Received an emergency summons last night to appear on the podcast Stop! Hammer Time with Phil Whelans and Jim Grant. A tough job, but someone has to talk about West Ham after a pint in the Queen's Head. You can listen on the link to three blokes discussing whether they can run faster than Pablo Zabaleta and how Jonjo Shelvey is Voldemort.
Interestingly James Collins was on the podcast a few weeks ago and said that he and Mark Noble used to have pretend fights on the team coach in order to gee up the other players. As Phil Whelans pointed out, we have a lot of mild-mannered number tens who look like they need some firing up. Maybe we should employ the Ginger Pele as a motivational coach?
So it's probably goodbye to James Collins, the Ginger Pele, fans' favourite and a great servant to West Ham. The press stories about him being dumped by email seem to be a bit of media spin, as he already knew he was being released and the email was apparently only a written confirmation. Though the latest reports on BBC and Sky now state that his contract ends next month and the new manager will have the final say on whether he is retained.
Mark Noble made a public plea for the club to keep him at the end of the Everton game. Should we keep Ginge? In purely football terms, probably no, as he's 35 in August, he only played 13 games last season and is increasingly injury-prone. So a younger signing to play alongside Ogbonna, Reid and Rice would make sense. Though in terms of morale, his presence would help both the fans and dressing room, so on that basis he should surely get another year's contract. He plays like he cares and that's pretty incalculable in monetary terms.
Whatever happens, his second spell at the Hammers has seen Collins feature in six eventful seasons. Two of his most memorable performances for me were his role in the 1-0 win at Old Trafford during the 2006-07 Great Escape season and a towering game against Man City when we beat them 2-1 at Upton Park under Big Sam. In between his two spells with the Irons James also played in an Aston Villa side that finished sixth.
Collins played like he enjoyed defending, getting in tackles and putting his head on crosses. It's a lost art — Rudiger showed a little of that ability for Chelsea in the Cup Final yesterday — and we need more proper defenders. While let's not forget an epic ginger beard (he was likened to Gandalf by Garth Crooks) and the fact he was always the last player off the pitch after thanking the fans. If he does go, he'll be missed.
More bad news. Winston Reid is going to miss the Newcastle game with the calf strain he picked up during the warm-up at Southampton. So now is surely the time to bring in Ginger Pele James Collins to partner Angelo Ogbonna. Collins is invariably the man for a crisis and had a great game in the must-win game against Swansea back in April. He also brings some inspirational leadership qualities to the back-line.
Jose Fonte had a poor game at St Mary's, being at fault for the first goal and the first penalty. He's proving a real enigma during his West Ham career. Fonte was captain of the Southampton side that finished sixth two seasons ago and won the European Championship with Portugal. Most Southampton fans would have him back. Yet he's looked poor during his spell at WHU. Is it a matter of age (he's 33) or settling in to a new club? Perhaps significantly he had his best spell when West Ham played a back five towards the end of last season when he wasn't taking on strikers running behind the defence. I wouldn't give up on him, but he needs to improve fast.
Whatever the line-up, the Hammers need to sort out their central defensive problems and long term, after the ageing Ginge and Fonte have moved on, we also have to decide whether to give Declan Rice (his favoured position is centre back) or the on-loan Reece Burke and Reece Oxford the chance to cement a place in the back four.
