A view from West Ham

Not exactly a glowing reference on Duxbury and Nani.

http://thegamesgonecrazy.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/duxbury-and-nani-return-poor-poor-poor.html

 

Difference is, he has a master this time in Pozzo. He will behave.

 

One main difference is that the Pozzos have arguably the best scouting system in the world (possibly OTT). Their £4M a year team will decide who gets bought or not. And most of our loans will come from Udinese...and they aren't going to send us duds are they.

Still, having said all that, not sure how Nani fits into it all?

Duxbury to run the club, or parts of it. Zola as manager. So what does Nani do, seeing how the scouting network is already in place?

 

There are clearly more questions than answers at this stage. What role does Giampaolo Pozzo or Gino Pozzo have? Will Duxbury be the CEO reporting to the Pozzo's, so in affect will be running the club on a day-to-day basis? Will Nani work alongside Wilson or replace him? Is Zola coming as some sort of intermediate between the three clubs as a technical director or will he directly replace Dyche?

There are a lot of things going on in the background and will become public knowledge next week.

 

Hopefully they will be making more statements this week, need to tell us their plans etc.

 

My company had some dealings with Duxbury on a personal level and he was a ****.

 

Sounds promising!

 

Lets hope he doesn't get too big for his boots and drag us down. The Pozzo's will keep him on a leash, its their money he could be looking to spend. Their scouting network is vastly superior to anything that was going on at West Ham. Have faith people...enjoy the ride........

 

Duxbury = Ashton ?

 

They were responsible for some right duds at West Ham. As metioned already hopefully the Pozzo's don't give them a free reign on signing players. What it does perhaps tell us is that we'll have some sort of decent budget as I doubt they'll be chasing free transfers every time.

 

I am sure, as has already been stated, that the Pozzos will be keeping a leash on them and the majority of our signings will come from Granada/Udinese with a few unknown foreigners from their scouting network to test the waters with them. Cant wait for this season COYH

 

I have a West Ham supporting mate who tells me positive things about Zola though...

 

Sorry. But I'm sick of this.

At the end of the article we're referred to as "Poor little Watford"

Fack off you *****.

 

I thought that the best scouting network in the world belonged to Sports Interactive for their FM/CM series of computer games. And Miles, the guvnor, is a Watford fan and sponsor.

 

Don't know if this was posted anywhere yesterday:

http://www.sabotagetimes.com/footba...an-on-why-zola-will-succeed-with-the-hornets/

 

Here is the article linked above, C + P from the site.

By Phil Whelans
Posted: 6 July 2012
Tags: Football, Watford, West Ham
Rate This Article:

Not only does Gianfranco Zola remain loveable, he is now wiser and smarter after his struggles at Upton Park. A Hammer gives us the lowdown on the little magician...

Forza Watford! A West Ham Fan On Why Zola Will Succeed With The Hornets

On September 11 2008, Gianfranco Zola was unveiled as the twelfth manager of West Ham United. A bold imaginative choice, he couldn’t have looked more like “the future” if an alien had burst out of his chest at the press-conference.

Twenty months later, like Benjamin Button in reverse, a confused, hollow-eyed, grey haired figure shambled out of Upton Park. One could only hope that, in his bewilderment, he was unable to take in the horror of what had happened; that, in his mind, he was back in Sardinia, a child once more, doing something rural to some grapes.

So, what went wrong? After all, Franco had been part of a small group of Italians who had not only “cut it” in the English game but had thrived – to the point where Vialli was wearing a monocle, calling everyone “chaps” and hunting Ruel Fox on horseback… while Di Canio blended in culturally by tattooing himself from head to foot. They’d graced our game by adapting to it, learning it and then teaching it back to us.

Zola’s impact at West Ham was immediate. In his first home game, we beat Newcastle United 3-1, keeping the ball well and playing an adventurous 4-3-3 formation that would have had him drowned if previous boss Alan Curbishley were Witchfinder General… which maybe he is. What is he up to? There were defensive collapses, for sure, but the 2008/9 campaign saw us finish ninth, playing good football.

When Icelandic bankers bought the club in 2006, we were overjoyed. After all, Iceland’s most famous residents were Bjork and money

However, storm clouds were gathering…

When Icelandic bankers bought the club in 2006, we were overjoyed. After all, Iceland’s most famous residents were Bjork and money. The future looked bright. Only a catastrophic global financial collapse could… (some text missing)

…so we were f**ked, basically, and had to sell players to make ends meet. The club felt compelled to cash in on Matthew Etherington and Craig Bellamy – two players integral to Zola’s style of play. The latter, sold for £14m, was replaced by Savio; a German man-child who arrived deeply depressed, barely played, left and who, last year, went AWOL and was being sought by Interpol.

The Captaincy had been handed to Matthew Upson, whose towering absence in central defence was undershadowed only by his leadership. Matt had the Heart of a Lion Bar and his moth-like roar was often faintly detected by sophisticated equipment as he failed to motivate his team-mates. We’d had an excellent defender, of course, in James Collins, but had, of course, sold him. With a fatally creaky defence in front of him, Robert Green had arguably his worst season in the top flight, just in time to be called up for England.

Season 2009/10 saw us in the bottom three at Christmas and it was dawning on us that Zola was aces when things were on the up but as they began rapidly to go downhill, his little legs couldn’t reach the brake pedals.

Apparently, someone suggested Gianfranco stop taking part in training as it was demoralising the lads

As Yoda says, good footballers do not good managers make. I asked Jack Collison who the best players were that he’d worked with at Upton Park. Perhaps not exactly spoilt for choice (although he could have had Bellamy, Diamanti, Ashton…) he opted for Zola, who, at that time, was no longer a player. Apparently, someone suggested Gianfranco stop taking part in training as it was demoralising the lads. Rohan Ricketts wrote, in this very organ, that, whilst demonstrating a free-kick, Glenn Hoddle told one player “If you can’t do this then I don’t know why you’re even playing football.” Helpful, Glenn, but what if your players can’t do the things you can?

I’d argue that part of Roy Hodgson’s limited success at Euro 2012 is that, unlike Capello and Eriksson, Roy understands players who aren’t very good and adjusts his tactics accordingly. As West Ham’s season plunged deeper into the mire, Zola was like a rabbit caught in the headlights of a car driven by another rabbit. His trademark smile vanished and he took on the insensate, shell-shocked look of an audience member at “We Will Rock You.”

During this time, the club changed hands and Sullivan and Gold took control, the gloriously bonkers David Sullivan describing potential relegation in the kind of apocalyptic language that Southern Evangelists use to describe homosexuality and heaping pressure on the already floundering Zola. Franco’s inexperience and decency left him ill-equipped to front out his bosses either in the media or, one fears, behind the scenes. I don’t know much about this Pozzo guy and I’m sure he’s great but (cough) Flavio Briatore… I’m just saying.

The Hammers escaped relegation – narrowly, and for one more year – but Zola, who would doubtless have walked anyway, was fired. The Watford job will be his first after time away licking his wounds and, you know what? I think he’ll be great. After all, he spent twenty months on a learning curve so steep he needed crampons. He’s learnt lessons about working with a divided dressing room, players who are perhaps not the most gifted and about dealing with management. I’ve got a soft spot for both Gianfranco and the Hornets and I’d love to see them prosper next season. Forza Watford!

 

With a bit of luck he'll help us spot the next Tonton Moukoko.