City Ground is Falling Down, Falling Down

The roof fell in on Forest in the first half of our match at the City Ground yesterday, and in the second half it almost literally fell in on us (the fans I mean). Part of the metal frame holding out the netting from the front of the upper tier cracked. Fortunately it only partly came away, otherwise there could have been some nasty injuries for those underneath. The stewards were busy trying to move us away from it when Reid scored right in front of us, which didn’t help their efforts

What a contrast we are between our home and away form. After the disappointment of chucking away a couple of valuable points from what would have been our first home win of the season against Leeds (though frankly we wouldn’t have deserved it), and then the dreadful performance losing to Aldershot, we then produced another 4-goal away romp at Forest.

Although Forest had a fair amount of the play in the first half, poor finishing and woeful defending let them down, and we capitalised well, scoring 3 times before the break. We could easily have had two more as well, but for some bad finishing ourselves. Two of our goals came from corners – we do look threatening this year from corners, but it has to be said that Forest should have defended them much better than they did.

In the second half, we had more control of the game, without really threatening too often. Forest pulled one back, but we soon restored the margin when another corner was badly defended and Reid nipped in at the back post to score.

I don’t really think there were any outstanding performers for us on the day, but everyone chipped in, and overall it was a good team effort. However, I don’t think we’ll play many sides that do the basics as poorly as Forest did.

Yet again a top turnout from the travelling support, who thoroughly enjoyed their day out. With the result pretty much tied up by half time, we were able to spend much of the second half bouncing Forest’s Chelsea Dagger goal celebration back at them. And the collapsing framework above us caused some amusement, and a great deal of consternation among the stewards.

The City Ground, Aug 2011

How S**t Must You Be?

We’re winning away!

Oh, what fun it is to see West Ham win away – something we didn’t see too much of over the last couple of years. But we’ve started this season with two victories in our first two excursions to already equal our tally of away successes last season. Of course, we’re now playing at a lower level, so you’d expect us to do better, but I half expected it would take longer than this to exorcise the demons of our recent travels.

The game at Doncaster was an odd affair. We got off the mark quickly when Nolan popped up at the far post to convert a Collison cross (which I think was meant for Piquionne) as early as the 5th minute. From then on, we kind of dominated the first half, without really threatening to take apart the hosts, who were very poor. Donny played so many passes into touch during the first half that I wondered if they were playing for line-outs. Rovers improved in the second half and managed to create a couple of chances, which fortunately they missed and in the end we hung on reasonably comfortably, though not convincingly, for the points.

The main entertainment for the afternoon was the West Ham fans, who turned out in numbers (over 3K), unlike the home support. We sang all throughout the game, and the pee-taking of the fat northern persons in the stand to our left was highly amusing. “Have you eaten all your mates?” The lardy ones seemed to take it all in good humour, fair play to them. “Same old West Ham, taking the p**s.”

That was my first visit to Doncaster’s Keepmoat stadium – it was ok, decent view, but a bit sterile, like most of the “flat-pack” new out-of-town stadiums that have sprung up. Plenty of room on the concourses, though, which makes a change, and quick service at the kiosks. Took over an hour after the game to do the couple of miles back to the M18, which was frustrating.

Next to Vicarage Road, and another impressive turn-out from the travelling Irons – again in fine voice throughout the evening – selling out the 4K allocation. Again we got off to a flyer when Tomkins headed in a corner after just 2 minutes. But Watford had a quite a bit of play for the rest of the half, and although we defended quite well, Green had to make an excellent save to prevent an equaliser. Then just as the board went up to display the added time, Joey O’Brien exchanged passes with Collison (I think) and raced into acres of space in the Watford half. He wasn’t closed down until he was in the penalty box, where his first shot was blocked, but the rebound fell kindly and he jabbed it home.

That goal must have knocked the stuffing out of the Hornets, as they were poor in the second half. West Ham dominated from then on, passing around the field with a lot of confidence. It was only a matter of time before we extended our lead, and a fine passing move opened up the Watford defence for Can’t Control to tap home an Ilunga cross from close range. This was the cue for many of the home fans to leave the ground – they were serenaded from the away stand with a chorus of “Is there a fire drill”. Scot Parker wrapped up the scoring in the dying moments of the game, having gone very close just minutes earlier.

Postives from the season so far…

• We seem to be better organised, which means that when not on the top of our game, we’ve not been overrun and have limited the opposition’s attempts at goal.
• Reid and Tomkins look pretty solid in central defence. Hope Tomkins injury doesn’t keep him out for too long.
• O’Brien has looked very useful at right back, a bargain of a free transfer if he keeps up this form.
• Nolan is showing the leadership and nous on the pitch that we have lacked for too long.

Negatives…

• We lack pace going forward.
• Long balls played up to the lone striker – either Piquionne or Cole – are not sticking and we are losing possession too often when we use this tactic.
• Despite the wins, we’ve only really played one quality half of football so far (2nd against Watford).
• Coincidentally, that half was also the only half where Parker’s heart has seemed to be in it. For the rest of the time, he seems to have been playing at 75% tops.

I Know I Shouldn’t Be, But…

…I’m as excited as a little kid about the start of the new football season this weekend. You’d think that as I’m coming up to my 30th consecutive season as a season ticket holder at Upton Park, I wouldn’t get so worked up about it. But I can’t help it, I’m really looking forward to the kick-off.

It’s a new era now for West Ham, with Big Fat Sam in charge – a manager who’s public perception is that his style is far removed from that traditionally associated with the club. It will be interesting to see how he lays out his West Ham teams this season, and what the crowd’s reactions will be.

I’ve been reasonably impressed with his transfer dealings so far given the financial constraints, especially with Nolan, and to a lesser extent Matt Taylor. We’ve even managed to keep our England players so far, except for Upson and he’s no loss. Unfortunately I don’t expect that to last until the end of August and still think that Parker will go at least. I only hope when he goes, that we have enough time to use some of the transfer fee to bring in some more players to our squad. It looks as though we are reasonably sound in the middle of the park, but we do need some reinforcements at the back and up front to.

Sunday can’t come soon enough!

 

Things Ain’t Going Right

It’s been a funny old season so far. I’ve put a few barbel in the net, but I’ve lost around 1 in every 3 that I’ve hooked. And it’s been for a mix of reasons – hook pulls, snags, line breaking and even a hook snapping. It’s annoying to say the least, especially as the mix of reasons means there isn’t one thing to focus on and fix, and the tackle Ive been using is stuff that I’ve used a lot before, without these problems.

The Wye at Holme Lacy

A couple of weeks ago, Andy and I went to the Wye, and just like on our first visit to this stretch last autumn, we failed to catch any barbel. Conditions seemed reasonable, with a little bit of extra water and a tinge of colour, but the fish didn’t want to play ball (or we fished it crap). I did at least hook one, which proceeded to slip the hook. As this happened mid-morning, I thought there was a good chance that there would be more bites forthcoming. Not so, apart from a greedy gudgeon that snaffled a pellet. Andy’s day consisted of catching 3 small chub and almost sitting on a grass snake.

On the Kennet, I’ve had some fascinating moments getting a shoal of barbel to instantly home in on loose-fed pellets, dropped in behind a very large overhanging bush. It’s a well known holding spot, but nobody actually fishes where I’ve been putting the pellets, as it is only about 18 inches deep, silty and sluggish paced. Everyone casts further out into the main flow. Yet every time I’ve fed the pellets, the barbel are on them literally within a few seconds, dropping back out of the bush and soon churning up the silt and debris to search out the food. Clouds of silt make it almost impossible to actually see the fish, they just show the occassional glimpse of tail poking out of the silt. I have caught one fish from there, but I think I will leave them alone now, as it’s obvious that the fish feel extremely comfortable feeding there, and it would be a shame to spoil that.

Hook Lets Me Down

22nd June, River Kennet
Weather: Fairly warm, sunny spells. River: Low, clear(ish)
Arrived: 16.00, Left: 23.00

Fished one of my favourite swims on this venue, using groundbait/pellet feeder & pellet on the hook. Unusually for the swim, it took a little while for a fish to show. I’d been there for about an hour, when I decided I needed a  drink. So I put the baitrunner on and round to get a drink from my bag. No sooner had I turned my back, than I heard a splash. Looking round, I saw that the rod had been pulled off the front rest (it was resting in the shallow water at the edge), but the rear “gripper” rest was doing its job. I grabbed the rod and found myself attached to a fish. It was a barbel of 4.02, and put up a surprisingly low key fight. In fact I thought it was a chub until I saw it. Next cast, almost the same thing happened. I thought I was safe to have my drink, and was in mid swallow when I saw the tip wrap round. Hurriedly putting down the bottle, I got the rod and was playing another barbel. This one went 6.02 and fought more like a barbel should.

I had to wait another couple of hours for my next bite, a full-blooded pull. Again a barbel was the culprit. There was a worrying moment when the fish went into some sort of snag and I could feel the line rubbing against it. However, the line held and the fish came out. A few minutes later it was in the net. It was a good fish of 9.08. Re-tackling to clear the line where it had been damaged in the snag, I re-cast, and was almost immediately in again. In a repeat of the last fish, it took me into the snag again, but as before the line held and the fish was pulled back out of it. When I saw it, I could see that it was a similar size as well. But when I was just about to get it in the net, it came off. I thought the hook must have pulled, but on examining the rig, I saw that the hook had actually broken, which was very annoying. I’d not noticed any sign of damage to it when I’d taken out of the previous fish. That proved to be the end of the action for the day.

Very pleased with the Torrix’s handling of the two bigger fish, and also pleased with the Daiwa Sensor line I’ve started using. I had 8lb BS on, which twice survived being run into a snag and still held, even though there were 9lb plus barbel on the end. Not so pleased with the broken hook, but this is a pattern that I’ve been using for quite a few years now, and have had some much bigger barbel on them, so hopefully this was a one-off.

Swifts – seems to be a lot of them this year. It was fascinating to watch them darting around, feeding on the many airborne insects. There was no respite for the insects when it got dark either, as the bats then appeared to carry on the feast.

Catches
Barbel 4.02 Pellet
Barbel 3.08 Pellet
Barbel 9.08 Pellet

New Manager, New Players, Same Old S*** ?

Credit to the Dildo Daves, they acted quickly in addressing the managerial situation at West Ham, following our relegation from the Premier League. We’ve been relegated before, (now 5 times in my lifetime), but I think the season just gone was the worst. Not just because of relegation, but the manner in which it happened. There just did not seem to be a fighting spirit from either the players or the manager and for that alone, Grant needed to be replaced.

The appointment of Big Fat Sam as the new manager has caused a lot of debate amongst my fellow Irons, primarily because of his perceived long-ball, physical style of football. However, most agree that if he can instill the ethics of hard work and organisation into whatever players he will have at his disposal come the start of the new season, then we will have a sound foundation on which to build for a quick return to the PL. BFS himself says that he is well aware of the tradition of the so-called “West Ham Way” of playing stylish, skillful, attacking football, and wherever practical will try to play this way, while not sacrificing results on the altar of tradition. A few years ago, I would have been less than happy with this appointment, but with the club still having deep financial problems, then needs must, and I say well done to the board on getting a manager with such a good track record.

Getting the new manager in situ so early has meant that we have pulled off a bit of a coup in the transfer market with the signing of Kevin Nolan. I was very surprised that a player that did well for the Toon last year would drop down a division, but I guess that’s the pulling power that BFS has – Nolan has signed twice for him before, knows him well and obviously has great respect for him. Nolan is also the sort of player we really need – strong, quite skillful, hard working, and most importantly a goal-scoring midfielder, decent ones of which are not easy to come by. I’m looking forward to seeing him in the claret and blue.

Not so sure with our other new signing, another of BFS’s previous players, Abdoulaye Faye. Fair player in his time, but now 33 and this signing is reminiscent of many previous purchases of older, over-the-top players that have rarely produced the goods for us. However, we do need strengthening in the central defence department, as we lack decent, experienced players in that area. Gabbidon was our only one following the departure of Upson (goodbye and don’t let the door hit you on the arse on the way out), and he has not shown anything like the form that made him one of our star players before a long term injury problem kept him out of the side.

Also on the down-side, we have lost Demba Ba, who’s gone in the opposite direction to Nolan. It was probably inevitable, but I’d hoped we might be able to persuade him to stay, albeit with financial inducements rather than career opportunities. I’m certain that Ba would have scored a shed-load of goals for us next season, and good strikers who can regularly find the back of the net are in short supply, so he is going to be difficult to replace.

Fixtures are out and the fixture computer has given us a tough start. Starting with Cardiff at home, we play 3 of the clubs that are likely to feature in the promotion push before August is out, the other two clubs being Leeds and Forest. We also have away games at Donny Rovers and Watford in the first month. So we will need to hit the ground running, otherwise things could easily start to go wrong. If we don’t get some good results and the style of play is not to the fans’ liking, then I wouldn’t be surprised to see the crowd start to turn on BFS, which would not be good news. Patience will be needed, but unfortunately is probably going to be in short supply.

River Season Kicks Off

18th June, River Kennet.
Weather: On the cool side, mostly overcast, windy. River: Low, clear(ish)
Arrived: 16.00, Left: 23.00

First trip of the new season, great to be back on the rivers again after the unsuccessful attempts to catch a canal carp, and a chance to test out my new custom-built Torrix rod. The river showed no signs of having benefitted from the rain of recent days, with it being as low as I’ve seen it at this stage of the season, and as clear as it ever gets these days.

I was mildly surprised to find only two other anglers on the stretch – a sign of the times perhaps? When I first had a ticket for this stretch back in 2000, there would always be quite a few people during the first few weeks of the season, but that has tailed off and it is not unusual for me to have the venue to myself, even on a weekend.

Before settling in to a swim that was quite good to me last season, I dropped a few boily and pellet samples in to a couple of other swims. I started off using a groundbait/pellet feeder with pellet on the hook. On the second cast, the feeder had hardly settled, when the rod top was yanked sharply round and I was into my first barbel of the season. After a lively but fairly brief scrap, I had a nice barbel on the unhooking mat. Putting it on the scales (I always weigh the first barbel of the season – it helps to get my eye in!), I settled for a weight of 6.15.

Next cast was almost a repeat of the previous one, as another barbel was hooked very quickly. This one was smaller though, going about three and a half pounds. I was beginning to think this might be the start of a red-letter day, but it was not to be, as – apart from a chublet that snatched my bait – there was no more action in this swim.

About eight o’clock, I decided to try one of the other swims that I’d previously baited (I’d also repeated the baitings about an hour earlier), and switched tactics to a straight lead and a boily on the hook. I did get one pull there, but missed it. It may have been a line bite. Because of the sign of fish being present I stayed in the swim probably longer than I should have and didn’t get round to trying the other swim I’d baited, which was probably a mistake. The only “bites” I had for the rest of the evening were from bats hitting the line.

So slightly disappointing that the session didn’t fulfill its early promise, but no complaints as even catching one barbel per session sends me home happy. New rod christened – and it handled the fish very nicely, though obviously I would like to test it on bigger fish. And the predicted heavy showers didn’t materialise, which was a bonus.

Catches
Barbel 6.15 Pellet
Barbel 3.08 Pellet

Done and Dusted

Well, that’s another season over and done with – and good riddance to it. One of the worst seasons I’ve had to endure in the 35 years since I started going regularly. Not a lot to say about it, so here’s a list of highlights and lowlights.

Highlights
Taking 4 points off Spurs.
Beating the Mancs 4-0 in the League Cup, with Spector scoring twice and the whole game played out in a snowstorm.
The 3-1 win over the Mickey Mousers.
Another 3-1  win, this time the Boxing Day match at Foolham.
The second-half come-back at West Brom to snatch a 3-3 draw after being 0-3 down at the interval.
Super Scotty Parker – magnificent throughout.
Mental moment of the season – Carlton Cole’s goal that put us 3-1 up on aggregate at Brum in the League Cup semi.

Lowlights
Avraam Grunt getting the manager’s job.
Avraam Grunt not getting the tin-tack in Jan.
Blowing the League Cup semi after being 3-1 up with only 45 minutes to see it out.
Throwing away 2 goal leads far too often.
Pretty much every other game not covered by the above.
“Star” players not performing.
Winning the Olympic Stadium bid.

Still Can’t Catch a Carp

Well I still can’t sort out those crafty canal carp. Had another crack at the GU yesterday, trying to see if I could break in my new carp rods, and to experiment with a new bait, but it wasn’t to be. Although I may have been close this time, as I had a run on one rod, which I somehow managed not to hook. I’m not convinced it was a carp though, as it was a slowish run, not a screamer. I wonder if it could have been a bream that had picked up the bait but not taken it in fully.

Just after 5 o’clock a very noisy party started up somewhere close by. As I wasn’t there to dance, I soon decided to up-sticks and move to a different venue. Predictably, I had the same lack of success there as I had at my first choice venue.

Bugger!

Only West Ham! A few minutes into the second half of today’s match at Wigan, it looked as though a miracle escape from relegation was on. We were 2-0 up and Birmingham were down by the same score – scores which, if maintained until the final whistle, would have given us at least a chance of avoiding the drop in next Sunday’s final match of the season. But no. Wigan pulled one back after being awarded a dubious free-kick, and then went on to level the score. The final quarter of the game was madness, end to end stuff with the two teams taking it in turns to miss great chances to score. Deep into added time, I thought Cole was going to win it, but he somehow managed to miss from inside the 6 yard box. Then Wigan went up the other end and won it themselves.

So it’s definitely Chumpionship football for next season. Hopefully with a new manager in charge and the hapless Grant consigned to the darkest pages of West Ham’s history.

The Dildo Dave’s have a big job on their hands now to steady the club’s finances. At least with most of the high earners’ contracts running out in the summer, that will make the task a bit easier. The likes of Upson, Dyer and Boa Morte will not be missed. Sadly, I also expect Parker & Green to depart and they will be sorely missed. Cole will leave as well I expect.

I hope some of our younger players such as Noble, Collison and Tomkins will stick around and give us a core to build a new side around. I also hope that Demba Ba will stay, and I wouldn’t mind if Piquionne stays too.

Going to be a tough season next year! (off the field too, with games against the likes of Millwall, Leeds and possibly Cardiff to come)