as "the buccaneering Billy Bonds".

I see a rain-soaked Bonds powering through cloying mud to lash home an equalising goal in a heart-breaking semi-final defeat against Stoke City in the 1972 League Cup; the same player who turned his back, not able to look, as Geoff Hurst took a penalty in a decisive moment in the second-leg of that same tie.

I see Bonds twice lifting the F.A. Cup at Wembley, the second time in 1980 celebrating a sublime moment in which he had stood alongside a rookie Alvin Martin and played his heart out attempting successfully to nullify an Arsenal attack of Frank Stapleton and Alan Sunderland. It says much about the presence of the man that it was only through recently watching a full re-run of that final - a game that seems to totally centre around Trevor Brooking's reflex winning headed goal - that I realised just how good Billy was that day.

A ferocious tackler, skilful ball winner, good in the air, excellent passer but, above all, inspirational to those around him and on the terraces, Billy Bonds was a player who never once went missing in a game. Before he joined West Ham in 1979, Cup winning goal-keeper Phil Parkes admitted that he'd though Bonds was someone who just shouted a lot and covered a lot of ground but, playing behind him Parkes realised just how crucial Bonzo was to West Ham's game. "He just made everything look simple".

Just two seasons after leading West Ham through some incredible quarter, semi and final rounds of the Cup Winners Cup - some of the greatest matches in West Ham's illustrious history - Bonzo found himself surprisingly relegated in 1978, alongside his good mate Trevor Brooking, with a Hammers side in transition. Bonds probably could have walked into virtually any team in the division he'd just left, but I don't recall that ever being mentioned. Rather Billy just continued as he had before and was rewarded in the seasons 80/81 with some of his greatest achievements.

But surely nothing sums up Billy Bonds was the day in March 1974 when a relegation-threatened West Ham faced Chelsea at Upton Park. This was the season that Bonds became top-scorer, and prior to the game an acutely embarrased captain was handed a cheque for £100 and a silver statuette after being named 'Footballer of the Month' by a national newspaper. "I feared a backlash" said Bonds, who was never comfortable being in the spotlight. Greenwood explained "Billy thought all the adulation might cause him to not be at his best". The result? Bonds scored a hat-trick ensuring the relegation crisis was over.

Billy was proud of his association with the club he joined as a 21 year-old recalling in his autobiography of how he was waiting in the tunnel before the momentous semi-final of the Cup Winners Cup against Eintracht Frankfurt in 1976 and, glancing across at the captain of the German team, Bonzo noted how nervous his counterpart was. "He took one look at how close the fans were to the players, heard the roar of the crowd and I saw him go white. I knew we were going to win"

Every club has its 'legends' - some genuine, some just local heroes who've done well - and West Ham are lucky enough to have some names who, it's already proved, are destined to last beyond their lifetimes. The naming of stands after players can prove difficult when you already have a World Cup winning Captain and a couple of Knights of the Realm to secure first, but Billy Bonds is a player whose record was recognised by his fellow professionals well beyond the confines of Upton Park, a player that even fans of other clubs can recognise and give a nod of consent too.

Excellent though the Lifetime Achievement award is then, it is vital that Bonzo's name be enshrined in the fabric of the new stadium when the club moves to the Olympic Park. In my opinion, Billy deserves at least one side of any stadium to be named after him. For rest assured, if West Ham United endure for the full 99 years in Stratford, Hammers fans will still talk about the legend that is Billy Bonds.