We follow a club that doesn’t like to shy away from a bit of controversy and the latest case is new boy Ravel Morrison that has been caught in a “twitter storm” and will now have to pay a fine to the FA. So on the back of that here are my top 5 West Ham media related controversies.
At 5: Something that maybe the media don’t know about, The sponsors man of the match: Towards the end of every match Jeremy Nicholas announces the Match sponsors Man of the Match, but little do fans know it is often decided before a ball is even kicked. The sponsor gets the opportunity to meet the Man of the Match after the game so it is likely that the sponsor’s favourite player is likely to be chosen. An example of this is the home match against Barnsley early on this season. Danny Potts had a tremendous debut for the Hammers and was a shoe in for Man of the Match surely? Jeremy Nicholas makes the announcement “ Today’s sponsors Man of the Match is Number 4 Kevin Nolan” The stadium was bemused by this announcement and there was some boos going round the ground as they believed Potts was the stand out player and he was. It has later been rumoured that Nolan had a bet with the players that he would win Man of the Match. Before the game he gave the sponsors 2 signed West Ham shirts as a bribe so he would be voted Man of the Match. Suspicious maybe, but I’m sure it’s all good banter between the lads.
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At 4: Cole joins Ravel in twitter storm: Carlton Cole in March 2011 was accused of a racist slur on the social networking site twitter. African giants Ghana travelled to Wembley to play England in a friendly. With 20,000 Ghanaian fans in the ground it probably wasn’t the best time to tweet about immigration. Ooops Carlton. He tweeted: ‘Immigration has surrounded the Wembley premises! I knew it was a trap! Hahahaha’. This initial tweet caused a twitter frenzy and he was forced to backtrack quickly but not before another tweet which said; ‘’Next friendly is gonna be Poland then Albania, government think their sly! I see it a mile away! Haha’’ The Hammers frontman then responded to his replies saying ‘Why are there so many sensitive people out there! it was a joke & it’s not even racist!’ The friendly hailed as the most successful friendly at the new Wembley for both atmosphere and away followings got Cole in hot water, as the FA picked up on the tweet and Cole was forced to remove the tweets and close his account. Cole also received a fine of 20 thousand pound. A costly mistake eh Carlton? But don’t worry Twitter fans. Carlton Cole is back on it.
At 3: Hurst fires England to World Cup glory: It is still the most talked about goal in football history did it or didn’t it cross the line, frankly I don’t think England fans care. Geoff Hurst, West Ham striker turned on the ball after receiving the ball from Alan Brazil and swivelled before firing a shot towards goal. It cannoned off the underside of the crossbar and bounced onto the line. All that matters for England is that Tofik Bakhramov, the Azerbaijani linesman, gave the goal much to the anger of the German players. This goal is still a talked about subject around the world and is still probably the most controversial goal in the history of the sport. Hurst went onto to score a hat trick and become part of English folk law.
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At 2: Moore at the 1970 World cup: Just four years early Moore had been lifting the World Cup for England, but in Columbia he found himself under house arrest after being accused of stealing an emerald bracelet. Moore’s squeaky clean reputation and god like status was thrown into jeopardy as the Columbian Police force accused him of stealing the $1,500 bracelet. A witness claimed; he had seen the bracelet in Moore’s pocket. But just 3 days later his reputation was cleared and his god like status in England and particularly in the east end was restored ( not that we ever doubted him) as he was released after it was confirmed that he had been set up. It was believed that the plan was to harm the morale in the England camp before the World cup began.
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At 1: The Carlos Tevez Affair. I’m sure this needs to introduction. Cast your minds back to that wonderful day the 13th of May 2007. As West Ham with the aid of a certain Carlos Tevez defied the odds to stay in the Premier league at the expense of Sheffield United, who had West Ham lost would have stayed in the Premier league. But in truth, their relegation was their own fault. Towards the end of the season Sheffield United had hit a slump in form and after their 3-0 thumping of West Ham, on April 14th only picked up 4 points. Including a defeat on the last day of the season to Wigan which had they won they would have stayed up anyway. But the controversial side of the story was relating to 3rd party ownership and in to be honest I think most West Ham fans will admit it seem too good to be true. Carlos Tevez was said not to be owned by West Ham united but instead “loaned” by Kia Joorabchian. 3rd party ownership is common place in South America, but in England this was the first case of it. Tevez who scored seven goals in West Ham’s survival season in my opinion knew little of the situation and I believe is still very much told what to do. Sheffield United dragged the Hammers through the courts in the hope that the case would mean they would be reinstated into the league and West Ham would be relegated. For the Premier league, it was their first dealing with a case of this magnitude and to relegate a team would have caused more problems than solving them, much to the disappointment of Blades campaigners which included a famous face Sean Bean who protested against the Hammers. The scene of Eggert Magnusson a cause of a lot of West Ham problems leaving the court with his thumbs up is a picture I will never forget. The Hammers received a hefty fine, which they are still paying to Sheffield United today. The Hammers remained in the Premier league for 4 more years before being relegated in 2011. Whilst Sheffield united find themselves in League 1.
Alan Brazil? Don’t remember that particular Scot playing for England!
Alan Ball, big error on my part, apologies. Massive typo.