All Sam has to do is get Blackburn Mags to slap a restraining order on him from going within 50 metres of MacDonalds or Xabi Alonso and hide the cigars.

Sorted.

That might just be enough to stop him playing at Ewood since we have a McDonalds close enough!!

No doubt about it, it's got to be Newcastle, what with their decision to keep that thug Barton - who should never be allowed to kick a ball again.

George Cohen calls it exactly as it is.

Love his quote:

"His position becomes untenable if England fail to qualify," said Cohen. "If they gave [World Cup-winning England coach]Sir Alf Ramsey the sack, they can get rid of this guy."

Can't even bear to say his name!

From the BBC gossip pages this morning:

Blackburn captain Ryan Nelsen has ended his three-year international exile by agreeing to become New Zealand skipper. (The Sun)

What's that all about? As far as I know, Nelsen's always been available for selection for his country (apart from when injured of course).

I am thought that wass only after the 3rd year of a contract.

That's for players under 28 when they sign. I htink Benni signed for us after he was 28.

For 'small' clubs like us, it's always going to be difficult keeping hold of our better players.

Nevermind the fact that there is a clause for next season in Benni's contract, I think that I'm also correct in saying that at that point (contract becomes 'unprotected') he's entitled to buy out the remainder of his own contract and in essence leave for 'free'. Looks like the very best that we can hope for is £5m or whatever Benni's wages are over two years. (Probably around £4m at a very rough guess).

Clause or no clause, I'd rather keep him this season than cut off our own noses to spite our faces. Even if he leaves next year, we got two great seasons out of him and still make a profit.

If he leaves between now and August 31st 2007, then It would take something special to get us to part with him, which again, I'm more than happy with. It makes a nice change from being shafted all these years that I've followed us.

Nelsen's just signed a new 5 year contract

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/t...ers/6272484.stm

Very good news IMO. It hopefully means that we can all expect a period of stability at the club.

BTW Now we've hopefully sidelined Lampard until he gets his arse in gear what the hell does Dyer offer? In the past I've seen occasional flashes from him for Newcastke BUT I have never seen him have a good 90 minute game in his entire career. Has anyone else? He simply has too little to offer the England set up other than a few Geordie bums on seats.

As dislikeable as the little oik is, the last 2-3 displays he's put in for England have been very good imo. Last night (yes I know it was against plumbers), he had 2 very good chances in front of goal which is probably more than Rooney & Johnson had altogether. When he came on at least Dyer looked bothered.

I'm going to add Terry Butcher to my list. I just think it's rich that for ages he's been slagging off the England team (e.g. Drop Beckham and other stupid comments) and just has stupid ideas when in fact he's failed at Motherwell and also in the A-League. He just strikes me as a man without a clue.

I like Bilic. He was an excellent player and looks like becoming a good manager...

Unfortunately, I'll always remember him for his antics at the 1998 World Cup semi-finals...

I would say in the context of the Carrick and SWP fees in recent years that we are probably going to get a bid for around 12m this summer from one of the big four for Bentley. In that light would anyone accept it?

My personal opinion would be with Sparky's outstanding transfer record is that we probably would come out of it better than we are now (look at the Neill-Warnock situation), especially if we managed to get in a top class partner for McCarthy. In Reid we have a very good right winger coming back from injury. Dunn can also perform out there. Providing both of them progress I am not actually sure that we would be that much worse equipped on the right.

We might well be losing an excellent Tugay replacement though in the longer term. But can we realistically hope to keep him in the longer term?

Nonetheless outstanding performance from him today. Great to see a Rover succeed, and obviously I would be delighted if he stayed.

Well I saw the Sky website posting after his latest non-inclusion to the full England squad and he does seem happy at Ewood and I'm glad that he mentions that he'll start to get really annoyed after 300-odd games for Blackburn without a call up, then he might start to think about moving. I think we can see him staying for the foreseeable future.

Alan Green

There is a reason why this guy is on radio and not on TV.

IMO he's very biased towards the bigger teams, his commentary is pap - he sees/doesn't see things depending on the situation. Just a complete and utter nob.

He also annoys me when it appears like he is not trying, by this I mean running around. However, that is just his natural demeanour.

Think you've been spoiled watching too much Ashley Ward / Paul Dickov / Shefki Kuqi...

Shabba in full form, flight, injury free IMO (on watching him in the past) is better then Benni. Whether or not we can ever see him skinning defenders again like he did before the knee gave way is the question.

Don't think it was his knee? Didn't his leg nearly snap off? Either way, I'm not watching it again!

I actually quite like Nonda. He doesn't moan and complain, he just gets on with it. I do agree that it can be quite annoying that he can score amazing goals (e.g. v. Middlesborough at Ewood), but miss easy chances. However, I'd rather that he has the ability to do that sort of thing and if so, I'm sure that sooner or later he'll start putting away the easier chances.

I say if he's £1.5-2m, take him on. I'm sure there are other Premiership teams casting an eye over him, not many teams have a striker with the kind of goals/mins played ratio that he has.

West Ham squad 'out of control'

Reckless gambling ruining morale

Player won £38,000 from team-mates

Curbishley 'not talking' to big winner

Jamie Jackson

Sunday March 4, 2007

The Observer

A culture of reckless high-stakes gambling is causing division within West Ham and rupturing morale to such an extent that the first-team squad, already riven by cliques, is 'spiralling out of control' - and the players, manager and directors already know that they can do nothing to stop the club being relegated. That is the damning view from inside the dressing room at the Premiership's most troubled club.

Players are haemorrhaging vast amounts of money to each other at the card table, as much as £50,000 in one sitting. They have won and lost these staggering sums on the team coach to matches. 'How can they be in a good frame of mind for a match after that?' says one first-team player, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The player said: 'I've never seen anything like it in my career. It's one big mess here, the atmosphere is terrible, people don't talk to each other. Players are losing 30, 40 and 50 thousand pounds sometimes. By the time we arrive one player owes another and it's terrible for the team and morale. They are always playing cards.'

One senior player, an established international, is said to have won £38,000 from two of his team-mates in one afternoon recently. The losers had to pay up and manager Alan Curbishley is no longer speaking to the player who won the money. Two members of the squad have undertaken counselling and treatment for gambling addiction, and a third player is also believed to be seeking professional help.

The disillusioned player also identified a catalogue of other problems. These include spats between rival cliques within the dressing room over territory and wages; divisive tension between Curbishley and his players; doubts over the decision-making of new chairman Eggert Magnusson; and the widespread admission, privately, that the club will be relegated. He also said that one recent signing was amazed when he was asked to a meeting to discuss club affairs with senior management in a lap-dancing club, though the club strongly deny that any such meeting took place.

Added to West Ham's list of woes, as they prepare to take on Tottenham today, is the Premier League charge for alleged irregularities in the signing of the Argentine players Javier Mascherano and Carlos Tevez last August, which could result in the loss of points if the club are found guilty; and the pending trial of defender Anton Ferdinand on charges of assault and violent disorder following an alleged brawl outside a London nightclub last October.

It is the depth of the club's gambling problem, which has already caused winger Matthew Etherington and goalkeeper Roy Carroll to seek help, that most concerns Curbishley, according to our source. A West Ham spokesman said: 'The club is aware of the fact that gambling is an area of concern and the manager has made clear that it must stop. Steps have been taken to eradicate this in the team environment.'

It is believed that Curbishley's first attempt to stop the card schools some weeks ago failed, but gambling is now banned in situations where he is responsible for the team, such as on journeys to matches. But he has been unable to stop the poker sessions when training is over, and one recent session is said to have continued until 4am.

The former England striker Teddy Sheringham spoke about gambling earlier in the season when promoting the online poker site 888.com. 'I can see why it [gambling] does become a problem, especially for young players who have so much money and so much time on their hands. I've always enjoyed a drink, but at the right times, and I play poker at the right times. Some people take it to extremes. You've got to keep it under control.'

The gambling culture is one more headache for former Charlton manager Curbishley, who took over at Christmas, since when West Ham have won only once. Curbishley's predecessor, Alan Pardew, had taken the club to within a minute of winning the FA Cup last May, but then oversaw a dramatic slump this season. West Ham are now bottom of the table and 11 points adrift of safety.

According to a well-placed source at Upton Park, the players are 'certainly not a unit and haven't been for a long time. It began at the end of last season during Pardew's time. There is a huge division. Nigel Reo-Coker, Bobby Zamora, Marlon Harewood and Shaun Newton all hang out together. And Reo-Coker is constantly saying he is too good for the club, that he should be at Man United or Arsenal.' Team spirit is also damaged, according to the representative of one long-serving player, by the level of resentment about the wages paid to Matthew Upson and Lucas Neil, who were signed by Curbishley in the transfer window and are being paid big money. Neil is thought to have turned down Liverpool to keep a £60,000-a-week salary.

'It's not rocket science,' said the agent, who represents some of the biggest stars in the Premiership. 'If the established players who have achieved for the club see new ones come in enjoying a lot more money for doing not very much, it's obviously going to cause problems.' Upson and Neil have been injured and have made three appearances between them.

Curbishley is said to have 'given up' on some of his players. 'He often stays in his office with his assistants. Sometimes we see him, other times we don't,' said the insider. As for Magnusson, the players 'think he is clueless and a bit lost. He gives off the wrong messages and only talks to certain players in the dressing room - those he brought here. And he has accepted Curbishley's admission that they are already down.'

Curbishley said ahead of today's game that he does not fear the sack. 'Performances have to improve. We have to win as many as we can from our last 10 games.'

Source: The Observer

Unless the only game you've watched them play was Blackburn at home. Ah well. I hope they go down!

West Ham related from the BBC gossip (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/gossip_and_transfers/6385001.stm)

"Liverpool have just paid £1.5m for Argentina midfielder Javier Mascherano. (Daily Express)"

If that's true then something weird is definetely going on and we should get in there for Tevez - for £1.5m too

MARTIN KEOWN......

1. he was approached by a fan and his girlfriend. they asked- "can we please have a photo ?." keown then grabbed the camera and then photographed the couple !

2. he was once asked to sign a football. he wrote on a black panel, with a black marker pen !

I've heard that Keown is quite smart... I think he at least manages to speak French fluently and was almost like Wenger's interpreter when he first came to the UK to help him settle in.

Another McAteer one was again about his time at Liverpool. In the club canteen he was asked to pass the ketchup, to which he replied "Red or Brown".

He also shouted "One Hundred and Eiighty!!!!" accross a crowded bar to Jimmy White!!!

I think the actual thing was someone asked JM to pass over the red sauce - to which he asked, "Which one, red or brown?"

I think Iain Dowie despite him looking otherwise actually has a degree relating to rocket science...

And I think I remember somone saying that Slaven Bilic has a law degree. It's also been mentioned that Dennis Bergkamp was always taught to study first, football later.

Lampard, Ripley

That's funny, I've heard that Lampard was as thick as two short planks...

Did anyone read that article by Simon Jordan last season (in his column for a newspaper) where he goes on to talk about thick footballers... like one who called up their assistant because his head was getting wet - it turned out he was sleeping next to an open window and it was raining!

Edit: found it! http://football.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/...1651654,00.html

This is an exact transcript of what happened:

Materazzi was seen to hold Zidane's shirt on the edge of the penalty box in extra-time at which point Zidane said: "If you want my shirt so bad you can have it"

Materazzi: "I dont want your shirt you m***** ******. you're a ******* old man"

As they jog away Zidane is seen to laugh at this and it is unclear how he responded due to him having his back to the TV camera. Materazzi then hit a volley of abuse: "You should've quit 2 years ago, you're a ******* has-been. M***** ******! Your mum is a f****** muslim terrorist and you are to, **** you old man **** you. old man, this arena is not for you anymore m***** f****. Your sister is a whore and the whole Italian team has ****** her. **** off you bald ****.

Zidane carries on jogging away..

Materazzi: "You are only good enough for Tottenham Hotspur"

It's at this point Zidane turned and head-butted him.