Hello again everybody and welcome to LovelyMeerkat.
I personally think that Andy Carroll may do well for himself at West Ham, he will not have to try and justify the obscenely massive value put upon him when Liverpool paid out that ridiculous amount to get him from Newcastle and my gut feeling is that he will be able to fit in easily with the Hammers style of football, good luck to him anyway, I am sure he will only benefit from playing regular football again.
Thanks, Bob.
Hammer, I didnāt see the match, but I see West Ham had an excellent win today. I gather Andy Carroll did well before he had to go off. Do you go to Upton Park? I havenāt been there for years, but it was always a favourite ground to visit.
By all accounts Andy Carroll had a very good game on his debut and to get a standing ovation from the West Ham fans when he had to come off says it all for me, just hope that he continues to set his career on the right course now.
Truly a very very good 3-0 win for the Hammers, hope that my lot can do as well tomorrow but not holding my breath 
I see that your favourites drew John, better than a loss.
Hi Helen,
we only lived a decent stones throw from the ground so I was going to the Boleyn from a very early age, about the time that Adam were a lad. 
I suppose in the very beginning the fact we could sneak in under the turnstiles without paying helped a lot. 
My allegiance caused a few rucks at home though as my dad was a massive Charlton fan and I could never understand why he preferred to go across the water and watch them instead of us.
It is one hell of a trip for a home match these days but when the lads have a match nearby I sometimes make the effort.
Hi Hammer,
My maternal Grandparents came from Fulham area. My great aunt had a huge 3 storey house in Parsons Green which I would visit often as a young child. We had quite a large family. Two of my motherās brothers were Chelsea nuts, the other was QPR and my Grandfather was a Fulham fan. My Uncle used to take my cousins and I to The Bridge. Then I was old enough to go with my friends and have a season ticket. I took a break from going for a few years when I discovered other interests, but back in the late 1980ās I rekindled my interest and started going again. My Chelsea hero from my youth was Peter Bonetti.
At that time I found out that the team trained near Heathrow airport, so I started going to watch them train. I got to know Kerry Dixon, Steve Clarke, Dennis Wise, Ken Monkou, Frank Sinclair, etc. really well. Iāve got a photograph of my friend and I with Steve in the playersā bar. Nowadays youād be hard pressed to get anywhere near the players, although I saw Kerry a few years ago and he remembered me. I was very chuffed, especially when I got a kiss:blush:
Iāve always a bit of a soft spot for the Hammers. The late, great Bobby Moore was always a hero of mine along with Sir Geoff Hurst. A friend of mine is distantly related to Frank Lampard (4th cousin twice removed or something). We went to see West Ham play Swindon (near where I now live) in a friendly back in 2000. We met Frank after the game. He was really nice. I was delighted when he signed for Chelsea. Also, very impressed with Paolo Di Canio who signed autographs for ages. I used to love him in that advert.
I have occasionally been to see Swindon play, but have not been motivated to get a season ticket. Iāve been used to people at The Bridge being really friendly and whenever Iāve been up to Goodison Park. I just donāt find that at Swindon. I got to know so many people at Chelsea, young, old and in between. I even met a few famous faces - Richard Attenborough, George Best, Dennis Law, John Major, David Mellor, Jack Charlton and some I canāt remember. Lots of former Chelsea stars, of course.
I was disapppinted to see Michael Essien go out on loan to Real Madrid. Hopefully, he will come back after the season and still be a Chelsea player. To be honest, I donāt think he has been the player he was a few seasons ago. Likely due to injury problems. I think itās the same for Petr Cech. He really impressed me during Euro 2004, so when he signed for Chelsea I was delighted. I donāt think he has been the same tour de force since that injury sustained against Reading. Mind you he does still have his moments of brilliance as shown in the Champions League final. I donāt think we should have let Carlo go. He was easy on the eye. I have thing about goalkeepers. I like Iker Casillas as well
Drogba was a great player with attitude problems. I have no idea what has gone on in Shanghai. I remember his sulk when Chelsea beat Wigan 8-0 to clinch their last EPL title. Having said that, he securred the Champions League for us.
Seeing there are not many ladies chatting about footie I thought I would butt in being a footie fan since the 1960ās. I supported Leeds United and went to the home games and a few of the away games. Didnt have enough money out of Ā£3 a week wage to go away. I remember a great home game against West Ham (dont know if you remember it) Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst, Martin Peters still played for them. Leeds won 7 - 0 or was it 1. Memory fades laugh. Good game that was. Dont you think that the trouble with footie nowadays is the money involved. Not only the wages, the owners who are billionaires and the swapping of the same Managers?
Who ever heard of a millionaire in the 1960ās never mind billionaire owners.
I love the Championship games. They seem alot more gritty than the Premier League. My one complaint about any game nowadays is the extra time added at the end of a game. How can another 7 minutes be allowed sometimes when they are quite obviously wanting to finish the game. Drives me mad does that. I also support Nottingham Forest as well as I like two teams. They are doing well this season and hope the new buys start doing well. Its about time we had some money put in as we have done without any big money for over 10 years now.
Not a big fan, but last seasons last game of Manchester City was the most fantastic exciting game for years.
If all three that you mention were playing it had to have been between 1959 and 1970. We have never enjoyed great success against Leeds either home or away but cannot remember us losing by seven.
There was one game in the 1965/66 old Div One where we lost 5 - 0 to them but then our lads would have been thinking of winning that little competition for England later on so it was perhaps understandable.
You can see we were only lulling you into a false sense of success, after West Ham won the World cup for England and the shackles were cast off we redressed the balance.
The 1966/67 League Cup match ended with us taking the spoils 7 -0. ;-)
All good memories though, thanks to you both for joining in.
Onward
How nice to see some new posters joining in on this thread, welcome to BowieEyes, nice to read your comments, both yourself and LovelyMeerkat will, I am sure, add a wider perspective to the proceedings.
Afraid it is a bit ātail betweenā legs time for me at the moment:( after Arsenal have just succeeded up at Anfield (yet again!) Coming away with all 3 points after winning 2-0, it just isnāt working for Brendan Rogers yet, hope the new owners donāt get too impatient, let alone the home fans.
How about it Hammer, did Big Sam get it right this time?
Hi Bob,
yes it worked well and from what I saw the team had a new purpose in life although other team bosses will have taken note and they will undoubtedly take steps to nullify the game plan.
It will be interesting to see how BFS varies the strategy as he surely must to make us more than the one dimensional team we are labelled these days.
It might be all academic though, I read that the Liverpool manager has already indicated he might well recall Carroll in January. A perverse sort of irony here, Rodgers had Carroll kicking his heels and knowing he was clearly unwanted when he thought he could do far better with the likes of Fulhamās Clint Dempsey or Chelseaās Daniel Sturridge.
He could not wait to palm Carroll off to us, alas he dropped a clanger with both as they went elsewhere and left him short on vital players and it has come home to roost big style.
Now he is possibly going to pull a master stroke of disreputable squalidity by giving us a kick in the wotsnameās and forcing Andy back to Anfield instead of getting to grips properly with the situation.
If he truly thinks that Carroll alone would have prevented the dismal start to their season he has less oil in his lamp than I gave him credit for. The entire team are in disarray and it will take more than one player to sort out the issues.
As you said Bob, Andy had the chance to restart his career and the signs were good that he might just do it with us, God alone knows how he feels to be pulled about like a rag doll.
As for the mighty Hammers, we have been down this sort of road many times so nothing new.
Fortuneās always hiding,
Iāve looked everywhere,
Iām forever blowing bubbles,
Pretty bubbles in the air.
Onward
I donāt want to alarm Hammer and Bob, but that injury that Carroll suffered on Saturday reminds me of his longstanding thigh problem that kept him out of Liverpoolās team for some time. Could it be that heās aggravated it? The way he went down was not good. Brendan Rogers, oh dear! Didānt get Dempsey or Sturridge, leaving the squad somewhat light, not the best of starts I fear. Our lot seem to like getting draws, apparently letting Ebbsfleet in near the end. Wasānt there in person, was in Hull getting my new telly as the old one has just died. Should have stayed around and took in the Tigers game, good match by all accounts. Well done the Hammers, er, em, Big Sam for Manager of the Month!?
Errrrrm, oh no John no John no John no.
Now that reminds me of a song a while back, in any event I would humbly suggest Steve Clarke.
Ah yes, Steve Clarke who must be having a really quiet chuckle at the way things have panned out for him so far, good luck to him says I.
Brendan Rodgers must be panicking if the rumours are correct that liverpool are likely to go after Didier Drogba and Michael Owen (like an instalment from "All our yesterdays:) ).
Good luck with your new telly John.
iād go along with Steve Clarke, too.
Owing to the Internationals, none of our Prem clubs are in action this week which means we sufferers can get a bit of welcome relief although if you are an England supporter there may be troubles ahead, but while there is music andā¦ sorry, wrong thread.
The Prem aside there is one important game is to be played that John will take a keen interest in I am sure.
Lincoln City visit the New Bucks Head Stadium for their match against AFC Telford on Saturday, the kick-off is at 3:00pm. This will be the third time that the Imps have visited the Bucks ground and manager Dean Holdsworth will be hoping for a hatrick of wins there.
For certain they need a boost and quickly, Tuesdayās 2-1 home defeat against Alfreton saw them extend an unhappy run to six games without a win.They presently occupy 20th place in the table with only 5 points to show from 7 games. The injury problems seem to be mounting with Power, Boyce, Duffy and Platt all reportedly missing from Saturdayās lineup.
Anyway, we wish good luck to Johnās team.
On the England front, The FIFA 2014 World Cup European Qualifying match against Moldova kicks off at the Zimbru Stadium, Chisinau, tonight (Friday) at 7:45pm.
Really cannot see any problems here even on the less than satisfactory surface, although it is England so one can never be too sure. In all honesty if we could not beat a side who are sitting in 141st in the FIFA rankings and we played them on the tundra it would be time to give up.
Squad as listed:
Goalkeepers: Jack Butland (Birmingham City), Joe Hart (Manchester City), John Ruddy (Norwich City).
Defenders: Leighton Baines (Everton), Ryan Bertrand (Chelsea), Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Phil Jagielka (Everton), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Joleon Lescott (Manchester City), John Terry (Chelsea), Kyle Walker (Tottenham Hotspur).
Midfielders: Michael Carrick (Manchester United), Tom Cleverley (Manchester United), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), James Milner (Manchester City), Theo Walcott (Arsenal).
Forwards: Jermain Defoe (Tottenham Hotspur), Daniel Sturridge (Chelsea), Danny Welbeck (Manchester United).
Thanks Hammer for that wonderfully detailed account of the weekendās events. The way the Imps are playing at the moment any point will be welcome. I suspect Telford will be rubbing their hands with glee, regardless of past results.Another Lincolnshire Team in dire straits are Scunthorpe Utd, who canāt buy a win for love or money. They have nul points so far, and looks like another plunge into League Two. Yes England should dispose of Moldova, but anyone who has shuddered through some of their so called easy games, will not be complacent.Looks a decent squad, allowing for injuries, I reckon 2 or 3 nil. Thats to England by the way!
This Saturday will see Liverpool at the Stadium of Light for their match with Sunderland, the kick-off is at 17:30 and is being screened by ESPN.
This has been an extraordinary week for the Reds both as a football club and much more besides. I suspect Brendan Rodgers will be urging the team that bit harder to put in a sizeable shift and record an emphatic victory. There is no doubt he has a massive challenge ahead and it will take a while to restructure the side although a win away to the Black Cats would set him up for the tasty visit of Manchester United to Anfield next weekend.
That said, Martin OāNeill is just as desperate for three points for their first home game of the League season, could well be a draw.
Lincoln City are at home to Hyde with the kick-off at 15:00. A little bird tells me that manager David Holdsworth will start new loanee midfielder David Morgan plus striker Vadaine Oliver at Sincil Bank in an effort to tame the tigers. Letās hope this is the start of the climb up the table for the Imps.
Our little band of pilgrims journey to Carrow Road for our meeting with Norwich City on Saturday with a 12:45 Kick-off. Squad is a bit of a mystery at the moment with possible starts for Yossi Benayoun, Matt Jarvis and George McCartney. We will be definately without Andy Carroll and Jack Collison.
The Canaries manager, Chris Hughton, who is an old hammer has quietly gone about his business and got them singing a different tune. They have clearly learnt from the humiliation at Craven Cottage and now look a great deal more composed and more solid at the back.The draws against QPR and Spurs could very well have been victories.
If Delia keeps her pies away from ref Chris Foy we might get a draw.
Onward
More like Hammer, if Delia keeps away from the joy juice! Still laugh now over that wierd rant of hers. Good team at home Norwich, so should be a close one. Apparently there is some good news about Carroll, further forward in his recovery than expected. Haveānt heard of those two guys for the Imps, lets hope they do well. It would be wonderful in this week of all weeks, that Liverpool get a result at Sunderland, to ease some pain from them awful Hillsborough revelations. Beggars belief when you hear what shocking cover up events have been taking place. Well done the families for never giving up hope for their loved ones. Some interesting games this weekend, should throw up a few surprises.
Good luck to all our favourites this weekend, we could all do with a bit of a fillip after the England - Ukraine encounter methinks.
A bit better for us all I suppose, West Ham coming away from Norwich with a point, likewise Liverpool after their encounter at Sunderlandās Stadium Of Light and well done the Imps! A 3-2 victory at home versus Hyde.
