On the Ball (new Football Focus)

[matthew123]

No, what I was getting at, was that those players added to the current West Ham team would struggle to just get CL qualification... ok they'd probably pip Arsenal... but not in a million years would they be the best.

I think MP was probably alluding to also keeping hold of James, Tevez, Bellamy, Mascherano - in his bold statement!

[Ted Max]

I understood what you were getting at. Sheesh.

[Sharon_H]

Anna - so glad you was there. I watched it in the Kng Charles, then had a great night out in town. Only made it back today, great stuff!

[mockney piers]

OK our academy wouldn't exactly give us a squad, but it's a damned good start, what with Carrick and Lampard 2 of the best central midfielders, and cole as good a player you could hope for, build a team around the boy they should. So Noble might struggle to hold his place but great prospect for the future, I give him 2 more seasons with us sadly, Sears, remains to be seen whether he's just promise or the real thing, but if the latter, maybe 4 seasons tops :(

I can't really count Tevez as west ham, he just visited briefly, nice lad though.

And give me Green over James any day thanks very much.

I'd have Yossi back though!!

[Atila Reincarnate]

matthew123 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> No, what I was getting at, was that those players

> added to the current West Ham team would struggle

> to just get CL qualification... ok they'd probably

> pip Arsenal... but not in a million years would

> they be the best.

>

> I think MP was probably alluding to also keeping

> hold of James, Tevez, Bellamy, Mascherano - in his

> bold statement!

Pip the Arsenal? Wake up and smell the humus!

[matthew123]

But would your West Ham "Academy" team beat your West Ham "Liverpool" team !? ;-)

David James

Rob Jones

David Burrows

Neil Ruddock

Julian Dicks

* Yossi

Don Hutchison

* Mascherano

Mike Marsh

Titi Camera

Craig Bellamy

[Keef]

Looks like Shef U are finally going to rob a few quid off of West Ham. At least the whole soory affair will be over, and hopefully Shef U will shut the f**k up about it orever now.

Sorry, but I hate a bad loser, and that is all this has stank of since it started.

[Atila Reincarnate]

At the end of the day if West Ham were in the wrong then they should stump up. Having said that the FA & the league need to be consistent in their dealings which they have been unable to demonstrate thus far, one rule for you one rule for somebody else, but hey ain't that the FA/League all over?

[matthew123]

Well, Sheffield United only had themselves to blame, for getting relegated. They were not good enough.

There are rules broken all the time. For me, the Tevez case was just a technicality, the spirit of the law was upheld. It's not like Tevez was the 12th man on the pitch, or should have been serving a suspension when he scored his goals.

Neil Warnock at one stage blamed Rafa Benitez for United getting relegated, due to Liverpool playing a weakened team at Fulham before a huge Champions League match. Whereas Warnock, did not blame his good friend Ferguson for putting out a weakened team on final day of season at home to West Ham.

Should West Ham pay up - no!

[Atila Reincarnate]

Tecnicality or not, rules is rules, and the FA and league should always be consistent, which they are not and leaves them open to the flak they get. West Ham can't gripe because they got caught, and the end of the day a breach has been committed so what more can you say, I feel for the Hammers but that's life.

[Keef]

I've actually always felt it should have been the league who paid compensation, as it was them who failed to mention that a rule had been broken (because no one seemed quite sure whether it had or not). Once the league table was finalised and West Ham were safe, why should they be punished?

I've nothing against Shef U, and wish them well, but this thing has been stupid. I have everything against Neil Warnock, not least the affair Matthew mentions. Why should any team consider another team when pickin a side that they feel best suits their own ambitions? As I said at the time, had Shef U been safe, and had an FA Cup final or something around the corner, his attitude will have undoubtedly be different! Not just that though, I genuinely think he's a complete tool!

[red devil]

Matthew, by all means continue with your personal vendetta to slag Utd off at every opportunity, but please try and get your facts straight...

Warnock slams Sir Alex

[matthew123]

Okay I missed those quotes, probably because of information overload on him blaming Liverpool. Warnock may have 'slammed' Ferguson at the time, but a year later he was still slating Rafa and accusing him of being bribed by the Fulham owner, 'Maybe Rafa gets a yearly hamper from Harrods for his team selections' - and 'Integrity, doing what is right for the game, comes way down Rafa's list of priorities'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/apr/20/newsstory.sport5

[????]

West Ham have paid up out of pragmatism....ie they need to get sold and this hanging over them isn't helping. So they offered McCabe a deal that he realised wouldn't get any better and many thought if this went the whole way he'd actually get nothing.

west Ham fans are largely pissed off about this but except the Realpolitik of the situation.

West Ham fans remains pissed off that we have branded cheats when this was originally a technichal cock up which we got punsihed for with a hefty fine and at that time everyone was quite happy with that as we were certains for relegation

When we started to get some results together, suddenly a group of clubs started to make noises about our 'light punsihment' and demanded points deduction. Funnily enough, with the exception of the ever odious spuds, these teams were all in the danger zone themselves.

Towards the end of this sorry game of musical chairs most of the teams dropped out of threatening legal action as they moved out of danger just leaving two Sheffield United and Wigan

Finally Sheffield United went down and Wigan just offered lukewarm moral support

Sheffield United's performance and points pick picked up in the last 10 games of that season were absolutely awful whereas West Ham won 7/10 including victories at Old Trafford and the Emirates

It suits the utter sh1te Warnock - who is showing just what a great manager he is at Palace - to keep banging on about how West Ham were cheats as is deflects attention away from what a useless manager he proved in the Premiership, which, to be fair, many Sheffield United fans do realise. DFor McCabe it was always about the money.

Thanks to the ongoing and largely false garbage pouring out from these two, the press and most other teams fans still seem to think that West Ham somehow cheated to stay up....

I hope something unpleasant happens to both of them

[red devil]

Matthew, at least we agree that Warnock is a pillock! If he was good enough to manage a better club he might then understand why Rafa, Fergie et al rest key players before big games. I'm with Quids in that West Ham were fined at the time for a technicality and that should've been an end to it. It was only after Sheffield went down that it all kicked off again. I've read somewhere that some Sheffield players were considering sueing West Ham for loss of earnings!..

[mockney piers]

10??% (cos my power amp goes up that far) what quids said.

during all of this I gather auditors dug up some iffy accounting at SU and suddenly an out of court settlement looked a very viable option to both teams, one who needs this gone so we can concentrate on getting a new buyer and not being the first major scalp to the credit crunch and the other who realises that (as Quids said) it's the best they can get.

Echo Keef, sorry sorry stink about the lot and thank god it'll finally be over.

[SimonM]

Finally Sheffield United went down and Wigan just offered lukewarm moral support <<

Cannot let this one pass. Fulham, Wigan, Charlton and United were all solid about this - before it became clear which of the sides would actually be relegated. The rest of the Premier League was deafeningly silent in support of West Ham.

West Ham having actually paid up yet. The final sum payable is to be decided next week. Sheffield United claim ?45 million whereas West Ham claim it should be ?5 million. They should really stop whingeing and procrastinating and realise their employees let their club down on two distinct occasions with Tevez, the second time fatally. Now the chickens are finally home to roost. Ironically, if the Premier League had been remotely efficient and docked points then by now West Ham would probably be back in the Premier League and....who knows where a Warnock-managed Sheffield United would be? West Ham behaving like hard-done-by martyrs is just laughable.

SimonM

[mockney piers]

So some shonky businessmen who care about noone but themselves do some dubious deals, the club suffers and fans are martyrs?

I'm guessing everyone who lost their pensions to the Maxwells simply saw their chickens come home to roost and should just get over it huh?

[????]

er, Simon read my post in full...

"When we started to get some results together, suddenly a group of clubs started to make noises about our 'light punsihment' and demanded points deduction. Funnily enough, with the exception of the ever odious spuds, these teams were all in the danger zone themselves. ....Towards the end of this sorry game of musical chairs most of the teams dropped out of threatening legal action as they moved out of danger just leaving two Sheffield United and Wigan"

Plus you're on old news - if the reports are to be believed BBC, Independent, etc deal has been struck at ?10m over a number of seaons.....prior to next week as McCabe presumambly doesn't want to go there for 'some reason'........mmmm...interesting

[SimonM]

I am sorry but your quoted paragraph is littered with inaccuracies....and its old news anyway. It was debated beyond the point of boredom here more than once. And the key word in your final sentence is "If the reports are to be believed...."

[woofmarkthedog]

Yeah

[????]

Well...they are all over the media, keef posted a link (if you don't belive me) and next week's meeting has been cancelled so I think they probably can..........

[matthew123]

Damn, I've sprained the bottom of my back, and the last time that happened, also happened to be on the eve of a Manchester United v Liverpool match. Almost 6 years ago in 2003. So, I'm going to predict the same scorline as that joyful afternoon.

TWO nil to Liverpool.

Then hopefully, I can make it down to the EDT afterwards to watch Wales thump Italy in Six Nations!

[Sandperson]

But if you do win, will you win the league?

[matthew123]

No