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APRIL 2015 BLOWING-BUBBLES.CO.UK BY FANS, FOR FANS #47

TV star Matt Lorenzo on his big plan

How Rob Green did West Ham a massive favour

Sky man in bid for Moore film

Former goalkeeper is still an Irons legend..

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Big John on that great escape, kicking out at Eyal Berkovic and

his battle with cancer

Big John on that great escape, kicking out at Eyal Berkovic and

his battle with cancer

HARTSONHARTSON

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Weve been par-ticularly blessed with the interviews weve had this season but this months chat with John Hartson ranks as one of the best weve ever had in this magazine.

You sometimes find that even after retire-ment, footballers con-tinue to tread the club line and avoid saying what they want to say but Hartson is brutally honest and his interview with Julian Shea is a pleasure to read.

He appreciated and understood why we were asking the questions we did and his answers were considered and well-

thought out - Ive seen him in a whole new light and Ive got more respect for him now.

I wish him every success in the future and well look to support his foundation as much as we can.

Turning to the rest of this months issue and weve got an excellent in-terview with sports pre-senter Matthew Lorenzo and his documentary about Bobby Moore. I was delighted to read funding for the project has been secured and its fitting that its scheduled to be released in time for the 50th anniversary of the 1966 World Cup win.

Kwame Boakye has written a fantastic piece focusing on Rob Green. It left me wondering what could have been for West Ham, Green and of course, Adrian.

Its strange to think if Green had signed a new contract, the Spanish shot stopper may have gone elsewhere.

Who would I prefer to have? I honestly dont know. As Kwame rightly points out, Green singlehandedly kept us in more games than I can remember and people shouldnt forget this when comparing the two.

David

Big John says it as he sees it and you have to admire that

The big interview - John Hartson

I played the best football of my career while at West Ham Former Hammers striker John Hartson on that great escape, kicking out at Eyal Berkovic and how cancer turned his world upside down

If life does indeed be-gin at 40, then clearly someone forgot to tell John Hartson.

The former West Ham striker celebrated his 40th birthday on April 5, having already managed to cram in more than many people do in twice that time.

Record-breaking striker, hero, villain, public enemy, father of five, cancer survivor and now charity fundrais-er Hartson has lived through it all, and has the scars (literally) to prove it.

Arsenal made him British footballs most expensive teenager when they paid Luton 2.5m for him in January 1995, and learning his craft alongside Dennis Berg-kamp and Ian Wright, it was clear the youngster from Swansea was

destined for great things. But as he told Blowing Bubbles in an exclusive interview, despite Arsene Wengers desire to keep him at Highbury, Hart-sons future lay further east than that.

Wenger had offered me a new four-year deal he wanted me to stay and learn from two of the best strikers in the world, but West Ham were really in trouble

at that time, and I had Harry Redknapp in my ear, explained Hartson.

Hes persistent, and when he wants some-thing, he goes all out to get it. Arsenal had broken a record to sign me, and then he did the same thats how much he wanted me.

When Hartson arrived at West Ham in January 1997, all hopes were pinned on him and

fellow new signing Paul Kitson to drag the team out of a serious relega-tion struggle not that Hartson was daunted by the prospect.

I was 21, and totally fearless at that age you can achieve anything you want, you think you can run through walls, he said.

Harry made Kits and I play together as much as possible in training to build an understanding and then put us straight into the first team.

Fortunately, we just clicked. We both scored on our home debuts, a 4-3 win over Spurs, and went on to produce 13 goals between us.

The way the team turned things round and managed to stay up after the position they had been in before we arrived was a miracle.

But if fans thought Hartsons first half-sea-son in claret and blue was something to get ex-cited about, they hadnt seen anything yet.

Ive got friends from back home whove been at every single match of my career, from my de-but for Luton to playing

JULIAN SHEA@juliansheasport

Impressive: John Hartson hit 24 goals in the 1997/98 season

for Celtic at Barcelona these guys have known me since I was a kid, so I can trust them more than anyone else, and they say that without a doubt, the 1997-98 season at West Ham was the best football Ive ever played, said Hartson.

I was absolutely un-playable that season I scored 24 goals, which was my best ever total in the Premier League, I finished just one behind Michael Owen for the Golden Boot, and I was only 22. West Ham fans really got to see the best of me that year.

It wasnt just Upton Park regulars who were impressed by Hartsons achievements that season.

In the build-up to the campaign where his side would go on to win the treble, Sir Alex Ferguson came close to signing the Welsh international striker for Manchester United. Not that Hartson knew anything about it, though.

I only found this out after Id retired, when I read Fergies book, he said. It was complete news to me, but that shows you how well I was playing.

Pride comes before a fall, though, and Hart-sons descent from such giddy heights to rock bottom and the exit door was as shocking as it was unpredictable.

Id have loved to stay at West Ham, he said. I was only two years into a seven-year deal and I had a fantastic rapport

with the fans, then the Berkovic incident hap-pened, and it absolutely killed me at the club.

The incident in question was a training ground bust-up with Israeli team-mate Eyal Berkovic, which culmi-nated in Hartson kicking the midfielder in the face as he knelt on the ground all of it, caught on camera.

What I did was terrible its undoubt-

edly the biggest regret of my career, and it soured everything that Id been building up at West Ham, Hartson explained.

Why I reacted as I did, I really dont know it wasnt anything personal, we got on perfectly well, he set up loads of my goals and he certainly didnt deserve anything like that.

Things just werent go-ing right that season I

wasnt moving as well or scoring as much, I was a boisterous, angry young man and something snapped.

It was horrible for everyone it brought shame on me and my family. I was told dont worry, the pictures will never see the light of day and then there it was, the lead story on the News at Ten, getting coverage all around the world. It was a real

Today: John Hartson is doing well after being told he had cancer

HARTSON33goals in 73 games for West Ham

eye-opener of an experi-ence for me.

An eye-opener and a door-shutter; inevitably after such an incident, Hartsons West Ham days were numbered.

Of all the places in the world, my last game for West Ham was an FA Cup defeat away at Swansea my home town, where I live again now, and the team I have season tickets for, he said.

Things were in a very bad way, so when Harry got the call from Wim-bledon about signing me, he must have bitten their hands off down the phone.

Two years after his arrival as a gamble signing, Hartson left West Ham again, for a record fee the tried and tested article, albeit with questions about his temperament.

Obviously how it happened is a huge regret, but I had to leave West Ham to save my career, and I think the fans could see that too, he said.

But if there was any suggestion that Hartson had blown his chance at the big time, what hap-

pened in years to come would put that right. Even if he nearly died in the process.

When Wimbledon paid West Ham a club record 7.5m for John Hartson in February 1999, just two years after he had joined the Irons from Arsenal also for a club record fee there

were sighs of relief all round.

Having been in the form of his life the pre-vious season, when he scored 24 goals, some-thing had gone badly wrong for the Welsh international striker.

His rapid slide from Golden Boot contender to being booted out was sealed by the infamous training ground clash with Eyal Berkovic.

Once outstanding, he was now an outcast, and it was with a sense of relief, mixed with regret, that he moved from east to south London.

It was great business all round when Wimble-don came in for me. This was a chance to put it

all behind me and make a fresh start. I wasnt scared I was looking forward to the challenge and couldnt wait to show I was worth all that money.

However, it proved to be a case of out of the frying pan, into the fire literally as his new Crazy Gang team-mates burnt his tracksuit on his arrival at the club, and four games into his Dons career, Joe Kinnear, the manager who had signed Hartson, suffered a heart attack.

After struggling under successors Terry Burton and Egil Olsen, in summer 2000, the Dons were relegated from the Premier League.

Shame: John Hartson led the News at 10 after kicking Eyal Berkovic in training

Big signing: Harry Redknapp brought Hartson to Upton Park

As the big-ticket item, Hartson was thrust straight into the shop window, but doubts about a knee problem saw several possible moves most famously to Rangers fall through, and he ended up having a short pay as you play stint at Coventry.

The decline of a player who had been so brilliant for West Ham just three years earlier seemed to be almost irreversible. But then fate took Hartson to Glasgow, and his career never looked back.

If his West Ham career had been a sample of what Hartson could do, Celtic was the real deal.

I was 26 when I joined them for 6m, at the peak of my career, and I had an incredible time there, said Hartson.

In five years there I scored 110 goals and won seven major trophies, including three League titles, I played with the likes of Henrik Larsson, I met my wife, and the relationship I had with the fans was something else. Everything about my time there was good.

Glasgow football is, famously, a different world, and Hartsons flir-tation with Celtics bitter rivals only added spice to his time there.

Not buying me was the biggest mistake Rangers have ever made in their history, he said. They could have signed me for 6m, but decided not to because they

werent sure about my knee. I went on to play 220 games for Celtic without ever once having an ice pack on my knee, and I scored nine times against them in 27 Old Firm games.

Rather than me, they went out and spent 12m on Tore Andre Flo from Chelsea. He lasted two seasons both of which we won the title and then they sold him for half what theyd

paid for him. Turning me down was their loss, nobody elses.

Whilst Hartson was finally fulfilling the promise he had shown at West Ham, he noticed small lumps on his testicles, but thought nothing of it.

After all, he was a successful professional athlete at the peak of his powers and fathering an ever-growing family health was not an issue.

Never a dull moment for

Wales finest * John Hartson was born on April 5, 1975, in Swansea.

* In January 1995 he joined Arsenal from Luton for 2.5 million.

* Scored in the 1995 Cup Winners Cup Final.

* Lost his place to Dennis Bergkamp and was sold to West Ham for 3.2m.

* Hartson made an instant impact in East London and helped keep the Hammers in the Premier League.

* Scored 24 goals the following season and was runner-up in the Premier League golden boot race.

* In a training ground incident in September 1998, Hartson kicked Eyal Berkovic in the face.

* Sold to Wimbledon in 1999 and went on to play for Coven-try, Celtic and West Brom.

* Retired from play-ing in 2008 and the following year was diagnosed with testic-ular cancer that had spread to the brain.

Womble: Hartson went on to play for the Dons after leaving West Ham

Or so he thought, until after he had retired, when after six years of noticing the lumps, he went to get them looked at. Two words changed everything.

Testicular cancer - and because Id left it so late to get them looked at, it had spread to my lungs and brain, he said.

All three, all at once. That was it I was a goner, this is something people just dont come back from. Not a bug or a disease three types of cancer. My wife was pregnant at the time, and when we heard, we cried like babies. This was 100% the most terrifying moment of my life.

Hartson was now about to realise the full price of having ignored the warning signs.

If only Id got them looked at earlier, things would have been so different. I could have had a testicle removed, and thatd be it.

But I didnt, and as a result of that I ended up having to undergo 67 chemotherapy sessions, eight operations and six weeks in hospital fighting for my life.

Mercifully for all concerned, Hartson recovered as much as anyone can.

The cancer I had has gone away, but I cant say Im clear clear no-one is, he explained.

Theres no logic to cancer, anyone can get it any time. It might come back in 20 years, it might never come back. You can be the most

clean-living person and cancer takes you at 50, or be a total slob and live until youre 90. Its a horrendous disease, which takes away good people every day.

Hartsons brush with death put the ups and downs of his career as a footballer in perspective, and left him a deeply changed individual, with a new goal in life to help others.

The way I look at it is, someone somewhere did me a favour to help me survive, so I have to pay it back, he said.

Im an utterly changed character from the per-son I used to be. Ive had

mansions, and Bentleys, and five-year contracts on 40,000 a week but without health, its all irrelevant. I lived to help others, and thats why we have the John Hartson Foundation.

So far, the Foundation has raised over 200,000 to help cancer-related organisations with all aspects of their work, from research to toys for hospices, and with a packed list of fundrais-ing events in the coming months, that work and those funds are only going to grow.

In the 16 years since he left West Ham, Hartson has undergone a

remarkable journey both as a footballer and as a human being.

And whilst the nature of his departure from Upton Park is still a source of sadness, time has proved to be a great healer.

I had to leave West Ham to save my career, he said. Obviously the way it happened was regrettable but I was a 23-year-old from a council estate, living the high life. You live and you learn.

Now aged 40, John Hartson has indeed learned. But far more importantly, he has lived. BBM

Happy: John Hartson says he is enjoying life at the moment

Climb with Big John

Join former Ham-mers striker John Hartson as he treks up Britains highest mountain in the beautiful Scottish Highlands.

The Bravehart challenge will see fans climb Ben Nevis the weekend of July 24-26th.

Youll be a Hartson Hero and helping to raise awareness of testicular cancer and funds to support people with cancer and their families.

Register now at www.johnhartson-foundation.co.uk

MAKE BOBBY PROUD, the BOBBY MOORE FUND and itslogo are all registered trademarks of Cancer Research UK. Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666) and the Isle of Man (1103).

Our only opposition is bowel cancer

FOOTBALLSHIRT FRIDAYGive 2 and wear your footballcolours on Friday 17th AprilFootballShirtFriday.org

TM

Lucy Woolford made some interesting points in her article When does banter cross the line and become a problem? in last months issue of Blowing Bubbles.

It is a tricky subject but she expressed both sides of the debate with great eloquence and without resorting to the kind of knee-jerk sensational-ism we often see in the national press.

Personally I think ban-ter and cruel humour is part of football and the terrace chants are one of the main attractions of going to watch live matches.

Nevertheless, it is clear that there is a line which, although we may put a toe across it from time to time, should not be crossed.

While we all may have contrasting views on

where that line is Im sure we all know in our hearts when we have gone too far.

As such I think it is about time we stopped singing the running round Tottenham song. While I can see some would find it funny and

harmless it is clearly pounced upon by a nasty minority of our support and personally I feel very uncomfortable when I hear people should out f**king Jew.

Come on West Ham, we are better than that.

Andrew Thomas

Your shout

Big Sam is not the right man

Young Jonjo is a credit to his generation I would like to congrat-ulate Jonjo Heuerman on his recent fundraising efforts.

It is very easy to knock young people today and all too often we hear from the media about teenagers getting into trouble.

But young Jonjo proves that we should not tar a whole generation with

the same brush as he is clearly growing into a kind young man who is a credit to his family.

Despite recent advanc-es in medicine, cancer still blights the lives of millions but through fund-raisers, hard work and dedication Im sure we will eventually beat it. Well done Jonjo!

Emily Gunby

It is high time we all stopped running around Tottenham Sam Allardyce has done

a decent job with West Ham over the last four years but that doesnt mean he is the right man to take us forward into the Olympic Stadium.

Yes, the club was in a mess when he arrived and I thank him for the work he has done to turn things around.

But lets not pretend he hasnt made mistakes. We had the biggest bud-get when we were in the Championship and only got up through the play-offs while last season he came very close to taking us down.

I know some people say change is a risk but look how Southamp-ton went to the next level after sacking Nigel Adkins.

Farouq Malik

I was going to write in to say that I felt Kwame Boakye was wrong when he claimed that Aaron Cresswell was good enough to get in the England team.

But then I saw that Roy Hodgson had called up Danny Rose.

If that joke of a defend-er can get in the squad then our lad certainly can. Go on Aaron, were all behind you!

Mark Fowler

Cresswell is good enough

Email: editor@blowing-bubbles.co.uk

Fair? Harry Kane has been the target of West Ham chants

JULIAN DICKSTHE TERMINATORS EXCLUSIVE COLUMN NEVER BOTTLES A CHALLENGE

The players must be told theyre not on holiday yet...

Gone wrong? Wed have taken this last August! Fans must remember to judge season as whole

Are West Hams play-ers on their holidays at the moment?

Only they can answer that but if the defeat at Leicester is anything to go by it certainly seems that way!

We should have beaten Leicester. Full stop. We should have been wiping the floor with them.

In my day, if you could see your teammates were miles away, youd tell them. Youd let them know that the season isnt over until its finished.

If people make a mistake and are being sloppy, players today just shrug their shoulders and its all oh well, nevermind but had I ever done something wrong, Alvin, Billy or Ludo would have told me in no uncertain terms I needed to buck up my ideas but you just dont see that at West Ham at the moment.

There is quite a lot of negativ-ity around West Ham at the moment and I know the fans are disappointed that results havent gone our way in recent weeks.

But, for me, West Ham were always going to finish around mid-table.

With the squad we have got we are definitely a top-half team, but I dont think you can say we should be any higher than that.

I just think, because they started off so well, people got overexcited and there was even talk of finishing a Champions League place which was never going to happen.

I think part of the problem has been the order of results. I know what its like to have a season weve

had where you start off well and then you cant seem to buy a win for love or money and its frustrating.

Im sure most of us would have taken this position and points tally at the start of the season though so it is important to keep things in perspective.

If we can finish the season with a few wins well be able to enter the summer break with our heads held high.

For that to happen we need our leading players to roll up their sleeves, dig in and take the game to the other team.

The likes of Mark Noble and Kevin Nolan need to be doing more, running that extra mile and setting an example to the rest of the boys.

Dear Sam,

Brian Williams pens his monthly letter to the gafferDear Sam,

How are things with you mate? I guess youre still trying to work out what youre going to do with yourself when you get fired by mutual consent at the end of the season.

I know youd like to find another job in foot-ball or, failing that, man-age the England side. But I fear that ship has sailed my friend. It clearly wasnt your destiny to lead this proud nation to the dizzying heights of the Euro quarter-finals.

But that doesnt mean you have to retire to your allotment in Dudley and spend more time with your vegetables. I saw you on the telly with that Clair Baldrick recently and it was obvious to me that theres a whole new line of work thats crying out for a man like you.

Get yourself your own chat show! Lets face it, there hasnt been a decent one since Parky decided there was more money to be made out of selling funerals to poor old souls who can barely remember their own name on daytime

TV. Its an area thats crying out for someone with your wit, warmth and bubbly personality. Youre a natural mate!

You could call it On The Couch With Big Sam. To be honest, Im not sure how these things work exactly. My brother-in-law reckons the host has to buy their own settee, but Im not

sure hes right about that. Still, even if he is, Im guessing youre not short of a bob or two. And these furniture shops have always got a sale on you might even get one of them to sponsor you. I can just hear the announcer introducing the first show now. And here is your host, BFS brought to you by DFS!

Youd have no problem getting guests I reckon theyd be queuing round the block to come on your show. There are all the celebrity West Ham supporters for a start I bet theyd love to have a chinwag with a man who has followed in the footsteps of legendary managers such as Ron Greenwood, John Lyall and Avram Grant.

You could start with Russell Brand. Judging by that kiss he gave you earlier in the season when we actually won games hes clearly a big fan of yours. Then theres John Cleese hes a Hammer (or at least was). Or what about Keira Knightley? I bet shed fly over from Hol-lywood to chew the fat with a West Ham icon. (Incidentally, Im sure a man of your intelligence would know this already, but chewing the fat is just an expression its not the same as chewing the gum, which is a rather unpleasant habit and doesnt come across at all well on TV.)

You dont have to stick to celebrities, of course.

Honour: The Queen would love to go on Big Sams chatshow

There are world leaders who support West Ham. Youve got Barack Obama for a start. He could give you a few tips on how he managed to get his four-year contract renewed. Ridding the world of Bin Laden, probably helped. Maybe its not too late for you. If you could arrange for the SAS to make Jose Mourinho disappear out of a helicopter over the English Channel Im sure most West Ham fans would agree to let bygones be bygones.

Best of all, the Queen is an Iron. Honest Im not joking! It was in the Daily Mirror, so it must be true. Apparently she overheard a bunch of her chinstrappers talking about Millwall and she told them she wasnt go-ing to stand for anyone using language like that in her Palace because she supports West Ham. My brother-in-law reckons the version of the story he saw said she gave them a chorus of One hates Millwall, and One hates Millwall the Royal We are Millwall haters! But I think he makes things up at times.

I realise she doesnt do a lot of chat shows, and trying to book Her Majesty for your first series might be a trifle ambitious. Still, its good to know shes West Ham Til She Dies. Which, for everyones sake, I hope isnt for many years yet. The last thing this coun-try needs is that idiot son of hers becoming

king. I think he gets it from his father. And theres no point asking Prince Phil to come on your show Sam. He sup-ports Panathinaikos.

I bet you could get some of the players to make an appearance. Did you see Carlton Cole on that question-and-an-swer show that the West Ham TV channel put out? He was on with Adrian and Stewart Downing and he was the star of the show for

my money. I bet hed have a few things to say to you if you could get him on your couch.

The great thing about TV, of course, is that one thing leads to another. Crack the chat show lark and the rest is plain sail-ing. Have a word with Pixie Lott about getting on Strictly shes a big West Ham fan.

Sos Phil Jupitas I bet he could get you on the panel game circuit: QI; Have I Got News For

You; Eight Out of Ten Cats you could hold your own on all of those.

Come to think of it, Sam, theres a TV programme thats tai-lor-made for you. Cant guess? Then let me give a clue. Just think about this seasons home games against

Tottenham, Arsenal, Chelsea and Palace. Of course. Its Pointless!

Your mate behind the goal,

Armitage Shanks

Star: Keira Knightley could pop over from Hollywood for a chat

Brian Williams criti-cally acclaimed book, Nearly Reach The Sky A Farewell To Upton Park, is available on Amazon and from the publisher, Biteback.

Out now!

Back him or sack him! Sams situation is helping nobody I dont know about you but Im getting seriously bored of letting in late goals.

The last-gasp equaliser we conceded against Stoke City was the third time since Christmas that we have lost a lead in injury time after we did the same thing against Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.

We couldve taken so many more points from these games and its our inability to see out matches that has cost us in the second half of the season.

If we had held on a lit-tle longer in those games our position would seem a lot rosier but I just cant understand why it keeps happening. The season is petering out in the most painful manner and its hard to take giv-en how well we started the campaign and the excitement there was at Upton Park during the autumn.

Its like weve thrown in the towel. Weve gone from being a team that takes the game to the opposition, bombing down both flanks and looking like were going to score every time we go forward, to one that backs off teams and invites the pressure on.

Thats just not good enough for me and I know it certainly isnt good enough for the majority of West Ham fans.

We are not in the rel-egation mix and we are not going to qualify for Europe so Id like to see Sam Allardyce sending

his players out to attack. Theres no reason why we cant just go for it.

Weve never been good at hanging on like this. Weve never been a 1-0 team. There arent many teams who can sit back, absorb the pressure and see out every game. If we were a horse, wed be off to the knackers yard!

Id like to know what is being said in the dress-ing room at the moment. Sam is such a proud man that I find it difficult to believe he is indifferent.

I know the players like him and I cant imagine theyre thinking about the beach just yet. So its confusing. I really hope we dont end up being the whipping boys of the league for the remainder of the season.

Maybe Allardyces contract situation isnt helping. Is he staying or is he going? The lack of a clear commitment is unusual.

Everyone is assuming that if the owners want-

Issue: Sam Allardyce doesnt know if he will be at West Ham next season

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ed him to stay, if they felt he is doing a good job, they would come out and say they want him to lead us into the Olympic Stadium.

The silence has been deafening while the me-dia is having a field day with all the speculation.

Perhaps it has had an impact on the players. They must surely read the papers, they must see his answers to the constant questioning about his future.

Its no coincidence Brentfords form dipped drastically once it was made clear Mark Warbuton was going and I fear the same thing is happening at our club.

As most of you know I do like Sam. I think he has done a good job for

West Ham and I think its a shame that it has come to this. The players clearly like him and as far as we know he has hit every target set for him by the board.

But the current situation means that (on the outside looking in at least) he is like a dead man walking.

Its hugely disappoint-ing to have this uncer-tainty in what promised to be an impressive season. Only David Gold and David Sullivan know why they are hesitating.

I trust they will make the right decision. Now it looks like the players, the fans (and possibly even Sam) will have to wait until May to find out where we all stand. BBM

Choice: Will David Sullivan give Big Sam a new deal?

Jarvis has run out of chances and its time we called it a dayThe winger is devoid of confidence and should be sold this summer

Matt Jarvis

As we approach the climactic stages of our penultimate season at the Boleyn Ground, most Hammers fans will be relatively happy with how things have turned out as Sam Allardyces men close in on a top half finish.

Perhaps more pleasing has been the transition into a far more appealing brand. This reshaping has unearthed several new stars, with many of the summer additions emerging as top-class players, and has allowed old faces to reach new heights.

One player, however, who has really struggled in claret and blue this term has been midfielder Matt Jarvis.

In fact, Allardyce has openly admitted that Jarvis very nearly joined QPR in January and it seems inevitable that the 28-year-old wont

be a part of West Hams closing year at Upton Park or subsequent move to the Olympic Stadium as a summer departure beckons.

The former Gillingham man arrived from Wol-verhampton Wanderers in August 2012 for a to-tal fee of 10.75 million, including add-ons to the

initial 7.5m, to become the clubs then-record signing. Unfortunately it hasnt quite worked out during his three-year stay at the Boleyn.

Theoretically, Jarvis possesses all the attrib-utes to shine in a Big Sam side. The winger has long been heralded as one of English footballs

greatest crossers and this, combined with a relatively rapid accel-eration, should have allowed him to rack up assists for the likes of Kevin Nolan, Carlton Cole and Andy Carroll.

But the once record acquisition has managed just three assists in as many seasons. Admit-tedly, his first team opportunities have been extremely limited this term as he continues to fall down the pecking order, but that return simply isnt good enough for a winger with over 70 Premier League appear-ances for the club.

Could Jarvis cite the smallest pitch of all 20 Premier League clubs, which has been the case in each of his three seasons, as a genuine excuse? Its a possible explanation.

Lets not forget the resurgent Stewart Downing also struggled for assists during his early West Ham days before rediscovering the Midas touch as part of the revamped line-up this term. Joe Cole, Jack Collison and Matt Taylor also found it equally tough going out wide

LIAM NEWMAN@ThatLiamNewman

Hopes: Matt Jarvis was signed to get the best out of Andy Carroll

during their West Ham days under Allardyce.

On the other hand, left-back Aaron Cress-well has managed four assists in his debut Pre-mier League campaign, which does rather un-dermine arguments that spatial congestions are the sole reason for Jarvis continued struggle.

Some would suggest that Jarvis has been rather unlucky in the capital, not least during his debut season. The midfielder created a Premier League high 46 goalscoring opportu-nities during that cam-paign but didnt claim a single assist those failings cannot be solely his fault. But whilst the blame for that particular disappointment must be shared, it shouldnt detract from his own poor record.

Jarvis ended his first season having been involved in just two of West Hams 45 goals. The second season stats werent much better as the winger produced two goals and three assists, whilst his number of crosses dropped by over a third from 213 to 137. The owners, manager, and fans had hoped for so much more from the 10m man.

A thigh injury scup-pered progress during the early stages of what was always going to be an immensely important campaign for the No.7s Hammers career, but the middle third presented a fantastic chance to work his way back in.

Unfortunately, he hasnt done nearly enough to merit a regular role and, in brutal honesty, cuts a subdued figure who already accepts his fate. If the fight has left Jarvis, then perhaps it is best he leave soon for his own future as well as the clubs.

Since arriving in 2012, Jarvis has never managed to replicate the form that earned

an England cap against Ghana less than one year earlier and the player has faded into the shadows at Upton Park. The prospect of forcing his way back into Allard-yces plans over the final weeks of the campaign look slim to say the least and, assuming he does exit this summer, will reflect on his time in the capital with a degree of disdain.

In another life, Jarvis could have set the Premier League on fire at West Ham but it has been a case of unfulfilled potential for the winger.

Jarvis still has some years left in the game and there is no reason he cant go on to reinvent himself elsewhere. As far as West Ham are concerned, his imminent departure will hardly be noticed. BBM

Struggle: Matt Jarvis has failed to make an impact at Upton Park

3assists for West Ham since 2012JARVIS

*** To donate 3 today simply text BBFB66 3 to 70070 ***

Celebrities join campaign in honour of West Hams finest Bobby Moore Fund campaign kicks off as TV stars come to the party

Blowing Bubbles campaign

Internationally ac-claimed writer Irvine Welsh, new Hollyoaks actress Danniella West-brook and TV presenter Matthew Wright have all backed our campaign to raise money for the Bob-by Moore Fund and have vowed to blow some bubbles in memory of the footballing legend.

The campaign has grown steadily in its first month with model Nikki Lee, West Ham Ladies captain Stacey Little, KUMB podcasters Chris Scull and James Longman, West Hams Academy and Ladies reporter Tommy Wathen and serial charity fund-raiser Jonjo Heuerman all showing their support

for the campaign by blowing bubbles for Bobby.

Other supporters have blown their bubbles from the peak of a mountain in the Alps,

by the River Hudson in New York, on a bridge over the M25, and in a greenhouse - setting the bar high for others to follow. All these videos can be viewed at

www.blowing-bubbles.co.uk/blowing-bub-bles-for-bobby-videos

Ive been delighted with the response to our fundraising campaign so far, editor David Black-more said.

You can never be sure how these campaigns are going to be received but early indications have been that people love the idea with many parents saying its the ice bucket challenge for kids.

To have received messages of support from Irvine, Danniella and Matthew is fantastic. How they heard about the campaign I dont yet know but its amazing that they have.

Equally it has been

Famous: Danniella Westbrook has lent her support

great to have had such tremendous support from the Nikki Lee, Stac-ey, Chris, James, Tommy and Jonjo. I know there are other websites who are keen to get behind this campaign.

The challenge now is to ensure this campaign keeps growing and social media is going to be vital to ensuring we build momentum. Not been nominated yet? Who cares?! Why not start your own trail and fur-ther help raise money for the Bobby Moore Fund. Every penny counts.

He added: The Bobby Moore Fund does incredible work and as Stephanie Moore pointed out to me recently, its absolutely key that the Fund has the continuing support

of loyal West Ham fans. There has been so much weve done as a collective already and I know Stephanie and the rest of the Bobby Moore Fund team is eternally grateful

for this but by taking the plunge and starting your own Blowing Bubbles for Bobby trail we can help change the lives of other people, and bring about an end to cancer. BBM

How you can get involved

and help fight cancer

Blowing Bubbles have nominated all our readers to get behind our campaign and blow some bubbles in memory of West Ham and England legend Bobby Moore.

Its easy to get in-volved; Film yourself blowing bubbles wherever you like (the more imaginative the better!), nominate five friends and upload the video onto Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and all your other social media platforms. Then text BBFB66 3 to 70070.

But what do I have to say? This is what were suggesting: Thank you for the nomination (name). I would like to show my support for the Bobby Moore Fund by blowing bubbles for Bobby. *Blow bubbles*. Id like to nominate (five peo-ple). Please remember to donate by texting BBFB66 3 to 70070. Together we will beat cancer.

If you have a You-Tube account, upload your video and send the embed code to editor@blowing-bub-bles.co.uk. Wed love to put your video on our dedicated page.

On board: Author Irvine Welsh and TV presenter Matthew Wright (inset) have both got involved

FROZEN IN TIMETUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015: West Ham players Diafra Sakho, Winston Reid and Mark Noble pose outside the Olympic Stadium. The Hammers will move into their new home in time for the 2016/17 season.

It is no exaggeration to say his performance at the Emirates went a great way to keeping us up that year and over the next few campaigns he established himself as a cult hero as well as, briefly, Englands number one.

He couldnt do anything to keep us up

in 2010-11, however, as Avram Grants sole cam-paign in charge ended up with relegation to the Championship - but he stood by us and again impressed in the play-off final victory over Black-pool 12 months later.

After promotion back to the Premier League was secured it looked

as though Green would sign a new deal and prolong what had been an eventful six years in East London.

But instead he decided to spurn a new contract and make the short jour-ney to Mark Hughess QPR.

His switch to Loftus Road didnt make a whole lot of sense from a footballing point of view at the time, but money talks and Green walked.

With hindsight, was it the right decision for his career?

Ignoring the money youd have to say not.

Not only did he wind up on the bench whilst Julio Cesar became QPRs number one, but his new employers were sent back to the Champi-onship whilst West Ham finished the season in a very respectable 10th spot.

You have to won-der what would have happened had Green not cashed out and joined QPR.

Its hard to know for sure but I highly doubt West Ham would have gone out and signed Adrian two years ago.

Not only has Adrian

Why Robert now knows the grass isnt always greener Would this former Hammers hero turn back the clock if he could?

Robert Green

Hero: West Ham may never have signed Adrian if Robert Green has stayed in 2012

Its funny how things work out, isnt it? Im sure that seeing

Robert Green once more grace the national teams bench against Italy made all us West Ham fans wistfully look back to the days when, season in season out, he single-handedly kept us in games.

My favourite Green memory would probably be our historic 1-0 win at Arsenal in our Great Escape season.

We shouldve lost that game 10-1 because we were battered from the first minute to the last, but Greeno put in one of the most outstanding goalkeeping perfor-mances the league has ever witnessed.

That day he was almost unbeatable as he dived this way and that to keep out Arsenals plethora of superstars and secure a vital victory.

KWAME BOAKYE@KwamsMoriarty

West Ham could play in Europe next

seasonWest Ham could be gifted a back door into next seasons Europa League.

The Hammers are currently top of the Premier Leagues Fair Play table which awards points for discipline, positive play, respect towards opponents and the referee, plus behav-iour of team officials and spectators.

UEFA give three places in the Europa League for the coun-tries with the best Fair Play record and England are in the top three meaning as things stand West Ham would win a qualifying spot.

The huge downside, however, is that we will have to play our first qualifying round tie on July 2. This would mean the players having a close season of just one month the minimum allowed before returning to training 11 days before the first tie.

Fulham competed in the Europe after being awarded a place through winning the Fair Play League in 2011/12. They played a total of 55 matches that season.

Back: Former Iron Robert Green will return to Upton Park with QPR this month

enjoyed an even better rapport with the fans than Green ever man-aged, which is saying something as Green was incredibly popular in his own right, but being seven years his junior the club managed to nab a keeper whos in the prime of his career.

In my view Adrian has proven himself every bit as good as his predeces-sor, if not better.

Looking back you cant blame Green for believing the grass was greener elsewhere. Hes

a professional and has to look out for himself.

He wasnt a fan so simply didnt possess the emotional attachment that we do - and who amongst us wouldnt ditch our current employers for a better financial package else-where?

Perhaps if any lessons can be learned from this saga its that a key player leaving isnt terminal for a club as in the long term you can wind up in an even stronger position.

Even though we all

loved Greeno would we trade any of his wonder saves and match-win-ning performances for Adrians winning penalty against Everton? I think not.

As for Green, if he had the choice all over again would he have put his career ahead of his wallet and signed the deal on offer with West Ham?

I think he would have to admit so but whilst he may harbour one or two regrets about how things panned out, the club certainly doesnt. BBM

How Diafra Sakho is the best value striker in the top flightThe Hammers hitman costs less per goal than Costa, Benteke or Pelle

Diafra Sakho

Diego Costa may be the Premier Leagues joint top goalscorer with 19 goals so far this season, but Diafra Sakhos goals tally proves to be better value for money.

Costa, who was a Champions League runner-up last season, joined Chelsea from Atletico Madrid in a deal worth 32m, while Sakho was not known to anyone in the Premier League. The striker joined the Hammers for an undisclosed fee believed to be around 3m and he has found the net on 10 occasions so far this season.

That is a better return than Graziano Pelle, Christian Benteke and Romelu Lukaku, who all joined their respective clubs for substantial fees. Sakho is also level on the scoring charts with Robin van Persie and

Wilfried Bony, who only three months ago joined Manchester City for an initial 25m.

Saido Berahino and Harry Kane are the only two players in the top flight who have scored more goals than Sakho and have cost less. But that is because Berahino and Kane both came

through the ranks at West Bromwich Albion and Tottenham Hotspur respectively so they didnt cost their clubs a penny.

Meanwhile, Char-lie Austin and Papiss Cisse are the only other strikers who have scored more goals than Sakho who are not playing for

a team currently in the top four.

But Sakho has made less starts this season than Kane, Austin, Wayne Rooney, Berahi-no, Sergio Agero and Costa and the Hammers forward averages nearly a goal a game, with 10 goals in 22 Premier League appearances.

Other than Costa, Sak-ho is also the only player in the Premier Leagues top 10 goalscorers that are involved in their first ever campaign in English football, and so that makes the statistics all the more impressive.

The Senegalese inter-national has been an integral part of Sam Al-lardyces side this season, and he has been heavily involved in most of the Hammers attacking moves this season.

He does not only score goals either. He has cre-ated numerous chances for the likes of Enner Va-lencia, Stewart Downing and Kevin Nolan, and he also claimed two assists in his maiden Premier League season.

Ahead of our game against Stoke, Sakho had 65 shots on goal this season, meaning that he finds the back of the net

DANNY RUST@Danny_Rust10

Irons: Diafra Sakhos goal celebration is a hit with the fans

every 6.5 shots. Thats a better conversion rate than Agero (6.8) and Queens Park Rangers Austin (6.7), who was linked with a call-up to the England internation-al team last month. So, it is clear that Sakho has had a fruitful season.

Finally, Sakho also holds the re-cord for the most goals in consecutive games this season.

In scoring against the current Premier League champions Manchester City in October, Sakho found the back of the net for the sixth game in a row.

He became the first West Ham player ever to do this since the estab-

lishment of the Premier League in 1992, and he also matched Mickey Quinns Premier League record.

No other striker has done the same this

season and so the Hammers no.15 holds

the longest goalscoring streak this

season. He also became

the first Hammer to score in his first four

starts for the club, when he nodded home in the defeat to Manchester United earlier this season.

One thing is for sure: Allardyce certainly got value for money and Sakho is likely to put a chance away if presented to him. BBM

Star: Chelsea paid Atletico Madrid more than 30m to sign striker Diego Costa

10league goals this seasonSAKHO

Premier League relegation

West Ham can have a big say in who stays up this season The Irons are safe but still have to play several of those struggling

LUCY WOOLFORD@lucy_whufc

The countdown is on. The end of the season is closing in on us, and West Ham are looking nice and comfy. We could get used to this.

The pressures off, which is unfortunately

when our lads in claret and blue cant quite get their heads together perhaps their minds are already in that Car-ibbean beach hut, mojito in hand.

But wait, theres fun to be had in the coming weeks. Our fixtures have been sneakily cruel to clubs battling against the drop, and the coming weeks see us face QPR, Burnley, and Aston Villa.

But having already given Leicester the lift they so needed, can West Ham play havoc with the bottom three, or

are we just going to roll over and let seemingly doomed teams take an invaluable three points?

Lets take the side that would be deemed too big to go down. As we well know, thats a load of nonsense. Aston Villa are in as much doo-doo as anyone and headless-chicken mode is bound to set in soon. Unless of course, they can show the character that West Ham have proved to have over the years, and step up when it really matters.

West Ham face Villa

on May 9th, with just two games remaining af-ter that to seal their fate. Tim Sherwood makes all the right noises, but nails could be very short by the time Villa face Burnley on the last day of the season. You could throw all the six-pointer clichs in the world at that fixture!

In the two games ahead of the clash at Villa Park, the Hammers welcome Burnley to Upton Park, but first pay a visit to Loftus Road to face QPR, a side whose results are as hard to

Crying shame: Get ready to see lots of upset fans on the final day of the season

Could this really be the bottom five?Leicester, 16thThe Foxes will finish strong and show their character. Who knows, they might even stamp on QPR on the last day of the season.

Aston Villa, 17th Will finish with a whimper, but just about enough to see them through. The last day of the season against Burnley will be a test of character.

Hull, 18th With Arsenal, Spurs and Man Utd still to play, Hull will find it tough. Theyll give it a good go, but I dont think itll be good enough. Big game against Burnley on May 9th though.

Burnley, 19th Burnley have a tricky away schedule and their trip to Upton Park might prove crucial. Itll be a close call, but I cant see them making any gains.

QPR, 20th Dangerous games both home and away, and a finish against Leicester that could prove to be a decider for more than those two clubs.

forecast as the great British weather.

What may swing in favour of our boys on that weekend is the recent dyer home form of the Hoops. What will certainly be of benefit to QPR, however, is their nice two-week break-in-play beforehand, thanks to Aston Villas surprise run in the FA Cup pushing forward that particular fixture.

What more can I say both West Ham and QPR seem to lack consistency, so who knows where this one is heading? But if West Ham can inflict some damage on a poor home side, Rangers have some difficult teams to play, namely Chelsea, Liverpool and Man City. Its no exaggeration to say that defeat to West Ham will leave QPR fans quaking.

Sandwiched in between those games, we welcome Burnley to Upton Park. Their sea-son has been spent pre-cariously situated in the bottom half of the table. Their run-in for the final few weeks sees them facing many of the sides around them, which is a fate worse than facing sides with either nothing to play for or heading for glory at the opposite end of the league.

Im going to put my neck on the line and say that if West Ham can gain a win, albeit an unimportant one for us, Burnley are going to struggle to keep afloat. But if Burnley can gain

three points, then who knows what momentum they will carry into the final games.

Momentum is a huge boost in football and, at the time of writing, it seems that Leicester are finding a bit of form. Af-ter convincingly beating West Ham, their season could take a positive swerve, and those three points could have been the lift their players needed. Shame it was ours that had to hand it to them!

With all this in mind, I predicted the outcome of the lower end of this seasons Premier League. I stuck on the rose-tinted

specs for this one, and Im going to hope that West Hams season isnt as done and dusted as it already seems. Id like to think we can challenge the teams at the bottom, and not just give each one an easy win.

Should West Ham win upcoming fixtures against relegation can-didates, there could be considerable shake-up in the bottom five. My predictions are, optimis-tically, based upon West Ham winning against teams they should be winning against, albeit by a slight margin.

What could possibly go wrong? BBM

Mission impossible? Can Tim Sherwood keep Aston Villa in the Premier League?

Is Song worth 15m or should West Ham play another tune?The Barcelona midfielder has had a mixed campaign at Upton Park

Alex Song

When Alex Song strode onto the Upton Park pitch before the match against Southampton last Au-gust, many fans would be forgiven for rubbing their eyes in disbelief.

What was a current

Barcelona midfielder and former Arsenal prodigy doing in East London? Had he pulled a Robinho and signed for the wrong club?

It turned out that, in fact, the Cameroonian wizard had put pen to paper on a season-long loan deal at the Boleyn. He seemed excited maybe even as much as the claret and blue was to be pulling on the jersey, sold by Sam Allardyces enthusiasm and apparent project, i.e. the move to the

Olympic Stadium. Song was promised the opportunity to make a mark on a club once again, following a not so successful stint at the Camp Nou.

After all, Barca isnt the easiest club in the world to carve out a living as a midfielder when your competition is Andres Iniesta, Xavi Hernandez and Sergio Busquets.

Opinions on Song have been mixed (with the traditional brand of Hammers pessimism thrown in, of course)

but early on in the season he provided a different edge to West Hams game. Teams were coming to us with hopes of dominating, but were thwarted by physicality and incisive passing.

A decent run of form included wins against Liverpool and Manchester City, with a defence-splitter of a pass from Song proving the undoing of City. That win left us in fourth place after nine games, encouraging what unfortunately turned out

@MattSanterMATT SANTER

Staying? Alex Songs loan deal from Barcelona is up at the end of the season

to be premature talk of European qualification on the lips of supporters.

But would Song be worth a longer-term in-vestment by West Ham? Has the 3million loan fee been value for money and what would he cost the club going forward?

Lets first look at the yes pile. It goes without saying that the big man brings with him the reputation of a cast-iron midfield maestro - on his good days, at least. He oozes raw quality on the ball and can pick out those unseen, killer passes at will.

He did it at Arsenal and seems to still possess that natural eye for carv-ing open defences. With the likes of Diafra Sakho and Enner Valencia now offering some movement in the box, this type of movement can be the difference between one point and three.

His footballing maturi-ty is deceptive, as Song is still only 27 years old. He has been at the top for so long that it is easy to forget that he potentially has a good five to six years or more left in the game, with potentially

his best and most settled football ahead of him.

Looking at his buyout clause of 63million, he would obviously be out of reach for a club of West Hams size, but the more realistic transfer figure of 15m that has been mentioned seems a bit easier to swallow. A reported salary of 140,000 per-week is about the going rate for

a flagship player in the Premier League these days, so it might be a necessity for the owners to cough it up.

A big problem for West Ham has almost always been the amount of inju-ries suffered by our key players. To-date, Song has all but avoided long lay-offs due to injury, featuring in 24 of our 31 leagues games so far this season. Despite a few shaky performances, he has also delivered well.

It must also be a con-sideration for Gold and Sullivan that the club is moving into a period of transition, in which it cannot afford to fall short on the pitch.

A weak season in the run up to the Olympic Stadium move would be

devastating, with a good proportion of the fans still not convinced that it is for the best. World-class players are a must for the squad and we also have to attract more. Maybe Song can be the catalyst for additional marquee signings?

Although 15m might not seem a huge amount of money in todays hyper-inflated transfer market, it is nevertheless a substantial amount that might be better spent on younger players across the park.

Three players in all positions, as opposed to one ageing midfielder, might seem a more pro-ductive use of the clubs cash. Strength in depth will be vital in the final season at the Boleyn

Subbed: Sam Allardyce took Song off against Stoke City

Talent: Arsene Wenger spotted Songs ability

To promote your business to more than 25,000 West Ham fans every month email

advertising@blowing-bubbles.co.uk

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Ground if a strong run is to be achieved. There is a danger of being left short because of a misguided player purchase, a prob-lem that has plagued us before now.

Song has so far cost West Ham around 100,000 per appearance in all competitions, plus his weekly wages. For that kind of money you might expect a more definite return on invest-ment, even at the biggest clubs in the world. To spend this for another three or four years might equate to somewhat of a financial gamble.

If the club is to achieve its aim of European football in Stratford over the next decade, the question might be

whether signing a player like Song would be a good place to start. Is he a player worthy of build-ing a side around? Is he the midfield dynamo that we require to play off of Mark Noble, and under which our young-er players can develop?

On the evidence thus far, Song could well be worth shelling out for. But the price tag might be a tad excessive.

It is the same fee that was paid to Arsenal for him at the age of 24. If it was negotiable and goodness knows that FC Barcelona dont need the money then for the sake of progress and intent, he might just be a gamble worth taking. BBM

Big picture: Who would get the best out of Mark Noble?

Whether he liked it or not, Bobby was an icon of his ageJulian Shea talks to Matthew Lorenzo about his Bobby Moore film plans

Matthew Lorenzo

Never meet your he-roes, they say. But if you are sports presenter Matthew Lorenzo, grow-ing up, you had little say in the matter.

My father Peter was ITVs main football commentator, and at the end of the season, hed say thats it, footballs over, lets go away now as a family but mysteri-ously we always used to end up on holiday at the same places as the likes of Bobby Moore - thats how I grew up, Lorenzo told Blowing Bubbles.

It is that unparalleled insight and closeness to the story that has inspired Lorenzo Jr to make an upcoming documentary about the biggest West Ham and England hero of them all. Funding for the as-yet untitled Bobby Moore film, scheduled for release in time for the 50th anniversary of the 1966 World Cup win, has already been secured.

With the Football As-sociation, Bobby Moore Cancer Fund and both Moores wives Tina and Stephanie involved with the project, it is shaping up to be the definitive

story of arguably one of the best known but also least known characters of modern English history.

Because its about Bobby, theres so much good feeling behind the project nobody has said no, Lorenzo explained. Pele did an interview for free in the first week after we got the money secured, and weve already got David Beckham in the

bag too. There have been attempts to tell the story before there was a 2002 documentary called Hero, which was ok as far as it went, and a dra-ma documentary which wasnt great, so theres a gap in the market, and Im in a good position to portray it properly.

Despite being one of the most famous people in the world, Moore was famously an extremely private person his first

bout with cancer, before the 1966 World Cup, was hushed up for years so Lorenzo said the film would shed new light on a hugely familiar figure.

Weve found up a lot of detail that people dont know, which will make them think of him as even more of a hero, he said. Bobby kept a lot of things close to his chest, but when people find out what he was hiding, and why, theyll think even better of him. There are depths we have to explain.

Having been sidelined by the football estab-lishment in shocking fashion, Moore died from bowel cancer in 1993, aged just 52, in the early days of the Premier League, just as the game was about to be rebrand-ed and reinvented as the all-singing, all-dancing form of the entertain-ment industry that it is today.

Now, seemingly any ex-footballer is showered with honours and attention. But Lorenzo is not sure that the greatest player England has ever produced would necessarily have received his fair share. Id like

to think so Pele and Franz Beckenbauer have certainly had it, and Beckham is everything Bobby should have been in terms of respect - but I dont know if Bobby would have got it, he said. The treatment he received by the football-ing establishment was shameful. He never had a proper management post and when he wrote applying for the England job, he didnt even get a reply. Maybe its like JFK dying young, we always have the memory and image of a young man. Well never know what could have happened.

Beyond the obvious market of West Ham and England football fans, Lorenzo hopes the film will have wider appeal as it shows Moores social significance in a chang-ing Britain.

He went from being West Hams, to Englands, to the worlds footballer, and then found himself at the heart of a social revolu-tion as Britain came out of the monochrome 50s into the multi-coloured swinging 60s, Lorenzo explained. He was as

much a part of it as Ter-ence Stamp or Michael Caine, both of whom were hoping to speak to. Whether he liked it or not, he was an icon for an age.

Aside from football, Lorenzos other great professional passion is motorsport, so his main inspiration in terms of making the film is no great surprise. Senna is the benchmark in terms of documentary-making - without any reserva-

tion, thats the template were looking at, he said.

Our film will be about 70 per cent archive and 30 per cent new material. Its not cheap, but our archivist Richard Wiseman is very good and has already found footage of a disallowed goal Bobby scored in the World Cup final which the tv cameras didnt pick up, so its worth paying for.

The film will be direct-ed by Ron Scalpello another West Ham fan - there seems to be some theme developing here, but theres a lot of us in the media as despite his own television back-ground, Lorenzo said the big screen treatment demanded something more.

I can hack my way around something for tv, but cinema is some-

thing different, and Im sure Ron will produce something revelatory, he said.

With finance in place and a production company set up, Lorenzo is looking forward to getting the project underway.

One of the things well look at is all the ambas-sadorial things Bobby never got; when you look at David Beckham, hes been managed in exactly the way Bobby should have been, said Lorenzo. In fact when we spoke to him, the whole way through his interview, David kept referring him to as Sir Bobby. Apparently that can only be done posthumously if youre in the military. But this is Bobby Moore were talking about. We must help get that put right. BBM

On the box: Matthew Lorenzo is best known for his work at Sky Sports

Friends: Peter Lorenzo knew Bobby Moore

Supporters club of the month

#3: Hammer-Hearts (Germany)BBM: When, how and why was group founded?Dennis Mller: The for-mer German Hammer Hearts, renamed two years ago as Hammer Hearts United, were founded in 2008 by Pascal Becker.

Before this group started, there were small fan groups of West Ham in several parts of Germany.

The idea behind this joint venture of German Hammers was to build up a community where everyone can come to-gether and discuss, enjoy and love the way of the home of the academy of football.

Some of us, the older ones, attended their first games in the 70s and early 80s. That we are not gloryhunters is clear!

Most of us are from the working class, so we love the history of West Ham and the way of the

definition of football they developed as a part of the famous academy of football which is a trademark in our eyes.

How many members in your group today? We think that we have now up to 60 peolpe

who are commited to the hearts, they come from all over Germany. We travel together and help each other.

We dont want to be the biggest supporters club outside the UK, we just all want to be around other guys who love this club as much as we do. Where do you watch games?We try to watch the games in London, thats the best one for sure.

But the fact that the members are coming from every part of Ger-many makes it difficult

to find a bar/pub where you can watch it on the TV with a lot of others of the group.

German pay TV also focuses on the top five so we dont often feature either and often have to rely on the internet. How many times do members travel to games? We travel as much as we can to Upton Park. When you look back to the last years, we can say that almost every match-day, someone who is in touch with our club has been there to support the Hammers in the

Promotion joy: Some of the group at Wembley

Together The fans pose for a photo during a trip to England

www.oakhamales.com Tel 01733 370500

stadium. We are West Hams Claret Blue Army and Over Land and Sea are chants with which we can identify with 100 per cent.

We also travel to away games. Even when we were relegated to the Championship we took people to places like Bristol, Peterborough, Cardiff and Burnley and much more.

As a group we try to go together to the matches 2-3 times a season. But individually a lot more.

How can you be con-tacted? Our website address is hammer-hearts.de and, while we are not on Twitter, you can find us on Facebook under Hammer-Hearts. BBM

Loyal: The West Ham flag flies proudly in Germany

West Ham Ladies

Sherwood keen for West Ham to finish the season in style Emma upbeat as the Irons plot to disrupt Cardiffs title ambitions West Ham Ladies forward Emma Sherwood says the Ham-mers are enjoying their tough run-in to the end of the season.

The Ladies beat title contenders Cardiff City 2-1 at the start of the month and secured a hard-fought draw against in-form Charlton Athletic on April 7 and the 21-year-old believes the performances, atti-tude and passion shown in these games will help them in their upcoming games against Brighton, Portsmouth and Lewes.

The Hammers are also gearing up to play in a London FA Capital Womens Cup Final against Charlton at Harrow Borough FCs Earlsmead Stadium on Wednesday 6 May. Kick off 7.30pm.

I feel like we all, as a team, turned a corner in the Cardiff game and we showed that we can compete against the top teams in the league, the former Millwall Lionesses and Chelsea player said. Ive always believed we can compete against those at the top but walking off the pitch after the Cardiff game,

I felt we proved we can.We couldve scored a lot more in that game to be honest and we followed up that performance and result with a draw and another positive performance against a Charlton side who are doing really well at the moment. Theyve not

lost a game in ages but we couldve come away with all three points with all the chances we created.

There is a belief in the squad at the moment that we can beat anyone in the league and I think if we can carry this momentum into next

season, we will be up there competing at the top next season for sure.

The forward is enjoying a decent goal scoring run of late notching up six goals in the Ladies nine games before their 0-0 draw against Charlton and is hoping her form in front of goal continues for the remainder of the season.

The only reason I didnt score against Charlton was because I played in centre midfield as we had quite a few in-juries heading into that game, Sherwood contin-ued. My aim at the start of the season was to be our top goal scorer and Im not too far off that but missing seven games in the middle of the season hasnt helped.

Ive not focused too much on the scoring run Ive been on, Ive just taken each game as it comes but scoring goals always builds confidence and I believe that if Im playing up front, Ill score goals hopefully Ill score the winner in the cup final against Charlton.

Thats the game were all playing for now itll be our most important

Confident: Emma Sherwood hopes the Ladies can go out in style

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game of the season and everyone wants to make sure they are in that starting XI. Itll be a great way for us to end the season, its going to be a great game and I know there will be a lot of supporters there to cheer us on.

She added: Ive really enjoyed my first season at West Ham. Its been quite up and down this season with different things going on but weve enjoyed more highs than lows, which is a positive.

Things are definitely looking up for us as a club. Weve got a brilliant manager and with the squad weve got at the moment, I honestly think we are making good progress. BBM

Gaffer: Julian Dicks has managed the Ladies team this year

Its the final countdown!West Ham United will play Char-lton Athletic in the London FA Capital Womens Cup Final.

The game will be played at

Harrow Borough FCs Earlsmead Stadium on Wednesday 6 May.

Kick off is 7.30pm and all sup-port is welcome.

Eight Big Sam quotes that will make you want him to stay on

The last word

Allardyce is a man of few words - but what wonderful words they are

It seems that barely a day goes by without another story in the paper suggesting Sam Allardyce will leave West Ham at the end of the season.

Now, The Last Word has always been a big fan of the former Bolton Wanderers boss and would like nothing more than for him to sign a new deal at Upton Park.

Yes, the football might be crap, and sure, the results have been rubbish since Christmas, but what does any of that matter?

Big Sam is clearly one of the top ten managers in the world, and has the contract to prove it.

So to help our Gaffer seal his extension weve dipped in to the Blowing Bubbles archives to find his top eight quotes that prove why he is just the man to take West Ham into the Olympic Stadium...

His ambition: Im not suited to Bolton or Blackburn, I would be more suited to Interna-zionale or Real Madrid. It wouldnt be a problem for me to go and manage

those clubs because I would win the double or the league every time.

His modesty: It rankles with me at times that I have to remind people what I have done. You have to accept it for what it is. If you start talking

about it too much, you just get labelled big-headed, people go Hes blowing his own trumpet again, whats he on about this time? but if no one else is going to talk about it, you have to talk about it. You have to fight your own corner.

His positivity: We are going to need a double-decker in front of our goal rather than the team coach!

His realism: I wont ever be going to a top-four club because Im not called Allardici, just Allardyce.

His tactical strength: All this tippy-tappy stuff being the right way to play football is a load of bollocks.

His sportsmanship: I dont give a sh*te to be honest. He cant take it because weve out-tac-ticed him, out-witted him. He just cant cope.

His sophistication: I dont think there is any coach more sophis-ticated than me any more, thats not trying to criticise any of the other coaches. But there is only Arsene Wenger who has done it longer than me. Im just as good as everybody at this stage.

His vocabulary: Chico Flores is over-exaggerat-ing BBM

Never miss a kick...

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