The idea of a soccer "derby" eluded me when I was younger. Not only because I heard it as a "dArby", but also because American announcers would always make a point to distance it from our petty little rivalries in the US. Derbies are a rivalry, but fueled by years of bad blood and proximity - where immense soccer fervor allowed multiple teams to pop up within a few miles of each other.

'England have players who can rattle anyone's feathers': 3PM's Daft Quotes Of 2011, Part 1

Happy Christmas from everyone at MirrorFootball! To celebrate, here's part one of Steve Anglesey's Daft Quotes Of The Year from his 3PM column. 'What's the biggest fox pass you've ever made?

By FRANCO PANIZO

A week after enduring one of his worst performances of the season, Clint Dempsey responded in a big way.

Dempsey lifted Fulham to victory over Bolton Wanderes on Saturday, scoring a goal and assisting on another in the 2-0 affair. Dempsey found the back of the net with a well-placed header before sending Costa Rican teammate Bryan Ruiz in on goal with a nifty pass.

Since the loss of Cristiano Ronaldo to the Spanish La Liga, the Premier League was searching for a new world class player who could be as brilliant as the phenomenal Portuguese. Fernando Torres threatened briefly until he started sulking more than scoring, Didier Drogba could never be that star face as he is all brute force but Carlos Tevez could have been that world class marquee player that the Barclays Premier League needed.

What are the odds Sven adds the Championship to his list of conquests? Derek McGovern's Bets of the Day

West Ham fans will get their first glimpse of the style of football Sam Allardyce's team will play when they kick off their season against Cardiff tomorrow. That's unless there's low cloud cover over Upton Park.

After the news broke this lunch time on Newcastle captain Kevin Nolan's imminent medical at West Ham, fans have once again been divided on Tyneside as to what they believe to be the truth behind yet another astounding decision.

Despite Nolan rejecting a contract extension last week, this is a transfer that has taken everybody by surprise.

West Ham go Route One back to Premier League - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Messrs. Gold and Sullivan have stumbled from bad decision to ludicrous decision since taking over at West Ham but they may well have struck gold with the appointment of Big Sam. The quickest form of transport is through the sky and that's why Allardyce's long ball football could provide the Hammers with an instant return to the topflight.

Is Peter Risdale the man to bring Plymouth Argyle out of their slump?

For all you Birmingham and West Ham fans who are finding the thought of playing at a lower level deplorable, that your finances will be stretched and your stature to lower, consider this – at least you're not a Plymouth Argyle fan.

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.

Sam Allardyce has been named as the new manager of West Ham United, replacing Avram Grant, who was sacked after the Hammers' relegation.

Allardyce comes into the position fully aware that several of the Hammers' big names, like Scott Parker, Carlton Cole and Robert Green, will be sold this summer.

By Chris Wright

Word on the wire is that call-centre-chic enthusiast Sam Allardyce is all but set to be appointed as West Ham's new manager at some point later today, with a £3 million, two-year contract being mooted by most of the major news outlets this morning including the good old Beeb, and why would they lie to us?

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.

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.

A serious question. Is there anything better in the Premier League than the battle to avoid relegation? Just this past weekend, we saw two spectacular games featuring Blackpool against Bolton and Wigan against West Ham. Fans of other leagues would...
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Sacked manager Avram Grant has spoke of his "sad day" after seeing his West Ham United side succumb to relegation. The Hammers have looked doomed for months during his time at the helm, and a 3-2 loss at the hands of Wigan on Sunday clinched the sacking of the former Chelsea boss.

Grant went as far as saying that it was the "saddest day" in his football career, a feeling that will be rife amongst West Ham fans as they prepare for at least one season in the npower Championship.

A long tradition in the English top flight means nothing these days, as it looks like time has run out for the Upton Park faithful. As they arrived at Green Street today, they knew they had three winnable games remaining, and a chance to save themselves after a very disappointing season. Now after failing to beat Blackburn, the new management are heading for the Championship.

I'm not sure what Jo Moore is doing these days but it's possible the former press officer has found gainful employment as a special adviser deep in the bowels of the Boleyn. If ever there was a good week to be smokescreening unpalatable news then it appears someone at E13 has calculated that now is seemingly the time.

So Chelsea fans (and maybe West Ham fans for that matter possibly reading this) what are your early thoughts on the game tomorrow?. I am thinking that Carlo has already indicated that he would rotate the team so could it mean Anelka and Torres in for Drogba and Kalou/Malouda?. Could we see Yossi Benayoun given a start and if he does who misses out.

At the time of the US War of Independence in the 1770s the British soldiers wore redcoats. That was so the blood wouldn't show on their scarlet uniforms if they got wounded. For similar reasons the American rebels wore brown trousers.

As we enter the decisive final weeks of the season, with injury-weakened Manchester United fighting for trophies on three fronts, I fear it's already gone beyond Sir Alex Ferguson's famous 'squeaky-bum time'.

We never can say goodbye: Or so it seems as two more players leave the Lane on loan, with a permanent departure only a faint hope resting in the minds of the most deluded West Ham fans.

Robbie Keane packed his boot collection and headed across to Upton Park, where he will remain on loan until the end of the season.

By Ollie Irish

Grant: decent chap, poor manager

So Uncle Avram has indeed been winging it in English football all this time. West Ham's abject capitulation at St Andrews last night confirmed what many of has had long-suspected: Grant doesn't know what he's doing and admitted as much after the match, saying "I didn't know what to say to them at half-time.

The Carling Cup is still a much derided competition, scoffed at and labelled a 'Mickey Mouse' Cup. And while I agree it doesn't have the charm of the FA Cup or the glamour of the Champions League, that claim is usually made by those who are knocked out or see their reserve players play in [...]

One is a right-back who plays left-back, and has a talent of scoring against United, the other is lead vocalist of British band Coldplay...and it just so happens that they look a like...

Jonathan Spector is a player that raises questions most of which revolve around the notion that he should not be playing in the Premier League.

Men behaving badly: Should players' off-pitch behaviour affect fans' support? is a post from: Just Football

Football fans and morals. A thorny bush, as we've discussed before on Just Football. But should we as supporters be ready to withhold our support for players whose behaviour doesn't quite match our own standards or moral codes?

By Ollie Irish

Oy, it's just my size!

West Ham have announced they plan to retain manager Avram Grant – in the short-term at least – after months of speculation over his future.

The Irons put out a statement in Grant's favour this morning insisting they were standing by their current gaffer, despite the club lying bottom of the Prem with just four wins in their first 20 matches.

The newest Arsenal youngster to come through the ranks to be a star at the Emirates is our very own Jack Wilshere, but he admitted today that he grew up as a West Ham fan and his boyhood hero was the great Italian Paolo Di Canio. He said: "My family have always been West Ham fans, [...]

West Ham United's signing of left full back Wayne Bridge is undoubtedly a step in the right direction. Its pleasing to see that a problematic area has now been covered. When West Ham were linked with Steve Sidwell I was slightly baffled, although Sidwell is a decent player West Hams strongest area this year has been the centre of midfield.

Back in the 2006/07 season West Ham found themselves in a similar position in the run up to Christmas as they did this season. They were lingering down at the wrong end of the table and if truth be told the spirit within the squad had evaporated. The season had started full of hope, after the agonising defeat in the FA Cup to Liverpool in the final in the previous May West Ham fans were looking for the club to push on and upwards.