2015/16 in review: August & September

We take a look back at the 2015/16 season through the eyes of KUMB Editor Graeme Howlett, who penned a weekly column for the Echo newspaper throughout the campaign...


9 August

Sam Allardyce spent four years trying to find out what the 'West Ham way' was all about. Slaven Bilic has only been in the job for five minutes - and he's experienced the lot already.

In a decision branded 'shameful' by some supporters, West Ham effectively chucked in the towel as far as the club's European aspirations are concerned when they fielded a team composed of reserves and inexperienced youngsters in the Europa League qualifier against Astra Giurgiu last Thursday.

Needing to get a result in Romania having drawn the first leg 2-2 at home, the Hammers were sent tumbling out of the tournament 4-3 on aggregate despite a plucky effort from those involved.

That was much to the annoyance of many fans who asked - quite reasonably - why spend the entire Premier League campaign attempting to qualify for Europe when you can't wait to get out of it?

Bilic, to his credit took the rap for the whole affair - although it seems inconceivable that the importance of West Ham avoiding relegation this season was not impressed upon him at some stage during the squad selection process.




For the club's owners, who were heavily scrutinised in a BBC documentary last week examining the process that led to West Ham's forthcoming tenancy of the Olympic Stadium, maintaining that top flight status is the be-all and end-all ahead of the move - despite David Gold's shallow assurances that the club would be going all out to win the Europa League.

And whilst prioritising a league campaign over cup competitions may be anathema to those of us who were weaned on West Ham's great Cup exploits of the past that, sadly, inevitably, that's largely the way top-flight football is these days.

Yet despite the vast, financial reward that membership of the Premier League brings - and the huge disparity between the haves and have-nots it serves to perpetuate - one thing money cannot buy, nor eradicate, is that priceless element of surprise.

Which brings us neatly back to Bilic, who was under intense pressure following the decision to rest so many players for Thursday's Europa League tie. A crushing defeat at title-favourites Arsenal on Sunday would now surely follow, regardless?

Well actually, no. In typical fashion, West Ham - including 16-year-old Reece Oxford - provided the biggest shock of the opening weekend of the campaign, winning 2-0 at the Emirates thanks to goals from Cheik Kouyate and Mauro Zarate.

Impressively, there was little luck about it either; Oxford successfully shackled the brilliant Mesut Özil which afforded new signing Dimitri Payet - a player upon whom many Irons fans are pinning their hopes this year - free reign to drive at the Arsenal back four.

In the end, the club's decision to rest key personnel ahead of the trip to Arsenal proved to be a good one. Whether it was worth the ill-feeling generated amongst the fan base remains to be seen.


23 August

The 2-1 defeat at home to Leicester two weeks ago initially appeared to be an anomaly, coming as it did just six days after West Ham's stunning opening day win at Arsenal.

However it is the win at the Emirates resembling a deviation from the norm now after West Ham produced a woeful display at home to Bournemouth, one that left Hammers fans harbouring serious concerns about the balance of the squad and the season ahead.

Whilst nobody shone on the day - bar perhaps substitute Modibo Maiga, whose looked for all the world like a £30million striker (if only!) when he strolled past Bournemouth's defence to score the game's final goal in a 4-3 defeat - the awful performances of full backs Aaron Cresswell and Carl Jenkinson, who between them erred for all four goals, were mystifying.

And spare a thought for poor Darren Randolph, making his West ham debut in goal, who has now conceded 16 goals against the Cherries in the last calendar year having been in the Birmingham teams beaten 8-0 and 4-2 by Eddie Howe's side in the Championship last season!




Fortunately for West Ham and Chairman David Sullivan, there is still plenty of time to bring in one or two much-needed new faces ahead of Tuesday-week's transfer window deadline. Alex Song, who spent last season at the Boleyn Ground on loan from Barcelona is on the verge of completing a return, for one.

News of the popular midfielder's impending return was revealed by Sullivan when he appeared on the KUMB.com West Ham Podcast this week, accompanied by his two teenage sons Dave and Jack. West Ham United's co-owner had kindly agreed to be the latest guest on the Podcast, which is presented by Chris Scull and James Longman and has already featured Russell Brand and Bianca Westwood as star turns this season.

Unfortunately the Chairman's comments regarding Queens Park Rangers striker Charlie Austin caused something of a kerfuffle and the £15m-rated forward was so annoyed he responded with a public statement denouncing Sullivan's assessment of his physical condition.

It was an unfair attack on our guest, whose only crime had been to trust KUMB to ensure that no comments that could potentially cause offence, regardless of the fact that they had been given on the record, were published. I as Editor made a bad call, something which I have since apologised for to all parties involved.

And although the first part of the interview (part two will follow this week) ended up on the back pages of the nationals for all the wrong reasons, Sullivan should still be congratulated for allowing himself to be held to account by supporters who are generally starved of exposure to the players and club staff these days.


30 August

Harold MacMillan was Prime Minister, a new town in Shropshire called Telford was built and the Dartford Tunnel opened for the very first time.

Elsewhere Charles De Gaulle vetoed the French Eurovision Song Contest entry, Britain suffered one of the worst winters in living memory, the Beatles' latest single 'She Loves You' was number one in the charts - and my mother celebrated her 15th birthday!

What does all of this have to do with West Ham United, I hear you ask? Well, the link is quite simple - all of these events happened in 1963, the last time West Ham won at Anfield - that was until until Saturday's stunning and long overdue 3-0 win.

it's taken 52 years and some 43 attempts to finally emulate Ron Greenwood's achievement that day in September 1963, when goals from a young Martin Peters and Geoff Hurst secured a 2-1 victory at Liverpool.

Taking their place in the record books more than half a century later were debutant Manuel Lanzini, new captain Mark Noble and striker Diafra Sakho, whose goals gave West Ham a second Premier League away win of the campaign.

It was so typical of the Hammers; having won at Arsenal on the opening day of the season and then capitulated at home to Leicester and Bournemouth, they not only beat Liverpool by a comfortable scoreline but were deserved winners too.

Slaven Bilic admitted during his post-match press conference that his team parked the bus at times, before adding "but we didn't put the handbrake on!" However there was little need to once Philippe Coutinho was sent off for a second bookable offence just seven minutes into the second half.




At least that was according to referee Kevin Friend, whose performance was as dire as any witnessed so far this season (and boy, we've seen a few). Mark Noble was the second player to see red on the day, though for what only Friend will know. It will almost certainly be rescinded by the FA.

West Ham have now had a player sent off in three of their first four league games this season. Only one was generally accepted to be valid (Carl Jenkinson's v Bournemouth). And as anyone who has been tuning into MotD this season will be aware, the talk has often centred around match officials rather than the game itself. This has to change.

The question is, who is to blame? It's easy to call out the referees themselves, but it's the unaccountable quango known as the PGMOL, controlled by the likes of former refs Mike Riley and Howard Webb, who oversee and direct our match officials.

Those officials appear unwilling to use common sense these days, afraid perhaps of losing their status as a top flight referee. But the decisions they're making are killing the game - as per Stoke's match with West Bromwich Albion yesterday, in which the home side were reduced to nine men after half-an-hour by the hapless Michael Oliver. Something has to change.

* The second and final part of the KUMB West Ham Podcast with David Sullivan, Dave Sullivan and Jack Sullivan was published this week. In it, West Ham's co-owner talks about the club's impending move to the Olympic Stadium amongst other things. You may download it from www.kumb.com/podcast.php.


13 September

Tonight's clash with Newcastle United is one that has been eagerly awaited by Hammers fans since the summer transfer window closed, just under a fortnight ago.

West Ham enjoyed a rather busy final 48 hours of the window, signing no less than four players - midfielders Alex Song (from Barcelona), Michail Antonio (Nottingham Forest) and Victor Moses (Chelsea) plus former Hull striker Nikica Jelavic.

And Hammers fans are looking forward to seeing at least some of the new arrivals in action when they take on the struggling Magpies at the Boleyn Ground in the closing fixture of the weekend's Premier League programme.

All in all, 13 players arrived at the Boleyn Ground during the transfer window, with the vast majority expected to challenge for a first team squad spot this term.

And Slaven Bilic will be hoping one or two of those can help lead his team to their first home win of the Premier League campaign - a perplexing statistic given West Ham's away form so far this term, which reads played two, won two - and at Arsenal and Liverpool, to boot.

Bilic recently cited the lack of creativity in his squad as the main reason for slumping to home defeats against Leicester and Bournemouth. West Ham, he argued, simply lacked the flair and finesse required to unlock those two stubborn defences.

The manager, who celebrated his 47th birthday last week addressed that particular issue by introducing the likes of Moses and Wandsworth-born Antonio - who also has an eye for a goal, having scored four times in his final four appearances for Nottingham Forest.




The meeting with Newcastle results in Bilic clashing swords once again with Steve McClaren, who was dubbed "the wally with the brolly" after Slaven's Croatia dumped England out of the 2008 European Champions qualifiers courtesy of a 3-2 win at a sodden Wembley eight years ago.

McClaren rebuilt his career after his disastrous spell in charge of England with success at FC Twente, although he has since failed to impress at Wolfsburg and Nottingham Forest. Opinion on Tyneside remains divided over the 54-year-old, whose team go into the game still looking for their first win of the season.

And they will almost certainly have to do it against one of their own - with former Newcastle striker Andy Carroll set to return to West Ham's match day squad for the first time since February, having finally recovered from his latest, long-term injury.

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