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Is our squad stronger than last season?

Maiga’s last chance saloon

Why Carlton Cole is my favourite West Ham player

Ravel Morrison: The new Rivaldo?

West Ham Ladies ‘need to win ugly’

& much more

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WELCOME

After another fantastic summer for British sport, I simplycannot wait for the start of this Premier League season.

After the final game of last season, I must admit I waspleased it was all over but part of me longed for an extracouple of games or a summer tournament to really get myteeth into. Thankfully the Confederations Cup helped tokeep me sane.

Another reason why I wanted the season to keep goingwas that I really enjoyed my first season editing BlowingBubbles. The response we’ve had from West Ham fansacross the globe has been overwhelming and this has beenmatched by the vast numbers reading each and everyissue. Now that we are a bit more established, we areaiming for bigger and better things. There are alreadysome brilliant partnerships in the pipeline and I cannot waitto reveal each and every one to you as the seasonprogresses.

Looking at our first issue of this season and it is, as I’msure you’ve come to expect, packed with different opinionson a whole host of topics from Andy Carroll to RavelMorrison to coverage of the Premier League in Dubai. Myfavourite piece in this issue has to be the one written byBrian Williams. After a season of Loud & Proud columns,he is back with his new column entitled Dear Sam. It isworth a read.

Enjoy the game at Upton Park. Let’s hope we get a betterresult than the one we did in 2011!

EDITOR: David BlackmoreNEWS EDITOR: Alex ShillingCONTRIBUTORS: Lucy Woolford,Thomas Johnson, Alex Shilling,Brian Williams, David Meagher,Shaun Anderson, Matt Sander,Geoff Hillyer, Neil Chatterton,Andrew Hosie, Christian Gare,Bill West, Clare-Elizabeth Hingley

EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES:EMAIL: editor@blowing-bubbles.co.uk

ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES:EMAIL: advertising@blowing-bubbles.co.uk

WHERE YOU CAN READ IT:Blowing Bubbles is available tobuy prior to each home gameand is also available to read onyour PC, Mac, Tablet or Mobile.For more information visitwww.blowing-bubbles.co.uk.

TO CONTACT BLOWINGBUBBLES:Email: editor@blowing-bubbles.co.uk

Blowing Bubbles is published by BarkingDog Media. Blowing Bubbles is acompletely independent publication. Theviews expressed within Blowing Bubblesare not necessarily those of the publishers.Opinions expressed by companies andindividuals appearing within the magazineare not that of Blowing Bubbles or thepublisher. The publisher accepts no liabilityfrom any action raised in response to anysuch opinions. Readers are stronglyadvised that although we take every careto ensure prices and content, etc, are upto date. It is the responsibility to check withthe advertiser before purchasing ortravelling to view products.No reproduction, either in part or wholeof the magazine is allowed unless writtenconsent is obtained from the publisher.The publisher accepts no responsibility forany actions arising from articles orfeatures or advertisements within thismagazine. Readers are advised to pay bycredit card when ordering goods as theseare regulated under the Consumer Act1974. Debit and charge cards are not.

(c) Blowing BubblesDavid BlackmoreEditor

Ah football, it’s back! It’s beena long summer what with noWorld Cup, EuropeanChampionships or Olympicsto keep our bored mindsoccupied. But worry not, asthe evenings begin to draw in,our beautiful game is back tosee us through the winter.

It’s been an interestingsummer as far as West Hamis concerned. There havebeen recent murmurs ofdiscontent as a few fans areagitated at a lack of signings.

Wasn’t Andy Carroll a bigenough coup for us? I guessthat’s the problem when thedotted line is signed in May,there’s a long wait to thestart of the season, so wetend to feel like nothing’sgoing on.

Well, that’s not true. Thepre-season friendlies are a

good way for the squad tobond in my opinion. It’s not allabout winning, it’s aboutteam building and eradicatingany mistakes before the bigPremier League kick off.

It’s nice to think that anunbeaten pre-season run willmean instant league successbut we’ve proved that not tobe the case in the past.

I was at the friendly againstCork in June and got to see afew new first team faces inaction and there were a lot ofpromising signs from most. Itmight not have been a verytough test, but it gave us aplatform to show off what wecan really do. There wassome lovely passing,movement and skill, but therewere a couple of standoutplayers on the day. AlouDiarra was notably showing

some effort and looked to beplaying for a Premier Leagueplace. It remains to be seenwhether his dream will cometrue and it probably dependson where Sam Allardycechooses to play him.

We might yet see anotherstrop from Diarra but thepre-season signals are allpositive for now. That in itselfcould be like a new signing.

Equally fresh and ready togo was Ravel Morrison.Another potential matchwinner next season, he lookshungry and eager to provehimself on the pitch.

I did meet him afterwardsand he was just as I imaginedhim to be - not overwhelmedby the fans but had a little bitof “swagger” about him (yes, Ihate that word too but it’s allI’ve got!).

Lucy Woolford

Recipe for apositiveseason

Dan Potts was alsoimpressive going forward.Maybe a bit less profound inhis tracking back and physicaldefending but his spacialawareness on the wing wasgreat. Do we need anotherwinger? Probably not but it’sgood to know he has that inhis locker.

Smiley Razvan Rat was alsoon display for the Hammersin Cork. Unfortunately, hedidn’t light up the match inthe way we might have hoped.

He looked to be playingslightly out of position on theday, and was a little quiet andinaccurate.

Hopefully he will prove to bea positive signing throughoutthe season because hisattitude seems just right.

All in all, I was impressedwith the effort from the teamand convinced that KevinNolan is the man to continueto lead us in the PremierLeague. His communicationto his teammates stood outfor me, and after the matchhe couldn’t do enough for hisfans afterwards. He’s topnotch!

Personally, I think thisseason will be brilliant, notjust for West Ham but for thewhole Premier League.

From our own perspective,we’ve secured Andy Carrolland it looks like we mighthave a couple of great lads to

promote from theDevelopment Squad.

Elliot Lee, Dan Potts andPaul McCallum are probablyready for a couple of teststhis year at senior level.

I’d agree that one moresigning in a forward positionwould benefit the squad butthat is a really tricky positionto get right for us so he hasto be the perfect fit.

There are many interestingstories throughout thePremier League this season:a new manager at OldTrafford, Martinez in chargeof a club that should begetting to the Europa League

and an interesting choice fordirector of football atNewcastle.

At the time of writing this,the Wayne Rooney, GarethBale, Cesc Fabregas and LuisSuarez sagas are all ongoingwith big money at stake. Howcan this not be a greatseason? It’s got all theingredients. First up for us isCardiff City today, so here’s tobeing top of the league thisevening, if only for a fewhours!

Follow me on Twitter@lucy_whufc

The 2012/13 season was alargely positive campaign forfans, players, staff andeveryone else associatedwith West Ham United,although one or two playerswill be looking to make abetter impression in theupcoming Premier Leagueseason.

One member of our claretand blue squad who will belooking for far more matchtime and to get into BigSam’s good books is our2012 summer signing,Modibo Maïga.

The Malian forward joinedthe club from Sochaux for areported £4.5million fee,which encouraged a lot ofHammers fans to raise someexpectations they would havefrom Maïga. But it would be a

disappointing campaign forModibo, scoring just fourgoals in all competitions, andspending the majority of histime on the pitch out on thewing as Allardyce pickedAndy Carroll and Carlton Coleto lead the line over the newarrival from FC Sochaux.

There were high points andlow points for Maïga over theseason, it would always betough for the striker to getused to the English PremierLeague, and the forward’sworst moment in claret andblue was getting pulled offafter 31 minutes againstSpurs where he struggledwith the strength ofTottenham right back KyleWalker.

Maïga’s highlights werethe two league goals, the first

a stunning finish againstfellow newly promoted sideSouthampton, and thesecond a competent strike toround off the superb winagainst Chelsea in ourperformance of the season.

With Carlton Cole releasedat the end of his contract andloanees Marouane Chamakhand Wellington Paulistafinishing their time at theBoleyn Ground, it leaves thesquad with just Maïga andCarroll as known centre-forwards.

The club worked superblyhard to bring Andy Carrollback after his loan spell,breaking our record transferfee, though he is unlikely tofeature from the off in ourfirst couple of games as herecovers from injury andgains match fitness.

This is the opportunity thatMaïga needs to grab withboth hands, and his pre-season form has shown thathe wants to prove his worthahead of the new season.

At just 25 years old theHammers forward has someyears at the top of his gameto come, and is certainlyworth his place in the squad,if he improves this season hecould stay at West HamUnited for some time.

Having moved to Francewith Le Mans at just 20 thestriker just needs time to getcomfortable, and our terrificfans must provide this as headapts to the PremierLeague.

Follow me on Twitter@SoundOfVinyl

Thomas Johnson

Maiga’s second chance

I often find myself scrollingdown Twitter to see many ofour fans expressing theirworries about the currentaffairs surrounding WestHam United.

It seems one of the mostpopular growing concerns isthe feeling that our squadhas hardly improved fromlast year’s which saw usfinish 10th in our first seasonback.

I have to admit that I sharethe view that we have onlyimproved very slightly, if any.But I think you have to takemany things into accountbefore saying just becauseour squad is similar that wecannot improve on lastseason’s finish.

First of all you have torealise for large parts of lastseason we had to settle forCarlton Cole, who only scoredtwo goals, to lead our frontline while Andy Carroll nursednumerous injuries.

During this time we stillperformed quite well andpicked up a good few winsand draws and only lost asmall number of times.

This season I would hopethat Carroll can perform likea new signing. Last seasonhis appearances werescattered around two longterm injuries and yet he stillmanaged to score sevengoals and help the entireteam to play better with himeven playing as a defenderwhen we were desperatelytrying to hang on to leads.

This season he willhopefully be injury free andhis performances can flowinto one another without hisrhythm being constantlybroken up by injury.

Joe Cole is another onewho will be like a new signingfor us next term. If SalomonKalou doesn’t join us then Iwould imagine that Joe Colewill be our first choice rightwinger.

Cole only rejoined the clubin January but made adefinite impact when he wasnot struggling with injuries.Hopefully without the injuriesthat plagued him last year hecan also get into his rhythmand maybe reproduce theform that we saw of him inhis younger days at the cluband when he moved on toChelsea. Finally I come toRazvan Rat. It amazes me

when I see people on Twittersaying that we need a newleft-back. It seems either thatus signing Rat managed toescape their attention andthey don’t actually realise wehave him or perhaps theydon’t believe that the captainof the Romanian nationalteam who has won manyUkrainian league titles andhas played in the ChampionsLeague on numerousoccasions is not good enoughfor West Ham! I believe JoeyO’Brien did a very good jobfor us playing out of positionat left-back to cover for theinjured George McCartneylast season but I am veryexcited that we now havesuch a top class full-back inRazvan Rat.

For more articles like thisvisit morethanjustaclub.com

Shaun Anderson

Are we stronger this year?

Dear Sam,

Good to be back in harness,eh Big Fella?! I don't knowabout you but I find thesummer starts to drag withno football.

Much as I enjoy seeing theAussies get pasted at cricket,rugby, tennis and tiddlywinks,it’s not the same as watchingthe mighty Hammers sweepall before them (well, potteron to mid-table security if youwant to be strictly accurate –but let’s not split hairs soearly in the season).

Hope all’s well with you. I’ma bit concerned because I'venot had an email from you fora while.

They were going into myspam folder but I had a word

with the techie monkeys atwork and they fixed that. He'scalled Fat Sam, not FatSpam, I told them! We love agood laugh at our place.

I bet you guys have a rightgiraffe, too. It must behilarious at Chadwell Heathduring the week.

By the way, is it true that,after training, Mad Dog oncetook a dump in thecommunal bath while Dicksywas in there? I know it wasbefore your time but I'm sureyou'd be in a position toconfirm or deny. You footballlegends really do have anamazing sense of humour.

Anyway, I appreciate thatyou're a busy man and don'talways have the time to sitdown and write to all of us

supporters individually. I fullyunderstand if you're not goingto bother again this season. Itwas good of you to do it,especially as you were stilltrying to get your feet underthe table and I felt bad aboutnever writing back.

So I thought this season Iwould make an effort to keepin touch with you – if only tolet you know what we'rethinking in the stands.

It’s been a funny oldtransfer window, hasn't it?I've been watching Sky SportsNews religiously but nothingever seems to come of thereports on there. One minutewe're in for Wilfried Bony, thenext he's heading off toSwansea. That's whatEuropean football can do for

Dear Sam

you Sam – the fans want it,the players want it, everybodywants it.

So the next time theLeague Cup rolls round andwe get drawn against abunch of unheard-of no-hopers from the lowerleagues, try putting out ateam that might actually winthe game.

You could do the samething with the FA Cup whileyou're at it. Who knows, wemight even get to go toWembley again.

A bit of caution is all verywell but sometimes you'vegot to live a little.

You don't get relegatedbecause you have a decentcup run. You get relegatedbecause you've got a rubbishside who look like they werebriefly introduced to oneanother five minutes beforekick-off. Trust me, we knowabout things like this at WestHam.

On a more positive note, Iwas delighted you persuadedAndy Carroll to sign up on apermanent basis.

Once you get him up andrunning, is there any chancewe could try playing itthrough midfield at somepoint this season?

Midfield? That's the blokestanding between the backeight and Big Andy.  We usedto be quite well known for it.

Once had a really nice chapcalled Brooking who was adab hand at that sort of

thing. You may have heard ofhim. He's the one with astand named after him.

Still, you know what you'redoing. In Sam we trust, eh?

Who wants to see us takeunnecessary risks in goingafter a big win againstTottenham when we couldgrind out a safe 1-0 victoryover Fulham? Three points isthree points, and it may allcome down to goal differenceas to whether or not you'vestill got a job next year.

At your age, there's notgoing to be much interest in

you down at the job centre,is there?

Mind you, house prices inDudley are a good deal lessthan here, so the old tin tackmightn't be as bad as youthink. Not that it'll ever cometo that, I'm sure.

Be lucky,Your mate behind the goal

Being a West Ham fan, youcould have been forgiven thissummer for thinking thatSam Allardyce was intendingto field 11 strikers for thisfirst game of the season,given the forward-dominatedtransfer speculation involvingthe club this summer.

Now don’t get me wrong,signing strikers is importantbut I feel one very importantman has been kicked to thewayside and given he is nolonger employed by the club,but I’m not going to remainsilent any longer.

I love Carlton Cole and amgoing to use my first article ofthe season to explain whyhe’s my favourite West Hamplayer of all time.

This is not going to be abalanced piece consideringboth sides of the argument,for the simple reason that asfar as Carlton Cole goes, forme, there is no other side ofthe argument. He’sawesome, end of.

� Middlesbrough home,September 2007

We’re failing to dominateagainst a team we reallyshould be dominating againstand our fans are getting onCarlton’s back for the simplereason that he’s occupyingthe position typically played bycrowd favourite Dean Ashtonand he is not Deano.

Chances come andchances go, the tempo of thegame looks like it’s swaying inBoro’s favour and the tensionincreases. A lesser man

would have bowed to thepressure but this is CarltonCole. He gets his head down,keeps plugging away andplays a hand in our first twogoals in an eventual 3-0 winbefore sliding the third inhimself. I was impressed.

� Coventry away, November2007

I was even moreimpressed when he put in aman of the matchperformance to put us intothe Carling Cup quarterfinals.

The game was both atypical West Hamperformance and a typicalCarlton performance; trailing1-0 at half time to amediocre Championship

outfit and nothing’s falling forthe C man. Well, excepthimself.

After half time, no realchange. The whole team lookmore determined but stillnothing’s really happening.Then, it does.

Twenty minutes to go anda lucky, twice-deflected LuisBoa Morte effort somehowfinds the strength to enterthe Coventry net. Game on.

Big Johnny Spector thentakes out the Coventrywinger and puts Carlton inthe clear. Our powerfulnumber 12 shrugs off thechallenge from a desperateCoventry centre and hescores, in the last minute, toput us into the quarters, andgives a wonderfully candidpost-match interview to Sky

Alex Shilling

FarewellCarlton Cole

Sports’ Geoff Shreeves inwhich he sums up everything Ilove about him.

Effort, emotional strength,humility, resistance. I thinkthis was the game whereCarlton Cole became myfavourite West Ham player.

� Wigan away, March 2009

The thing I’ve always lovedmost about Carlton is that henever gives up. However, thiscan sometimes detract fromthe fact that on his day, he isa truly great footballer.

On a horrible night atWigan, of the sort that isbrought up by football punditswhen a talented player fromthe continent is bought by aPremier League club (‘oh aye,he’s great if you stick him inat the Bernabeu or the SanSiro, but could he do it on astormy night at Wigan?!’), the

C Man scored a goal ofoutstanding beauty.

A wonderful, flowing teammove ended with Carltoncurling home an unerringfinish to give us a 1-0 win thatboosted our hopes ofEuropean football.

It’s sometimes easy toforget with players like him,the triers, the workhorses,the grafters, what giftedathletes they truly are.

This was one of thosenights where Carltonreminded us all just what he’scapable of.

� Blackpool at Wembley,May 2012.

Something that is notCarlton Cole’s fault is thatWest Ham have not won atrophy for 33 years.

However, just over a yearago, he helped all West Ham

fans feel like something it istruly difficult to make a WestHam fan feel like: winners.

A well-taken first half goalto put us 1-0 up on Blackpoolin the Championship play-offfinal put us on our way toautomatic promotion back tothe Premier League.

The game was, for me,unlike anything else I’ve evergone through as a WestHam fan.

Far me for me to pin thevictory on one man butCarlton was magnificent thewhole game, possibly hisfinest performance in a WestHam shirt. Powerful,energetic, full of beans; hehad it all.

As hard as I took it whenCarlton Cole left the club atthe end of last season, it wasright that he did, because hecouldn’t get in the team forone reason; Andy Carroll issimply a better striker thanhim.

I don’t agree with everydecision that Sam Allardycemade last season and I thinkit’s a great shame thatAllardyce never wanted totake the risk of playing thetwo of them up fronttogether.

However, I’m keen to lookback on everything thatCarlton gave to the club andhow he helped us build andput us in a position where wecould sign strikers like AndyCarroll.

Cheers for the memoriesbig man, always believe inyour soul, you’ve got thepower to know, you’reindestructible, always believein Carlton Cole!

West Ham’s preseasonjourney has provided anopportunity to observe thesquad’s performance againstBritish, Irish, German andPortuguese opposition.

This has proven a valuablechance for the otherwiseconservative Sam Allardyceto test out some of our risingstars and new signings.

While Ratzvan Rat haslooked a solid acquisition,Dan Potts has demonstratedthat he has the skill to copeat the highest level, AlouDiarra looks keen and evenhappy to be back amongstthe Bubbles boys, but to datesurely the most impressivehas been Ravel Morrison.

Morrison’s arrival hasbeen well documented asbeing under a cloud afterAlex Ferguson finally lostpatience with his attitudinaland behavioural issues and itwas thought that a change oflocation might bring somemuch-needed distance fromunhelpful influences inManchester.

Initial experiencessuggested that little hadchanged, with the FA rappinghis knuckles for an ill-advisedtweet and amid rumours ofproblems in his relationshipwith other squad members,

Morrison was duly farmedout to Lee Clark atBirmingham City to try andprovide first team football tofocus his energies upon.

After an initially stormyperiod, Morrison broke in tothe team and was muchlauded in the local press

However, the Blues desireto hold on to Morrision hasnot been realised as itseems that Big Sam sees asignificant future for youngMorrison at West Ham.

In response, Ravel has notdisappointed in pre-seasonwith consistently excellentperformances and animpressive haul of four goals,including an excellent long-range Rivaldo-esque strikealong with a headed goal inlast night’s defeat of SportingLisbon.

Moreover, Morrison wasclearly deserving of the manof the match award for hisall-round performance whichwas merely the latest in aseries of whole-heartedefforts in the claret and blue.

Even the missed penaltydemonstrated his growingmaturity and willingness totake on responsibility.

So where to next – happilythe Hammers have multipleoptions in midfield with theimpressive Diame-Noble-

Nolan combination welltested at Premiership levellast season.

In addition, Jack Collisonhas impressed as has AlouDiarra, with some reportssuggesting that Diarra maybe off-loaded to facilitate thereturn of Scott Parker.

This seems unwise givenParker’s injury problems andincreasing age, while therecan be no doubt that Diarrahas looked impressive.

In short, who knows wherewe will be when the transferwindow madness finallycomes to a close?

For now, Morrison justneeds to keep strutting hison-field stuff and keep out oftrouble.

At just 20 years with theworld seemingly at his feetmaybe the canny Scot got itwrong for once?

Or maybe he decided to dohis good mate Big Sam afavour with a bit of generositybefore heading off in to thesunset?

Either way, Morrison’ssigning for a modest£1million is starting to looklike a gamble that could reallypay off!

For more articles like thisvisit

verywestham.blogspot.ie

David Meagher

Ravel: The new Rivaldo?

The new season has comearound quickly, hasn’t it?

After all, it seems like onlyyesterday we were wavinggoodbye to Reading inappropriate fashion, puttingfour goals past them at theBoleyn and finishing in arespectable 10th place.

But what does the openingto the new season hold?

Our first match is a homeaffair against Cardiff City,promoted from theChampionship last season.

Those with slightly longermemories might rememberthat we played this lot at thestart of our own season backin the Championship, wherewe were beaten 1-0 with alast-minute goal from KennyMiller.

It promises to be aninteresting match this timearound – you might feel thatwe ought to make amendsfor that day but then Cardiffmight feel that they owe usone after we spanked them inthe playoffs 5-0 on aggregatein that same Championshipseason.

Certainly this has thecapability of being quite aclose match but you wouldhope that we would haveenough in our locker tosqueeze past the boys inblue. Our second game is, onpaper anyway, a tough oneaway to Newcastle. However,put simply, they were awfullast season – they lost 6-0 athome to Liverpool, forheaven’s sake.

They’ve lost five out of theirlast nine Premier League

matches, only winning two ofthem – against Fulham andQPR. They’ve had a prettychaotic pre-season with theJoe Kinnear episode andsome decidedly mixed friendlyresults. Provided we go to StJames’ Park with the correctattitude, we can obtain adecent result.

Our third match is back atthe Boleyn to welcome StokeCity. Last season, we drew inthis fixture when a win wouldhave marked our best startto a season since 1986.Mark Hughes, who you mightremember “helped” QPR ontheir way to spending virtuallythe whole season in therelegation zone last year, isnow the man in charge ofThe Potters. In my view this isalso a winnable game; they’rea beatable side, though theydo have the capacity tosurprise.

A lot of people have askedme how I think we will do this

season. Some havementioned the dreaded“second season syndrome”,others have suggested thatwe might rely too much onthe likes of Andy Carroll.Personally, I don’t really buyinto the whole “you’ll alwaysstruggle in the secondseason” thing; we have somequality players who, providedthey actually turn up fromtime to time, should see ussafely home.

I don’t expect us to takenine points from our openinggames – between five andseven is more realistic – butif we can’t play well and atleast get some points againstthe likes of Cardiff and Stokeat home, especially when thesquad is fresh, then weprobably shouldn’t be playingtop flight football anyway.Let’s hope we get off to awinning start.

Follow me on Twitter

Geoff Hillyer

Here we go again….

After failing to secure aplace in the Women’s SuperLeague 2 and finishing mid-table in the FA Women’sPremier League SouthernDivision, last season was oneto forget for the West HamLadies.

But while many otherplayers from other clubswere sunning themselves inwarming climes, theHammers were back in pre-season training some threeweeks before their rivals withthe aim of overcoming lastseason’s disappointmentand storming to theSouthern Division title thisseason.

Speaking ahead of theLadies’ first league game of

the season away at CharltonAthletic next Sunday, ‘keeperToni-Anne Wayne admits theside needs to “win ugly” if theyare going to stand anychance of securing somemuch-needed silverware.

“I think last season we gotoff to a good start and wewere doing fine until we got toChristmas and suddenly hada lot of games called off andthen picked up a few injuries,”the 30-year-old said.

“At one point last seasonwe went eight weeks withouta game and I think we lost ourway a bit and our confidence.We also had quite a fewyoung players last year and itwas quite tough for theexperienced players to get

them up for it. But they’ve gotthat year experience now andhopefully what happened lastseason won’t happen againthis season.

“One of the biggest thingswe need to do this season isto learn how to win ugly. Lastseason we either played reallywell and dominated teamsand win or just played reallypoor and gave away stupidgoals.

“But I think the wholeexperience of last season hasbonded us and given us aunited goal of what we wantto achieve.”

Reflecting on thedisappointment of missingout on the Women’s SuperLeague 2, the shot-stopperadded: “We really felt wedeserved it and now we aredetermined to prove we diddeserve it. We’ve got a greatstructure in place to take usforward with good youthplayers coming on well andrecruiting good players fromother clubs too.

“We need the youngerplayers to start realising theirpotential and stepping up abit and for the theexperienced players to stepup and show our worth whenthe going gets tough.”

One major change at theclub over the summer wasthe appointment of MarkSanderson as first teammanager. The former FulhamLadies and Crystal PalaceLadies manager was put incharge following the club’s2013 AGM with former bossJulia Setford moving to a newrole as Director of Football.

New players to sign includeCherrelle Albert from

West Ham Ladies

Picture byMickeyCartwright

Determination to lay lastseason’s ghosts to rest

Charlton Athletic, NatalieCrinean from GillinghamLadies and Jade Skillen fromIpswich Town Ladies.

Toni-Anne continued: “Ireally hope we can push onthis season. The new playerswe have brought in haveadded a lot more strength indepth to our squad so if wedo get a few injuries thisseason, we’ve got playerswho can come in and helpcontinue any momentum wehave.

“Natalie has come in andshe is banter all the time andCherrelle always plays with asmile on her face but thestand out new player for meis Jade. She has been abreath of fresh air at left backand is so quick.

“I also think having Lily[Mellors] and Hannah[Gowland] back from injuryand playing well in pre-seasondoes feel like we’ve got twonew signings. They’ve bothdone really well to come backand the medical team havebeen fantastic and not rushedthem.”

On the new managementset-up at the club, the formerCharlton Athletic andGillingham player continued:“We’ve had Julia [Setford]over the last few years andshe has done a fantastic jobwith the resources she had.

“But now we’ve got a newmanagement team in placeand it’s no longer just oneperson doing everything;we’ve got dedicated peopledoing different things fromthe practical stuff to thetechnical stuff.

“Obviously with the newmanager we’ve got adifferent style and everyonehas got to get used to that.He laid down how he wants toplay at the beginning of pre-season and we all believe wecan play this way.”

She added: “Our pre-season has gone well. TheArsenal game [lost 10-0] wasa big learning curve for us.

“Having said that, theywere halfway through theirseason and it was only oursecond game.”

And looking ahead to theforthcoming campaign, Toni-Anne concluded: “All the girlshere want to win things. Wewould like to get promotedbut that’s not an option for usthis season.

“The main thing is to get awinning mentality and wineverything we can now andget that trophy cabinet full oftrophies so that when we putin our next bid to join theWomen’s Super League, wewill be in a much betterposition.

“We start our season witha local derby against CharltonAthletic which is a huge gamefor all of us. We have also gotto play Lewes andPortsmouth quite early on soit is a really hard start to theseason.

“But at the end of the day, ifwe want to win things, wehave to play these games andwin them. I’m confident weare ready for this campaign.”

With the first game of thenew season fastapproaching, we can lookback on a seeminglysuccessful summer.

Beginning with our recordsigning of Andy Carroll inJune, the chairmen broughtwhat was a protracted loanspell to a positive andpermanent close. Personally,I thought that this was amassive statement of intent.

For me, Carroll haddisplayed exactly the rightattributes last season tomake him a fan favourite. Ican’t quite see where fans ofsome other clubs arecoming from whendescribing his game,particularly on his effortlevels. From what I saw of

him, his work rate and overallhunger were both sky-high.

Speaking of sky-high; I alsothink he had been given anunfair crack of the whip onthe back of an unfair pricetag when joining Liverpool.

The guy is still only 24years old and under thecorrect management andreceiving decent supply (a laJarvis & Co), there is noreason why he can’tcomfortably reach 15 to 20goals this term.

But of course, deliveringthe goods will have to be atthe forefront of his mind. Notjust to cement his clubcredentials but to make surethat he is firmly in RoyHodgson’s plans when theWorld Cup comes around.Once fit, he needs a bit of

luck to stay that way andplaying in front of best-mateNolan and under fatherfigure Allardyce, hisconfidence should remainstrong.

The point of the playersthat we missed out on – andthe first name springing tomind is that of SalomonKalou – is perhaps a slightlymore concerning one. Thereis clearly room forreinforcement if we are toconsolidate and hopefullyimprove.

It looks as if Razvan Rat willbe a useful acquisition, visiblyin the mould of Big Sam’stried and tested formula ofphysicality with a spoonful ofcourage.

An international captainand an experienced head in

Matt Sander

New season, new signings

Europe, he’s definitely wortha punt on a free transfer. Healso looks as if he has adecent delivery – a verydeliberate attempt atwidening supply options intoCarroll.

Not a new signing, butwhat appears to be anexcellent returning player isRavel Morrison. Every fanbelieved he had potential, andit is evident that a season inthe Midlands in what weknow (all too well) as a verytough league has given him aswift education in first teamfootball.

His pre-season has beenmore than promising, provingthat he has great positionalsense, vision and attackingintent.

More importantly, he hasbeen scoring for fun – let’shope that it translates whenhe gets his chance to play.

At the other end, I thinkAdrián has been brought inat a good age (26) for agoalkeeper.

You also don’t get manybetter tutors than Jussi,which will hopefully leave uswith a close-to-finishedproduct between the stickswhen the Fin finally hangs uphis gloves.

Another face who almostinexplicably disappeared lastseason was Modibo Maïga.He put on some lively displays(the most memorable beingagainst Chelsea, jinking intothe box and planting apearler!) so I really hope thatwe won’t see him rotting onthe bench this season.

Keeping Mo Diamé, for me,has been one of the mostimportant things that theclub has done over the lastyear.

If he stays fit, he is theperfect, modern centralmidfielder: skilful, powerful,and runs all day long. Wesaw glimpses of the way hecan dictate games last year,so if Joe Cole and MattJarvis stay fighting fit andfeed off of him – we willhopefully see plenty of goals.

We are also seeinganother crop of young,maturing talent beginning toemerge from our famousacademy once again.

Danny Potts and JordanSpence are edging evercloser to regular first teamaction, with the former inparticular getting an

energetic (and painful) tasteof the top tier last year.

Depending on additionalsignings and how crowdedthe treatment room will be,there is a very good chancewe’ll be seeing more of both.

And finally; on hopes for2013/14, we of coursehave to remain ever thepessimists and realists.

We will always dream ofbroaching the top six andthough anything is possible, Ithink a satisfying seasonwould see us at around the55 point mark and sittingpretty in 8th or 9th with astrong cup run to boot.

You have to accept thatthere is a lot of quality in andaround mid-table, so if wewant to be knocking on thedoor of Everton & Co; we willneed to be convincing againstsides in the bottom half.

The words to our clubanthem have never been soapt, when I look at what BigSam and the rest of the WestHam United Board did duringthis off season.

Here’s a list of the playersarriving at Upton Park for thisseason’s campaign:

Andy Carroll. We paid£17.5 million for a strikerwho has yet to prove that hecan stay healthy for longerthan a month, never mind anentire season.

Razvan Rat. A free transferfor the captain of theRomanian national team, whois 32 years of age. There isno doubt that he will bringplenty of experience to theHammers defence, howeverat 5’ 8”, he will not bedominating at set pieces.

Adrian. A goalkeeper whocomes from Real Betis on afree transfer. think he willchallenge Jaaskelainen forthe starting spot, even thoughJaaskelainen finished lastseason strongly, he let insome awful goals.

Danny Whitehead. Wesigned him from ConferenceNorth side Stockport Countyafter he was recommendedby Dietmar Hamann. I thinkBig Sam best summed thisup, when he said "Danny isvery slight, which we'll work

on, but the question is can wecreate that potential into aPremier League player?”

Everyone was very happywhen Carroll signed, and itseemed to be a really positivesign that the club was willingto spend money.

Unfortunately, since thenthe cheque book hasremained firmly closed. Hereare just some players thathave moved in the last coupleof months and the reportedfee involved:

� Clint Dempsey £6 million� Steven Caulker £8 million� Jordi £2.5 million� Erik Pieters £3 million� Dejan Lovren £8.5 million� Etienne Capoue £9 million� Carlos Tevez £12 million� Iago Aspas for £7 million

Now, I did not expect WestHam to spend the £50+million to secure all theseplayers, but let’s beextravagant and spend £20to £25 million. Now pick andchoose until you reach thatnumber, and let’s see howmuch better the squad wouldbe.

I understand that signingmultiple means that weeklywages need to be negotiated.So, how much did West Ham

receive from the PremierLeague for the 2013/14season?That would be £48,746,943,yes close to £49 million.This amount is reached bycombining revenue for thefollowing (rounded up):

� Equal Share £14 million� Facilities Fees £6 million� Merit Payment £10 million� Overseas TV £19 million

And that overseas moneywill only continue to rise andrise and rise. I know for a factthat NBC here in the Statesrecently agreed to pay $250million, starting this year untilthe end of the 2016 season,which is a revenue record forfootball! This much is certain,the money given to teams bythe Premier League will onlyincrease.

Even if I ignore the £49million elephant in the corner,why have West Ham not evenconsidered any of theseplayers, that all received afree transfer, and at leastfour will be playing in thePremier League this season:

� Forward Roque Santa Cruz� Defender Marc Muniesa� Forward Nicolas Anelka� Defender Kolo Toure

Neil Chatterton

We signed who?

� Midfielder Andrey Ashavin� Midfielder Florent Malouda

I’m sure that the companyline would be: “well we’re notsure that they would fit intoour style or team concept” –never mind that all of theseplayers are better than whatwe are starting the seasonwith. The goal should be toimprove and to compete for aspot in Europe, yet I feel thatwith the squad as it stands onAugust 8th, we will be battlingto stay in the 12 to 17position range.

Our lack of team speed wasvery evident last season, andwe have done nothing toimprove this. When I look atother Premier League teamswho we will be battling andfighting for points along withus, I see this:

� Swansea brought in 8players, spent £23 million� Sunderland brought in 8

players, spent £18 million� Fulham brought in 7

players, spent £7 million� Newcastle brought in 1

player, spent £2 million� Norwich brought in 8

players, spent £29 million� Stoke brought in 2 players,

spent £4 million� Aston Villa brought in 6

players, spent £13 million

As a West Ham fan, I livewith the realisation that wecannot ever hope to competewith Arsenal,and Chelsea, butnow I have to watch Norwich,Swansea and Sunderland,spend more money than us.To me that isembarrassment.

A year goes by so quicklydoesn’t it? When I waslooking back through thearticles I’d written for lastseason’s fanzine, I re-read thevery first one when I wasfacing a dilemma.

Last year it was possiblethat Ramadan would be stillon at kick off against AstonVilla and the prospect ofsitting through 90 minutes ofWest Ham torture on theirreturn to the Premiershipwithout a drink was too muchto bear. Thankfully, thinkingback to that day, Ramadanhad ended and we won thatmatch 1-0 to set us up for avery successful first seasonback in the Premiership.

On the cusp of the newseason the woes aren’t so

bad. I am cautiously upbeatabout the new season evencasting aside the rather direperformance against Braga.

Anyway, I sit here as thenew season approacheswondering where, exactly, thelast three months have gone.

Firstly, you guys had asummer. Now that’ssomething that should bewritten about shouldn’t it?Barmy days of drinking in thepark, jostling on the beachand wearing shorts to work.The summer in 2013 will godown as one of ‘those’summers fondlyremembered.

Secondly, my job changedlocation. Not such a big dealto you, granted, but for me itspelled the end of 150 mile

daily commutes to a muchmore manageable four milehike to and from work. And byhike I mean bus journey in 50degree heat.

But the main change infootball terms since lastseason and the start of this iswho has the broadcastingrights for the Premiership inthe Middle East.

To put this in to some kindof context I need to give you alittle background into thevarious television companiesthat operate here. I willexplain it in purely sportingterms based on the lay of theland as it stood last season.

There are three mainoperators at work here –OSN, Abu Dhabi Sports and AlJazeera.

Tales from the Sandpit

And that wasthe summerthat was

OSN is, in entertainmentterms, broadly equivalent toSky. Six years ago they hadthe three year rights to theEPL.

Three years ago, the rightswere successfully bid for byAbu Dhabi Sports. Theircontract came to an end onMay 31.

Al Jazeera is probably thebroadcaster you are mostaware of. Last season, whileAD Sports showed thePremier League, Al Jazeerahad the rights for the UEFAChampions League, EuopaLeague, FA Cup, Capital OneCup and EnglishChampionship.

Now it was broadlyassumed that the set up oflast season would becontinued this season witheveryone happy with whatthey had.

It was noticeable howeverthat no news about this year’srights season had beenmentioned at all across lastseason. The stumbling blockwas, of course, money.

The situation in the MiddleEast over the last few yearshas not been too different toanywhere else in the worldand the speculation was, notone of the three was willing toor possibly able to offer whatwas previously paid.

Facing this issue, the EPLsold the 380 live game a yearpackage to MP&Silva, a mediabroker who hold the rights tothe matches across 40 or soterritories across the world.

MP&Silva initially tried to sellit on non-exclusively to allthree main broadcasters butall three stated that would beuntenable in terms of bringingin any kind of profitablerevenue to go down thisroute.

In the end, and only quiterecently, it was announced AlJazeera will be showing thematches – at more cost tothe paying public, naturally.

So why is this such anissue? Well, firstly, let me tryto put in to some sort ofpersonal terms.

I work for the company thatowns Abu Dhabi Sports.

I know (or knew) a lot ofpeople employed on three-year contracts to provide thelocal coverage on Abu DhabiSports. Endemol had broughtin a lot of people from abroadto work on the programming(with contracts ending onMay 31st) and thus wereunable to offer theiremployees any kind of newson renewed contracts for theforthcoming rights package.

There came a point wherea deadline was reached withno conclusive outcome andthese people had to be let go.

In a country where thereare no benefits if you loseyour job, no social security totide people over when huntingfor a new job and in aneconomic climate ofuncertainty with a mediaindustry contracting rapidly,many people simply had nooption but to leave the

country and hope to find workback home.

Before you go boo hoowelcome to the real world,this leads me to my secondpoint – price expectations bythe EPL for the rights in theMiddle East are or werebeyond any kind of realisticlevel.

The EPL has sailed on thegoodwill of the governmentsof Qatar and Abu Dhabi who,in the first decade of thiscentury, pursued a policy ofusing sport to raise theirglobal profile which lead to theinflated prices paid and theEPL saying thank you verymuch.

The gravy train has endedand before this pattern isreplicated in other areas ofthe world with televisioncompanies being priced out ofthe market let this be awarning to the EPL.

I simply suggest that thecustomer must be put firstand the powers that be don’tcontinue to squeeze every lastpenny out of the loyal footballfan.

You may put on the bestshow in the world but it’ll bepointless if no-one can affordto watch it.

Politics aside though it’stime for that show tocommence so enjoy thematch.

Follow me on Twitter@hosiemon

In this digitally-dominated era,every West Ham fan has hadsomething to say thissummer on who we’resigning, who we should begiving the chop and theirhopes and fears for thecoming season. Here’s aselection of what ourfollowers on Twitter had tosay on several issues weraised..

What’s the best and worstthat can happen to WestHam this season?

Robert Smith@darobsta08Best = top 8. Worst =bottom half

Dave Enright@booshmoon2Top 6 finish and a cup winwould be the best. The worstwould be relegation, ACbreaks his leg early on & wehave to ground share withLeyton Orient at the OS

Vans Braddock-Mead@VansbmThe best would be 18 pointsfrom the first 6. The worstwould be injuries early on

Steve Davis@RUsureIsaidthatThe best would be AC bags30 goals and we qualify for

Europa. The worst would beto lose another seasonopening home game toCardiff and panic buy

Is Sam Allardyce's footballexciting or just hit & hope?

Michelle Winters@Michellewin99When AC plays well we areamazing but say he is injuredwhat then?

Simon@BringmethecodWe played some really goodfootball at home last season,solid team work. Winsagainst Fulham & Chelsea forexample

Stuart Jones@StudinJonesIt's exciting enough but heldback by player quality acrosssquad being limited rightnow. Means they're tooinconsistent.

Peter@downthetunnelNeither - pragmatic. Which iswe need at the moment.

Rick Moran@TheRickMoranIt has flashes of excitementbut needs to be moreconsistent.

Where do you think WestHam will finish this season?

Louie Wansell@LouieWansell82Top 8 if we play like we canor bottom

Gabby@GabbyHall_Definitely 7th or 8th

Mark Russell@markrussell09Might make top ten but ashigh as 7th if we get a couplemore quality players inbefore deadline

Steve@steveconn59Teams around us last yearhave improved more than usso 14th

James@jambogreenYou never know as in2009/10 we wereoptimistic after 9th place in2008/2009 but came 17thinstead

Who do you think will be thetop scorer for West Hamthis season?

Sean Williams@SeanWilliams93Nolan

Twitteraction

@bl0wingbubbles

Jesper Ottoson@ottowhu@morrisonravel

West Ham World@WestHamWorldModibo Maiga. Can see himdoing well for us next season.If not, Joey O'Brien

Rachel-Louise@rackielouHard call at this moment intime. Me thinks Nolan but Icould change my mind come17/08/13

Which player are you mostlooking forward to watchingat Upton Park this season?

Jason Holmes@JasonTomHolmes1Matt Jarvis. He was startingto look great again at the endof last season

Robert Taylor@TheRobTaylor32Ravel Morrison or RazvanRat. Funny feeling Rat willprovide a lot of positives nextseason

Is there anyone in ourcurrent squad you’d like toget rid of?

Ian@iantjrandalTaylor can go and McCartneyand Spence and maybeHenderson

Tom Dunn@Tjdunn92Still think we can do a lotbetter than Demel. He's old,slow, not the greatestdefender and very clumsy onthe ball!

Steve Smith@hornchurchammerTaylor, Collison & Vaz te

ChelmoHammer@ChelmoHammerTaylor, RVT, McCartney areall that is left. The rest aregood players

Toby Anglish@DurtytobyCollison, Vaz Te, Taylor andMaiga. Never Demel likesomeone said he saved usno end of times last season

Twitteraction

Over the past few weeksthere has been increasedanimosity towards JackSullivan, David Sullivan’s son,for his tweets in relation totransfer targets coming andgoing from the club.

Although we all like to bekept in the know, there aresome pieces of informationthat a chairman’s son shouldnot be privy to and certainlynot be sharing them oversocial media.

I am a huge fan of Twitter.Not only is it useful for pickingup bits of transfer news thatotherwise would have passedme by; I have also got to talkto a huge range of differentWest Ham fans, all aroundthe world.

Furthermore, it is usefulfor having discussions aboutplayers, transfers, matchesetc. However, where Twitterfails is with the sources ofinformation.

Where it has becomeincreasingly worrying is withJack Sullivan’s tweets. It isfairly safe to presume that heis tweeting directly what hehears from David Sullivan,therefore, it must be 100%correct.

But herein lies theproblem, a 13-year-old boyshould not be the clubs' mainsource of transfer

information or privy to suchadvanced stages ofnegotiation.

It is incrediblyunprofessional and hasbecome a burden forsupporters because of theinformation released. Aprime example of theproblem Jack's account hascreated is something heposted on August 4.He tweeted: “How would youfeel if we signed Mboyo ofGent? Terrible crime whenhe was 16, can he ever beforgiven? What do youthink?”

For those who don’t knowMboyo was convicted of gangraping at 14-year-old girlwhen he was 16 and he wassentenced to 10 years ofwhich he served three.

Fair to say the responsewas very anti his joining butthe fact this was questionwas even asked raised someserious questions. It isworrying for a number ofreasons: Firstly is Jack’sTwitter account now just achannel for David Sullivan togauge fans' opinions andvoice his own?

Secondly the club shouldnot be asking fans for theiropinions on players; they havescouts for that surely?

And thirdly are the clubnow so desperate to find astriker that they have to lookat such undesirables? Theseare all problems that needaddressing.

Furthermore Jack tweetedrecently that we would sign aplayer within seven to 10days and then we would signone within 48 hours, he thenrevealed that we wouldn’t besigning anyone and thenrevealed the name of theplayer, Marko Arnautovicfrom Werder Bremen.

David Sullivan has a historyof saying things out of turnthat he should not be saying,the manager saga during ourrelegation year involvingMartin O'Neill (Sullivan saidhe was going to be our newmanager before he hadsigned and O'Neill turnedround and said no I am not).

Arnautovic is a qualityplayer and had Jack, inrevealing that the player inquestion was him, thenjeopardised the deal thenthere would have beenuproar.

If Jack is being told totweet this by his father then itis evident that David Sullivanshould not set up his ownaccount as similar problemsmay arise, as Sullivan himselfadmitted on his son's Q and A

Christian Gare

A Tweet to far

session. This problem clearlyneeds rectifying so I proposethis solution: both DavidSullivan and David Gold needto make sure that Jack’saccount needs to becomejust his personal accountrather than one that tweetstransfer news or insideinformation from the club.

Perhaps in the same veinas his brother’s (@davesulley)account.

This would not only removethe possibility of himthreatening a deal by sayingsomething he shouldn't but itwill also remove theunprofessional state that theclub seems to have founditself in over this fiasco.

Furthermore, it willhopefully put a full stop to theabhorrent abuse that Jackhas been receiving becauseof this.

If Jack's account becomesas proposed, then the clubneeds to revamp their ownTwitter feed or create a newone that is singularlydedicated to transfer news.

Nothing to the extent thatJack has been tweeting,instead for example, it shouldbe to inform fans when aplayer is undergoing amedical or when players haveofficially signed on the dottedline, perhaps this issomething that the

Supporter's Advisory Boardcan pitch to the club.

What this would do ismake sure that we as WestHam fans do not overreact,read into too much or get ourhopes up over somethingwhich may never happen.

Instead we only get thefacts and a far moreprofessional social mediasystem that such a great fanbase deserves.

Sometimes less is moreand in this case I think wewould all gain more fromJack going silent on all thingstransfer related.

Follow me on Twitter@cgare_whufc

We’ve had the successfulLions tour of Australia, theAshes and even the start ofthe Football League to keepus entertained recently butnow the time has come forour first Premier Leaguegame of the new season.

There will be thrills, spills,excitement and despair, andthat’ll all come in the firstgame! We face a newly-promoted side in Cardiff Cityand I fancy us securing threepoints won at the end of playjust like last season after a1-0 win over Aston Villa.

I am also hoping wereplicate the great start tothe season we enjoyed lastyear when we raced out ofthe blocks, gaining 11 pointsfrom their first six gameswith only one defeat atSwansea City, which couldhave ended with a differentresult on another day.

To get 11 points from thefirst few matches was theperfect start to what turnedout to be a solid first seasonback in the Barclays PremierLeague.

It’s fair to say we made themost of their generousopening fixtures, and wemust do the same in theupcoming campaign.

We play two teamspromoted teams from theChampionship, three sideswho finished in the bottomhalf last season inNewcastle, Stoke andSouthampton, while Evertonare under new managementunder Roberto Martinez. Tostart at home is always a

bonus, especially against anewly promoted side, and Ithink it’s fair to say we are allhoping for a better openingday game against Cardiffthan we did in theChampionship in 2011!

After Cardiff is NewcastleUnited away. Going to StJames’ Park is always toughbut we go there with beliefafter a 1-0 win against theGeordie faithful last season.

West Ham’s final match ofAugust is at Upton Parkagainst Stoke City who havea new manager in MarkHughes. We should go intothat match confident ofvictory, especially with ourgood record against thePotters in recent seasons. After the internationalbreak a trip to Southampton

is followed by welcomingEverton to east London. Thenit’s a trip to the KC Stadiumto take on Hull.

Now these first six gamesare all winnable. It’s not animpossibility to get themaximum 18 points from thefirst six matches.

Okay, it’s highly unlikely thatwill happen, but if we cankeep tight at the back andput away a few of ourchances, especially at home, Ican definitely see West Hamgetting 11 points, if notmore.

If the club can get off to agood start, I’m confidentanother top-ten finish is inorder.

Follow me on Twitter@bill_west_

Bill West

Let’s hope for deja vu

I’m sure all Hammers arehoping the opening fixtureagainst Cardiff City does notbring the same outcome asit did two years ago in theChampionship.

Cardiff having beenpromoted to the PremierLeague in April, yet they arenot to be underestimated.

Gaining automaticpromotion, they are a teamthat I find we have problemswith. I do not know if we playwith a closed mind as wesee them as a smaller teamthan ourselves.

It looks to be a difficultopening fixture, but weighingup both squads I believe thelikelihood is we will win.

The players who stand outmost for Cardiff City areTommy Smith, Peter

Whittingham and ex-Hammer Craig Bellamy.

As Hammers, we all knowwhat Bellamy is capable off.He is bound to be theirbiggest threat with the helpof Smith.

Meanwhile Whittingham,is a problem with free-kicks.

A bigger hurdle for ouropening games has to beour first away matchagainst Newcastle United.

No matter who goes to StJames' Park it's a toughtask.

The atmosphere is one ofthe best in the world andthat can make it a dauntingplace to play.

Ex-Toon striker AndyCarroll will love the prospectof playing at the club hesupported as a child. This

fixture looks the mostchallenging in August withStoke City at the Boleynlooking more promising tosnatch three points.

The first five or so fixturesare not exactly the mostexciting, but there are atleast four matches I think wecould get all three points.

The Boleyn last season,was a place where we feltcomfortable.

We dominated and usuallyoutplayed most teams. Thefirst fixture being played athome will boost the playersand the crowd beingsupportive as ever will surelypush us to three points.

Follow me on Twitter@HingleyClare

Clare-Elizabeth Hingley

My hopes forthe newseason

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