Proposed Badge Change for the Hammers

The latest image of West Ham’s proposed new badge says it all really. In what is solely my own opinion, the design of this crest looks cheap, childish and embarrassing. It seems as though the image has been designed on WordArt for some kind of primary school project.

Although this criticism may be perceived to be harsh, it is hard to understand how such a simple design an winning combination of the crossed hammers has been executed so poorly. In a recent poll circulating the Knees Up Mother Brown fans forum, the Upton Park faithful have thankfully voted against the adoption of this new crest. It seems the addition of ‘London’ in the West Ham emblem proved to one of the biggest failures amongst the new designs.

As the Hammers are venturing into a new era with the Olympic Stadium in 2016, it is understandable that the owners are considering some kind of light re-branding. However, any changes made to something as special as the West Ham crest have NO chance of being successful if they are carried out to such poor standards.

 

Stevenage 2 – 2 West Ham

Although everything at West Ham seems to be going reasonably well this summer, perhaps this first installment of the Hammers pre-season is an episode best to be forgotten.

In what included a costly error from lovable goalkeeper Adrian, Stevenage took at 2-0 lead through an unnamed trialist and Tom Pett respectively. The Hammers seemed to be all but finished until two late headed goals from Matt Jarvis and Stewart Downing rounded off a frustrating afternoon for the Londoners.

The match however was not about the result primarily. It was more focused on getting to know the team for next season and seeing how well the recent additions took to their new shirt. New signing Cheikhou Kouyate seems as though he was the pick of an otherwise average bunch. The Hammers can now pick themselves up and move on to the next task with more experience and confidence.

A Time for Optimism at Upton Park?

As West Ham embark on a third consecutive season of top flight football since winning promotion in 2012, its seems as though an air of positivity may have entered the ranks of the Upton Park faithful. Last year’s somewhat disheartening season saw many Hammers fans feel disillusioned with the club and the direction it was going in. With a collection of head-scratching tactics, ill-timed suspensions and crucially unlucky injuries, the 2013/14 campaign seems to have gone down in West Ham folklore as a season to forget. However, with some early developments already taking place this summer, perhaps times are changing in East London.

New Signings: The additions of Mauro Zarate, Cheikhou Kouyate, Aaron Cresswell and Diego Poyet are undoubtedly the most potent reasons behind this new found positivity at Upton Park. Unless another series of disastrous injuries plague the squad this year, Allardyce’s team will undoubtedly carry a more attacking edge to their style of play. It has already been widely reported that Big Sam cannot repeat the same mistakes as last year, as David Sullivan and David Gold have to see the Hammers looking worthy enough of their new Olympic home by 2016. With such promising new additions to the squad, this dream certainly looks a lot more attainable.

Ravel’s Return: Love him or hate him, Ravel Morrison has the biggest potential out of anyone in the West Ham squad. Although his journey has not gone as smoove as initially planned, the 2014/15 season could be a massive year for the 21 year old. Let’s hope that alongside Diego Poyet, West Ham carry a younger and more direct approach to scoring goals next campaign.

Teddy’s Back: With the return of Teddy Sheringham to the West Ham coaching set up, the squad now has someone with a proven goal scoring record to learn from. Allardyce and MacDonald seem to have displayed their defensive worth yet their ability to directly influence the attacking side of West Ham’s play has left a lot to be desired. Teddy not only knows just what it takes to score goals in the Premier League, but he is also likely to do wonders for team moral within the camp.

The Kit: Adidas have certainly delivered the goods with this year’s home kit. In reminiscent style of West Ham’s classic 1980’s ‘Avco’ kits, this season the Hammers will at least be aesthetically pleasing if nothing else! Hopefully this all-claret affair will inspire Andy Carroll and co. to reach the same successes as both Tony Cottee and Frank MacAvenie did wearing the similar strip.

 

Hammers set to land rising star, Diego Poyet.

Diego Poyet looks all set to become West Ham’s fourth signing of the summer. As the son of current Sunderland manager, Gus Poyet, the young attacking midfielder has seen his notoriety rise since first breaking into the Charlton team in February of last year.  Since then the young starlet solidified his place within the team and became player of the year for the 2013/14 campaign. Although it seems surprising that Diego Poyet would opt for the Hammers when he’d surely be welcomed at Poyet Snr’s Sunderland, his arrival at the East London outfit has pretty much been confirmed by the above twitter release from West Ham’s Spanish goalkeeper, Adrian.

Poyet’s arrival sees the 19 year old join the likes of Mauro Zarate, Cheikhou Kouyate and Aaron Cresswell in the list of new arrivals at Upton Park for the upcoming 2014/15 season. In an attempt to re-introduce some attacking flair that was so sorely missing from last year’s campaign, Poyet’s on-the-deck, creative brand of football is likely to please the West Ham faithful. Alongside one Ravel Morrison, Poyet’s arrival may just give the Hammers reason to be cheerful.