Bilic reveals Matic banter
Our Croatian manager Slaven Bilic has revealed an exchanging of friendly banter that took place between him and Chelsea midfielder Nemanja Matic, prior to our victory over Spurs on Friday night. The Croat revealed all in an exclusive interview with Sport Klub after the game, outlining the fact that Matic had offered to take The Croat out to dinner if we could do The Blues a favour and overcome our North London rivals in the subsequent clash. In a joking manner, Bilic uttered: “He texted me and he said: If you stop Tottenham, I’ll take you out to dinner”. The boss and the Chelsea ace clearly have a good relationship as Bilic went on to add: “Matic is a wonderful guy, a great player. I will accept that offer with pleasure”. Joking aside, our victory over the title contenders really did swing the way of the title over to West London and away from our fiercest Premier League rivals in The North. The Blues victory over Boro last night, which included a goal from The Serbian international, meant that we really have derailed Mauricio Pochettino’s men’s title challenge for the second consecutive season.
U23’s clinch Play-Off spot
Our bright young U23’s side overcame Wolverhampton Wanderers in some style last night to book themselves a Play-Off final showdown with The Magpies. Terry Westley’s men were looking like they were going to miss out on a final spot as they found themselves a goal down with ten minutes to go, but a superb header from substitute Jamal Hector-Ingram levelled the affair going into the dying minutes. The game looked set for extra time, but then just as he did for the equaliser, Ingram burst into the box, but this time he was fouled and the referee pointed to the spot. Martin Samuelson calmly stepped up to place the ball home to secure the dramatic injury-time victory. The late progression means that the youngsters will be facing a third trip to St James’s Park this season, but this time the idea of sweet revenge will be on their minds, as The Geordie club knocked us out of The PL2 Cup this season in extra time to halt our defence of the trophy. So could our starlets be heading for the top division of The PL2? One thing is certain; the final is set to be an absolutely cracking example of the newly founded PL2.
Limbrick makes non-league move
One of our most experienced academy coaches has switched East London for Woking, for a shot at a managerial career. The former Saints youth coach has also worked as assistant manager of The England U17 side, but now he has joined the National League side after their manager Gary Hill departed after six years at the club.
Hollywood actor praises Hammers’ bravery
Our very own Hollywood Hammer Ray Winstone was full of praise for our heroic performance against Spurs on Friday night, when he appeared on Saturday breakfast show Soccer AM. Winstone was in good spirits as he performed a trademark crossed hammers action to the audience and recited “We were like Trojans last night….. Like Spartans”. The 50-year-old has always publically expressed his love for West Ham United all throughout the course of his prestigious acting career, and is the star of a unique film made by and for the fans. Winstone is a main star of the film entitled Iron Men, which maps our historic move from Upton Park to The London Stadium.
Transfer gossip: Hammers hunt defensive duo
It has been reported this week by The Daily Star that we are set to hijack Everton’s £17m move for Sunderland keeper Jordan Pickford. The 22-year-old burst onto the scene with The Black Cats earlier on in the season, but he is set to leave The North East after it was confirmed a fortnight ago that the club were to be relegated to The Championship. So could the starlet shot stopper be the latest threat to Adrian’s first team spot in goal next season? It has been rumoured this week by TalkSport that Hamburg will not renew the contract of 30-year-old defender Johan Djourou, paving the way for a possible summer move for the former Arsenal man. The Swiss centre-back has been frequently linked with a move to The London Stadium all season long, but now will his exile from The German side’s first team, be the prompt that finally triggers Djourou’s return to English Football?
OTD-2010
On this day in 2010 we were held 1-1 by Manchester City on the final day of the 2009/2010 season. Luis Boa Morte opened the scoring on 17 minutes with a delightful dink over Marton Fulop, before a back post header from Shaun Wright-Phillips equalised for The Citizens. The tie would prove to be Gianfranco Zola’s last League game in charge of us, as we narrowly avoided relegation finishing 17th place in an unflattering season.