well it has arrived at last lets hope today we can get back to where this brilliant club belongs.. will be thinking of you all at wembley today i hope you get all you wish for come on you irons
the sun
Play-off final will change people’s lives
Big Sam says livelihoods at West Ham will be at stake when they take on Blackpool and Ian Holloway for a place in the Premier League.
And he admits questions will be asked of his own job if the Hammers lose and face another season in the Championship — despite public backing from his owners.
Allardyce said: “The Champions League final is a glory game but this is about your livelihood and about your status. One is a major tournament but this one is about changing people’s lives.”
The Hammers boss is halfway through his two-year deal and cannot plan for next term until he knows if he will be back in the top flight.
He added: “If we have to cost- cut across the board because we don’t get up, we will cut our cloth accordingly on the basis of what income is coming in. So that’s why we’ll be trying so hard to make sure we get up this time.”
With so much riding on one game, it may be impossible for Allardyce to soak up the atmosphere in his first game at Wembley since taking Bolton to the FA Cup semi-finals 12 years ago.
Co-owner David Sullivan told SunSport yesterday Big Sam’s job is safe whatever the result — but he knows there will be inquests if he fails today.
Allardyce added: “I can hear the question now — but I hope I don’t hear it after the match.
“It will be disappointing but it won’t be a bad season, it would be a very good season that ended very disappointingly.
“Football today is a very fickle game.
“As a manager, you accept you need a double skin — a rhino’s skin and an elephant’s skin to survive in the job.
“Kenny Dalglish and Alex McLeish have gone this week.
“What you have to do is win matches and if you do that you stay in work. If you don’t, you won’t stay in work very long.”
the sun
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the sun
Nolan: Our fans deserve to be back in the big time
The midfielder will lead the Hammers out at Wembley today looking to add to his success of reaching the Premier League with Bolton and Newcastle.
And apart from his rookie season as a pro, when he made only four appearances, Nolan has NEVER failed in a promotion campaign.
He said: “I went up with Bolton in the play-off final which was a fantastic day and the way we won the league with Newcastle was another great memory.
“Hopefully, it will be another one and it will be three times I’ve played in this league and three times I’ve got myself out of it in fantastic circumstances.
“It will probably be the best one as it’s a massive turnaround in a short space of time.
“No one deserves it more than our fans or the people that work at this club, so we need one more massive push.”
Nolan’s promotion success started 11 years ago when he was in the Bolton team that beat Preston in the play-off final at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium.
the sun
Ace Jack gives it a crack
The midfielder suffered his injury in the second leg of the Hammers’ win over Cardiff. But he made a speedy recovery and is fit to face Blackpool today.
He said: “It was very sore when I first did it and the first thought was if I’d be ready for the final.
“But the medical staff have been working around the clock to get me ready and thankfully I’m OK.”
Collison, 23, scored twice in the first leg against Cardiff and reckons he is hitting form at the right time.
The Wales star said: “It’s nice to start finding the net at the right time of the season and I want to continue that.
“It’s a massive game and it would be a great game to score in too.”
the sun
He’s the prize guy
The Ivory Coast full-back suffered a hamstring injury when he arrived at Upton Park on deadline day in August — then got a thigh complaint on his comeback.
But he returned at the end of the season and has quickly become a cult hero. He said: “It’s the reason why I came and signed for West Ham — to play in the Premier League.
“West Ham is a big club and has to play in the Premier League.
“It’s my first time in England and to play at Wembley too, it’s unbelievable.
“If we play like we did in the last couple of games we’ll be all right.”
the sun
Tonka: Top my stonka
Former right-back Stewart is the last player to score a goal for West Ham at Wembley a whopping 31 YEARS ago.
‘Tonka’ smashed in a last-gasp penalty when the Londoners drew 1-1 with Liverpool in the League Cup final of 1981.
Now a van driver, the friendly Scot, 52, said: “I’m surprised and a little sad it’s taken West Ham so long to get back to Wembley. For a club of their size and tradition you think they would be there a bit more regularly.
“I just hope those boys who go out there appreciate what it means to the club and the fans.
“The team seems transformed. The way they controlled the play-off semi-final games against Cardiff was superb.”
good old superjock
the sun
Gold dig at Pool
The Hammers have sold more than 40,000 tickets for the Championship play-off final but the Seasiders yesterday returned at least 7,000 unsold.
Hammers co-owner Gold tweeted: “It beggars belief that Blackpool have thousands of unsold tickets and West Ham are screaming out for more. What’s going on? Is this deliberate?
“If this is true it’s a complete shambles and the league and Blackpool must take full responsibility.
“There are thousands of West Ham fans who are desperate for tickets.”
the mirror
Nothing personal: Allardyce bears no grudges with Blackpool
West Ham boss will face his former club, where he was ruthlessly sacked, in the Championship play-off final at Wembley
Bygones: Big Sam has forgotten about his dismissal from Blackpool Bygones: Big Sam has forgotten about his dismissal from Blackpool
Sam Allardyce insists he has no axe to grind with Blackpool ahead of West Ham's Wembley encounter with his former club.
The Hammers boss is potentially 90 minutes from a return to the Barclays Premier League, 18 months after he was sacked by Blackburn's owners Venky's.
Standing in his way in tomorrow's play-off final are the Seasiders, the club where Allardyce cut his managerial teeth before he was also ruthlessly shown the door after narrowly missing out on promotion to Division One in 1996.
But the 57-year-old says he bears no grudges ahead of the £90million promotion shoot-out.
Blackpool's English manager Ian Holloway looks on before the English FA Cup 5th Round football match between Everton and Blackpool Bouncebackability: Ian Holloway is looking for an immediate return to the Premier League
Getty
"It's long gone, water under the bridge," he said.
"At the time it was devastating because I thought I might have been lost to football, I thought I might not get back into the game.
"Luckily that wasn't the case but the experience I gained as a manager has stood me in good stead to go on and do better things, so I have no axe to grind with Blackpool."
Allardyce is halfway through a two-year contract at Upton Park but knows questions will be raised about his position if, just as with Blackpool, his current team falter in the play-offs.
The Hammers, relegated 12 months ago, were pre-season favourites for promotion but were edged into third by Reading and Southampton.
Allardyce promised to take them back up within a year and is well aware of the price of failure - for both himself and the club.
"I would have thought that come Saturday we won't be talking my job, apart from taking the club back into the Premier League," he added.
"But if it is not the case for whatever reason, somebody will say, 'will your job be safe?'
"When that comes around I can answer it. For now, my focus is on the team and getting the best out of the team to try and win the most important game for this club since the last time Alan Pardew took them up through the play-offs.
"That is how important it is. It is important for the status of everyone at the club, particularly for myself and my staff and the players who require Premier League status again.
"It gives them a greater standing in the game. It gives us all a greater status in the game, a huge amount of revenue into this club and it gives us worldwide branding.
"We all know how important it is from both sides - the football side and the financial side."
the mirror
Tout of order: Allardyce warns Hammers to ignore play-off ticket requests
West Ham manager wants his players to focus on the Championship play-off final against Blackpool
Big Sam: West Ham are trying to return to the Premier League at the first time of asking Big Sam: West Ham are trying to return to the Premier League at the first time of asking
Ian Walton
West Ham manager Sam Allardyce had to tell his players to ignore any more ticket requests for tomorrow's trip to Wembley.
The Hammers quickly shifted their 35,000 allocation for the npower Championship play-off final against Blackpool as they attempt to secure promotion back to the top flight.
And as the Seasiders have tickets to spare, many thousands more Hammers fans are expected to make the trip for West Ham's first visit to the national stadium since 1981.
And Allardyce admitted he and his players have been inundated with requests for the hottest ticket in town.
"There will be more than 35,000 there, more like 45,000, knowing our fans," admitted Allardyce.
"Everybody has rung me for tickets. Fortunately the deadline has passed so if anyone is hearing this, I won't get you one anymore.
"And if I catch players getting people tickets as well I will give a good dressing down because we have to focus on the job now.
"Tickets for family and friends is a massive distraction in a game like this.
"The lads put that to bed now - I don't think there are too many more tickets to be had - and we focus on the game now."
Striker Carlton Cole, who will lead the line for the Hammers at Wembley, admitted it has been hard to please everybody.
"I know too many people, everyone has been asking me for tickets," he said.
"But I just put on my Blackberry Messenger status that there are none left so don't ask - and if you do ask you're getting deleted. That is what I've put out there.
"After Tuesday the manager said if anyone asks for tickets just tell them to 'eff off' as we have other things to worry about. It's a massive distraction.
"I've done all mine already - and it's well into double figures."
the mirror
Wembley boost: Jack Collison fit for Hammers as Big Sam wrestles with favourites tag
"The pressure should bring the best out of us and not be one of those games where we actually freeze on the big stage," says West Ham boss
Jack Collison celebrates his goal during the Championship Playoff Semi-Final 1st leg match against Cardiff Jack Collison celebrates his goal during the Championship Playoff Semi-Final 1st leg match against Cardiff
Jamie McDonald
West Ham midfielder Jack Collison has been declared fit for Saturday's Champions play-off final.
The Wales midfielder scored twice in the 2-0 semi-final first-leg win in Cardiff a fortnight ago, but was expected to miss out at Wembley after dislocating his shoulder in the second leg.
However, after receiving intensive treatment, Collison returned to training today and is set to be involved in the big promotion decider against Blackpool.
"Everyone who has been playing recently is fit, the squad is strong and we just have one final day to select the side," said manager Sam Allardyce.
"It's been a bit of a long wait since we played Cardiff but we are rested, eager and hopefully we can give our best performance of the season."
Jack Collison and James Tomkins of West Ham celebrate winning the npower Championship match between Leicester City and West Ham United at The King Power Stadium on April 23, 2012 in Leicester, England Jack Collison and James Tomkins: Wembley-bound
West Ham go into the clash as short-priced favourites having thumped eight goals past Blackpool in their two meetings this term.
And despite accusations of over-confidence emanating from the Blackpool camp, Allardyce has backed the Hammers to handle the pressure.
"It's a one-off game," he said.
"It's a fabulous game to be involved in, particularly for the players.
"We are the favourites with all the pressure on us, so we have to handle that as we have done all season. Hopefully we can deliver and beat Blackpool for third time this season.
"But it won't be easy, we will treat them with the utmost respect and make sure we try to expose the weaknesses they have in their side if we can and as early as we can.
"We've got to live with the pressure to spur us on to give us our best performance. The pressure should bring the best out of us and not be one of those games where we actually freeze on the big stage."
the star
HAMMERS HERO CARLTON COLE AIMS TO BE UP, UP AND AWAY!
CARLTON COLE always wanted to be a superhero – and he could get his wish at Wembley today.
The West Ham striker idolised Superman as a boy and wanted to follow in his footsteps.
Cole has rarely been known as a Man of Steel in a career which has never quite lived up to the early promise he showed at Chelsea.
But he will achieve superhero status if he fires West Ham back into the Premier League against Blackpool.
And he could earn himself a lucrative new contract in the process at the club where he wants to end his career.
Cole, 28, said: “I do like Superman. I used to read the comics and I loved the Superman movies.
“When I was young I wanted to be a fireman – that was the closest thing I could think of to Superman.
“You know, saving people and all that. Firemen, nurses. They are the unsung heroes. Then I started playing football.When I was on the bench at Chelsea there were times when I was probably thinking I should have been a fireman!
“But I chose my path and I’m at West Ham now. They gave me a chance to play on a regular basis. I owe them for that.
“The club and the chairmen have been good to me. My contract does not run out until next year but they have come to me and I am really happy.
“It depends on what goes on at Wembley but hopefully everything will fall into place. I want to end my career at West Ham.”
In five years at Chelsea, Cole scored only four times and was shipped out on loan to various clubs before signing for the Hammers.
Now he is probably in the best form of his career, just one goal away from the target he set himself in pre-season.
Cole said: “My aim was 15 goals because of the type of striker I am, so I’ve still got a chance of getting to it at Wembley.
Cole hopes to celebrate a double tonight as his old club are in action in the Champions League Final against Bayern Munich.
And in a week where Roy Hodgson named his England squad for Euro 2012, he is not giving up on a Three Lions recall either.
Cole said: “Roy has not been in touch but he is a fair guy and if he sees me in the Premier League playing well, I’m sure I’ll get a little sniff.
“I’ve no regrets about leaving Chelsea and I’ll be cheering them on. It would be a brilliant double if we win our game as well.”
the mail
The men who need to deliver at Wembley
There is a myth that this npower play-off final is a crazy game and always full of goals, but five of the last eight have finished 1-0 and West Ham were involved in two of them; one lost, one won.
There were, however, goals in each of the last two seasons, when Swansea beat Reading 4-2 and Blackpool won 3-2 against Cardiff. Sam Allardyce will not want a free-flowing open game.
He will want to close it down, play on the break and pick off Blackpool. Set pieces will be a major weapon for West Ham, with Kevin Nolan a threat to add to his 13 league goals.
Ian Holloway’s attacking instincts may play into West Ham’s hands. They have been more comfortable away from Upton Park this season, breaking the club record with 14 wins on the road, and they go into the game in excellent form, having defeated Cardiff 5-0 on aggregate in the semi-final.
In many of their away games, they have sat deep, sucked teams in then hit them with rapid counter-attacking play. They have earned praise for their results, if not always for their style of play.
They have defeated Blackpool 4-0 at home and 4-1 away, which suggests they have the measure of Holloway’s team and their expansive, attractive style.
But there are players West Ham must be aware of.
Blackpool’s Matt Phillips is quick, dynamic and comes in off the wing, and it’s no surprise that West Ham tried to sign him in the window. Matt and his namesake, Kevin (possibly coming off the bench), will have to be stopped, while Stephen Dobbie has experience of scoring for Swansea in this game last season.
West Ham, their goalkeeper Robert Green and his back four will be in for a busy afternoon. If they can deal with Blackpool’s attacks, James Tomkins — the emerging West Ham central defender — can be a key player and they have enough firepower to head back to the Premier League, with players such as Carlton Cole and Ricardo Vaz Te, who is having the season of his life.
Expect it to be close, don’t expect it to be pretty.
the mail
Vaz Te loves the spotlight, now the stage is set for West Ham's Lion King
Ricardo Vaz Te is remarkably bullish about West Ham’s chances in the npower Championship play-off final against Blackpool.
‘We are definitely the favourites and Blackpool should be edgy,’ said the Portuguese forward, who has scored 11 goals in 17 league and play-off games since his £500,000 move from Barnsley in January.
‘We’re going to make sure they stay where they are. It’s simple, really.
Hair raising: Ricardo Vaz Te expects West Ham to reach the Premier League
Hair raising: Ricardo Vaz Te expects West Ham to reach the Premier League
‘We’ve just shown in the two play-off games (against Cardiff City, which West Ham won 5-0 on aggregate) that we’re superior and we’re going to stay superior.
‘If we do win — and I think we will — people will say, “Yeah, but they should have won anyway”. We’re going to make sure that’s what they say at the end.
‘We’re just going to go there and get the job done. The history of the club is far greater than this division so we’re going to make sure we take it to where it belongs, which is the Premier League. No less.’
His words may look arrogant in black and white, but they are delivered in excellent English in a soft tone, rich with confidence.
The reason for his positivity is simple: Vaz Te is convinced West Ham can deal with the pressure of a club that not only expects, but demands, to play in the top flight next season.
He admits Sam Allardyce’s squad have ‘underachieved’ by finishing third behind Reading and Southampton — two sides the striker believes have profited from operating in the shadows this campaign, while the spotlight is firmly on West Ham.
‘People don’t notice,’ he said. ‘Southampton were promoted last season and this season they over-achieved, by many, many levels. They never had pressure — they just went on a run.
‘We saw that when they actually expected to go up, to get automatic promotion, they crumbled. So if they had to deal with that pressure all season, I don’t think they could have done it.
‘Reading, the same. They were nowhere and then all of a sudden they put a run together. They got a bit lucky with results and they go on and win it.
‘Sometimes the lads find it tough at home. It’s meant to be our ground, but sometimes we find a hostile environment.
‘So I think, if any other team in the division had to deal with that, they wouldn’t be anywhere near where we are.
‘From day one, for West Ham it wasn’t just about promotion but playing good football.’
The authority with which Vaz Te speaks is something of a surprise given the freedom and joy that have underpinned many of his performances in a claret and blue shirt.
It’s also unexpected from a quick, 6ft 2in player who is as relaxed talking about his trademark Mohican hairstyle, love of Disney films (Beauty and the Beast is his favourite), travelling on the bus or tube (‘I love it’) and energetic goal celebrations as he is about the small matter of Saturday’s £46million match.
Vaz Te took his three younger sisters to see the musical The Lion King when they visited London. The forward has already been once before and thought it was ‘amazing’.
‘How the lions greet each other is by doing this movement,’ he says, demonstrating by scooping his head upwards, in the manner of a big cat cleaning itself after devouring its prey.
‘They came to watch the game so I thought, “If I score today I’m going to do it”.
At Barnsley I used to do one (celebration) with my team-mate, Jim O’Brien. There is this song called “All Day, all night...” (Loca People by Sak Noel). When the beats kicked in he just pulled these crazy moves, so I thought we should do this in a game.
‘And the one I did against Cardiff: one of my older brothers, Fernando, he says when he scores he gives a concert. So I just did that for him.’
Vaz Te, still only 25, grew up in Guinea-Bissau in west Africa before moving back to Lisbon just before his 12th birthday. There he met Manchester United winger Nani.
The pair used to play five-a-side together in the street and still keep in touch.
‘In Portugal that’s where you learn,’ said Vaz Te. ‘You get kids aged 13 playing with 18- year-olds. But if you’re good enough, you play. You get bullied at times but it toughens you up.’
Vaz Te’s potential was enough for Allardyce to sign him in 2003 for Bolton Wanderers, where he excelled at youth level. The forward, who has scored 23 goals in all this season, said: ‘I was always a mummy’s boy and I always had one of my older brothers with me, but I had to lose all that, to be alone.
‘I couldn’t speak any English and it was really tough because I’m quite a talkative person, I like to socialise. But I dealt with that in three months and I loved it. Every day, at my digs, I used to eat pasta and tomato sauce — with cheese on top. And every Sunday was roast dinner. It was great.’
But Vaz Te started only 10 league games in seven years at Bolton. He says the physiotherapists ‘lost faith’ in him after a ‘career-threatening’ knee ligament injury, which prompted underwhelming spells at Hibernian and in Greece with Panionios.
A career that had shown such promise, including an appearance at Wembley in 2008 for Portugal Under 21s, was in danger of dying out before it was resurrected this season.
‘It was very tough,’ he said. ‘I remember going t o see specialists and them telling me, “That’s a career-threatening injury. There’s a possibility of not getting fit again.”
‘I was only 21 or 22. A lot of people lost faith in me: the physios lost faith in me and obviously I struggled to come back. But you learn to deal with it.
‘I had to do it the hard way, but it made me learn and appreciate football more. I cherish it more now and I’m grateful for my second chance. That’s how I feel.’
That second chance could be capped by a return to the top flight — providing West Ham can show they really can handle the pressure.
the independent
Big Sam has no beef with Tangerines, 16 years on
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Sam Allardyce insists he bears Blackpool no grudge as he prepares West Ham for their vital Wembley encounter with his former club.
The Hammers manager is 90 minutes from a possible return to the Premier League, 18 months after being sacked by Blackburn. He cut his managerial teeth at Blackpool before being shown the door after just missing out on promotion to Division One in 1996.
But he said: "It's long gone, water under the bridge. At the time it was devastating because I thought I might not get back into the game. Luckily that wasn't the case. The experience I gained as a manager has stood me in good stead to go on and do better things, so I have no axe to grind with Blackpool."
Allardyce is halfway through a two-year contract at Upton Park but knows questions will be raised about his position if his current team, pre-season favourites for automatic promotion, falter in the play-offs.
"[This game] is important for the status of everyone at the club, particularly for myself and my staff and the players, who require Premier League status again," he said. "We all know how important it is from both the football side and the financial side; it gives the club a huge amount of revenue and worldwide branding."
Blackpool v West Ham
Kick-off Today, 3pm, Wembley. TV Sky Sports 1, Highlights BBC1 11.35pm.
Referee H Webb (South Yorkshire).
Odds: Blackpool 3/1 Draw 13/5 West Ham Utd 10/11.
Team news Blackpool have no injury concerns as they attempt to win promotion for a second time in three years. Jack Collison has been passed fit for West Ham after overcoming a shoulder injury suffered in the semi-final.
the guardian
Sam Allardyce out to silence his West Ham critics by beating Blackpool
The under-fire Hammers manager believes the play-off final is bigger than the Champions League because it has the power to
Sam Allardyce has an evolutionary theory for his particular species. "As a manager," he says, "you accept that you need a double skin: a rhino's skin and an elephant's skin to survive in the job."
West Ham United's manager has had the best part of 20 years to toughen up his hide yet that did not stop him from feeling sore and instructing his lawyers earlier in the week when the video footage of Steve Kean slating him appeared on YouTube. Allardyce's revenge stands to be meted out by more than the libel silks. The script calls for him to lead West Ham to victory over Blackpool in the Championship play-off final at Wembley and so swap places with Kean's relegated Blackburn in the Premier League.
They used to be his Blackburn, of course, only that changed when the newly installed owners Venky's fired him in December 2010 and promoted Kean in his stead from the coaching staff. Allardyce has an axe to grind with Venky's.
Saturday afternoon's Wembley showpiece has additional intrigue.
Allardyce's first permanent managerial post in English football came with Blackpool and it ended badly when, after the 1996 division two play-off semi-final defeat to Bradford, the club's owner at the time, Owen Oyston, who was imprisoned, sacked him from a prison cell. Allardyce's team had won the first leg 2-0 but contrived to lose the second, at home, 3-0.
"It was devastating because I thought I might have been lost to football, I thought I might not get back into the game," Allardyce says. "I was only two years managing in this country. Have you built enough of a reputation for someone else to give you a go? It took eight months before Derek Pavis gave me the chance to manage Notts County and my career grew again. Many managers in that position never work again as a manager."
Oyston's son, Karl, is now Blackpool's chairman. "I've seen Owen a couple of times since," Allardyce says. "He's looking well for his age, he's still wearing that hat. They said it wasn't Owen's decision, it was a board decision. It was a huge blow to me at the time but it's long gone, water under the bridge."
It has been a gruelling first season at Upton Park for Allardyce, during which he has felt the wrath of the club's fans for his playing style and erratic home results. One stick to beat him with has been his non-use of Ravel Morrison, the mercurially gifted but difficult 19-year-old midfielder, who arrived in January from Manchester United. Some United players speak in awed tones about his talent.
But Allardyce continues to throw punches, he continues to believe that vindication will be his, even if a little wariness undercuts his confidence. "You [the media] will suggest if we don't win that because you haven't gone up in the first year, your job might be on the line," Allardyce says. "I can hear the question now. But I hope I don't hear it after the match."
West Ham began the season as hot favourites for an immediate return to the Premier League, following the trauma of relegation under Avram Grant, and Allardyce did little to dampen the expectation after his appointment last June. "We want to go up automatically," he told the Observer in July. "And if we don't quite achieve that goal, then we are going to be left in the play-offs, at the very least, unless I become the worst manager ever overnight and the players become the worst there has ever been."
Allardyce swings between an acceptance that promotion is the minimum requirement to a grumpiness that the squad's achievement in getting this far has brought no credit. In some respects, it reinforces a theme of Allardyce's managerial career. At Blackburn and even Bolton Wanderers, where he spent eight successful seasons, he did not always get the praise that he deserved.
"People turn round and say 'You're supposed to do this anyway', and that's been something that we've had to live with right from the start because we're a massive club," he says. "It's been difficult in that we've only been doing what everybody's expected us to do."
The nerves will churn inside Allardyce when he leads a team out at Wembley for the first time since 2000, when his Bolton lost on penalties to Aston Villa in the FA Cup semi-final — "Dean Holdsworth missed a sitter [in the] last minute, I still haven't forgiven him," he says, with a smile — while to Allardyce, the occasion is no undercard to Chelsea's Champions League final against Bayern Munich in the evening.
"The bigger game is on Saturday afternoon," he says. "The Champions League final is a glory game. This is about your livelihood and your status. The Champions League is a major tournament but this one is about changing people's lives."
Allardyce is fortified by his experience of high-pressure situations, particularly the battles that he waged to keep Bolton and Blackburn in the Premier League. He takes a fighting fit and in-form squad to face opponents that they have already beaten 4-0 and 4-1 this season. West Ham have sold out their 35,000 ticket allocation; Allardyce predicted that 45,000 Hammers would find their way in. It is make or break. Big Sam can scent the big time.
babe of the day
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good luck and god bless
