I wasn’t even aware you could bet on managerial appointments on Betfair.
O’Driscoll was offered the job but turned it down apparently.
[quote=“The Dunph”]I wasn’t even aware you could bet on managerial appointments on Betfair.
O’Driscoll was offered the job but turned it down apparently.[/QUOTE]
much better than the virtual dogs
Poor auld Paul Hart is after getting the chop from QPR after only 5 games…that fucker is having no luck this season
What’s that, five managers in the space of a year now for QPR?
Joke club.
He is a useless manager but Briatore is running that club into the ground.
My initial reaction was to laugh.
5 games? 
Unbelievable.
Russians sniffing around Capello. Wouldnt blame him for jumping ship post world cup.
Steve Staunton was sacked by Darlington over the weekend. He’s just not getting the breaks in management, it appears.
I get the feeling there may be a concerted effort to ensure Steven doesn’t succeed in football management. There’s more to this than meets the eye.
It’s strange alright. You could see he had a great understanding of management when he was in charge of Ireland so why wouldn’t he succeed? An excellent speaker on the game, as this gem from January illustrates:
“All I can ask the players to do is work their socks off, give us everything they’ve got, try to be a bit more creative in front of goal and be a bit more ruthless in our own defensive area.”
That’s a man who knows his tactics.
The one about how San Marino werre improving defensively having conceded 12 in one game to 7 in the next is my favourite Stan-ism.
Of course they almost got a draw against us. If there is one thing to be grateful to Stephen Ireland for…
Didn’t he also say something about how playing them in February was always a risk and we would have hammered them if it was played in March?
This doesnt read well for Franco or any of the current squad for that matter
I am writing this on Wednesday morning. I had no sleep last night, having watched the shambolic performance by the team against Wolves.
I was as angry and upset as every supporter in the stadium at the disorganised way we played, allowing Wolves too much space so that they looked more like Manchester United. This was the culmination of five defeats in a row, including an appalling performance against Bolton.
We have a few very talented players in our team, but it is a very unbalanced squad. Individually we have some very good players, but this is not being converted into a good team performance. Nobody at the club should delude themselves that we are a good team. The table at this stage of the season does not lie.
However, with some of the outstanding players we have, we can and must do better as a team. I apologise to every supporter for the pathetic showing on Tuesday night but I fully expect a dramatic improvement as we have so much individual talent.
I accept that the club is in deep relegation trouble. However, we are a long way from being relegated. With your help we can get out of this and regroup in the summer.
This is a difficult time. It has been a week to regret but Saturday’s result can change that. We need a win, we need you to support us, to forgive us the result against Wolves and to remember what this great club is about.
The history and tradition of West Ham United, the heritage and the prestige demands we are a Premier League club. But we have no right to that. We have to earn it. The Academy of Football? Now we have to show that. The manager knows, I know, the players know.
When I first started supporting West Ham, we had a tradition for playing the game “the right way”. I will settle for any way right now, as long as it is the winning way!
We all have our favourite players, our heroes. Older fans can remember players like Bobby Moore, Sir Geoff Hurst, Martin Peters – the cornerstone of England’s 1966 World Cup win. I know rival teams mock us West Ham fans for saying that, but one was the captain, another scored a hat-trick, the other scored the fourth. That sounds like a claret and blue contribution to me.
Younger supporters will probably look to strikers such as Frank McAvennie and Tony Cottee as well as Paolo Di Canio. They all brought something special to the club.
Then there was Sir Trevor Brooking, Billy Bonds, Alan Taylor, Bryan “Pop” Robson, Phil Parkes, Alvin Martin and Ray Stewart. We didn’t win much but there was always a quality and a style. Another hero to watch: a midfield playmaker, a little wizard on the wing, a goalscorer.
Now we need this team to show their quality.
Now we need this team to show us their talent, their desire, their passion, their dare.
Now we need new heroes.
Saturday may be tense, on Saturday you will feel anxious and, at times, unsettled. I ask that we try not to transmit that on to the field, that we get behind the team and provide them with a platform. The rest is up to them.
It’s hard being an owner. I’m finding it’s harder being an owner who is a supporter. I hope for happier times soon.
Thank you for sharing the same vision and dreams.
Come on West Ham.
David Sullivan
Joint-Chairman
Ray Stewart?
Was he not a cartoon character in Roy of the Rovers?
The goalkeeper?
That was Rick Stewart. Not as big a fan of him (or Andy Steele for that matter) once they got their big money moves to Melchester Rovers. Preferred them in the smaller clubs.
Rick’s father was a goalkeeper of course wasn’t he… Gordon maybe?
Gordon is right. He died in a plane crash.
Did Rick have some sort of charm in the goals - Lucky Fred or something like that?
Or am I thinking of Billy Dane with Dead Shot Keen’s lucky boots?
Not sure… vague familiarity but I couldn’t say for certain. Think he was probably superstitious alright but not sure what the charm would have been.
Two incidents often spring to mind re Rick Stewart:
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A goal being scored against him where the net had become unclipped from the post and the ball passed through the net. Rick approached the referee to confirm he had conceded a goal after the referee had awarded a goal-kick. A noble but foolish gesture.
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One week the story ended with a penalty kick put into the bottom right of Rick’s goal and he’d gone the wrong way. Next week Rick turned around (in mid-air) and saved it. I always felt the ball was too near the goal-line for him to have recovered, never mind the physical difficulty associated with changing direction when you’ve already left the ground.
Good player though.
Sven-Goran Eriksson has spoken of his excitement at being appointed as coach of the Ivory Coast for the World Cup and of his dream of meeting England in the final.
The 62-year-old former England and Manchester City manager is confident that the class of players in the Ivory Coast squad can see them qualify from the ‘group of death’ and make a real impact in the finals in South Africa this summer.
Brazil, Portugal and North Korea are the Ivory Coast’s rivals in Group G, and if they do qualify the Elephants may also have to face Spain the first knock-out phase.
In his first interview since being appointed to the job, Eriksson told Press Association Sport: 'I am extremely happy and very excited. The Ivory Coast is a good football nation with a lot of
good players - it couldn’t be better.
'I know it is called the group of death but that just means the challenge is bigger. It will not be easy but I think the Ivory Coast with all their talents can get through it. That’s the first target and we will have to work very hard for it.
'England were also in a ‘group of death’ in Japan in 2002 but they qualified and Argentina did not.
'This time Brazil are one of the favourites and Portugal are one of the best teams in Europe.
‘But there are six African countries in the World Cup, it is in Africa for the first time, and I am sure two or three will spring some big surprises and we have to make sure we are one of those that do.’
The Ivory Coast cannot meet England before the semi-finals and Eriksson says he would relish such a game.
He added: 'It would be a great match if we could meet England - and hopefully in the final.
'England have a good chance of getting there, absolutely.
'We know there are five countries who would be considered the favourites - and of course England is one of them - but don’t forget the Ivory Coast have a lot of very good players who have lots of experience in the Champions League and the top leagues in Europe.
‘In the World Cup you never really know what is going to happen.’
Eriksson, who succeeds Vahid Halilhodzic who left after a disappointing African Nations Cup campaign, believes the Ivory Coast should be confident in the calibre of the players they have.
The Swede said: 'Didier Drogba is one of the best strikers in the world and he has showed that for many years now in the Premier League.
'There are other great players too including Eboue at Arsenal, Salomon Kalou, Kolo Toure - and his brother Yaya at Barcelona.
'The only problem is that we are not together until May 22 but that is the same for most of the teams, and I am going to start travelling from tomorrow to see all the players around Europe and in the Ivory Coast too.
'There is a lot of hard work ahead of me but I like that - in fact I love it. I’m really looking forward to the World Cup.
'We should have lots of support and the tournament in South Africa should be very good for the whole continent and the game of football
I see the cunts on MOTD2 sneered at this appt the other night. Hope Sven goes well with the lads, always struck me as an alright sort if a little fond of the readies as we all are.