The Reality Has Finally Hit Upton Park
I was standing inside Upton Park on Monday afternoon watching a dire game of football which West Ham managed to win 1-0 over the Championship’s bottom side Coventry City; when I looked around and saw scenes that I thought would be irrelevant this season.
As Kevin Nolan headed home a deserved winner for the Hammers, there were nail-biting conversations circling around the ground, desperately trying to find out the scores from other Championship games. What a difference a year has made to the mentality of the everyday West Ham fan. The announcement that both Southampton and Middlesbrough had lost was met with just as bigger cheer as the one that met Nolan’s goal and that made me extremely worried.
It felt like it was the final game of the season and the club were depending on other teams’ results to sneak into the promotion places, but the fact that it is the beginning of January shocked me. It is now that the majority of Hammers fans have realised that not only are West Ham a Championship side but the fact that promotion is anything but guaranteed.
Sam Allardyce is desperately hoping to add numbers to his remarkably thin squad in January but the names linked with the club once again show what level the club is now on. The likes of Billy Sharp and Peter Whittingham are two of the top targets branded about in the media in the past few days, and they would probably get into the majority of Championship sides and as of this week, West Ham fans have realised they are no longer above that sort of signing. A modest attitude is now a must from everyone surrounding the clubs as they are no longer a big fish in a small pond.
A naivety that was lingering around before has been dismissed and the supporters are now set for a long, tough second half of season where the club will do everything it can to return to the top flight at the first attempt. On paper the East Enders have the best side in the division, but the opening few months of the season has shown anything but that and although the club moved back into the top two on Monday, they are a million miles from any Premier League quality.
This time last year West Ham secured the signing of Demba Ba, who as everyone knows has gone on to have a stunning 12 months and with the likes of Wayne Bridge and Robbie Keane also coming through the door last January, you can understand the underwhelming attitude towards the prospect of Doncaster’s Sharp’s possible arrival. But West Ham fans are a realistic bunch and Allardyce appears to have the full backing of both the board and the fans for the first time in a while to drag the club from the doom and gloom of waiting on Middelsborough’s results to the thrill of hosting Manchester United and Chelsea next year.
Will West Ham return to the Premier League at the first attempt? Let me know on Twitter: @Brad_Pinard
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well said mate,
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Oh give it a rest. We are a championship side, therefore trying to secure premier league players is hard. Im sure whatever players come in will do well. Put it this way i would rather have a championship striker with big sam at the helm than a premier league striker with Grant still in charge. Last weekend we had a super thin side with soo many injuries. Give the lads and the gaffer a chance!!!!!!!! for once. COYI!
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Brad. Poor poor article. No content no news no nothing, just whining and filling the ether with your opinion. The Internet is a good thing but sometimes, as in the case of this nonsense, its probably best to leave opinion and journalism to the pros NOT a frustrated wannabe.
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Brad Pinard Reply:
January 5th, 2012 at 3:40 pm
That’s your opinion, this is not supposed to be a ‘newsy’ article. I am expressing my opinion on how I feel, which I am able to do.
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I don’t think anyone thought promotion was guaranteed or expected us to be signing top Premiership players. In fact most of us were pleasantly surprised that we held on to some of our better players (Green, Tomkins, Noble, Collison, Cole) and signed some decent ones (Faye, Nolan, Taylor, Baldock). You focus on the highlights of our signings during our premier league period but forget the rest of it. Personally I would be a lot happier seeing young players like Rhodes coming in than the likes of Mido and McCarthy.
I think most fans would have been pretty happy at the beginning of the season if you’d told them we would be joint top going into 2012
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Well apart from stating the obvious about Demba Ba, I’d rather see Sharp or Whittingham at the club than the mercenary likes of Keane or Bridge anyway, if & when we come up then I’m sure the calibre of player we sign will improve but whose to say some of this seasons signings like Sam Baldock can’t make an impact in the EPL anyway? Truth is we absolutel battered Coventry and on another day would have been 3 up by half time and that’s with coping with a lot of first choice players out. judge at the end of the season, we are behind Southampton only on goal difference and that’s with the likes of taylor, Baldock and others injured.
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The point I am trying to make is that West Ham have fallen a lot in the last 12 months or so and not just in league positions. I would welcome Jordan Rhodes to the club, but I am worried that spending £10+ million in January on Championship players may hamper us next year. I am very much behind the owners and Big Sam but that is my opinion.
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Horses for courses – we wouldn’t get out of the championship with 2nd rate premiership players, or playing pretty football. Its a long, hard slog and Big Sam knows what will get us through it, and that it requires players that give their all, and are not frightened of a battle. Once we are there we can start to build a squad better equipped for premiership football. The other side of life (and the ‘thrill’) in the premiership is having to watch the rubbish played by Stoke and Bolton and Wolves – I’d much rather watch us play Southampton or Blackpool!
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Rewind to 2003/04 and take a look at the players we had brought in after losing the likes of di canio, cole, sinclair, james that summer then defoe and carrick during that season and the following season.. connolly, harewood, mullins, reo coker plus the likes of noble and anton, not much experience and certainly not tested in the prem yet down to good management and hard work not only did we get promoted but had an outstanding season on our return to the top flight.. i say bring in the likes of rhodes, whittingham and maynard if possible rather than over the hill ex prem players (carew as an example) who are not looking to prove anything! it may well cost 10-12 million but what price is that when the premier league offers a minimum of 30 million on return!! we’re thread bare at the moment and short on goals, i don’t see any prem player/s who fit the bill to come in and do a job.. Ba aside last jan we brought in utter rubbish and lazy players! this season could just be a very positive thing to happen at west ham!!!
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If you don’t like what you see , don’t go , simple really. I lost interest in your waffle when you said it was a dire game. 22 shots, 14 on target. It might not be up to Barcas standard but some of us realise the difference between playing in the championship and the champions league.
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This article is utter tosh. I thought the Coventry game was actually quite entertaining and both sides played some good football, with Coventry’s ‘keeper having an outstanding game. I think we have made good signings and are making good progress. Look at Norwich’s and Swansea’s side – how many ‘premier league’ names are in it? And look how well they are doing… meanwhile QPR with it’s high paid, ex-West Ham team can’t buy a win for love nor money… I am afraid whilst it you have a right to your opinion, you don’t seem to know what you are talking about.
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