Re: The 2012/2013 Football Season - Fans Thread

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.

Re: The 2012/2013 Football Season - Fans Thread

Thanks, Bob.

Hammer, I didn't 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 haven't been there for years, but it was always a favourite ground to visit.

Re: The 2012/2013 Football Season - Fans Thread

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.

Re: The 2012/2013 Football Season - Fans Thread

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.

Re: The 2012/2013 Football Season - Fans Thread

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 mother's 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 1980's 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. I've got a photograph of my friend and I with Steve in the players' bar. Nowadays you'd 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

I've 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. I've been used to people at The Bridge being really friendly and whenever I've been up to Goodison Park. I just don't 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 can't remember. Lots of former Chelsea stars, of course.

Re: The 2012/2013 Football Season - Fans Thread

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 don't think he has been the player he was a few seasons ago. Likely due to injury problems. I think it's the same for Petr Cech. He really impressed me during Euro 2004, so when he signed for Chelsea I was delighted. I don't 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 don't 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.

Re: The 2012/2013 Football Season - Fans Thread

Seeing there are not many ladies chatting about footie I thought I would butt in being a footie fan since the 1960's. I supported Leeds United and went to the home games and a few of the away games. Didnt have enough money out of £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 1960's 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.

Re: The 2012/2013 Football Season - Fans Thread

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

Re: The 2012/2013 Football Season - Fans Thread

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 "tail between" 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 isn't working for Brendan Rogers yet, hope the new owners don't get too impatient, let alone the home fans.

How about it Hammer, did Big Sam get it right this time?

Re: The 2012/2013 Football Season - Fans Thread

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 Fulham's Clint Dempsey or Chelsea's 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 wotsname's 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.


Fortune's always hiding,
I've looked everywhere,
I'm forever blowing bubbles,
Pretty bubbles in the air.


Onward