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Nothing epitomised West Ham last season better than the match they were relegated in. At the beginning of the season the fans were optimistic that new manager Avram Grant would be able to move the club forward after having narrowly avoided relegation the year before. They weren’t able to climb the league, but going 2-0 up away to Wigan meant they still had a chance of keeping their place in the Premiership.

And then they blew it. 3 goals without reply for the Lancashire club and West Ham dropped out of the basement. It had been a horror year for the Hammers, and not even Scott Parker’s Captain-Fantastic-performances or the return of Thomas ‘Der Hammer’ Hitzlsperger could turn it around.

Now facing up to the prospect of a spell in the Championship, new manager Sam Allardyce has a lot of work to do to bring the London club back up to the promised-land of the Premier League. His brief is to do this at the first time of asking, which is generally what is hoped for when a team is relegated. But his strategy for doing this, questioned in some quarters, appears to be a somewhat high-risk, if not completely kamikaze, policy of signing players on Premier League wages to get the job done.

But is this the right way of securing a way out of the second tier of English football, or a doomed path to further embarrassment?

It seems wrong to argue with Big Sam (after all, he could easily have managed Real Madrid) because his track record with struggling clubs is impeccable. Most people would agree that if Allardyce had still been in charge at Blackburn then they would have found themselves much higher up the league than they eventually did; scrapping for survival on the last day of the season just wouldn’t have happened. His time at Newcastle was ill-fated, that is for sure, but maybe fans expected too much, and only being given half a season is no way to tell if a manager will be successful or not in the long-run.

He has so far brought in Kevin Nolan for an undisclosed fee and Abdoulaye Faye on a free transfer. But the issue is not with the amount he pays for them, but the amount they are paid in their contracts. Nolan’s £50,000 per week is a lot of money for a team in the Championship to splash on the wages of just one player. And with West Ham having been linked with moves for Eidur Gudjohnsen (although this proved to be a failed effort), Matthew Taylor, Andy Johnson and even Joe Cole, he might not even be one of the highest earners at the club. If they were to fail to get the promotion they crave, West Ham could be plummeted into further financial difficulties, something the team and the fans will not want to have to experience again.

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So is Allardyce right to pin so much on the ‘bouncebackability’ of his team? In a word, yes. Newcastle, Birmingham and West Bromwich Albion are some of the few teams that can boast immediate returns to the Premier League, whilst the likes of Leicester, Sheffield United, Derby County and many others have become bogged down in the lower leagues. This is mainly because the Championship has been getting more and more competitive over the years, and this year looks to be one of the most challenging ever. West Ham will need the kind of quality that Allardyce is looking to bring in, and the fact that he has managed a lot of the players before should mean that he knows how to motivate them.

The target of 1 season, 1 promotion is also important as the move to the Olympic Stadium approaches. The likes of Tottenham and Leyton Orient don’t need any more ammunition to throw at the Olympic Park Legacy Company as evidence of the Hammers’ undeservedness. Whether or not Big Sam can hold off the hits and deliver on his promise remains to be seen, but he is certainly building a squad capable of cashing on the return tickets he has issued.

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Who’s your tip for the Championship next season? Let me know on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/_tomclose

Arsenal legend Thierry Henry has returned to the Emirates in order to maintain his fitness, following the conclusion of another MLS season. Surely the homecoming of one of Arsenal’s greats can only have a positive effect on the current squad?

The 33-year-old arrived at the London Colney base on Monday where he has been training with Arsene Wenger’s squad. The new MLS season begins in March, and although the deal is short-term, Henry will use his time at his former club to stay fit, as well as lend a helping hand to Arsenal’s attacking players.

Although Arsenal are the Premier League’s top goal-scorers, recently, the Gunners have found it hard to find the net, and most importantly, convert their countless chances into goals. Henry’s advice would unquestionably be beneficial to those who lack the killer instinct in front of goal. Not only the ability to finish, but the Arsenal legend could teach the younger members of the squad how to employ their movement and speed in the correct way.

A player that could really profit from Henry’s presence is Theo Walcott. I expect the 21-year-old to spend a lot of time with the former Arsenal skipper, as the Englishman is likened to the New York Red Bull striker. Primarily, Walcott is a striker, but Wenger has decided to utilise the speed merchant on the wing since his arrival in 2006.

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Wenger signed Henry from Juventus in 1999, who at the time was a winger. However, the speedy Frenchman was successfully converted into a striker during his time at Arsenal, which resulted in Thierry Henry becoming one of the Premier League’s top strikers. Undeniably, Arsene Wenger will be hoping to do the same with Walcott in the near future.

Walcott clearly has the ability to become a great forward for the Gunners, but his decision-making has been questioned on a number of occasions. However, with the tuition of Henry (even for a few weeks) Walcott could add that killer instinct that has been lacking.

Henry spent eight highly successful years at Arsenal, where he managed to win two Premier League titles, two FA Cups and become the clubs top goal-scorer of all-time with 226 goals in 370 appearances.

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Personally, I’m glad to see Henry back home, even if it’s for some training. The man is a legend, who deserves acknowledgement for what he did whilst at the North London club. I hope that his personality rubs off on the team, and more importantly, gives the squad a positive energy whilst he’s here.

This article was first published on Gunnersphere.com – you can follow Tony Merakli HERE on Twitter

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Manchester City playmaker David Silva has stated that he is happy at the Premier League side, and has no plans to leave the club.

The Spain international is one of Roberto Mancini’s key men, and after spectacular performances for the Etihad Stadium side has been linked with a move back to his homeland.

However, Silva has admitted that he is only concentrating on the job at hand.

“What I’m thinking about is the next match on Sunday,” he told The Guardian.

“I’ve got two years left on my contract and I’ve always said I’ll be happy to stay here. I’m not thinking of an extension to my contract at the moment.”

Silva has suffered a slight dip in form in the second half of the season, but the attacking midfielder has revealed that he has been carrying an ankle injury.

“I’ve been quite unlucky in the second half of the season because not only have I been knocked and knocked and knocked on the same ankle that’s caused me a lot of trouble but just at the moment when I felt the worst physically we had a dip in form as a team.

“That seemed to show up even more what was happening with my ankle. But we’re finishing strongly as a team and I’m concentrating on finishing this season.

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“My ankle is feeling slightly better but the team is also playing better, which helps. I’m just having a lot of physical treatment, getting a lot of movement in my ankle. As you know I had an operation in that ankle years ago and it’s just a question of keeping the movement going,” he concluded.

By Gareth McKnight

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Copa America hosts Argentina must win their final group game against Costa Rica on Monday to guarantee their spot in the quarter-finals of the competition.Sergio Batista’s side have endured a frustrating start to the tournament on home soil, drawing their opener with Bolivia 1-1, followed by a goalless draw against Colombia.

They are third in Group A, one point behind second placed Costa Rica and two back from group leaders Columbia.

The two best third-placed nations will progress to the quarter-finals, but Argentina know anything less than a draw will leave their fate in the results of others.

Wednesday’s stalemate saw Argentina fans turning their backs on the players and booing them off the pitch in Sante Fe.

“No football player likes it when a game ends and you leave the fans with a bad feeling and a bad feeling with ourselves for not playing how we’d like,” Argentina captain Javier Mascherano said.

“Also when the fans insult you or sing aggressive songs, no one likes that.”

“But it is their right and I repeat, we are aware of the situation, and we are also aware that it is on us to change it.”

“And starting Monday we have to start a new Copa America.”

World players of the year Lionel Messi has received the brunt of the criticism in Argentina, where fans had hoped to see their star player fire the team to Copa America glory for the first time since 1993.

The Barcelona man has had a limited influence in the hosts’ first two matches, but club and national teammate Mascherano and the rest of the squad have been quick to defend him.

“Really, on an individual level we are all not performing our best,” Mascherano said.

“And this obviously is affecting the entire team.”

“But that doesn’t mean it is Messi’s fault that Argentina is playing poorly.”

“On the contrary, I think collectively we have been affected by the poor individual performances.”

Argentina meet Costa Rica in Cordoba on Monday, while Colombia take on Bolivia in Sante Fe.

It’s difficult to know quite what to make of this.

Part Alan Partridge, part Fast Show, part QVC.

Certainly a send up, but my money’s on Raul Ferdinand and Bryan Giggs being in on it. If you can tell us where this came from, we’d appreciate it!

Enjoy?

https://youtube.com/watch?v=9nXC1HyaUEM%3Ffs%3D1%26hl%3Den_US%26color1%3D0x234900%26color2%3D0x4e9e00

Stunning photo of Manchester United legend Paul Scholes with the Premier League Trophy – personally hand signed by Paul Scholes at a private signing session for A1 Sporting Memorabilia on 12/11/2010 in Manchester £50.Approximate size: 16 x 12 inches – Get 10% Discount with the Promo Code TTT10

When the highlight of the afternoon’s entertainment is the mascot winning £200 for charity by scoring a goal from 35 yards out, you know things have gone badly, badly wrong. The chants of “sign him up” sung by the Kop at Elland Road on Monday afternoon were only slightly ironic. Leeds fans are desperate for any signing to improve the team and Lucas the Kop Cat is available as far as I am aware and he certainly looked like he had a modicum of skill, and his desire to see the club succeed cannot be questioned. That is more than can be said for most of the team on display against Derby. What the owner of the club wants to achieve on the field is anyone’s guess.

Things have been bad at Leeds United for the last 18 months, but 2012 has been an unmitigated disaster. Monday’s 2-0 home defeat to Derby County was a record equalling 10th of the season, meaning the Whites have now lost more times at home this season than in the relegation season of 2006/7, but at least that Leeds team had some fight in it. Bar a particularly inept display in a 3-0 defeat to Stoke City that side did at least keep games close. This season has been a series of damp squibs and gutless performances . Pitiful defeats to Blackpool (0-5), Birmingham City (1-4) and Nottingham Forest (3-7) are now coupled with some of the most horrible football witnessed at Elland Road in the last 25 years.

Neil Warnock’s arrival was supposed to galvanise the squad. The reason for his appointment  by the board was to get more out of the players than Simon Grayson could do. Let’s not forget the Whites were on the fringe of a play-off place when the man who got Leeds back into this division after three years in the wilderness of League One was relieved of his duties. Now without the points gained under his tenure before Christmas, Leeds could have been dragged into a battle to avoid a quick return to the third tier of English football.

Rather than improve the performances of the rag-tag unit Grayson had been left with due to the decisions to strip the squad of any real quality, Warnock seems to have destroyed the team, turning them into a team bereft of ideas and seemingly wishing to finish their own seasons, and that of members of the opposition, prematurely with a succession of ridiculous challenges that have brought three red cards (and there should have been more) in successive fixtures.

The Leeds boss is constantly saying that the majority of the squad won’t be playing for him next season, yet has made minimal changes to the starting line-ups. He should have plenty of players to choose from, with the playing staff pronounced as being the largest in the Championship by the chairman, who has spent the last few weeks rubbishing the achievements of his previous appointment.

The season has an end of an era feeling around it, similar to the last knockings of the Howard Wilkinson era in 1996. Then Wilko had seen his side tipped as one of the favourites for the Premier League title and reached a cup final. However a 3-0 defeat at Wembley to Aston Villa precipitated an awful run of form in the league. He cleared the decks at the end of the season and spent heavily in the summer, only to be sacked after losing 4-0 at home to Manchester United in September.

Where Wilko’s replacement, George Graham, moulded Leeds into a miserly outfit who were incredibly hard to beat, Warnock has curbed the attacking instincts which were the hallmark of Simon Grayson’s team and has made no real impact on an already leaky defence.

There has reportedly been a series of meetings between Warnock and Ken Bates this week to discuss the planning for next season, Leeds’s 9th outside the top flight. With the ground improvements which seem to have been of more importance than investment on the field now completed, surely it is time for the chairman to put some of the recently announced profits into the playing side of the football club.

What is needed is for the ownership of Leeds United to realise that success on the field will bring the commercial rewards they so brazenly desire. Two years ago we were on the verge of exciting times. On the brink of promotion it felt like we were on our way back after falling down to the deepest depths in the history of the club. We had a young vibrant side, backed by a reinvigorated support who felt vindication for sticking with the team was about to be forthcoming. Within 12 months a side who just missed out on the playoffs has been decimated, the support is disillusioned and back on the brink of rebellion and the club feels like it is about to go down the next dip of the roller coaster, one which may be a drop too far.

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The end of the 2011/12 season cannot come quick enough, but the start of the following season begins after the final whistle against Leicester City in two and a half weeks’ time. Leeds need to be fast out of the blocks if their ambition is to match that of its supporters. If they aren’t then they may be left in the blocks forever.

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Liverpool’s transfer policy has undergone a radical and noticeable shift since Kenny Dalglish, aided with the help of Director of Football Damien Comolli, came back to the club and there has been a deliberate attempt to snare the best of British in and around the top flight. But, with a huge premium put on British talent possibly more than ever before, is pursuing players based solely on the nature of their passports a financially viable and rewarding policy? Furthermore, could Liverpool’s change of tack be said to be anything other then reckless considering the considerable rebuilding job needed at the club at this point in time?

Of course, pursuing British talent is always an admirable aim to aspire towards; a British spine to a side, in my eyes at least, is always preferable, but not when it comes at the expense of decreased quality.

Since his emotional return to the club and the subsequent upturn in the club’s fortunes both on and off the pitch, the team spirit that Dalglish has fostered has made Anfield a good place to ply your trade once more. Liverpool are once again an attractive proposition despite the club being unable to offer European football for the foreseeable future. However, it has become almost sinful to criticise Dalglish since his return; he has become somewhat immune and beyond reproach, but with concerns to their current transfer policy, some Liverpool fans are beginning to voice their discontent at the worrying path that the club are taking – being taken to the cleaners by smaller sides for deeply average players for hugely inflated fees.

Andy Carroll and Jordan Henderson have already arrived for a combined fee of £51m – a startling amount considering that they boast just 109 Premier League and 3 international appearances between them. They both have bags of potential but there is a huge risk being taken here and an equally large burden rather unfairly being placed upon the players to step up and perform straight away, even though the transfers themselves are aimed more at the long-term.

Stewart Downing is currently being touted at £18m to move to Merseyside with the onus now placed squarely on the player to make the move happen with Liverpool thought to be unwilling to meet Aston Villa’s lofty price tag for their most consistent performer last term. Charlie Adam is expected to complete a move to the club for a fee between £8-10m by the end of the week. Are either of these players worth the fees being bandied about for them? Not on your nelly.

With news persisting that last season’s PFA Fans Player of the Year Raul Meireles may be allowed to leave the club for a fee in the region of £13m after a contractual dispute, and you seriously have to question the direction that the club are heading in.

It is worth noting that Liverpool are not the only club shifting their transfer policy. Man Utd and Man City have both done it and Arsenal are thought to be toying with the idea with their defensive acquisitions. But the quality and more importantly, the fees being mentioned are somewhat disconcerting.

Damien Comolli stated upon completing the Henderson deal: “If a player is English or British or has played in the Premier League we’ll look at that over someone who is abroad.” That is quite frankly a myopic approach that could seriously land the club in hot water in years to come. In five years time Liverpool could either be one of the top two sides in the country or the most expensively assembled collection of wasted talent to have ever graced the top flight. The margins are very thin and they are gambling with the club’s financial future both on and off the pitch.

A player’s nationality should not be the be all and end all behind a deal, especially at the extravagant prices that Liverpool are being quoted for players that are relatively unproven, particularly at the highest level. Quality on the pitch and not a passport should be the overriding factor behind any move and the salient point that you simply get more bang for your buck abroad than at home is one that’s worth remembering.

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These are exciting times for Liverpool, let’s make no bones about that. Dalglish has reinvigorated the club both on and off the pitch, but whether the transfer policy that he’s currently overseeing represents both value for money and offers the club the best route forward in the immediete future remains to be seen.

Follow James on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/#!/JamesMcManus1

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A second half collapse saw Arsenal throw away three vital points at the Emirates this afternoon that Arsene Wenger simply put down to silly mistakes. The Gunners’ home form is becoming something of a concern and it is something that Wenger needs to address if Arsenal has any hope of challenging for the title this season.

This week at FFC we have seen a variety of blogs which has included; Wenger’s transfer priority in January, the Nicklas Bendtner poser and time for Jack Wilshere to take centre stage.

We also have a look at Arsenal’s best stories on the web.

Time for an Arsenal clearout?

The Nicklas Bendtner Poser

Whatever happened to Michael Thomas?

One signing all Arsenal fans would welcome this winter

Arsenal’s Ultimate XI – Left Back

Wenger should go all out to secure January deal

Arsenal signings – hit or miss?

Time for Jack Wilshere to take centre stage?

Would Arsenal fans really be sad to see him sold on?

Patience is a virtue for Arsenal’s disgruntled star

Progress Report: Sanchez Watt at Leeds

The liberation of Alex Song

VIDEO: Top TEN Audacious Penalties

The Top TEN club returns from hell

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Click here to see the Best ARSENAL BLOGS around the Web this week

Best of Web

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Is it time for Carlos Vela to move on? – Highbury House

Arsenal’s New Set Of Brass Balls – A Cultured Left Foot

One time Spurs player, lifetime Arsenal fan – Online Gooner

Arsene Wenger, time to say goodbye. – Le Grove

Pires reassures any doubters and Bendtner’s attitude is so wrong! – Highbury House

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Manchester City have entered the race to sign Le Harve teenager Jules Ntcham, who has been labelled the ‘new Desailly’, according to The Telegraph.

The midfielder is captain of France under-16 side, has been scouted by Juventus, Arsenal and Inter Milan, and is widely recognised as the most promising player of his generation in France.

The starlet has resisted the French club’s attempts to tie him down to a long-term professional deal, and has remained on a youth contract since his 16th birthday back in February.

Ntcham comes from the same club as Manchester United prospect Paul Pogba, and the Ligue 2 club will face a battle to hold onto their young gem.

Inter are believed to be in pole position to win the race for his signature, but Roberto Mancini has sent scouts to watch the young midfielder also.

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By Gareth McKnight

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Tottenham have set the transfer ball rolling with the signing of Brad Friedel from Aston Villa. According to the player’s agent the American was inundated with offers in the last 48hrs felt the challenge of being a part of the North Londoner’s quest to regain a spot in the top four was too good to turn down.

In the papers this morning there have been a mixed bag of stories that include Michael Owen angers Newcastle fans with jibe; Sunderland eye Manchester United duo, while Liverpool plan clearout to fund new signings.

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Fifa fallout may lead to pariah status – Guardian

Hughes left in limbo as Aston Villa get cold feet – Mirror

Hiddink rules out dual role – Sky Sports

Sunderland want Gibson and Brown in double swoop on Manchester United – Daily Mail

Van Persie: Chelsea are bitchers and Barca are moaners – Mirror

Owen angers Newcastle with ‘poor team’ jibe – Guardian

Liverpool plan summer clearout to fund signings – Guardian

Tottenham to up bid for Damiao – Daily Telegraph

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£30m Kop swoop! Liverpool near deals for Jones and Henderson – Daily Mail

Johnson: We must keep Tev – Sun

Hart: England’s goalkeeping situation stinks – Mirror

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