We may or may not have a mega rich owner at some point in the near future but, either way, I hope desperately that we do not go the route of Tottenham, Liverpool, Chelsea et all. City supporters have taken issue with comparisons with Chelsea, justifiably pointing to the kids they have brought through in recent seasons, but we all know that in two years time, they will be the Harlem Globe Trotters of the Premier League, the team sheet packed with razzle, dazzle superstars, living in a hinterland between the professional game and a fantasy league. They will win nothing as per usual but they will win it with a swagger - and probably without a home grown player worth the name.
West Ham are different, always have been. Leaving aside the Tevez fiasco, we are the good guys of the game, playing football the way it should be played and bringing through talented youngsters for the England team. Look at the current squad and you will see Ferdinand, Cole, Carrick, Defoe, Johnson and Lampard. That, conceivably, is six starters. Who else can compare with that? Tottenham would have King but he isn't allowed to play by Doctor Redknapp and Peter Crouch, though he never kicked a ball in anger for the club so hardly counts. Liverpool have Gerrard and would have Traitor Carragher but he declines to play. Chelsea have Carlton Goals and Terry (but he started his career on West Ham's books anyway). Arsenal have Cashley Cole but then they would probably choose to forget that! Everton have Rooney. Villa boast Ivebonkedawhore and Barry, though like Defoe and Terry, his schoolboy days were spent elsewhere (Brighton). What about Manchester United, who previously contributed the backbone of Butt, the two Nevilles, Beckham and Scholes to the side? Times have changed and only Wes Brown and Beckham, a hang over from the previous era, remains. Nobody from Newcastle, only Wright-Phillips from City, though surely Micah Richards will feature soon. In fact, if we look at the squad we see that, West Ham apart, it is lower league teams who launch careers: Green (Norwich) James (Watford), Foster (Racing Club Warwick), Johnson (West Ham), Wes Brown (Man U), Cashley Cole (Arsenal), Baines (Wigan), Upson (Luton), Terry (Chelsea), Ferdinand (West Ham), Jagielka (Shafting United), Carrick (West Ham), Lennon (Leeds) Beckham (Man U), Lampard (West Ham) Gerrard (Liverpool), Barry (Brighton / Villa), Walcott (Southampton), Joe Cole (West Ham), Hargreaves (Calgary Foothills), Downing (Boro) Carlton Goals (Chelsea), Heskey (Leicester) Rooney (Everton), Defoe (Charlton / West Ham), Bent (Ipswich), Ivebonkedawhore (Villa), Young (Watford) Wright-Phillips (City), Crouch (Tottenham with a cough!).
It is a sobering thought for the fans in the North East that Calgary Foothills and Racing Club Warwick combined have produced more current England players than the three North East Giants put together. Is it any wonder the three "sleeping giants" are nearly in a coma?
Why have I bothered with this breakdown? Well England could almost send out a team made up of players raised or signed by West Ham: 1.James or Green 2.Johnson 3.Upson 4.Carrick 5.Rio Ferdinand 6 Tomkins or Anton 7.Lampard 8.Noble 9.Carlton 10.Defoe 11.Joe Cole. Now that wouldn't be the best England team ever, I accept, but nor would it be the worst! That is nothing short of incredible and no other club could come close. Certainly that team would tonk any side composed exclusively of English born players linked to any other club. The message to any promising kid in the game is clear - join West Ham!
And my main point? I want this to continue. If a big money owner comes in, then it should be the signal to stop selling our talent not to go out and buy a team made elsewhere. Let's make West Ham the Academy of Our Dreams and not the Brit School for other club's theatres of dreams!
Would those players honestly have been half the players without coaching from the like of Ferguson, Mouriniho? Also the only other team who had a comparable english youth structure are Leeds United and they are several divisions below.
ReplyDeleteIf West Ham didn't yoyo into the premiership I would say they've got a good structure. Although truth is that has not been the case since Redknapp left.
West Ham are different, always have been. Leaving aside the Tevez fiasco, we are the good guys of the game, playing football the way it should be played??????????????????????????????
ReplyDeleteSo West Ham didn't poach Jermain Defoe from Charlton then!, You self important tit. you'll end up relegated next year back to where you belong
ReplyDeleteAnon 2, check, I list Defoe as Charlton / West Ham, like Barry is Brighton / Villa. What makes me a self important tit exactly, is it the way the nipple on top of my head stands out above the crowd? Try to rise above stupid insults!
ReplyDeleteTottenham, most would agree that we play the ball on the ground, through midfield and always have done, except when Curbishley was in charge.
Anon 1 - One relegation in the last 20 plus years hardly constitutes "yoyo". Johnson, Cole, Carrick and Defoe from that relegated team are now fixtures in the England team. Perhaps Roeder was to blame? Just maybe.
what do you class ohara hudds lennon rose obika townsend dervite mason all at spurs aged 18 and under that counts for bringing them through the ranks not all west spams youth are born in eastam are they and dont be fooled by your resent form thats out of a bottle energy look at your weight loss is a give a way and another one is losing key players and it dont make a differents the prem and beyond is full of false energy (ephedrine)
ReplyDeleteWhere to start? Firstly, Crouch doesnt count as a Spurs youth product because he 'barely kicked a ball in anger for the club', whereas Johnson, who must have played all of 7 or 8 first team matches for WHam, counts? Secondly, Defoe was a product of WHam? WTF, he was poached from Charlton and went straight into the first team! WHam did nothing to develop him. You turned him from the most exciting youth in England to an average 2nd division player. And Terry is a 'WHam / Chelsea player' as he trained as a youth with WHam. On the basis of your logic, Spurs could claim the following as their youth players: King, Lennon (poached as youth), Crouch (actually was a genuine youth product), Beckham, Bentley, Ashley Young (all 3 trained with Spurs as boys). But guess what? They dont. And what happened to all the stuff from WHam fans bragging about having a 'billionaire owner', and 'heading for the champions league'? Dont remember this moral high ground being taken in the days the Egg-man first got involoved. Funny that, isnt it? And by the way, it is 2 relegations in 20 years (89, 04). At least know your own history
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ReplyDeleteAre you saying that the team you quote is better than a team any other club to select from english players they have 'either produced or signed'? Are you insane? From the top of the head how about: Foster, W Brown, Rio, G Neville, P Neville, Beckham, Carrick, Scholes, Hargreaves, Richardson, Rooney. Or Robinson, Woodgate, King, Dawson, Luke Young, Lennon, Jenas, Bentley, Defoe, Crouch, Bent. In both these cases all are current PL players and full England internationals, unlike the team you came up with.
ReplyDeleteThe best youth academy in England by a country mile. Always was, always will be. Now just need to find owners with the right ambition to match it!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, I did list Defoe as Charlton / West Ham. He didn't play for Charlton and joined us on youth forms so I think we can claim him by the same token that Villa can perhaps claim Barry and we can't claim Terry. But in both cases I gave a dual credit. I recognise there are some inconsistencies but I have tried to point them out. I didn't claim Terry for West Ham in the final list if you check. Lennon played for Leeds so Tottenham certainly cannot claim him by any criteria you may wish to come up with. As for Bentley, I'm surprised you have the gall to mention him. He WAS an England player BEFORE he joined Spurs, now he looks Fizzy Pop quality! I will treat the Beckham and Young claims with the contempt they deserve. Young wouldn't join you when Villa signed him if you remember, that shows the strength of his association with Tottenham. You "rewrite" my article when you claim I said Crouch "barely kicked a ball in anger" for Tottenham. I said "never" which is why the claim is slightly spurious. Johnson appeared 16 times for us and would have played many more times but for our freak relegation (with the highest number of points ever obtained by a team relegated from the Prem). As for Defoe, I think you will find that it was at Tottenham that his career went off the rails. He couldn't play with Keene as I remember it. So what do Spurs do, sell them both, then buy them both back again. There's logic for you! With regard to our history, we are NOT going down this season so that is once in 20 years by my reckoning. Am I wrong? Does once in 19 years constitute yoyo anyway? That means that Manchester United and yourselves were yoyo clubs for a period of 19 years stretching from your last relegations! That would be stupid wouldn't it?
ReplyDeleteOn the West Ham team v Others, how many of that Manchester United team are current or future England players? I didn't count Parker for example. I accept that Manchester United set a fantastic example with their team of "kids" but that was a long time ago now. Since then, they have bought success sadly. The Tottenham team is frankly absurd. Apart from anything else, it has Robinson in goal!
Guys, can you chill a bit? This is a blog on football. I want to provoke debate but please don't use obscenities. I have had to delete another reply because of use of the c word. What sort of thrill do you get out of that? It is a bit sad isn't it? And anyway, what is there in the article to provoke such anger? Can only be inspired by jealousy!
Just for the sake of accuracy, we were relegated in '89, '92, and '03. Still doesn't make us a yoyo team though, and in our time in the Premier League we have finished above Spurs 6 times, Spurs have finished above us 6 times. Fairly even then.
ReplyDeleteI always liked West Ham's tradition. But if you think your good, take a look at Athletic Bilbao, they will only employ players from the Basque areas of Spain and France. And they have never been relegated from La Liga. Now that is keeping to traditions.
ReplyDeleteNewcastle may not have any players in the England squad at the moment, but we have produced Shearer, Gazza, Waddle, Bearsley...etc. All are better players than are currently in the England squad.
Shearer?
ReplyDeleteHe was signed from Blackburn? Can't really say you produced him.
Shearer is a Geordie but his career began at Southampton - couldn't get further away from home than that could he? How did that happen? Beardsley was on Newcastle's books as a kid but his league debut was for Carlisle! Waddle was plucked from non league football. So that brings us down to Gascoigne. Now, great player that he was, that isn't a good return for the club that represents an area so passionate about football is it? If any other Newcastle fans look in, how do you account for the club's failure to bring through international quality talent?
ReplyDeleteDon't Bilbo now allow non Basques? I thought the tradition stopped some years ago?
ReplyDeleteAway from the petty squabbling between Hammers and Spurs fans you do have a good point!
ReplyDeleteWest Ham have got a decent reputation for bringing young players through.
But part of that is surely because you often have to sell your best players so therefore the younger members of the squad get given their chance?
Plus the 'Sky four' seem intent on hoovering up talent from all four corners of the globe so sometmes miss what is on their doorstep.
I'm an Everton fan andI'm sure one of the reasons we have had first dibs on English youngsters in our region recently, Rodwell, baxter etc.. is because Liverpool are just building a multi-nation teen XI, with players form all over the world (without much success I might add)
Anonymous: you can't compare the english premier league to spanish primera division... Athletic bilbao wouldn't stand a chance in England... real madrid, atl. madrid, valencia and barcelona are good sides, but it's always gonna be easy when you play against the likes of numancia, santander, valladolid etc. I agree that bilbao's accomplishments earns respect, but they wouldn't stand a chance against the mighty hammers!
ReplyDeleteto all the spurs fans - stop making fools out of yourselves... get your own damn forum! try concentrating on your accomplishments on the pitch (or lack thereoff)... were gonna finish above you, and your gonna spend lots of cash on useless players, like you have done always'!
west ham till I die!
Peden (DK)
Peden, I love your passion but I'm happy for Spurs fans to chip in here.
ReplyDelete