West Ham Fans Born to be Claret and Blue

The 'free' flowing 'Martinez' style of football played by Wigan helped win them the FA Cup, it also helped relegate them from the Barclays Premiership. Certain sections of the West Ham Utd faithful were extremely vocal, even vociferous, in their criticism of the style of football played under the managership of Sam Allardyce.

Everton: Howard, Coleman, Baines, Distin, Jagielka (c), Mirallas, Osman, Gibson, Pienaar, Fellaini, Anichebe
Subs: Mucha, Hibbert, Heitinga, Barkley, Naismith, Oviedo, Jelavic
West Ham United: Jaaskelainen, Demel, O'Brien, Collins, Reid, O'Neil, Diame, Nolan (c), Collison, Jarvis, Carroll
Subs: Henderson, Pogatetz, Taylor, Noble, J.Cole, Vaz Te, C.Cole

West Ham United: Jaaskelainen, Reid, Nolan, Jarvis, Carroll, Vaz Te, O'Brien, Collins, Demel, Diame, O'Neil
Subs: C.Cole, Collison, Henderson, Taylor, Noble, Pogatetz, J.Cole
Newcastle United: Elliot, Coloccini, Cabaye, Simpson, Cisse, Ben Arfa, Gouffran, Yanga-Mbiwa, Guiterrez, Tiote, S.Taylor
Subs: Williamson, Perch, Gosling, Anita, Ameobi, Harper, Campbell

Wednesday 1 May…..The Sully Estate…..somewhere in Essex…..03:56…..
Sully tossed and turned. His crushed velvet pyjamas were particularly static this evening. Three times he’d given his wife such a shock she’d ended up involuntarily punching him and giving him a fat lip. He’d claim it was the marble worktop in the morning…..

Manchester City: Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Lescott, Clichy, Y.Toure, Nasri, Barry, Silva, Tevez, Aguero
Subs: Pantilimon, K.Toure, Nastasic, Kolarov, Garcia, Milner, Dzeko
West Ham United: Jaaskelainen, Demel, Collins, Reid, O'Brien, O'Neil, Diame, Nolan, Jarvis, Vaz Te, Carroll
Subs: Henderson, Pogatetz, Taylor, Noble, J.Cole, Collison, C.Cole

West Ham: Jaaskelainen, Reid, Nolan, Jarvis, Carroll, Vaz Te, O'Brien, Collins, Demel, Diame, O'Neill Subs: C.Cole, Collison, Henderson, Taylor, Noble, Pogatetz, J.Cole
Wigan Athletic: Joel, Kone, Alcaraz, McCarthy, Caldwell, Maloney, Gomez, McManaman, Boyce, Figueroa, Scharner
Subs: Al Habsi (GK), Di Santo, Henriquez, McArthur, Espinoza, Beausejour, Stam

West Ham United: Jaaskelainen, Demel, O'Brien, Collins, Reid, O'Neil, Diame, Nolan, Vaz Te, Jarvis, Carroll
Subs: C.Cole, Collison, Maiga, Henderson, Taylor, Noble, Pogatetz
Manchester United: De Gea, Rafael, Evra, Vidic, Ferdinand, Jones, Carrick, Valencia, Kagawa, Rooney, Van Persie
Subs: Amos, Evans, Cleverley, Giggs, Nani, Welbeck, Hernandez

Sam Allardyce has started the attritional war of bringing in players in for next season with an opening salvo at Liverpool with regards to Andy Carroll's permanent transfer to West Ham. It was inevitable that the new 'fair play' restrictions due to be rolled out for next year would be used as a reason for clubs not meeting player valuations, but as anyone vaguely connected with accounting will know, saying is one thing, doing or more accurately complying is a completely different thing!

Southampton: Boruc, Clyne, Yoshida, Hooiveld, Fox, Cork, Lallana, S.Davis, Schneiderlin, Ramirez, Lambert
Subs: K.Davis, Fonte, Ward-Prowse, Guly, Puncheon, Mayuka, Rodriguez
West Ham United: Jaaskelainen, Demel, Collins, Tomkins, O'Brien, O'Neil, Diame, Nolan, Jarvis, Vaz Te, Carroll
Subs: Henderson, Potts, Pogatetz, Taylor, Collison, C.Cole, Paulista