MARK NOBLE admits it would be unthinkable for West Ham to be playing Championship football in the Olympic Stadium.
The midfielder, 23, has warned team-mates not to let the club's hard work in securing the 50,000-seater in Stratford be marred by relegation.
Noble said: "It's a Premier League ground and that's where we must be when we go there.
"Hopefully we've got enough firepower now and we can push up the table."
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Downes thanks Hammers fans
Wally Downes has thanked West Ham's supporters for keeping faith with the players at West Brom on Saturday.
The Hammers endured a terrible opening 45 minutes against their relegation rivals at The Hawthorns, with a 3-0 deficit at the break seemingly ending any hope they had of leaving the Midlands with anything to show for their efforts.
The optimism which had greeted the decision to name the club as the preferred bidders for the Olympic Stadium was disappearing fast, with there every chance another nail could be hammered into their Premier League coffin.
Few could have foreseen what was to follow, with a remarkable fightback seeing West Ham snatch the unlikeliest of points.
Two goals from Demba Ba and one from his strike partner Carlton Cole saw the Hammers turn the tie on its head and end the game disappointed not to have claimed a morale-boosting win.
Cheer
Downes believes the unwavering support offered by a travelling contingent of some 2,500 fans helped to keep hope alive, with it imperative that similar backing is offered over the remainder of the season if the club are to steer clear of trouble.
The Hammers' first-team coach told the club's official website: "I imagine they were fuming at half-time and so we were we, [but] the way the fans stuck with us at 3-0 down and went for the whole 95 minutes and still had hope and belief that we were going to get the winner was terrific.
"I'm so pleased with the fact we gave our fans who were there some cheer in the second half, and some hope.
"As long as we've got those fans shouting for us at home and away, I'm sure we'll be fine."
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Olympic Stadium
“Sooner us than Spurs, but I think the running track will make for a soulless stadium.
Last I heard, West Ham plan to put AstroTurf over it.” 30-something gamer.
“If the atmosphere is not impacted what is the issue with the stadium? Upton Park is not the place we know and love. Atmosphere has not been right there for a number of years.” Russell Alder.
“We all need to realise the decision is about egacy and common sense. You can’t knock it down after promising it will host athletics.” Nick Homer.
“Don’t know whether to be happy or annoyed to be honest. Having a stadium which we won’t fill and will look stupid in.” Jack Duignan.
“It’s great news, even if we can’t fill a 60k stadium now it gives us an opportunity to grow which Upton Park will never do.” David Segal.
West Brom draw
“It’s too little too late. All we ask for is a performance lasting 90 mins. What mindset were we in to start like that? And it takes Parker to shake to tree for a reaction. They should have sacked Grant on the morning of the Arsenal game.” Jamie
“Story of the season. We only play in fits and starts. Surely that’s where the manager comes in?” Neil Fairchild
“I can’t take much more of this!!!” Allan Van Leer
“Why won’t they fire Avram? I don’t get it. They will fire if relegated so why keep him? So frustrated.” Dan Covello
“Comes to something when a player is more inspirational at half time than the boss!” Andrew Griffin
Last edited by cockney hammer on Wed Feb 16, 2011 11:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
This was on the West ham facebook page
"West Ham's olympic director Ian Tompkins has revealed today that as it stands the new Stadium will not have claret and blue seating, the retractable seating is only being considered for behind the goals as we speak and that the top tiers behind each goal will be closed off when in 'football mode' due to being so far away, designing is on going (thanks to Kumb.com for this)"
Dunno where the story has come from. This olympic stadium is getting worse and worse.
Mark Noble has a good point though, If we are playing in a stadium with a 60,000 capacity we don't want to be playing the likes of Scunthorpe !!
But then .... we already knew that.
Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson's interest in bringing £20m-rated Borussia Dortmund playmaker Mario Goetze to Old Trafford has intensified.
Full story: Daily Mirror
Lyon goalkeeper Hugo Lloris has suggested he could be keen on a £16m move to Manchester United next summer when current number one Edwin van der Sar retires.
Full story: the Sun
Chelsea striker Didier Drogba could move to Turkish side Galatasaray in the summer after growing increasingly unsettled in west London.
Full story: Metro
Arsenal skipper Cesc Fabregas would only move away from the Gunners to sign for boyhood club Barcelona, according to the midfielder's father. Chelsea had been linked with a £50m move for the player.
Full story: Daily Mirror
French side Lille have admitted they may be open to approaches for playmaker Eden Hazard with Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United all thought to be interested. A bid of £21m could be enough to secure the 19-year-old.
Full story: talkSPORT
Chelsea could tempt playmaker Adel Taarabt from Championship leaders QPR with a £9m move.
Full story: Caughtoffside
Fulham striker Eidur Gudjohnsen, on loan from Stoke, has hinted he would like to stay at the club when his deal at Craven Cottage expires at the end of the season.
Full story: Daily Mirror
Ipswich manager Paul Jewell is trying to seal a loan deal for Aston Villa defender Habib Beye.
Full story: Daily Mail
Sheffield United hope to recruit Blackpool striker Marlon Harewood to their cause as they attempt to stave off relegation from the Championship.
Full story: Daily Mail
Sevilla striker Luis Fabiano has decided he will leave the Spanish club. The Brazil international could now be back on Tottenham's radar.
Full story: talkSPORT
Felipe Caicedo's miserable time at Manchester City could be at an end with Levante keen to convert their loan deal for the striker into a £1m permanent switch.
Full story: Daily Mail
OTHER GOSSIP
AC Milan captain Gennaro Gattuso faces a lengthy Uefa ban after head-butting Tottenham assistant manager Joe Jordan at the end of his side's Champions League defeat by Spurs on Tuesday.
Full story: Daily Telegraph
The Football Association is looking for a new venue for the 2012 Community Shield after Wembley was confirmed as the location for the 2012 Olympic men's football final.
Full story: Daily Mail
New West Brom manager Roy Hodgson has warned the Baggies fans that the team will not survive in the Premier League if they attempt to emulate the attacking style of Barcelona.
Full story: talkSPORT
Chelsea are at the centre of a Dutch FA investigation into their controversial move for 15-year-old Feyenoord prospect Nathan Ake. The inquiry centres on the Blues' £670,000 signing of the highly rated youngster and the role played by agent Dan Kramp of Forza Fides agency. The transfer has sparked anger in the Netherlands where strict FA rules outlaw children under 16 from having agents. Kramp is accused of taking Ake to Chelsea over Christmas to seal the deal.
Full story: the Sun
Sunderland midfielder Lee Cattermole is set to miss the rest of the season with a broken bone in his back. (the Sun)
AND FINALLY
Liverpool's Raheem Sterling will become the club's youngest player if he takes the field in the club's Europa League match against Sparta Prague. The winger, who turns 16 years and 79 days old on the day of the game, scored five goals in a 9-0 win for the Merseysiders' youth team over Southend earlier this week.
Full story: Daily Mirror
After last night's shenanigans at San Siro, it is no surprise to discover that the world of rumours is a barren, fallow land this morning, with the nation's sports hacks still speculating over the many and varied ways that Joe Jordan would make mince meatout of angry, shouting, pitch-bothering Gennaro Gattuso. The combustible and in-no-way-trying-too-hard-to-look-hard Italian, of course, appeared to headbutt the combustible and in-no-way-trying-too-hard-to-look-hard Scot after Milan's defeat to Tottenham, leading to a furiously indignant reaction from the British press, who are still trying to work out whether they are in a funk about Gattuso assaulting a pensioner or whether Gattuso made the biggest mistake of his life by provoking a man nicknamed "Jaws" who can do 1,000 press-ups without using his arms. Apparently. They probably can't have it both ways.
Anyway Jordan was so incensed by Gattuso's attack that he stormed off to The Brits and had a flaming row with former flame Peter Andre according to the front page of the Daily Star. Still, at least he got to see James Corden do his inimitable thing, which mostly consists of making Tim Lovejoy not look so bad, so the evening wasn't a total blow-out.
Speaking of angry, vein-throbbing Scotsman, look, it's Sir Alex Ferguson! The Manchester United manager is after Borussia Dortmund's teenage sensation Mario Götze, who will cost £10m, which seems like a lot like for an 18-year-old with just two Germany caps until you remember how much an English player with one cap goes for these days. Dortmund will sell, leading to "Fergie's got his Götze" headlines when they do. Ferguson won't stop there though, and is also "keeping tabs" on the Lyon goalkeeper, Hugo Lloris, who could be flapping haplessly at crosses at Old Trafford next season for just £16m.
Also being watched, although not in a way that is at all sinister or worthy of a restraining order, is Lille's Eden Hazard. Arsenal are interested in the £21m-rated grizzly central defender who answers only to the name "Bones" and is the second coming of Joe Jordan. Oh, no, wait, he's a jinking winger. Well that makes perfect sense. Arsenal could do with a bit more fancy-dan frippery. Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United and Real Madrid are also sniffing about the Belgian.
Liverpool, meanwhile, have sent scouts to watch Feyernoord's Georginio 'George' Wijnaldum, a young Dutch winger who will have a promising first season at Anfield before opening an account on Twitter and starting a career in rap on the side. In January 2013, Wijnaldum will be playing for Hoffenheim.
Birmingham City will hand Rubin Kazan £5m to make their loan move for Obafemi Martins permanent. Martins is 26, it says here. Craig Gordon is set to open talks with Sunderland over a new contract, but talks keep stalling because he keeps dropping his pen before he can sign here, here and here. And here. The former Middlesbrough striker, Jérémie Aliadiadiadiadiadiadiadiadière, has turned down a move to Al Ain. Aliadière, 27, was once the next big thing at Arsenal and is currently without a club. Where did the time go?
According to The Sun, Crawley Town's CUP HEROES will get just £150 if they beat Manchester United in the FA Cup on Saturday. Which is all well and good, but given that there's more chance of Robinho breaking into a light jog than there is of non-league Crawley beating United, this story probably doesn't have legs, even if Wayne Rooney does earn £150 in SIX MINUTES. "There is no extra incentive for our players to knock out Manchester United," says Crawley's chief executive, Alan Williams. Boo! Hiss! "That would be against FA rules." Oh.
Loan moves now. Ipswich Town's manager, Paul Jewell, is looking to sign Habib 'Happy' Beye from Aston Villa. Sheffield United fancy a bit of Blackpool's Homer Simpson-a-like Marlon Harewood. Portsmouth want West Ham's Benni McCarthy, but West Ham may want to keep hold of the big-boned South African in a futile bid to fill the Olympic Stadium.
Roy Hodgson, who once spent £5.5m on Christian Dailly when he was at Blackburn and has signed Paul Konchesky on two separate occasions, even going as far as paying actual money and not the Monopoly kind, will be given free rein over transfers at West Brom. Well that should all end well.
Meanwhile every time The Mill has logged on to goal.com, it immediately got whizzed away to the Facebook page for Turkish Airlines before it could so much as glance at whether Cesc Fábregas is off to Barcelona in return for a CD of Take That's greatest hits. 108,357 people 'like' this page and a recent message from Turkish Airlines read "Today is the Valentine's Day. We wish your every single day is full up with love, cheer and bliss. Happy Valentine's Day!" Only 314 people liked this.
Manchester United have stepped up their interest in Borussia Dortmund teenager Mario Gotze, while Portsmouth want Benni McCarthy on loan.
.Arsene Wenger has accused Barcelona of double standards after complaining about Cesc Fabregas moving from the Nou Camp to Arsenal as a 16-year-old.
Blue Square Premier side Crawley Town are on £150 a man to dump Manchester United out of the FA Cup on Saturday.
United striker Dimitar Berbatov is set to be offered a one-year contract extension, keeping him at Old Trafford until 2013.
Midfielder Mark Noble says it would be unthinkable for West Ham to be playing Championship football in the Olympic Stadium.
France and Lyon keeper Hugo Lloris has opened the door for a £16million move to Manchester United.
Chelsea are at the centre of a Dutch FA investigation into their swoop for 15- year-old Nathan Ake from Feyenoord.
..Manchester United have stepped up their interest in Borussia Dortmund's teenage midfielder Mario Gotze, 18, despite the German side upping the asking price to £20million.
Defender Jamie Carragher, 33, claims he has at least two more years left with Liverpool.
Arsenal skipper Cesc Fabregas would only move away from the Emirates to sign for boyhood club Barcelona, according to the midfielder's father, after Chelsea were linked with a £50m move for the player.
Liverpool's Raheem Sterling will become the club's youngest player if he takes the field in the Europa League match against Sparta Prague on Thursday. The winger, who will be 16 years and 79 days old on the day of the game, scored five goals in a 9-0 win for the youth team over Southend this week.
..Manchester City players were targeted by fans with lasers during Tuesday's Europa League tie at Aris Salonika.
Sunderland striker Fraizer Campbell is back in training after a knee ligament injury and could return against Everton on Saturday week.
Portsmouth want to sign West Ham striker Benni McCarthy on loan.
..Lille have put a £21m price tag on Belgian winger Eden Hazard, 20, who has been watched by Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool and Real Madrid.
Liverpool have sent scouts to watch Feyenoord winger Georginio Wijnaldum.
Ipswich want to take Aston Villa defender Habib Beye on loan.
Felipe Caicedo's miserable time at Manchester City could be at an end with Spanish club Levante keen to convert their loan deal for the striker into a £1million permanent switch.
Sheffield United hope to recruit Blackpool striker Marlon Harewood to their cause as they attempt to stave off relegation from the Championship.
..Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini intensified the pressure on Edin Dzeko by insisting he would need to "improve very quickly" after the £27million striker missed a sitter in the round-of-32 first-leg tie at Aris Salonika.
..Rangers frontman El-Hadji Diouf has reportedly dyed his hair blue ahead of Sunday's Old Firm clash at Celtic... but so far is refusing to show it.
....
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