di canio

Di Canio To Be Grant’s Successor? – and Other Assorted Musings!
It is interesting to note that the Avram Grant to Chelski stories have started circulating once again. I am not sure how much credibility this rumour actually has, but I am pretty certain that the collateral rumour that Di Canio will succeed him is wide of the mark! Of course the story in question relates to current Lecce boss, Luigi Di Canio, not Hammers great Paulo. Luigi Di Canio is managing a Lecce side struggling in Serie A, who have still had some good results against the larger Italian clubs this seasons. He is also the same Luigi Di Canio who had a brief stint in charge at QPR a couple of seasons ago. I do not feel that the story has much validity, but I can honestly say that I would much rather give Paulo the opportunity to take charge.

Well, the FA were true to form and duly fined and banned Avram Grant from the touchline for the sin of making some very reasonable post-match cmments after the FA Cup Quarter-Final against Stoke City. Football must be one of the few societal spheres in which conclusive evidence, in support of statements made, means nothing and people are punished for speaking the truth. No, referees must obviously be defended at all costs, even when their poor decisions affect match results. But, of course, we all know that the FA deal with poorly performing officials in their own peculiar way. They defend them to the hilt publicly, at the time, and then later quietly demote them from the PL list when they think that no one will notice. In any other sphere that would rightly be condemned as hypocrisy and double standards, but not in the alternative dimension inhabited by the FA, god bless them! Equally shocking is the implication that a club can apparently employ the most abject cheating to win a match, which is ignored or missed by the officials, and the FA have sweet FA to say about it. As someone once said, its a funny old game!

I see that Man Utd’s appeal against Wayne Rooney’s two match ban was rejected earlier today. We all know that some clubs have more clout than others with the FA, but I suspect that they were in a corner and had to reaffirm their judgement in this instance. They could have seen the appeal as frivolous and increased the ban, but they stopped short of taking that step. That was probably seen as a step too far in displeasing Sir Alex and the Man Utd hierarchy.

Oh well, it could be that Spurs’ 15 minutes of CL fame is over! The 4-0 humiliation against Real Madrid was not exactly surprising after failing to beat woeful Wigan at the weekend. Yes, I know that they will claim that it was all down to Crouch’s dismissal, but the likelihood is that they would have been well beaten anyway. Perhaps Arry will inspire his team to another CL comeback at WHL, but it is asking a hell of a lot. All it needs is for Spurs to fail to finish in the top four and that will be their lot in the competition for a while. I am usually less antagonistic towards Spurs than most Hammers fans, but after declaring their possible intent to seek judicial review of the OS procurement process, I have no sympathy for them whatsoever. One can only speculate whether the Spurs hierarchy have some sort of death wish, to pursue this in the face of vocal and united opposition from their own fans, Haringey politicians (on the Council and the local MPs) and the Olympic/national political nexus (past and current) who are mightily thankful that West Ham’s bid helped them out of the’ athletics legacy’ hole that they had dug for themselves via their previous lack of vision, poor planning and flawed decision-making. They are not likely to take kindly to Spurs trying to up set the OS apple cart at this stage.

There is another rumour doing the rounds that both Villa and Newcastle are interested in our England U-21 International, Jordan Spence. Perhaps his recent performances for Bristol City, and elevation to the U-21 squad, has drawn their attention to his potential. Spence is 20 years of age now and, if the club really rate him, he needs more exposure to first team football at West Ham. Perhaps the fact is that he not doing enough in training, and the reserves, to merit inclusion at first team level? Alternatively, maybe the loan to Bristol City is designed to sharpen his game ahead of being called in to first team action next season? Whatever, we must be sure that we do not lose a player who could go on to make the grade for another PL club and go on to further international honours. Personally, I would secure him on a new contract and gradually introduce him to first team football next season. After all, it is the only certain way of testing Spence’s PL potential.

The question pre-occupying most Hammers fans currently is: can we break the Bolton Wanderers hoodoo this weekend? They really are our bogey team, but that has to change at some point. This team has what it takes to secure a victory at the Reebok. In these type of games it is just as much about mental and physical strength, as it is about playing quality football. We need to approach the game in the same frame of mind that we did the PL game, at Upton Park, against Stoke City. To do that we must deal with Kevin Davies, for once, and win the vital midfield battle. We have much more quality than them, but we need the application to bring that quality to bare and make it tell. I am travelling up there with the expectation of seeing a crucial Hammers victory. Lets see what transpires?

Finally, I see that Torres’ goal draught continues at Chelski. However, he must be mightily encouraged that West Ham provide the opposition to Chelski shortly. Torres has a great record against West Ham and, if his drought continues this coming weekend, what are the odds of him getting his first Chelski goal against us? As a matter of principle, I would never bet against my team, but if I was a neutral I might be tempted to get on that bet! Alternatively, perhaps Matt Upson will have him in his pocket for the whole match? Well, we can live in hope can’t we?

SJ. Chandos.


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


interesting....i liked him while he was here