London Stadium in Police raid
We were at the forefront of world sport headlines as HMRC officers carried out a raid on our London Stadium offices on Wednesday morning. The raid was part of a huge Police operation in which 200 officers were deployed across England and France to investigate various fraud allegations. Newcastle’s St James’s Park was also raided as us and The Toon were the only English League clubs to be affected. No further developments have taken place, but rumours of a point’s deduction or transfer embargo continue to circulate. The club released a statement from the board later that day confirming the allegations and reading: “The club is fully cooperating with the HMRC to assist their enquiries”. The raid was reportedly in response to allegations that the club has been tax evading and making illegal transfers with French clubs.
Carroll to return for Spurs
Our Croatian manager Slaven Bilic has confirmed that injured striker Andy Carroll should return in time to face Tottenham Hotspur on Friday. The injury prone front man missed our goalless draw at The Bet 365 Stadium yesterday, but Bilic had this to say about when the former England striker will be returning to full fitness “I expected him to be back for this game but he is not so he should be Ok for the next game against Spurs”. The return of Carroll is set to be vital as we face the title contenders in the light of Diafra Sakho’s recent injury and Jonathan Calleri’s increasingly poor form. Carroll has seven goals for the season in what has been another injury-blighted campaign for the tall striker in Claret and Blue. So with his return, the 28-year-old will be looking to catch Michail Antonio’s 9 goal tally for the season and become our League top goal scorer, for the first time over the close of the season.
Sources insist Antonio will stay
According to Sky Sports News HQ, high ranking West Ham officials have confirmed that Michail Antonio has desires to stay at West Ham, despite rumours that he refused to sign a new 70K a week deal. Antonio’s current deal is thought to be worth about 35K a week and the former non-League star reportedly wants a pay rise. Many Hammers fans believe that Antonio has the right to want more money as he has been one of our stand-out performers and our current top goal scorer for the season. So will the fast winger finally settle for a new Hammers deal?
Transfer gossip: Hammers eye attacking duo
It has been rumoured this week by The Sun that we are readying a summer move for Reading winger Paolo Hurtado. The Peru international is currently on loan at Portuguese outfit Vitoria Guimaraes and has made just 6 appearances for Reading since joining the Championship club in 2013. Hurtado has been instrumental as Vitoria have made an impressive run up to fourth place in The Primeira Liga this term, however we may face some competition from The Cherries to sign the 26-year-old this summer. Slaven Bilic has hinted at a summer move for Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge, fuelling speculation that he will end his four-year stay Liverpool. The England striker has endured a tough season which yet again has been blighted by injury, but that doesn’t seem to be putting off Slaven Bilic, as The Croat was full of praise for the 27-year-old in a recent interview saying: “When he is on fire, he is a great player. We are going to see”. We have endured a goal-starved end to the season under Bilic, with top goal scorer Michail Antonio out for the rest of the season, we have scored just four in our last six games, so could the former Chelsea’s striker be the resolution to our problems in front of goal, in the summer?
OTD-2016
On this day in 2016 we overcame West Bromwich Albion 0-3 away from home on a superb afternoon for Slaven Bilic in The Midlands. We were on fine song as two quick-fire goals from Cheikhou Kouyate and Mark Noble put us two to the good at the break. We made sure of the win when Mark Noble volleyed home our third with ten minutes to go, to bolster our top four hopes. We would eventually finish seventh securing Europa League when Manchester United won the FA Cup, after we endured a poor end to the season in Slaven Bilic’s first season as boss.