Career change A Czech porn star is set to make the move to football by starting her own football club. Klarisa Leone, aged 32, implausibly intends to name the new team Inter Prague in honour of her favourite club (as indicated by the image above). She told The Sun: "I've loved my career in porn [...]

Andy Carroll spotted at Man City (sort of) plus could it soon be 'taxi for Kean'?

Yet another big name arrives at Manchester City... (see pic above). Spotted by OffThePost.info, picture by Len Lavelle ** The old saying "you can't buy class" has been successfully disproved by diddy bongo baron David Sullivan, spotted this week in a chauffer-driven pounds 330,000 Rolls Royce Phantom, with a West Ham nodding dog in the back window.

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- Throughout the day, the QPR Report Messageboard has news updates, comments and perspectives - even links to other board comments of interest re QPR matters (on and off the field) along with football (and ONLY football) topics in general.

Big Sam strolled to the dug-out for West Ham's pre-season friendly at Dagenham & Redbridge last week like Dean Martin walking on to a stage in Las Vegas – only with a better suit. He acknowledged the cheers with a breezy wave, joked with his coaching staff and was happy to pose for pictures with supporters and sign autographs after a 1-0 win.

After posting about Scott Parker on here yesterday, West Ham Co-Owner David Sullivan appeared on SkySportsNews and confirmed that West Ham would be willing to let Parker leave on loan for a season for a "substantial fee".
Now it's understandable that West Ham want to keep hold of him but understand he should be playing in the Premier League so it's admirable of them really to even suggest the idea.

West Ham boss Sam Allardyce is preparing an ambitious bid to sign Liverpool pair Joe Cole and Paul Konchesky as the new Upton Park boss looks to improve his squad ahead of the coming battle to secure and instant promotion back to the Premier League.
The Hammers boss has already snapped up Newcastle United captain Kevin Nolan and has now set his sights on two Anfield players who appear to be surplus to requirements at the Merseyside club.

Shopping centre giant Westfield could contribute around £20m to help West Ham United transform the Olympic Stadium into a football ground, according to reports surfacing today. The Construction Enquirer understands that Westfield has held preliminary discussions with the club about sponsoring the stadium when West Ham move in after the 2012 Games.

Tony Attwood on London clubs in the Premier League. WHU down, QPR up, farewell pornography, hello F1. David Sullivan and David Gold said when they took over WHU that they budgeted for failure that is to say relegation. Whether that is true or not we will find out now the club has gone down [...]

He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils; for time is the
greatest innovator.

William D. Leahy said the bomb wouldn't go off; Lord Kelvin thought that heavier-than-air flying machines were impossible; Charlie Chaplin was convinced cinema was little more than a fad; Neville Chamberlain promised it would be peace in our time and Bill Gates insisted 640K ought to be enough for anybody.

Sam Allardyce had been West Ham United's manager for precisely eight hours when first notice of the funhouse he has taken over was served. While he was speaking live on Sky Sports, news broke that Tony Fernandes, the Malaysian businessman who is team principle of Formula One's Team Lotus, had tweeted to claim he had offered to buy the club from David Sullivan and David Gold.

I saw her wince, I saw her cry,
I saw the glory in her eye.
Myself I long for love and light,
But must it come so cruel, and oh so bright?

Sam Allardyce could be confirmed as the new manager of West Ham United as early as tonight, reports Jason Burt, as the Hammers board successfully changed the 56-year old's mind about turning his back on English football management.

Rumours are circulating this evening that West Ham co-owners David Gold and David Sullivan have officially offered the vacant manager's job to an interested applicant. At a meeting of the club's ‘Supporter Advisory Board' tonight, the typically garrulous Sullivan is thought to have revealed to those in attendance that he and Gold made the proposal and expect a definitive answer tomorrow.

Dave Jones has emerged as West Ham's preferred choice to lead them out of the Championship, writes Sami Mokbel in today's Mail. Jones – whose future as Cardiff manager is under review following the Bluebirds' failure to win promotion to the Premier League – has been linked with the post in the past and the odds on him taking the job were dramatically slashed last night.

I am convinced that He does not play dice...

David Gold has insisted no stone will be left unturned as West Ham strive to ensure they appoint the right manager as Avram Grant's successor. Gold and co-owner David Sullivan are looking to bring in a replacement as quickly as possible so that the new man has time to start preparing for next season.

Dignity is a by-word at Upton Park, co-chairman David Sullivan is a one man quote machine while Karen Brady is on a mission to undo all the good work for equality that would have Emmeline Pankhurst spinning in her grave. Only this morning in, joy of joys, the first lady of football's ™, Sun Football Diary she made comments that were more harmful than good.

Dignity is a by-word at Upton Park, co-chairman David Sullivan is a one man quote machine while Karen Brady is on a mission to undo all the good work for equality that would have Emmeline Pankhurst spinning in her grave. Only this morning in, joy of joys, the first lady of football's ™, Sun Football Diary she made comments that were more harmful than good.

Dignity is a by-word at Upton Park, co-chairman David Sullivan is a one man quote machine while Karen Brady is on a mission to undo all the good work for equality that would have Emmeline Pankhurst spinning in her grave. Only this morning in, joy of joys, the first lady of football's ™, Sun Football Diary she made comments that were more harmful than good.

Neil Warnock has said he has the backing of Queens Park Rangers to "plan for next season" after a meeting with the board. According to today's Guardian, their support appears to rule him out of the running to replace Avram Grant as West Ham United's manager, a possibility that was understood to have appealed to co-owners David Gold and David Sullivan.

In an August 2009 Radio 5 Live programme on the Premier League's financial troubles, Supporters Direct Chief Executive Dave Boyle addressed the issue of the "chasm" between Premier League and Football League finances. "Once upon a time," he said to a gathering of football people including the then-Birmingham chairman David Gold, who wasn't ‘sitting comfortably', "relegation meant you'd not had a good season.

Avram Grant should have gone four months ago. That is the conventional wisdom and a fairly safe one at that. But the problem was no one was willing to take over for him. Grant reveals that there were six candidates including Martin O'Neill, Steve McLaren, and Sam Allardyce who were sought out in January but they would not do it because " they knew the situation there.

The West Ham United co-owner David Sullivan has claimed that a drunken supporter racially abused a player, sparking the brawl that marred the club's end-of-season dinner on Monday night. The event was spoiled by a disturbance between supporters and players which caused the police to be called to the Grosvenor Hotel in central London.

A man's errors are his portals of discovery

One by one they walked off, the golden generation. Jermain Defoe shirtless; Joe Cole man of a match he would never wish to remember; Paolo Di Canio staring straight ahead, perhaps contemplating his pledge to commit suicide if West Ham were relegated.

The thorns which I have reap'd are of the tree
I planted; they have torn me, and I bleed.
I should have known what fruit would spring from such a seed.

Avram Grant was sacked as manager of West Ham United on Sunday night. He was informed by chairman David Sullivan, who left his seat in the directors' box early to wait for Grant in the tunnel as he left the pitch amid chaotic scenes at the DW Stadium, after West Ham's dramatic 3-2 defeat to Wigan Athletic.

West Ham United have been relegated after once again throwing away a two goal lead, as they lost 3-2 to Wigan. Two first half goals from Demba Ba gave Hammers fans hop that they could still avoid the drop. But once again the Hammers defence capitulated and two Charles N'Zogbia goals (57, 90+4) either side of a Conor Sammon effort sent West ham down.

West Ham United have been relegated after once again throwing away a two goal lead, as they lost 3-2 to Wigan. Two first half goals from Demba Ba gave Hammers fans hop that they could still avoid the drop. But once again the Hammers defence capitulated and two Charles N'Zogbia goals (57, 90+4) either side of a Conor Sammon effort sent West ham down.

As West Ham United's relegation from the Premier League was confirmed this afternoon with a match still to spare, supporters of the club may well be left wondering what the future holds for their club. After a chaotic season, punctuated by the decision to award the post-games use of the Olympic Stadium in Stratford to them, Avram Grant was reportedly sacked in the tunnel after this afternoon's defeat at Wigan Athletic.

The fight itself towards the summits suffices to fill a heart of man; it is necessary to imagine Sisyphus happy...

Avram Grant will refuse to walk away from West Ham United even if they are relegated this season, leaving the club with a compensation bill of around £3.

The life of everyone on board depends upon just one thing: finding someone back there who can not only fly this plane, but who didn't have fish for dinner...

It is at this stage of the season when a familiar but often bankrupt saying gets trotted out in assessing the relegation battle, writes Jeremy Wilson in this morning's Telegraph.

There are certain natures, purely contemplative and altogether unfit for action, which nonetheless, impelled by a mysterious and unknown motive, act at times with rapidity of which they would have believed themselves incapable. Thus, Baudelaire introduces us to Le Mauvais vitrier; the exemplar of what Poe coined The Imp of the Perverse, and as exemplified by David Gold's unpropitious comments in this morning's papers.

How many times can a man turn his head
And pretend that he just doesn't see
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind
The answer is blowing in the wind

Manchester City's supporters celebrated with "the Poznan" and, for very different reasons, West Ham's followers must have been tempted to turn their backs to the pitch, too.

Close by the front gate of the West Ham training ground stands a plum Rolls-Royce, writes Patrick Collins. The personalised numberplate declares it the property of David Gold, the club's co-owner. Gold is spotted through an office window, waving his arms and making a point. His website describes him as being 'blessed with a friendly, welcoming nature'.

The robbed that smiles, steals something from the thief...

It was predictable wasn't it? Our ushankared overlord drops an inflammatory communiqué to an apparatchik in the national press designed to get a reaction from manager and players... and manager and players duly proffer a solicited response in time for the next day's headlines.

Manchester City, Blackburn Rovers, Wigan Athletic and Sunderland are all that now stand between West Ham United and oblivion, writes Jamie Jackson in today's Guardian. Six years after Alan Pardew guided the East End club back into the Premier League, Avram Grant has four games to prise his side off the bottom of the table, starting with Sunday's Eastlands meeting with Roberto Mancini's fourth-placed team.

While Tottenham Hotspur readies for the resumption of European nights, West Ham United drowns deep in the relegation zone. But West Ham have at least trumped Tottenham's bid for London's Olympic Stadium after the Olympic Park Legacy Company'sunanimous decision Friday. The Hammers' bid, led by their brain trust of David Gold, David Sullivan and Karren Brady, was more conservative and likely won because their bid promises to maintain the athletics track.

Sexism? Boo! Free t-shirts? Boo- no wait...Yeah!

*cough*

Woo!

And so it came to pass. Another day and another piece of high-quality linen to be bazooka'd across the heavens and into your living rooms, courtesy of the good folk at Philosophy Football. Here's their blurb followed by a dastardly scheme to get your paws on one.

It is being reported by ESPNsoccernet that Tottenham have had a third bid rejected for West Ham United's Scott Parker. In contrast to the first two bids, the most recent one included a major player want-away Spurs striker Robbie Keane.

Manager Harry Redknapp reportedly offered the Hammers £8 million plus Keane, who is already close to completing a long-drawn move to Upton Park before Monday's winter transfer deadline.

BIRMINGHAM, England Birmingham's Craig Gardner booked a League Cup final showdown against Arsenal as his extra-time goal sealed a 3-1 victory over West Ham in Wednesday's semi-final second leg that secured a 4-3 aggregate win. Gardner, a boyhood Birmingham fan, capped an impressive fightback from Alex McLeish's side, who can now look forward to [.

Just when you thought Newcastle United had cornered the market in mishandling a managerial switch, West Ham's owners look set to give Mike Ashley a run for his money. For weeks Hammers' boss Avram Grant has been a dead man walking waiting for the axe to fall after securing just four wins all season, leaving the club languishing at the foot of the table.

Photo by dalli58

In what has to be one of the strangest stories so far to come out of the 2010-11 Premier League season, there were rumors abound going into West Ham United's match with Arsenal that even a win was not likely to save manager Avram Grant's job. That is not the odd bit of the story though, the real revelation that Martin O'Neill had been tapped to be his replacement by club owner's David Gold and David Sullivan.

Time for a change in managers' contracts? Rafa Benitez's record at Inter Milan does not make for pleasant reading. In 39 games either side of his term, the club lost just three games. In his reign of 23 games, they lost seven times. The Spaniard was forced out of the club, presumably with hurt pride.