Avram Grant continues to show that he is his own man, with a determination to install a management set up of his choosing. Following the acquisition of Groves and Coles (as Head Coach and goal keeping coach), he has now announced the appointment of Zeljko Petrovic as the club’s Assistant Manager.
Who is Zeljko Petrovic? He is a 44 year old, former Yugoslavian international right-back who, during a much travelled playing career, appeared for Dinamo Zagreb, Sevilla FC, PSV and Red Diamonds (in the Japanese J-League).
Since hanging up his boots, Petrovic has managed Boavista FC and RKC Waalwijk. In addition, he has held position’s as Technical Director at Feyenoord and, more latterly, Assistant Manager to Martin Jol at Hamburg SV.
Petrovic is certainly an interesting choice. Avram Grant has been quoted as describing him as yet another positive personality added to the new backroom team. He certainly has a wide experience of European and world football and, hopefully, good tactical nous and the crucial ability to motivate the players to higher levels of performance.
Like most Hammers fans, I am naturally biased towards ex-Hammers players in the management team. However, this regime is a new broom and we just have to accept that Grant has assembled a backroom staff that he is comfortable with. Happily, the management team does still include ex-Hammer, Kevin Keen. Lets hope that together they forge a new, tougher minded and professional winning mentality at Upton Park.
The new management regime certainly appears to be having a early positive influence in terms of pre-season results, lets also hope that a positive and successful (if only relative to last season) 2010-11 campaign awaits? The supporters jaded nerves could certainly do with some welcome relief after the various trials and tribulations of recent seasons!
SJ. Chandos.
3 new players in today's squad vs dons, 2 of them in the starting line up!!
One is caraglio, the other is ben hatira ( a german under 21!).
i assume thay are on trial before giving them a contract. the other is a goalkeeper who is registered with b munich!
i am starting to like the way Grant is operating!
Well i am pleased to see both Caraglio and Ben-Herita starting, i heard that we wanted to trail Caraglio to test his fitness as he was injured a while back, before we sign him, very clever and well thuaght out from Avram Grant, test the players brofre you sign them, If we liek Caraglio, he will join for £5m. As for Ben-Herita, havn't got a clue who he is so we will see what happens. Still hoping we will sign Remy, only time will tell!
Well I think the lad Caraglio has potential : http://eurorivals.net/players/milton-caraglio:ros…
As for Ben- Haritia haven't heard of him either but let's give Grant some credit…. he seems to think they must have something about them
Matthew Upson wearing the Captains armband and good old Jonny Spector has just come on ,how exciting,so nothing has changed then?
From the match thread, Caraglio looks a good player – if a bit raw
Ben Haritia seems a prospect too
Both playing in the starting 11 is a pleasant suprise i feel
For extra info on Ben-Hatira see http://www.imscouting.com/players/anis-ben-hatira…
1-0 hammers, Faubert!
Make that 2! I don't care what anyone says anymore, we MUST keep Cole, he has now scored his 3rd goal in 4 matches, he bursted past two defenders brofre putting it int othe bottom corner. 2-0 Hammers, 4 wins out of 4 for Avram Grant. COYI!!!
Couldn't agree more!
Cole scores AGAIN
We do need to keep him, with the 4-3-3 formation he will destroy defenders
Does he count as a home grown player aswell?
Karen Brady fancies a wager on a top 8 finish,Karen you can have the bet with me I will gladly pay!
Just saw Coles goal, Good goal, and the assist to top a nice substitute appearance for him!!
selling cole would be madness.
It would be daft to raise expectation above a mid-table finish. I'd be happy with 12th or above. I would, however, like to see a decent cup run with a quarter final appearance in either of the domestic knock-outs.
COYI.
I want the Treble!lol
Whiskey or Gin? Sounds like you've already had a few trebles Mate!
Not at 8 am our time mate!
Oh Well – I'll polish off the rest of this bottle of Pinot Grigio and raise a glass to our all conquering, Treble winning, side Aussie. Happy Days fella!
Enjoy my son!
Scott Parker wants one last shot at the Champions League!ChrisChris Green Street has erupted Effigies of Hairy are being Burnt!The Daily Mail.
Brady expecting a top 8 finish i think is a bit over optimistic. I know we have strengthened in most areas compared to last year, but from 17th to 8th is a very tall order! the top 8 last season (chelsa, man utd, arsenal, spurs, man city, villa, liverpool and everton) everton look the weakest, and possibly the most likely to fall out of the top 8, but as always they will be a highly competitive team and be on the periphery of european football.
I'd personally be happy with scraping into the top 10, beating a few big teams at upton park and a decent cup run!
Maybe she knows more signings are on the way? Remy? Juan Roman Riq?
reports saying Riquelme is staying at boca, not holding out much hope for Remy. I dont think resting our hopes on one buy that might not happen in catapulting us that far up the table, remember last season we were holding out hope on improving on the season before with the purchase of jimenez, look how that panned out!
Anyone got any links to the goals? I want to see if the description on the west ham website is as good as it sound
haven't got any links, but sky sports news have been showing some highlights from the game all night! That and Bolton being embarrassed by Oldham!
ohok no sky sports news in New Zealand
. Guess it will be online shortly. Were they good goals?
ahh there is ur problem lol. First was good movement from cole, but faubert's finish wasn't the best i have seen, kind of trickled in the goal. Cole's goal though definately worth a watch, Good strength, good finish!!
Although it's not as good a picture as you might get elsewhere Cole's goal is on the media clip on the home page of the Official Site Salesh.
just got back from the MK Dons match and Cole and Da hammer looked very good also another clean sheet. so glad we are keeping Parker i feel most owners would of cashed in. good on the davids.
Put yourself in Scott Parkers shoes.Twilight of his career, no immediate chance of Europe or honours with a mid-table team where is his motivation?money wont come into this for him he wants to complete his career with some medals and any backline with Spector,Upson and Da Costa will give him no chance they are 3 rejects or has beens who simply have not got the defensive skills to allow him freedom,sort the defence out Avram and sell unhappy employees otherwise they go from a positive to a negative quickly and it will ultimately cost you!Jamie Redknapp is behind all this he is Parkers mate!
I'm a bit worried about Faubert. I feel this is going to be his season, he is looking such a treat going into the final 3rd and I feel this won't be his last goal this season. Sound great but remember he is 3 years into his deal and his head has already been turned quite a bit. I know he was appreciative about the support after his Mum passed and said he owed us but expect him to be engineering a move if his form keeps improving. With a short contract now, we may have no choice.
although it was music to my ears to hear sullivan's quote on SSN earlier, i would also have liked to hear from the man himself. it just makes me worried that his head might be turned and he eventually hands in a transfer request. i would love scotty to stay but if he doesn't want to say then i'm fully behind sullivan to sell him.
good to see another fine win for us tonight. cole back with another goal and a rare one from faubert. if we keep this up the spirits should definatly be high for the season! i would like to barrera and piquionne make an appearance next and it was good to see we are blooding more young stars such as caraglio and ben-herita.
COYI!
Scott Parker will go you can bet your bottom dollar on it!Remember his acrimonious split from Charlton and was banished to their reserves well he will go!Anyway Ohara,Pav,Keane and Hutton =Parker,not a bad deal!
To set a world record thumbs down today I have read through a number of my posts and every other scribe has got plusses mine are zero or minus and I will tell you why!Scott Parker is replaceable,Bonzo was Moooro was Hurst,Peters, Phil Parkes and many judases who left when we got relegated were so dont pray to one West Ham God there are others,and the others are not pretentious Prima Donnas they want to be happy and play for us wheras Mr.Parker I truly believe has been tapped up by Hairy and good luck the grass may be greener but not always.Until people realise we can actually get something better in return dont keep harping on about the Spuds we can come out on top by some decent players they want to offload win,win!wake up you miserable people Scott Parker is another brick in the wall,get over it cos he is GONNNNNNNNNNNE!
He has got as much of a chance as leaving as do the Wallabies have beating the All Blacks.
Mate I guarantee,once Hairy has cranked up the media via his son Jamie all over red rover!But look how many people dont like the truth into minus so early,World Record -26,Beat It!
Considering parker hasn't even made 1 comment, that is too big a call to make, too early.
He spat the Dummy at Charlton and got his way or is this smart business acumen by the 2 Daves,Gold came out and publicly said everyone has a price,everyone!
and Parker's is over double what spurs have offered…….
Players mature. I didn't know Parker back then but he has certainly improved as a player and he is the most professional sportsman in football imo.
I agree with Aussie to some extent, there are some very good, young players we could sign in midfield.
Doubt we'll find anyone as passionate as Scott though
The main website will need a bit of refurbishment after getting his picture posted at every oppitunity
I personally think if we keep the main core – Green, Upson (compared to some CB's we've been linked with I'm happy with him), Parker and Cole we'll do well this year – the support play and management will be so much better.
If Parker did go we could try and bring in De Jong from City. I really dont want Parker to go but if he starts getting funny about it i say ship him out.
He's loved by our fans and he knows what going to Spurs means to us. So if he does behave like he did at Charlton then they are welcome to him and all love for him will be lost.
Lets just hope he comes out soon, pledges his future to the club and signs that contract.
De Jong would be a terrific signing!
And exactly, we need him to come out and give his view – until then everyones left in limbo as far as we fans are concerned
That's about the best replacement I think we could get if Scotty did go – which I don't think he will.
If he did go and we got De Jong as a replacement, I have to say… I wouldn't that gutted
Always rated De Jong
He earns 8 million a year!!!
Would rather have cash and Jamie O,hara for Scott Parker
He is younger (more potential) costs less salary and we get money for Parker on the side aswell.
Sounds reasonable
Yeah true true, I hate to say it but the Spuds do have a lot of talent in their squad
It's 2010 and if a bidding war of more than 4 top table teams starts I think 20m+ is perfectly reasonable, if Everton and Villa can operate that way why not us.
Great reuslt again for the Hammers last night and im delighted that Cole scored again and it was a very good goal from him, i think we shoudl look to keep hold of him this season along with Green, Faubert, Tomkins, Da Costa, Parker and Noble. I am pleased with how Grant is conducting himself about transfers, he isn't giving anything away which is good, we don't want other teams (spurs) taking all our targets so we have to do things quickly and quietly. Hopefully a few more signings will be announced soon.
The Bookies have Chalked up 5/6 the Spuds,9/4 Liverpool for Parkers next club!
It's not worth looking into mate, just wait until we hear what he says
We'll find out soon enough
Parker is going to retire at Upton Park. Mark my words. Whats the odds on parker staying? Its instant money
I can't see Scott going to Spurs or Liverpool,he's our top player! any where else, he'll be just another brick in the wall,and as Aussie said, he is with us. Sorry Aussie,l went to every home game last season,and Scott can't do no wrong with us,he's loved by every true fan,he's always gives time for autographs,even his dad spoke to my wife with Scott and his wife,Lovely Bloke.
Mate I am with you but unhappy employees cause friction,recently Joleon Lescott as an example,if Scotty is interested he will say so,but this all seems orchestrated in a way,quietly we could have said no,anyway where is Remy?
Yeah where the bloody hell is Remy haha. Im giving up on that one.
Yeh! l must admit, l thought that about the bid from Spurs, if you don't want to upset the player,why tell the papers, you should keep it quite!!
How embarrassing that Iain has had to take the measure of closing the above thread. Threads titled Transfer latest are usually the ones that really get my juices going but that was unbearable. Last year Iain was recognized for his hard work by getting himself on a list of the top 10 fan sites, unfortunately I can't see it happening again this year for the obvious reason. The worse thing is it has been the same arguments going back and forth since the last regime was in, it's pretty pathetic. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, if you don't agree with them either tell them once or forget about them. Don't tell them a thousand times. Anyway I'm going to end this rant as I don't want to be in Iain's bad books, I think the guy is a legend for this site and I hope he continues for a long long time to come. WHTID!!!!