Clear and present danger

Much as we can delight in Fat Sam getting slapped with a 6-0 thrashing only days after losing 5-0 to a Championship side in the FA Cup, it's rather ominous that the side allowed to sharpen their claws and rack up the goals in last night's League Cup tie were Man City, our visitors to St James' on Sunday...

Squeaky bum time for Fat Sam

Just as the heat is on in the race for European places, so is the battle for a place back in the Premier League, and an enthralling Championship game on Monday evening saw two former Toon managers pitting their wits against each other. Fat Sam's West Ham trailed 3-1 to Chris Hughton's Birmingham before fighting their way back to a 3-3 draw. Some consolation, but Reading's victory at Brighton last night means Fat Sam's expensively assembled outfit are six points adrift of an automatic promotion spot. Needless to say, we're wishing one of the two bosses well - and are amused at the disgruntlement of Hammers fans complaining about the team's current brand of (non-)football...

Meanwhile, down in League 1 the Lone Ranger has become the Loan Ranger, promotion-chasing Sheffield Wednesday the club mad enough to temporarily take him off our hands. Since arriving at Hillsborough in late March, he's made four appearances, all of which have ended in Wednesday victories, and actually scored in the 2-0 win at Lee-Clark-less Huddersfield. Let's hope he's determined to put himself in the shop window and not just cause havoc elsewhere - the sooner we're rid of him the better.

North of the border, the formalities of Celtic's SPL title win were completed with a 6-0 rout of Kilmarnock. Fraser Forster kept another clean sheet, and the papers are once again reporting that the Bhoys are intent on stepping up efforts to sign him permanently.

And finally on our round-up of goings-on beyond St James' Park, Rocky scored an injury-time winner as ten-man Liverpool beat Blackburn 3-2. Well done, Bigger Lad - you now have as many league goals for the Scousers in over a year as midfielder HBA has for us, despite the latter having a year out injured...

View From The Away End: A West Ham fan's perspective

Given that the summer has seen us exchange Demba Ba for Kevin Nolan and Fat Sam take up the reins at Upton Park, we thought we'd ask long-suffering Hammers fan Kenny for his take on events.

In recent years the fates of the two Uniteds that count (ie West Ham and Newcastle) have been fairly closely linked. With the Hammers' descent into the Championship that might have changed this summer, but transfer dealings and/or personnel switches between the two sides have conspired to create a curious synergy.

In the immediate aftermath of Avram Grant's departure the front-runner to be his successor was former Toon boss Chris Hughton, who briefly played for the Irons and had a track record of transforming an underachieving team into runaway leaders of the Championship and getting promotion back to the "promised land" of the Premiership at the first time of asking. His apparently meek demeanour towards his board at Newcastle would also have pointed to this being a good bet given Gold/Sullivan/Brady's seeming control-freakery.

And yet in the end the availability of another ex-Toon supremo Fat Sam Allardyce proved too big a temptation to resist. It wasn't the most popular decision initially amongst Hammers fans many of whom still cling to a notion of Upton Park being a theatre for a particular passing game never really associated with Allardyce's teams. But his pulling power in terms of bringing in Toon captain Kevin Nolan as a readymade replacement for the outgoing Scotty Parker, with the added value of better end product (ie goals season on season) and recent proven ability in our new division, will buy him time with the Boleyn Ground faithful.

Heading in the other direction, of course, is Demba Ba, who had a release clause in his contract in case of relegation, along with Thomas Hitzlsperger (the latter seemingly Villa-rebound). Ba proved he can score at Premier League level (seven goals since his transfer window arrival) but was only truly effective when playing upfront and centre, often drifting out of games when playing just off Carlton Cole. Played as a traditional Toon No.9 he will get you plenty of goals and no doubt become a cult hero, but of course WHUFC still got relegated with his goals on board, so a bit of a warning there about building your team around him alone. But on the whole I'm happier he's going to Newcastle than the usual vultures like Spurs and Everton, or teams local to myself (rather than the team) like Wolves, Villa or Albion.

Many Hammers fans still have fond regards for current Toon gaffer Alan Pardew and will be wishing him well in his latest assignment. His biggest strength at Upton Park was his shrewd moves in the transfer market, however, so I'm concerned for him if the majority of these dealings are being taken out of his hands.

There's still a lot of business to be done before the seasons start, but I foresee tough campaigns for both sides. Financial prudence often wins brownie points in the media, but once the games start both teams may rue releasing proven talent from their ranks. What both teams will need to meet their targets is everybody pulling together, from the board down to the fans, and for realism not to give way to complacency or defeatism. Add to that the usual requirement of huge dollops of good fortune and who knows, the fixture of West Ham v Newcastle may become a Premier League staple once more.

Amen to that, Kenny - and best wishes to the Hammers in their quest to bounce back at the first attempt.

Quote of the day

"That history that West Ham have I am very well aware of and we will play the West Ham way with the players we have got to achieve the ultimate, and that's winning football matches."

Now that Fat Sam has got his nose in the managerial trough at the Hammers, expect "the West Ham way" to become synonymous with teethgrindingly grim hoof-'n'-hope bludgeon. With him at the helm, you're more likely to see snow on the ball than skill.