friday's gossip includes west ham now updated

[cockney hammer]

will start with this and update from work

the sun

gold goes for hammers

BIRMINGHAM owners David Gold and David Sullivan will mount a bid to buy West Ham if Carson Yeung's £70m St Andrew's takeover goes through.

It would complete a lifelong dream for Gold in particular, who was born a stone's throw from Upton Park and was a youth player with the club.

A Birmingham source revealed: "There would be no better time to move given the club's parlous financial situation.

"The two Davids would love to own the club outright. But if that isn't possible, there may be an opportunity for them to become big investors."

The pair held a 29.9 per cent shareholding in the Hammers during the 80s.

Yeung must prove his Brum buy-out is serious by putting down a £1m non-returnable deposit.

Birmingham's board are willing to sell but do not want the situation to drag on as it did two years ago



the mirror




Napoli urge West Ham to bid for Rinaudo


Napoli are encouraging West Ham United to make a serious offer for defender Leandro Rinaudo.

The centre-half has been linked with the Hammers, though manager Gianfranco Zola is yet to make concrete his initial interest.

Napoli are desperate to sell several of their players after a summer spending spree and are urging West Ham to make them an offer for Rinaudo.



the mirror


West Ham boss Gianfranco Zola sets sights on Europe as he prepares to tackle big-spending rivals



West Ham boss Gianfranco Zola has targeted finishing above big-spending Manchester City and qualifying for Europe this season.

While the Abu Dhabi-owned City have lavished £100m in the transfer market this summer, the Hammers must now be self-financing under their new Icelandic owners.

Zola is trying to use his network of contacts across Europe to bring talent to Upton Park on the cheap.

But after finishing ninth last season despite a late-season injury crisis, the Italian is convinced his side can still perform better than their big-spending rivals.

"Last season, Fulham ended up getting into Europe, and behind that Tottenham were just in front of us. There was also Manchester City just behind us, so Tottenham and Manchester City are certainly going to be better this year," he said.

"We have to really get in front of those two teams, plus you also have Everton in front of us, Villa, and Fulham are very close, so it is going to be a tough one, but I do like the challenge. I do like that.

"It will be an opportunity to push ourselves harder as well.

"I'm sure the expectation is high for next season, and we will try to match that, but we need the support of the fans. We need them to understand that is not going to be easy.

[Zola4ever]

the Birmingham lot have already said it would be there dream to buy west ham, but also said it wont happen.


Thanks ch

[HammerMan2004]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/8200198.stm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

BBC's goals of the week.

[indiehammer]

There are also alot of rumours coming out of France about Chamakh joining. I know some of you still think it's a ploy, to get Arsenal to up their bid, but if it is, it's getting a little ridiculous.
Apparently we bid an initial 5m, plus 50% of any future sell on fee. Accoring to 'L'equipe' This was turned down last night and West Ham will go back with a further bid of 6m plus 50% of a sell on fee. I'm starting to believe this and Bordeaux's chairman has been quoted saying no one at the club wants Chamkah to leave but it's becoming inevitable as Chamkah dosen't want to stay any longer and wants to join the Premier League.
They say a deal could be finialised in the next few days and Chamkah will be invited for a medical as soon as Monday.

http://www.lequipe.fr/Football/breves20 ... amakh.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thats one story (use google translate) and if you search through the site using the keywords west ham you'll find the rest.

[Geordie Hammer]

I'm always a bit cautious when a team urges another team to buy one of their players.

Are we talking about a situation like "West Ham have urged Sunderland to put a serious bid in for Nigel Quashie" or is this lad actually any good.

[LeonRivers]

I know it doesn't say it, but I assume it would be 50% of any future profit, rather than 50% of the entire fee we receive.

That's probably the best way to sell a player in the final year of his contract. Both sides get a fair deal then. I can see why that would be an attractive option to Bordeaux.

[indiehammer]

Deffinatly. It also seems Fulham have dropped out of the race to go for Viduka instead (good luck to them :lol: ) so we seem the only contenders and if Bordeaux want any sort of money they'll be wise to do business with us. A new report has said he is now our top priority which is good news, it's a massive improvement from Di Michele! :raver:

[indiehammer]

http://www.insidefutbol.com/2009/08/14/ ... amakh-bid/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[dapablo]

Thanks again sir

[Pocket Pardew]

Cheers CH. I dont say that often enough. As reliable as ever.

[Tommy B]

Does anyone no anything about this Napoli player?
Cheers Ch

[OsloHammer]

Carlton Cole the renaissance man leads Fabio Capello's buccaneering colts

Capello's willingness to rely on young members of his squad was rewarded in Amsterdam, and gives encouragement to those on the England fringes

It said much about the significance of Wednesday night's 2-2 draw in Amsterdam that some of the loudest applause from the orange hordes in the Amsterdam Arena came in recognition of successful attempts to launch paper planes from the upper tiers towards the centre circle. Though never less than a respectable contest, this was very much a pre-season friendly, in which Frank Lampard's crude first-half foul on his former Chelsea team- mate Arjen Robben resembled, in Raymond Chandler's famous formulation, a tarantula on a slice of angel food cake.

The occasion was not without value, however, first as a reminder that England's defence is as inviting to smash-and-grab artists as a Bond Street jeweller, and second that something worthwhile may yet be made of the Premier League's overpaid, overprivileged and overindulged young starlets. In that respect it was interesting to see the forward line that finished the evening achieving more, albeit against tiring opponents, than the men they replaced.

Shaun Wright-Phillips, Carlton Cole and Jermain Defoe have all, in their different ways, attracted criticism over the years, while James Milner seemed destined to be stuck with the double-edged distinction of owning a record number of Under-21 caps (46 in five years). Wright-Phillips's inconsistency spoilt his time in the spotlight at Chelsea, Cole's poor concentration seemed likely to deny him a future at the same club and Defoe appeared to have been filed away as a cut-price version of Michael Owen, crucially lacking international quality.

We should tread carefully here, remembering that seven years ago, early in the reign of Sven-Goran Eriksson, England arrived in Amsterdam for a friendly and left with a draw by courtesy of Darius Vassell, who scored the equaliser with a flourish as fine as any seen from the absent Owen. Vassell was hardly heard from again.

But what was encouraging about England's second-half performance on Wednesday was the collective spirit with which the four youngish forwards attacked their task in the limited time available. Their opponents, already assured of World Cup qualification, were not about to treat the match as a matter of life and death. But the job remained to be done, and between them they did it.

Here, and in the first-half performance of Ashley Young, was a suggestion that England have not entirely spurned the opportunity, offered by the failure in the 2006 World Cup, to make progress through generational change. Two years later, picking up the pieces of the Steve McClaren regime, Fabio Capello made it obvious that he would not jettison the players with big reputations who had left Baden-Baden with jeers ringing in their ears, but he has also shown, most spectacularly in the selection of Theo Walcott for the important match in Zagreb last year, a willingness to put his trust in youth, as long as it is surrounded by experience.

Carlton Cole is a particularly interesting case. I first saw him playing for Chelsea's reserves against Arsenal in 2001, when he was 17, and was impressed by his power and technique. So was Claudio Ranieri, who put him in the first-team squad a year later and predicted that he would have a big future at the club. That night at Kingsmeadow eight years ago Cole and Leon Knight, then 19, formed a combination much resembling that created by Cole and Defoe on Wednesday.

Knight went on to drift through nine other English league clubs, notably Brighton and Hove Albion, where he spent three years, and is now playing for Thrasivoulos Filis in the Greek second division. Cole, his progress at Chelsea blocked by such names as Crespo, Gudjohnsen, Zola and Drogba, could have followed a similar path. Instead, after loan spells at Wolves, Charlton and Aston Villa, in 2006 he was transferred to West Ham, where Gianfranco Zola, his old club-mate, reconstructed his career by helping him to refine and discipline his game.

He is still not the most polished of strikers, but he has the skill to embarrass good defenders and under Capello he looks the best available like-for-like replacement for Emile Heskey, who is 31 and has always been prone to missing games, such as the vital Euro 2008 qualifier against Croatia at Wembley, through injury. In the case of Cole, a talent that appeared to be heading for the scrapheap has been resurrected. If Micah Richards and Gabriel Agbonlahor were watching on Wednesday, perhaps it occurred to them that, with a similar effort, they could be the next in line.

[Henry Wilt]

Deffinatly. It also seems Fulham have dropped out of the race to go for Viduka instead (good luck to them :lol: ) so we seem the only contenders and if Bordeaux want any sort of money they'll be wise to do business with us. A new report has said he is now our top priority which is good news, it's a massive improvement from Di Michele! :raver:

I'm sure I read that Paul Hart had said he had signed Viduka at the end of June but had not seen him since :shock:

Thanks CH, I've been reading this and appreciating your efforts for a long time now but only just signed up. Can I be cheeky and ask if you will be doing your round up of how the press reviewed our matches again this season? It was another thing I looked forward to reading.

[Chippenhammer]

Cheers CH

[VeniceHammer]

instead of paying money for rinaudo, who's nothing special at all, i'd offer a contract to that civelli bloke who has failed to transfer to blackburn on a free. international experience with marseille he has, and he's quite reliable, at least more than rinaudo.

[Zola4ever]

Matthew Upson may be the subject of speculation linking him with Manchester City but the England defender's thoughts are on West Ham buying, not selling.

Joleon Lescott remains City's No1 target but if Everton continue to refuse to do business then the Eastlands club are likely to step up their efforts to sign Upson.

Unlike Lescott, Upson has not handed in a transfer request and he hopes that the Hammers can strengthen their squad.

"I've seen some of the speculation about me during the close season but you can't let these things cloud your thinking," said Upson, who looks certain to be captain at Wolves tomorrow.

"I'm not instigating any move but sometimes things present themselves without any acknowledgement.

"At the moment I'm enjoying playing in a team which is trying to play the right way and I'm improving as a player which is the main thing.

"The transfer window is still open and if we can tweak a few things, we can have a good season. At the moment, though, you look at our squad and we're only a couple of injuries away from having a few problems.

"Hopefully we have enough time to strengthen the numbers."

The 30-year-old, who hopes to play at next summer's World Cup, added: "For me, it's the biggest season of my life. I'm in good shape and I'm ready for it."

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard- ... to=newsnow&" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[jevs]

Thing is with Upson is he can't go any higher. What i mean is that he is currently 3rd choice defender for England behind Rio and Terry and if one of those is injured, he will be in the team. If he goes to a "big club"....a man u or a chelsea, he will still be third choice. The only thing that could lure him away is money or European club football.

[ageing hammer]

Middlesbrough striker Tuncay Sanli is set to join Fenerbahce on loan. (Daily Mirror)



Come on Zola get in there, if he is willing to go there on loan why not us. :idea:

[saludo de carlitos]

Cheers CH, The first thread I look for everyday..

[EvilC]

Middlesbrough striker Tuncay Sanli is set to join Fenerbahce on loan. (Daily Mirror)



Come on Zola get in there, if he is willing to go there on loan why not us. :idea:

Because he is Turkish and a hero at Fenerbahce?