Dicks in charge

Intriguing to hear the interview with Julian Dicks on the West Ham website. As West Ham's new coach (a case of Dicks out on the training pitch?) he sounds pretty reasonable and talks about what a good bunch of lads he has — though it would be interesting to hear how he might react should any of his players insist on drinking Coca-Cola before a game and refuse to warm-up, as Julian famously did. Still, it worked for Dicksy, who is a more thoughtful character than many people realise. You also wonder what influence he might have over the career of Andy Carroll. When Dicks spoke at the Stop! Hammer Time podcast end-of-season do he was clear that he wasn't a fan of Big Sam's style and Carroll didn't score enough goals. So when he's fit he'll clearly be on to AC to improve his goals to games ratio.