Andy Carroll’s amazing overhead kick should have been named the best goal of the Premier League season, so says Sky pundit and former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher.
Carroll hit his wonder goal in the 3-0 win over Crystal Palace at London Stadium in January. Other strikes in contention were Liverpool midfielder Emre Can’s recent overhead kick against Watford and a scorpion kick from Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud against Crystal Palace.
But Carragher said: “I’ve gone for Andy Carroll. This is better than Emre Can’s overhead kick from a couple of weeks ago. I’ve played with Andy Carroll and he’s not the most subtle of men, so to get himself up like that and it’s how hard he hits it really. I don’t even know why the goalkeeper dived to be honest. There’s power, connection and it’s right in the top corner. It’s an unbelievable goal.”
Meanwhile, the Hammers are said to be on the lookout for a new naming rights sponsor for the London Stadium. West Ham have struggled to make an impact at their new home this season with performances on the pitch barely living up to the grand surroundings of the stadium.
Okay, the Boleyn Ground it ain’t; the lack of atmosphere is just one aspect critics have picked out when judging the venue. But there have been times when the noise has been ramped up and the fans have raised the roof to cheer on Slaven Bilic’s boys. The recent win over rivals Tottenham is one such example.
But as the season comes to a conclusion in what has been a mixed bag of a campaign (the curtain comes down on it in the final game of the term at Burnley on Sunday) it seems even corporate business moguls are hesitant when it come to the stadium.
And that has been confirmed by the news that telecoms giant Vodafone has pulled out of a proposed £20million sponsorhip deal for the naming rights to the ground. It is said that talks had reached such an advanced stage that a formal announcement of the tie-up was the next step.
According to the reported terms of the deal, Vodafone were reportedly ready to fork out £3.3million-a-year, providing a clear profit given that the club pays rent of £2.5million per year. But the offer is now off the table and unlikely to be resurrected with the news that Vodafone have suffered an annual loss £5.2billion. And so the naming rights are up for grabs once more…and performances and form aren’t exactly encouraging selling points now, are they?