2643 days ago
A man who deserted West Ham as a player to "go to a bigger club" in the form of Everton should never have been our manager in the first place. Last season West Ham were dire and Slaven Bilic should have been fired after we stayed up only becuase some teams were even more dire than we were. Decisions such as keeping Randolph in goal rather than Adrian cost us our normal status of mid table mediocrity. having been saying Bilic out more or less since his appointment, I am at least conistent.
3145 days ago
Slaven Bilic has had an amazing first season as manager of West Ham and if anything I warm to him after we got knocked out of the cup for simply admitting that on the day the better side won. It makes a nice change from managers blaming the ref or saying "we was robbed". But I cannot hide my disappointment, none the less. The winner of that replay had to be favourite for the cup as we entered the semi-finals and I just felt it might be "our season".
I did my bit
3924 days ago
Could it be drinks on Shareprophets Editor Ben Turney? Ben is looking good so far on a £50, 120-1 two part bet placed yesterday based on failure for Manchester United.
The bet is a two parter. First up is for Man United to get knocked out of the Champions League by Greek side Olympiacos. After the first leg in Athens the Greeks are two nil ahead. How Ben must be praying for an early Greek away goal at Old Trafford which would leave United needing to score four to win.
The second part of the bet is on David Moyes
3947 days ago
As you might have gathered, teams that gain my support on the sports field can rarely be described as consistent models of success. West Ham, Northants CC, Ireland & Ulster at rugby, Eire at football and England at Cricket. The less said about the last on that list the better – for now I have decided that supporting the England women’s cricket team is less painful.
My big loves are, for my sins, Irish rugby and West Ham. For the former I can blame my father. For the latter I have only myself to blame. But this weekend both Ireland and West Ham won. I really cannot remember the last time this happened.
At this stage of the season I usually have a conversation with God on the matter of sport. Heavenly father, will you allow West Ham to avoid relegation and as a trade-off I will give you that Ireland will not win the six nations. But would you mind terribly if we won the Triple Crown? I sense that God is not really interested in such discussions (although why he should have anything against Irish rugby is beyond me, surely he cannot support England?) and thus Ireland will probably not win the Triple Crown and as for West Ham? If the appeal against the red card shown to Horseface (Andy Carroll) on Saturday is successful – as I think it should be – we actually looked like a half decent side.
Okay we are still in the 3rd relegation spot ( 18th) but in theory just one win would put us 11t
4216 days ago
The TV and newspapers have glossed over trivialities such as the Queen’s Speech, the escalating war in Syria, the ongoing collapse of the Eurozone and whichever TV star of the 70s has been knicked for alleged kiddy fiddling this week to focus on one story alone: The Retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson as manager of Manchester United. My full and detailed thoughts:
a) Fergie is a loathsome and ungracious individual
b) Read Michael Crick’s book on various issues
c) I loathe everything that Manchester United PLC stands for these days.
d) Fergie is a champagne socialist and so beneath contempt
e) Hell’s teeth , this is a man who manages 30 Prima Donnas who kick a ball around a park for 90 minutes ( or 98 minutes if United are at home and need time to equalise) once a week. Who really gives a damn?
And that is it. Who cares?
4403 days ago
Well there is to be no more cup glory for Swindon this year. Dumped out of the FA Cup against non league Macclesfield at home two nil. One red card, three yellow cards and one of the goals was an own goal. One imagines that Paulo di Canio will have had a few words with his players and that they will not have been “cheer up, let’s all concentrate on the league and promotion now.” What a shocker.
As for West Ham a nil nil home draw against Manchester City is a bonus point. From what I have seen either side could have won and West Ham played with pride, skill and organisation. Surely this is a West Ham in a parallel universe or we have all been transported back forty years, it is all rather hard to believe. Anyhow, I am not complaining and feel that I did my bit by staying away, given how my presence seems to ensure defeat.
4449 days ago
Fourth quarter and full year results out from Manchester United (MANU) on 18th September were marginally below forecast – to miss estimates just a few weeks after your IPO is pretty poor form. Talking of pretty poor form, Manchester United are currently 2nd in the English Premier League but have looked unconvincing against some weak sides so far. At $12.58 the shares are already well down on the $14 IPO price and also on the $13.35 price at which I explained in detail why this was a sell on 27th August. But there is worse to come: my target remains $7.
4472 days ago
About once every three days, the New York Stock Exchange seems to tweet or issue a release saying how proud it is to have linked up with Manchester United (MANU), the British soccer club which gained a listing three weeks ago, raising $233 million at $14. The company claims in its prospectus lodged with the SEC July 30th to be one of the world’s “leading brands,” but is it a good investment? Without a doubt the answer is No! Perhaps it might help if I explain why, from the perspective of a British soccer fan who happens to be an investment writer as well.
Let us start with ancient history. 1968 to be precise.
4486 days ago
I explained on Friday why the Manchester United (MANU:US) IPO was, at $14, a joke. I am asked what I think that the stock is worth? I am not sure that there is any terribly scientific answer to that as there are so many imponderables/unknowns, but since most are on the downside I would happy to start with a prediction that the shares could well halve to a share price of $7.
