gdp's Comments

West Ham Till I Die : Vote: Player Performances v Middlesbrough

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 23:27:27 +0000

Good luck with your NEBOSH course - nothing like the practical experience of supporting WHU to get you through it ... I mean Section 2 of the HSW obviously has us in mind (for 'employer' read 'WHU' and for 'employees' read 'supporters') cos there's certainly a risk to my health supporting West Ham. :)

West Ham Till I Die : Vote: Player Performances v Middlesbrough

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 23:16:04 +0000

Hasn't it sunk into Sam's head yet that this just isn't working? If I was at work and I kept doing the same thing with no result (oh sorry 1-1 is a result), I'd be told to change things around. That said, the atmosphere was better than the last mid-week game which was surprising as there was definitely a depleted crowd - the club have it down as 27.250, the 3rd lowest home crowd this season. There was quite a bit of singing and something different from the north end of the Chicken Run but it still wasn't what I'd call vibrant. The way to get us up and enthusing is to have something to react to? I've said before that I think the club can do more and Kriss Akabusi made a rousing stab at the team sheet, but we need to be playing attacking pushing football for us to be on our feet cheering them on. Our midfield is woeful at the moment - Taylor was having a right old strop with Linda which went on a bit too long. He does strike me as being more temperamental than I first thought. And what on earth was that double substitution?

West Ham Till I Die : Purge Your Negative Thoughts & Get Behind the Team!

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 22:13:12 +0000

There are some occasions when we haven't needed to be prompted into vigorously supporting the team, but they are becoming more and more infrequent.. As I've suggested before, I think the club could do more to get the fans singing and to ramp up the atmosphere - there needs to be more than Jeremy Nicholas saying 'lets get behind the lads' before starting off Bubbles just before kick-off. Usually at this time of the season, I'm checking to see how the others around us are doing to see how close we are to being relegated. It's obviously different this season (although in a lower league), however, I recognise that the behaviour I'm demonstrating is similar to that of the last couple of seasons as I'm trying to emotionally detach myself from caring about the team's results. I've started not to read all the emails Sam keeps sending me, or the RSS feeds from the official website, or even to read or post anything on here. Quite simply, it hurts too much and I care too much. This has all been put into perspective by what happened to Muamba on Saturday, but it still doesn't stop me caring. This means for all the remaining home games, I will be singing along and shouting encouragement from the Chicken Run ... but I won't be booing. An aside - I was at my elderly aunt's on Saturday attaching a digibox to her TV when I saw we were 1-0 down and it took an act of enormous restraint not to start swearing and stomping around and to be patient when explaining to her in lots of different ways exactly what ITV1 plus 1 is all about. I only found out when showing her the BBC red button that we'd drawn. The joys of modern technology :)

West Ham Till I Die : When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going!

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 14:03:05 +0000

Sorry, off topic but we've just signed Portsmouth's goalie Henderson on loan until end of the season with a view to making it permanent: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17350578 and here's the official site's news: http://www.whufc.com/articles/20120316/hammers-ca... As Green has intimated that if we don't get promoted he's off, so Henderson could be his potential replacement with all the fuss about payment's for Stech.

West Ham Till I Die : Playing Away

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 19:31:57 +0000

Sorry, off topic but have you seen that Tomkins and NOLAN have been voted by all the Championship managers, into the top ten players. http://www.whufc.com/articles/20120314/duo-in-top... Are we missing something?

West Ham Till I Die : Playing Away

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 15:11:01 +0000

A bit late in the day, but can I change my home season ticket for an away one please? :)

West Ham Till I Die : Match Preview: West Ham v Doncaster Rovers

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 22:20:18 +0000

It's funny as I took the discussions we'd had about our responsibility with me to the game and I thought we were actually noisier than we have been recently. The only trouble is that it got more negatively noisy towards the end of the game. It also made me think we need more than Jeremy Nicholas saying to everyone before we kicked off that we all had to make as much noise as we could to support the team. I like change, so I'd be willing to give something different a go. I take your point that it needs to be repeated a few times before it becomes more accepted and just because there'll be some that will say "I don't think so" that's no reason not to have a go. Perhaps they could orchestrate a sing-a-long before or at half-time? They could even get different parts of the stadium to compete with each other? Maybe get a WHU-supporting singer to lead it? OK, I doubt that Katy Perry's up for it now and off hand I can only think of Chesney Hawkes! Or we could have a simple canon that'd be easy to catch on and sing repeatedly?

West Ham Till I Die : Vote: Player Performances v Doncaster Rovers

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 22:02:44 +0000

I needed to eat something and have a cup of tea before I could post anything after going to see that game. Cole - I can understand why Sam plays him o/a his holding up the ball/laying it off/target man, but hopefully he won't be in the first 11 next week after today's performance. Ye gods, why wasn't he substituted? Collison - I like the lad and he was playing where he should be, central midfield but where's his skill gone? Taylor - he battled/harried and made some useful tackles and I remembered that contributors here have said he was more a defender than midfielder. That may be, but understandably he didn't have much rapport with the central defence and that did on occasion cause problems. What's happened to his dead ball skills? Vaz Te - loved the dive (which we all laughed at) early on next to the Chicken Run but then he carried on moaning and waving his arms around. For goodness sake, we all saw through him and there was no injustice so why didn't he just shut up and get on with it? Baldock - looks sharp but there's no way he's a winger. Faye and Tomkins - sound partnership. Rarely make a mistake and both are so reliable. Green - aren't we lucky he's our goalie? Lansbury - just seems to be running around a lot with little contribution. Noble - solid in the middle, his distribution is generally sound but it all got too crowded with local traffic and his not seeing the long ball. Allardyce - why did he play so many people out of position? Why substitute Nolan in the way he did? He was never going to bring on Morrison unless we were 2-0 up. This is what frustrates me with managers - why have him on the bench if you're not going to use him to open up the opposition? I know, it's because Sam wanted to defend the draw ... and that was a fortunate draw as well wasn't it? (I hadn't quite planned on posting like that as it was going to be more 'Woe-R-Us', but it just came out that way!)

West Ham Till I Die : Home Form: Are We to Blame?

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 18:56:48 +0000

I didn't take offence at all mate - I could see how I'd misinterpreted what you'd put and I did start a reply but I went to another site which wiped out everything but it was along the lines of what I put to Birzo re club doing more (which is dodgy) and about your friend saying the Boleyn was better which reminded me of standing in the North Bank at a midweek game with a drink in my hand singing. Thanks for your nice comments - I follow what you've got to say as well as I think we're usually singing from the same hymn sheet aren't we?

West Ham Till I Die : Match Preview: West Ham v Doncaster Rovers

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 12:26:38 +0000

Yes, until the end of the season: http://www.whufc.com/articles/20120309/hammers-sn...

West Ham Till I Die : Match Preview: West Ham v Doncaster Rovers

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 11:11:58 +0000

I like Jackthehammer's line up and will be very pleased if that's the one that starts, but unfortunately I don't think it'll happen as I think Sam'll stick with Cole up front. Agree with comments about Morrison - it'd be great to have him on the bench. This may be one of those games where Sam just thinks he may need to do something different to get a positive outcome ... we can but hope.

West Ham Till I Die : Match Preview: West Ham v Doncaster Rovers

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 11:05:51 +0000

There's no way he'll leave him out especially after Sam bigged him up so much after the Cardiff game. I wouldn't play Nolan but he has been playing in a more forward position in the past two games and looked much better than before he was suspended.

West Ham Till I Die : Match Preview: West Ham v Doncaster Rovers

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 11:02:51 +0000

I just posted this reply in the other thread, so I've copied it here: I can see where Goatygav's coming from with regards to the reluctance of some of the supporters to participate but I do think WHU could do something different to involve the fans. Following on from your idea there's the running advertising screens around 3 of the stands now which they could use. However, the difficulty is that if it's too orchestrated some of the fans just then won't join in. I can see them putting up the words and everyone reading then and thinking 'sod yer, I'm not playing' - I seem to remember they did something to involve the crowd (but I can't remember what) a few years ago and it went down like a lead balloon? I think there's a fine line to tread as the crowd don't like to be told what to do and want to be spontaneous, but it's getting them to be spontaneous!

West Ham Till I Die : Home Form: Are We to Blame?

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 10:55:40 +0000

I can see where Goatygav's coming from with regards to the reluctance of some of the supporters but I do think WHU could do something different to involve the fans. Following on from your idea there's the running advertising screens around 3 of the stands now which they could use. However, the difficulty is that if it's too orchestrated some of the fans just then won't join in. I can see them putting up the words and everyone reading then and thinking 'sod yer, I'm not playing' - I seem to remember they did something to involve the crowd (but I can't remember what) a few years ago and it went down like a lead balloon? I think there's a fine line to tread as the crowd don't like to be told what to do and want to be spontaneous, but it's getting them to be spontaneous!

West Ham Till I Die : Home Form: Are We to Blame?

Fri, 9 Mar 2012 22:25:56 +0000

But the trouble is I don't know the words - when we hear others singing something different, we're usually looking at each other and saying "what are they singing?". I hasten to add, I'm not necessarily suggesting we need song sheets as I know some (but not most) of the time it's made up on the hoof. On Wednesday, the only one I caught onto and joined in on was when there was the long interruption when the Watford player was injured and the linesman was doing a variety of warm ups on the touchline and the Chicken Run were singing "Lino lino give us a wave" and surprisingly enough, he did!

West Ham Till I Die : Home Form: Are We to Blame?

Fri, 9 Mar 2012 22:10:21 +0000

Agree Keithv - it's knowing that when they get the ball, anything can happen ... and I don't mean fall over or get injured. Creative impact players are hard to find and if Ravel fits the bill, perhaps now is the time to inject him into the side. I remember when Eriksson took Joe Cole to the World Cup in 2002 - we were losing to Brazil and I was shouting at the TV for him to bring Joe on. I knew his weakness was of running down a few blind alleys but what was the point of taking someone like him unless it was to try something different and for someone to run at the opposition? It still annoys me! And the same for Theo Walcott in 2006 ... and breathe ...

West Ham Till I Die : Home Form: Are We to Blame?

Fri, 9 Mar 2012 20:00:38 +0000

Too true - what an impact that would make if Sam did that though?

West Ham Till I Die : Home Form: Are We to Blame?

Fri, 9 Mar 2012 18:01:49 +0000

I think it does DevoDevo - where a lot of people are struggling with the everyday things of bills, food on table, job etc and what you see on the pitch, it makes you much more critical. However, I can't say that there's any of our players that don't put the effort in - it's more a case of misguided effort and, I hate to say it, for some a lack of skill and confidence that makes it so frustrating.

West Ham Till I Die : Home Form: Are We to Blame?

Fri, 9 Mar 2012 17:53:00 +0000

I think our needs as West Ham supporters are at Maslow's deepest and most fundamental level of breathing, eating, water etc - we want exciting creative play and to win! I mean, it's not asking much is it? :)

West Ham Till I Die : Home Form: Are We to Blame?

Fri, 9 Mar 2012 12:28:12 +0000

I never boo and I never will. I think there's lots of reasons for the lack of atmosphere: - it's hard to get a group of friends to sit together - when you had the terraces you could wander around and meet up with your mates and start singing. - we don't sit as near to the pitch as we used to, which made us so much more intimidating for the opposition. - I don't think we've got a 'magic' player with the creative pass that makes us go oooh and get excited. - I don't think the players are regarded as our idols/heroes now mainly because they're seen to be in a privileged position as most of them earn in a week what the supporters earn in a year. - as someone's said, the demographic's getting older and we're not the youfs we used to be. Out of those that have posted here, I don't know the percentage that go go the games, so the likelihood of something being changed by us is remote. Therefore, something needs to be done by the club to engage the supporters and make the stadium a place to be feared by the opposition who we know, especially in this league, have upped their game when they come to UP. Have you noticed how many of them now go into a team huddle before a game? Perhaps Reid can teach our players to perform a hakka? Or we need someone to lead the supporters from the touchline - we had Kriss Akabusi the other week, who else could we have? Ray Winstone? Also, music can get us going and I think that could be stepped up as well.