The Official West Ham United Thread.
Discussion
Hammer67 said:
So the club spends a whole season aiming to qualify for European competition, and upon achieving it, a decision is taken to chuck it in to give us a better chance of qualifying for European competition.
Or am I missing something?
When you put it like that... although a couple more bookings towards the end of last season and we'd have been nowhere near the competition & not ended up embarrassing ourselves. Or am I missing something?
TCEvo said:
Hammer67 said:
So the club spends a whole season aiming to qualify for European competition, and upon achieving it, a decision is taken to chuck it in to give us a better chance of qualifying for European competition.
Or am I missing something?
When you put it like that... although a couple more bookings towards the end of last season and we'd have been nowhere near the competition & not ended up embarrassing ourselves. Or am I missing something?
It is often muted that players won't sign for clubs who can't offer European football, well we had it and, very publicly, semi-deliberately binned it.
"Shakes head in resignation"
RichB said:
On a different tack, did any of you watch the BBC piece about the OS? I missed it but assume Boris, the Tories and West Ham all got a hammering?
Yep, Barry Hearn putting the boot in. Could still turn nasty if the Europeans decide that the stadium was illegally subsidised.bad company said:
RichB said:
On a different tack, did any of you watch the BBC piece about the OS? I missed it but assume Boris, the Tories and West Ham all got a hammering?
Yep, Barry Hearn putting the boot in. Could still turn nasty if the Europeans decide that the stadium was illegally subsidised.Hammer67 said:
Well, I've said it before but IMO we will never win the PL but we COULD do some damage in a Cup or a European jolly up. I very much doubt many fellow Hammers truthfully believe otherwise. Why o why can't the powers that be see beyond mid table PL drudgery?
It is often muted that players won't sign for clubs who can't offer European football, well we had it and, very publicly, semi-deliberately binned it.
"Shakes head in resignation"
It's odd as most of the signings we've made this window have experience playing in Euro comps. It is often muted that players won't sign for clubs who can't offer European football, well we had it and, very publicly, semi-deliberately binned it.
"Shakes head in resignation"
Think we need to put it in perspective here....
I'm sure if we had a manager who'd been in the job a while, we'd have gone for it a bit more. As it stands, it's given Bilic a chance to look at pretty much every player in the squad in a competitive (or semi) environment, and decide who's in and who's out, and also where he needs to strengthen. He came to the West Ham party with literally zero prep before the first game.
What I can't understand, is why the club made such a big deal about qualifying for Europe for the last season at the Boelyn,(and to look at the last few Prem games you can't help but feel the players were under instructions not to dive in so as to achieve that), only then to apparently give Bilic carte blanche to to put out such weak teams?
Personally I have big reservations about him ( if he hadn't played 70 games he would never have been thought about)and also about the sort of season we are going to have. That's nothing to do with the Europa league, more I'm just not sure what he will bring results wise, and also the major concern of a genuine 15-20 goals a season man....still. All the other mid-table/lower half teams look stronger ( other than maybe Villa).If they're not going to chuck the money at Austin or Hernandez, then surely Lambert would have been worth a punt as a buy, or even Adebayor on rent.
I'm sure if we had a manager who'd been in the job a while, we'd have gone for it a bit more. As it stands, it's given Bilic a chance to look at pretty much every player in the squad in a competitive (or semi) environment, and decide who's in and who's out, and also where he needs to strengthen. He came to the West Ham party with literally zero prep before the first game.
What I can't understand, is why the club made such a big deal about qualifying for Europe for the last season at the Boelyn,(and to look at the last few Prem games you can't help but feel the players were under instructions not to dive in so as to achieve that), only then to apparently give Bilic carte blanche to to put out such weak teams?
Personally I have big reservations about him ( if he hadn't played 70 games he would never have been thought about)and also about the sort of season we are going to have. That's nothing to do with the Europa league, more I'm just not sure what he will bring results wise, and also the major concern of a genuine 15-20 goals a season man....still. All the other mid-table/lower half teams look stronger ( other than maybe Villa).If they're not going to chuck the money at Austin or Hernandez, then surely Lambert would have been worth a punt as a buy, or even Adebayor on rent.
sjc said:
Think we need to put it in perspective here....
I'm sure if we had a manager who'd been in the job a while, we'd have gone for it a bit more. As it stands, it's given Bilic a chance to look at pretty much every player in the squad in a competitive (or semi) environment, and decide who's in and who's out, and also where he needs to strengthen. He came to the West Ham party with literally zero prep before the first game.
What I can't understand, is why the club made such a big deal about qualifying for Europe for the last season at the Boelyn,(and to look at the last few Prem games you can't help but feel the players were under instructions not to dive in so as to achieve that), only then to apparently give Bilic carte blanche to to put out such weak teams?
Personally I have big reservations about him ( if he hadn't played 70 games he would never have been thought about)and also about the sort of season we are going to have. That's nothing to do with the Europa league, more I'm just not sure what he will bring results wise, and also the major concern of a genuine 15-20 goals a season man....still. All the other mid-table/lower half teams look stronger ( other than maybe Villa).If they're not going to chuck the money at Austin or Hernandez, then surely Lambert would have been worth a punt as a buy, or even Adebayor on rent.
Re goals / striker only one "modern" era (I class that as post 1980 I'm sure if we had a manager who'd been in the job a while, we'd have gone for it a bit more. As it stands, it's given Bilic a chance to look at pretty much every player in the squad in a competitive (or semi) environment, and decide who's in and who's out, and also where he needs to strengthen. He came to the West Ham party with literally zero prep before the first game.
What I can't understand, is why the club made such a big deal about qualifying for Europe for the last season at the Boelyn,(and to look at the last few Prem games you can't help but feel the players were under instructions not to dive in so as to achieve that), only then to apparently give Bilic carte blanche to to put out such weak teams?
Personally I have big reservations about him ( if he hadn't played 70 games he would never have been thought about)and also about the sort of season we are going to have. That's nothing to do with the Europa league, more I'm just not sure what he will bring results wise, and also the major concern of a genuine 15-20 goals a season man....still. All the other mid-table/lower half teams look stronger ( other than maybe Villa).If they're not going to chuck the money at Austin or Hernandez, then surely Lambert would have been worth a punt as a buy, or even Adebayor on rent.
) striker's been close to that ratio for us - Cottee; averaged 20.8 goals a season according to Wiki. No one else has got close - both Di Canio & McAvennie are circa 12 goals average per season; Carroll's currently on 4.5 per season (Ashton was 5 per season over his time w/ the Club).Austin's on 17.5 ave per season at the moment. Raúl Jiménez, who's mentioned on the BBC site in connection w/ WHUFC only scored once last season for At Madrid but averaged 12 per season in the Mexican league.
Conclusion...
get Austin bought now & stop messing about w/ cheap loan crap. 
TCEvo said:
sjc said:
Think we need to put it in perspective here....
I'm sure if we had a manager who'd been in the job a while, we'd have gone for it a bit more. As it stands, it's given Bilic a chance to look at pretty much every player in the squad in a competitive (or semi) environment, and decide who's in and who's out, and also where he needs to strengthen. He came to the West Ham party with literally zero prep before the first game.
What I can't understand, is why the club made such a big deal about qualifying for Europe for the last season at the Boelyn,(and to look at the last few Prem games you can't help but feel the players were under instructions not to dive in so as to achieve that), only then to apparently give Bilic carte blanche to to put out such weak teams?
Personally I have big reservations about him ( if he hadn't played 70 games he would never have been thought about)and also about the sort of season we are going to have. That's nothing to do with the Europa league, more I'm just not sure what he will bring results wise, and also the major concern of a genuine 15-20 goals a season man....still. All the other mid-table/lower half teams look stronger ( other than maybe Villa).If they're not going to chuck the money at Austin or Hernandez, then surely Lambert would have been worth a punt as a buy, or even Adebayor on rent.
Re goals / striker only one "modern" era (I class that as post 1980 I'm sure if we had a manager who'd been in the job a while, we'd have gone for it a bit more. As it stands, it's given Bilic a chance to look at pretty much every player in the squad in a competitive (or semi) environment, and decide who's in and who's out, and also where he needs to strengthen. He came to the West Ham party with literally zero prep before the first game.
What I can't understand, is why the club made such a big deal about qualifying for Europe for the last season at the Boelyn,(and to look at the last few Prem games you can't help but feel the players were under instructions not to dive in so as to achieve that), only then to apparently give Bilic carte blanche to to put out such weak teams?
Personally I have big reservations about him ( if he hadn't played 70 games he would never have been thought about)and also about the sort of season we are going to have. That's nothing to do with the Europa league, more I'm just not sure what he will bring results wise, and also the major concern of a genuine 15-20 goals a season man....still. All the other mid-table/lower half teams look stronger ( other than maybe Villa).If they're not going to chuck the money at Austin or Hernandez, then surely Lambert would have been worth a punt as a buy, or even Adebayor on rent.
) striker's been close to that ratio for us - Cottee; averaged 20.8 goals a season according to Wiki. No one else has got close - both Di Canio & McAvennie are circa 12 goals average per season; Carroll's currently on 4.5 per season (Ashton was 5 per season over his time w/ the Club).Austin's on 17.5 ave per season at the moment. Raúl Jiménez, who's mentioned on the BBC site in connection w/ WHUFC only scored once last season for At Madrid but averaged 12 per season in the Mexican league.
Conclusion...
get Austin bought now & stop messing about w/ cheap loan crap. sjc said:
Not sure the average a season tells an honest story, as it doesn't allow for injuries I assume?
No it doesn't, but it does throw up a interesting number for comparing; I'm not clever enough to work out co-efficients or complicated formulas!AC & Ashton are the two where numbers are distorted as they've played so little football - looking at appearances:goal ratio's:
AC: 0.27
DA: 0.32
Cottee: 0.41
As Rich mentioned Marlon H scored 20 goals in one season - doubt any of us every thought that he was a decent striker, although found his level in the Championship & certainly not one to compare with Tony Cottee who averaged over 20 (btw that didn't take into account his time at Everton - don't know what his record there was).
RichB said:
bad company said:
I remember Geoff Hurst scoring 6 in one match. A longtime ago mind. 
Longtime ago? Don't remind me! I was there, pressed up against the wall to the left of the goal in the North Bank! Also significant that we no foreign players in the team, unless you count Bobby Ferguson who is a Scot.
So, continuing the theme of the thread and as there's obviously a few more 'senior' supporters on here; who is the best striker you've ever seen at West Ham, and by that I don't mean statistically but the one you enjoyed watching the most. For me I'd have to go for Tony Cottee, that period of watching Cottee, McAvennie and not forgetting Paul Goddard was the pinnacle of 50+ years of being supporter.
I only started going in 1994 when I was still a kid, but I'd say it's Cottee or Di Canio for me. I know Di Canio wasn't a heavy hitter in terms of goals, think the max he got in a season was 15, but he brought a lot of flair to matches. Unless I'm just seeing it through rose tinted specs.
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