Archive for June, 2023
Boris Johnson Resigns
Boris Johnson stood down as an MP yesterday. He quitted the Commons after an investigation found that he misled parliament over “partygate”, the Downing Street covid parties scandal.
▶️ Sky news: “From journalist to PM”: a look back at Boris Johnson’s career
⚒ WHU Victory Parade 🏆
Review: Victory Parade ▶️ best bits
Behind the scenes ▶️https://youtube
Route of the open top bus parade:
West Ham’s victory parade started at the site of their old home at Upton Park. They travelled to Stratford Town Hall through the streets of east London along the following route:
From the Champions statue along Barking Road
Greengate Street
High Street, E13
Plaistow Road
West Ham Lane to the rear of Stratford Town Hall, where Declan Rice presented the European Cup to the supporters.
Moyes like never before
▶️twitter.com/WestHam/status/1666717195907264520
▶️https://youtu.be/Q9fudh7JTg0
They have won the Cup
Extended highlights ▶️ WHU ⚒
West Ham win UEFA Europa Conference League ▶️ Tube Station
West Ham win Conference League
It was the moment when fortune stopped hiding, when Lucas Paquetá slid Jarrod Bowen through. It was the moment when Bowen kept his footing and his composure, took a touch with his right, two with his left and in the 90th minute of the game ended 43 years of hurt for West Ham United.
Amazing and unbelievable: West Ham have won the UEFA Conference League beating Fiorentina 2-1 in the final in Prague!
Final !!!
The day has come: on Wednesday West Ham play in their first major European final in 47 years and could win an other European Cup tonight, 58 years after their win of the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1965 and 43 years on from their last trophy, the FA Cup 1980.
When West Ham won their only European Cup back in May 1965 with a 2-0 win over 1860 München, more than 97,000 supporters were inside Wembley Stadium for the final. The Hammers won 2-0 thanks to a brace from Alan Sealey.
Brian Dear was one of the players who were on the pitch that night and he will be in the stadium in Prague on Wednesday when a new generation of West Ham players will attempt to emulate the heroes of 1965.
Comparing the current West Ham side with the boys of 1965 is to see how much the footballing world has changed. All 11 members of Ron Greenwood’s side of 1965 were English, and nine of them were homegrown players from the club’s academy. Despite West Ham’s Club captain Declan Rice having come through West Ham’s “Academy of Football” which he joined as a 14-year-old, these times are long gone. The current squad consists of players from at least twelve or maybe even more different nationalities. However, three key players of the possible starting XI, Declan Rice, Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio, will be English – or more or less though, because Rice who was born in London played some games for the Irish team because of his grand parents being Irish, before switching his allegiance to England, and Michail Antonio now has seven caps for the Jamaican team since last year as he has decided to get a Jamaican passport and join the reggae boys to play internationally.
“I would love them to win it,” former European Cup winner Dear said of Wednesday’s Europa Conference League final against Fiorentina, talking to The Telegraph. “We had our day and we are still living off it. Hopefully they will be able to do the same thing, in a different stadium and a different era.”
The venue of this year’s final, the Eden Arena in Prague, is really a “different stadium” and the attendance will be much smaller than in 1965 as the stadium of Slavia Praha (the former club of West Ham players Tomas Soucek and Vladimir Coufal) holds under 20,000 seats.
It could easily have been filled with the travelling West Ham support alone. Reportedly more than twenty thousand have made the trip to Prague despite the Club having been allocated just 5000 tickets. Also my application for a ticket was not successful and I am staying back in Vienna. However, a big group of Austrian Irons has already touched down in Prague, albeit without match tickets. They have sent videos and photos showing that already on the day before the final, “West Ham are massive” was sung without ceasing in the Czech capital.
To channelize the surge of supporters a “Fan Meeting Point” for the West Ham fans has been established at Letná Park on the so-called “Kleinseite” of the Czech capital. This venue is open from 12 noon on Wednesday for pre-match celebrations with live entertainment, food and drinks to enjoy, and a public viewing of the match will be shown on multiple LED screens there for all Hammers supporters who are in Prague on matchday but have not got tickets for the game. From the Fan Meeting Point, the metro line A can be taken to the Eden Arena, but it is also possible to walk downhill.
As well as for West Ham, this final is an epoch-making event for their Italian opponents. Fiorentina are a historic club in Italy, but they have won much less than other clubs: two Scudetti, six Italian Cups, one Italian Super Cup a Cup Winners’ Cup, back in 1961, and a Mitropa Cup in 1965. The last trophy won was in 2001, a Coppa Italia. In this respect, they resemble West Ham, who won their only European competition in 1965 (the summer Intertoto Cup of 1999 does not count). The American owner of Fiorentina dreams of winning his first trophy after four years in Florence. Fiorentina lost this year’s Italian Cup final 1-2 to Inter Milan despite going ahead in the 3rd minute, and risk not to be qualified for Europe if they don’t win the Conference League final, also resembling West Ham in this regard.
The Telegraph writes that the final will be very tactical: “Fiorentina know that West Ham in Europe turn from Dr Jekyll to Mr Hyde, so they have the perception that it will be a very difficult game. At the same time Fiorentina play only one way, based on intensity and ball possession. They cannot change. It often produces more possession than goals. The defence are prone to individual mistakes in every game: everything will depend on the ability of the West Ham strikers to exploit them.”
So there’s hope that the Hammers will rise to the occasion and go all way to win the final, but it will be a tough contest in Prague, that’s for sure. After 43 years of hurt in which the Hammers have not won a major trophy, is it possible that Declan Rice tonight will become the first Hammers captain since Bobby Moore and Billy Bonds to lift a Cup and end the long wait for silverware?
“There’s a chance to create a legacy where everyone involved will be remembered for ever,” Rice said.
West Ham manager David Moyes who has twice saved the Irons from relegation and then qualified for Europe in two consecutive seasons would be only the third West Ham manager who has won mayor trophies, following Ron Greenwood and John Lyall. He then would be named together with these West Ham legends, though he had to fear to be sacked just two months ago because of West Ham‘s dismal Premier League campaign. But he saved his job with a 1-0 away win at Fulham by the beginning of April, a 2-2 draw with Arsenal, a 4-0 away victory at Bournemouth and finally a 1-0 win at London Stadium against Manchester United.
Kick-off is at 9 p.m. I will watch the game at the “Tube Station” in Vienna, home of the Austrian supporters club, “Austrian Irons”. I’m sure it will be packed despite many of the guests who usually watch West Ham’s games here will not be in tonight, having travelled to be there in Prague together with more than 20,000 supporters when their beloved Hammers try to make history.
Just this once let’s hope fortune is not always hiding! Come on you Irons!
WHU’s nine + 1 major finals
We’re just days – and soon just hours – away from West Ham’s first major European final in 47 years and the claret & blue army is on the way to Prague. To shorten the wait, let’s take a look back at the other big finals the Hammers have played in so far:
West Ham have so far played in nine major finals, beginning with the “White horse final”, the first FA Cup final at Wembley in 1923. West Ham lost this game 0-2 to Bolton Wanderers, but they won their two following finals in 1964 (FA Cup: WHU v Preston North End 3-2) and 1965 (European Cup Winners’ Cup: WHU v 1860 München 2-0).
The Hammers then played in the last two-legged League Cup final in 1966. They won the first leg 2-1, but lost the second leg to West Bromwich Albion 1-4.
Back to winning ways the Irons got in 1975 (FA Cup: WHU v Fulham 2-0).
Then they lost the European final of the Cup Winners‘ Cup 2-4 one year later, 1976, against Anderlecht in Brussels.
In 1980 West Ham beat Arsenal 1-0 to win the FA Cup, and one year later, in 1981, they played again at Wembley in the League Cup final against Liverpool. The final first ended 1-1 and therefore a replay took place according to the rules of the game at this time. The Hammers unfortunately lost the replay 1-2.
Then it took 25 years to reach a domestic Cup final again: The latest English FA Cup final the Hammers played in was the 2006 final against Liverpool. The Irons played in white shirts and shorts and lost to Liverpool in a penalty shootout after having drawn 3-3.
On 7 June 2023 in Prague it will therefore be West Ham’s tenth major final. And it hopefully will be their fifth win!
Mit „blauem Auge“ in den Sommer
Wie die Hammers am letzten Weekend verlor auch der SK Rapid an diesem Wochenende sein letztes Meisterschaftsspiel mit 1:2. Da die Austria aber zeitgleich nur 1:1 gegen Salzburg spielte, kurz vor Schluss noch eine Riesen-Siegeschance vergab und mit minus drei Punkten in die Saison hatte starten müssen, bleiben die Grün-Weißen auf Platz 4 und ersparen sich das österreichische Europacup-Play-off. Sie starten dann am 10. August in die Conference League-Quali.
“Rapid mit blauem Auge in den Urlaub”, schrieb “Österreich”. Zufrieden kann man mit dieser Saison in Hütteldorf wirklich nicht sein, auch wenn Rapid die letzten sieben Heimspiele ungeschlagen geblieben ist und gegen Sturm zuletzt 3:2 gewonnen hat.
Es kann nur besser werden … muss es aber auch, wenn man wieder in eine Europacup-Gruppenphase will!
On the way to Prague …
… or at least to The Tube Station, Vienna
▶️ “We all follow the West Ham, over Land and Sea” – Prague, Eden Arena / Letná Park
▶️ http://www.thetubestation.at – Vienna, Löwengasse 51
EXTRA TIME 
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