Thrilled to unveil
@telegraph
's first new flagship crossword for almost 15 years: the Cross Atlantic.
You can read about its genesis here:
And you can play the first ever one for free here:
More big puzzles news to come later🧩
Tempted to switch TV over to watch Karren Brady overseeing some clowns and charlatans claiming to be leaders in their field but who comically and tragically fail in every task they undertake.
Or I could carry on watching The Apprentice on BBC1.
*honk*
The two pitch invaders from last night’s game have been banned from watching West Ham at the London Stadium for life.
No word yet if they’re actually going to be punished though.
Now having anxiety about this West Ham team trying to defend a three goal lead at the Camp Nou next season with Messi running full pelt at Craig Dawson 😂😬🙈
Bumped into Declan Rice at the last Call of Duty launch party. It was four days before my son’s birthday and I asked if he’d do a message. Dec’s minder tried to move him on but he said, “It’s ok, he’s West Ham”, and recorded a great video. Oh captain, my captain
@_DeclanRice
🙌⚒️
Who needs a Super League when you have VAR? Ensuring the big teams get the decisions they need to maintain their status since 2019. Absolute joke.
#WHUCHE
West Ham didn’t do enough to win and Benrahma deserved to be sent off.
But the referee letting this go in the first 5mins empowered Bristol City to assault their opponents with impunity for the rest of the game.
Disgraceful dereliction of his duty of care by Darren England
Totally goes under the radar just how big and committed West Ham’s fanbase is. If we ever had owners whose acumen matched this passion, and whose actions spoke as loud as their words, we would genuinely be a footballing superpower. One day, Hammers. One day. ⚒️❤️
West Ham ran out of steam and legs today but Thursday night was worth the beating today IMO. Regroup after the international break and attack the Europa League for all it’s worth ⚒️
Man United’s result means West Ham’s will likely slip under the radar but climbing back into the top 4 today feels significant. Moyes has transformed the character of our club to the point where I barely recognise it anymore. What a job he’s done, and what a team he’s built ⚒️❤️
So sad to hear the news about Keith Flint. Was lucky enough to be writing about rock music at a time when The Prodigy were pulling down the barriers separating riffs and beats. They pretty much helped change everything. RIP
Marko Arnautovic trying to leave, destabilising the club, eventually securing a new deal so we don’t sign a new striker and then getting injured two days before the window shuts is pretty much peak West Ham 🤡⚒
Matic kneeing Coufal off the ball. Bailly going down clutching his face when Noble holds on to his shirt at chest height… Nice to see Man United so rattled they’re resorting to cheating their way out of this 🙄⚒️
David Moyes has rightly received a lot of credit for West Ham performances this season so he has to carry the can for this. Awful selection, awful attitude, awful performance. One of the worst halves of football I can remember. Completely unacceptable
#WHUBRI
#GSBOUT
If
@WestHam
don't do a Maxwell Cornet announcement video featuring Angelo Ogbonna on a gondola singing:
"Just one Cornet goal / Give it to me / Delicious football / From the Coast Ivory"
Then I'm not sure I want to support this club anymore ⚒️
What even is the point of football any more? At least before VAR referees could pretend their big team bias was actually incompetence. Shameful and shamelessly bad refereeing at Stamford Bridge today
#CheWhu
David Moyes received - and happily took - pretty much all the credit for West Ham’s success and good performances over the last couple of years. At what point does he have to start taking responsibility for the truly abysmal start to this league season?
West Ham look so jaded lately, a shadow of the team that set 2021 alight. It’s almost like playing the same 12 or 13 players week in, week out until they drop isn’t a viable long term strategy ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Particularly disappointed by Moyes’ use of Scamacca today. His preferred ‘no possession, counter attack’ system needs a forward like Antonio to work. So Scamacca flounders for a bit trying to play someone else’s game and is then hooked. It’s the Haller situation all over again.
West Ham soundly thrashed by Leverkusen and not sure you could ask for a more on-the-nose demonstration of the opposing approaches of Moyes and Steidten. The ‘we won a cup’ brigade will noisily beg to differ but only one of those two represents the future. And he ain’t Scottish
Looking forward to West Ham being linked to exciting but unrealistic strikers right up until the day after deadline day when Sullivan issues a ‘we tried’ statement blaming FFP/Covid/Brexit, and finishing the season with a CB up front after Antonio’s hamstrings go in Feb
#GSBOUT
Sébastien Haller has joined Ajax on a permanent basis for an undisclosed fee.
We would like to thank
@HallerSeb
for his contribution to the Club and wish him all the best for his future career.
Managers: if you want fair refereeing then try being as honest when a bad decision goes your way as when it doesn’t. Be the change you want to be.
Otherwise it *might* just look like you’re a self-serving cynic who only cares about himself rather than refereeing or consistency
Might have to start muting West Ham on social media as I have no idea how to process the sheer volume of good news at the moment. Fortune’s meant to be always hiding, not swaggering about the place in full replica kit singing ‘David Moyes’ claret and blue army’
EXCLUSIVE: Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky is considering the purchase of a minority stake in West Ham United,
@TheAthleticUK
understands. More from
@mjshrimper
.
#WHUFC
West Ham are the Newcastle of the south, a club doing the bare minimum to survive on the pitch so it remains a vehicle to exploit the hearts, minds and wallets of its loyal fanbase off of it. Wake up and smell the popcorn.
15 richest clubs in the world. We are being fleeced. There is money, the board are lying. They’ve lied to us over and over again. They’re not fans, they’re using us as a cash cow. Everyone needs to wake up and chase them out of the club.
#GSBOUT
Moyes will say West Ham were unlucky and did enough to earn a point (and he'd be right) but this same pattern has happened pretty much every time we go away to a 'big' club... 70 times he's gone to Man United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal, and never won. It can't just be luck..
May 10 2016: West Ham prepare to face Man United celebrating last game at Upton Park before embarking on journey to ‘the next level’
May 10 2018: West Ham prepare to face Man United celebrating having avoided relegation with two games of season to spare
Well done all concerned
Fair play to Arsenal’s players for taking on board the referee’s warnings about their constant time wasting, feigning injury and general cheating in the first half. By the time West Ham had equalised they’d stopped doing it entirely! 👏😂
Hilarious seeing Arsenal fans and pundits suddenly waking up to the inconsistencies of VAR. It’s all fun and games until a decision goes against YOUR team, eh
@martinkeown5
?
Could not have been less impressed when West Ham signed Craig Dawson but thrilled to be proved wrong again. Turns out there’s a lot to be gained from playing defenders who can defend!
#GSBOUT
Slavia Prague's president Jaroslav Tvrdík has confirmed right back Vladimir Coufal will undergo a medical at West Ham tomorrow after a €6m fee was agreed.
#WHUFC
If you’re still wondering what Tim Steidten brings to West Ham (or you just fancy a horror-tinged chuckle), imagine how this window would have gone, and what the squad would currently look like, if David Sullivan was still leading on transfer deals ⚒️
🚨⚒️ Jean-Clair Todibo to West Ham, here we go! Exclusive scoop confirmed as hijack is completed.
Understand Todibo, his agent and West Ham director Tim Steidten are flying to London right now! 🇬🇧🛫
€40m on loan + obligation, sell-on clause included.
Medical booked today.
Had genuine hopes Moyes and the new Head of Recruitment would change West Ham’s transfer culture. But spending a month lowballing on the CB and ST signings we need and then making a mega bid for a flair winger we don’t the second his agents call is so peak Sullivan I could cry ⚒️
Can’t blame Sullivan and Gold for not signing any players this month. Priority now has to be buying a bigger scoreboard for the visit of Liverpool next week.
#GSBOUT
£85m for Paqueta would be too good to turn down in all honesty.
But Moyes should be nowhere near what’s turning into a complete squad rebuild with 1 yr on his contract.
Let Steidten and Noble take full responsibility for recruitment and if Moyes doesn’t agree move him on now
This is the first time I’ve seen this footage since getting back from the game. Wasn’t shown or even referenced on
@BBCMOTD
, unlike Cresswell’s tackle, which was replayed endlessly. Also no discussion of Salah’s dive for the free kick leading to Liverpool’s equaliser. Strange 🤔
West Ham have now lost both post-Europa League games to late goals. Our small squad and Moyes’ aversion to substitutions are going to be bog problems this season. Have to admire Brentford - even if their shithousery (or cheating as it used to be called) was abhorrent to watch ⚒️
Neighbours away so their kids threw a party last night... that managed to wake up my whole family at 5.30am.
Hopefully they liked their little alarm call just now of every connected speaker in our house blasting out ‘90s dance classics.
Childish? Yes.
Satisfying? Absolutely!
Will always be grateful to Yarmolenko for the goal against Chelsea that effectively kept us up, but would also happily never watch him play for West Ham again.
#KIDWHU
One of the worst West Ham performances I can remember (and I’ve seen a few). Genuinely amazed a Moyes team would come out and play like this. In genuine trouble here
#FACup
#KIDWHU
West Ham were absolutely superb today from front to back. Some of the link up play from Anderson, Lanzini and Haller was reminiscent of the football we played during the final season at Upton Park. Whisper it but something special could be happening here ⚒
Four wins in a row for West Ham! Not sure I’d ever want to watch any of them again but can’t fault the way this team is set up. If GSB had any balls they’d reinforce the paper-thin squad and fight for Europe. Instead they’re asset stripping and settling for not going down
#GSBOUT
West Ham are starting the new season with more senior goalkeepers (4) than strikers (1) and fit centre backs (2) combined. However Moyes and Sullivan want to dress that up, that’s rank bad planning and, frankly, irresponsible management
#GSBOUT
Moyes on the difficulty in signing a striker: "I wouldn't say I'm overly confident. But I think that's mainly due to the availability. It's not that West Ham don't want to sign a striker, or the owners don't want to buy one. It's more to do with the availability."
#WHUFC
🚨⚒️ Fabrício Bruno to West Ham, here we go! Verbal agreement now in place between West Ham and Flamengo for 28 year old centre back.
Exclusive details: €12m fixed fee plus €1.5m add-ons.
Brazilian CB will be first signing for Lopetegui at
#WHUFC
. 🇧🇷
In Moyes we trust and all that but can’t fathom how Fredericks was his only substitution (which, ironically, cost West Ham the game). If he doesn’t trust Vlasic, Kral etc then we need other options. Can’t go through the season flogging the same 11 or 12 players to death
#MUNWHU
Sullivan, Gold and Brady are killing our club in front of our eyes. The lack of ambition and imagination here is borderline criminal. The owners themselves said Moyes wasn’t good enough 18 months and yet here we are again. Keep buying the popcorn, folks
#fortunesalwayshiding
West Ham to offer David Moyes an 18-month contract today. Clear out of Pellegrini staff plus director of football Mario Husillos also expected to go. More on
@TeleFootball
Fair play to Karren Brady for helping ease the toilet paper shortage by writing something in the papers this morning every football fan will want to wipe their arse with
#GSBOUT
Pellegrini surely on his way now.
But if the last 10 years have shown us anything it’s that it doesn’t matter which ringmaster is in the dugout when clowns run the boardroom.
No vision, no strategy, no plan, no future. This is the West Ham way now 😞
#fortunesalwayshiding
Don’t think anybody genuinely expected West Ham to get anything tonight. But it would have been nice to see something - anything - which suggested there would be a fight to come in the upcoming games that will count. On this evidence we’re going down without even a whimper.
Only Sullivan and Gold could appoint a Premier League title-winning manager who’s taken every eligible club he’s managed into Europe and still end up in a relegation battle. Absolute clowns ⚒🤡
David Moyes: “I use the Red Bull model as an example, because I see them buying in young players for the future.”
Also David Moyes: breaks wage structure to sign 30 year-old striker Danny Ings and flogs promising young talent to Prem rivals
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Newcastle United have agreed a fee with West Ham United for right-back Harrison Ashby. Fee understood to be £3m including add-ons. West Ham have a sell-on clause inserted in the deal. Ashby expected to travel to Tyneside for a medical.
#WHUFC
#NUFC
So jealous of the way most clubs conduct their transfer business in a quick and professional manner while West Ham’s ‘football man’ David Sullivan haggles over every clause and penny like a third-rate wholesaler, leaking every detail to his media pals as he does so.
#GSBOUT
Great win for West Ham - exactly the type of game we’ve traditionally lost. Zouma immense today - very impressive signing. Declan Rice my man of the match though - head and shoulders above every other player on the park. Such a player. Enjoy watching him while you can! ⚒️
#evewhu
“There was a perfect awfulness to watching a team waste time for two thirds of the game, see the referee add just three minutes to account for all that wastage, and then allow the culprits to score in the fourth minute of that three minute injury time.” 💯
🚨⚒️ EXCL | Noussair
#Mazraoui
deal with West Ham is OFF!
No agreement on agent‘s side has been reached. Despite the agreement between the clubs (15,5 + 4) and on player‘s side West Ham now have left the negotiations ✔️
⚠️ Manchester United now pushing to sign Mazraoui.
It won’t be losing to Spurs that decides West Ham’s fate. But what’s worrying for the Norwich, Burnley, Watford and Villa games is we look like a team of average players with a below average manager, none of whom have the faintest idea of how to score a goal let alone win a match
Declan Rice has absolutely everything… apart from maturity. We saw it when he abused the ref in Frankfurt; when he drank from the cup thrown on the pitch in Hungary; when he bawls out team-mates instead of lifting them; and now in the timing of this pronouncement. Shame.
Declan Rice: “I see my friends who play in the Champions League, winning the big trophies. You only get one career and at the end of your career you want to look at what you've won”. 🏴
Expectation is for Rice to leave West Ham in 2023.
@footballdaily
🎥
Different manager, same old shit. They’ll talk about Gomes’ saves but in truth West Ham made Watford look like Brazil for much of the game. This is the direct result of damaging short-termism and systemic mismanagement by the deluded anachronisms who run our club
#sacktheboard
Moyes’ passive aggressive claim that his success has increased expectations is true, of course, but he has to reconnect with reality. After half a season his side is joint bottom. That would have been well below expectations of every season in the club’s history.
West Ham’s performance looked very much like that of a team that’s overdosed on its own hype. Lumbering, lethargic... lazy even. Played completely into Palace’s hands by rarely getting above walking pace. Hope it’s a wake up call rather than the start of a slump
Hope the ‘relegation will be fine because at least we’ll win a few games’ crowd are watching a near full-strength West Ham making no impact at all against West Brown’s second team. Under Sullivan, Gold and Brady’s stewardship this club could easily do a Sunderland.
#GSBOUT
Kalvin Phillips might be the first player to go out on loan to get some game time ahead of a tournament and actually end up losing his international place instead. Absolute disaster
Imperious West Ham display making Villa look ordinary. So exciting to think what this team could achieve if they can get over this seeming inferiority complex against the ‘Top 6’ sides. Fair play to Moyes too. Thought starting Lingard was a risk but paid off handsomely ⚒️
#GSBOUT
Really looking forward to three months of every cough and spit of West Ham’s manager search being leaked on here… Wake me up in late July when Sullivan appoints Graham Potter and gives him two weeks to build and train a squad 😴
Have felt disconnected from England teams over the years but can hand on heart say I love this one. Truly representative of their country and with progressive values to match their prodigious talent. Frankly I’m glad the boycotting bigots are missing out. *This* is my England 🏴
Well done to the travelling West Ham fans tonight. Banners, balloons and Martin Tyler verbalising the disconnect between fans and board. Let’s hope the players perform as well.
#GSBOUT
For most of my life European football was something fans of other clubs got to enjoy. Frankly unbelievable West Ham have now set an English record by going unbeaten for 17 games on the continent. Never, ever take it for granted, Hammers ⚒️
#EuropaLeague
Whether instigated by suitors or agents these attempts to drive down Rice’s price are pathetic. Frankly it’s not West Ham’s responsibility to improve other clubs’ bottom lines. Chelsea, Man United and the rest need to put their money where their mouths are or pipe down ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Declan Rice unhappy with West Ham's £100m valuation of him and will run down his contract rather than sign a new one. He will keep giving his all for the club but wants to play CL and challenge for trophies
#whufc
Imagine supporting a club with a proper recruitment strategy. Imagine supporting a club with a proper scouting network. Imagine supporting a club with a proper vision. Imagine supporting a club not being run into the ground by David Sullivan, David Gold, and Karren Brady
#GSBOUT
David Moyes on transfers:
“We've created room that we can bring players in, are we ready for that? No, not really. But we'll go along with that and bring in the right players.”
Four relegations to their names already and the very real possibility of a 5th this season. Perhaps David Sullivan,
@davidgold
and
@karren_brady
should just admit they aren’t that good at running football clubs and let someone else have a go before this one sinks without trace ⚒
Once again the question should now be: how did two referees with access to video replays conspire to reach their ridiculous decision in the first place.
Would be nice if the
@premierleague
and:or
@FA
could address that perhaps (SPOILER: they won’t)