Mark Haley

Jack, my best wishes for successful surgery today and a speedy recovery. Mark Haley

Just wondering what impact the corset JFK was wearing would have on the measurements of the shirt. The existence of the 'back brace' (see link below) suggests to me JFK would be wearing a slightly larger shirt than he would normally otherwise require http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1287783/posts

The Daily Mail have run with the story today. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1381431/Marilyn-Monroe-visited-Frank-Sinatras-retreat-night-died.html

My first thought was it looked very similar to the opening of the 'Watchmen' film and was expecting to see the 'Comedian' appear in front of the fence. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v34hQQz7GvY 2m 25sec

More clubs than usual are in for a tense few weeks by the looks of things down at the foot of the table. You could realistically argue that even Sunderland up in 9th place are still looking over their shoulders. The gap is only 6 points. A couple of wins is all it takes to jump up several places. Usually at least one team has been cut adrift by this stage of the season. That hasn't happened this time around. It seems everybody has evrything to play for. So, who's for the high jump ? From what I've seen over the season I think Wolves, Birmingham and West Ham will have enough to pull away from the trap door (though West ham will contrive a way to give us all kittens). Wigan and their cut up swamp of a pitch would be no great loss to the Premier League but it's very difficult to see who'll accompany them into oblivion Blackpool have several home games in hand but will have to show a significant improvement on their own patch if they're going to survive. Apparently the atmosphere is somewhat poisonous at Villa Park right now. It would be a major surprise if Villa find themselves dragged under but at this point of the season a good team spirit is vital Finally I felt the new owners at Blackburn were mad to fire 'Fat Sam' when they did. His replacement is a novice who I think will struggle to cope. My prediction ... gulp ... I'm going for Blackpool Blackburn and Wigan

I was merely pointing out that Hill wasn't stationary when he began his attempt to catch up with JFK's car.

Just bear in mind Hill is actually already moving at whatever speed the follow up car was travelling at. For arguments sake, let's say the follow up car was roughly matching the speed of the President's Limo. If so, Hill was already travelling at 9 mph + before he even started running.

A very pleasant trip down to Upton Park for a change. Maybe it was the couple of pints with various other Haleys in the Black Lion before the game that put me in a relaxed mood but I sat back into my seat quietly confident. For a while it looked misplaced as Burnley seemed far the more likely to score in the first 20 minutes. Green made a couple of decent saves to keep things level. Hitzelberger changed all that with an excellent 25 yard debut strike that swerved a couple of times en route to the back of the net. I'd been one of the fortunate ones who saw him play pre-season before (in typical West Ham new signing fashion) he injured himself without actually playing a competitive game. After that there was really only one team in it, especially following a quick double from Carlton Cole after the break. The first goal was as comical as the second was sublime. A bit like West Ham this season. Winston Reid garnered some much needed confidence from this performance, especially when he met an excellent Hitzelberger near post corner to flash a header past the Burnley keeper to make it 4-0. After that it seemed West Ham would content themselves with passing the ball around for the last half an hour. At times it was difficult to see Burnley even touching the ball, let alone scoring. Inevitably that's precisely what happened. Bridge got himself in a muddle and passed the ball back to Green when he would've been wiser to hoof it into Row Z. Green duly punted the ball straight into a Burnley forward, the ricochet went to another forward who duly headed into the empty net. Only West Ham... That briefly gave Burnley a bit of heart and their substitute very nearly pulled another goal back before Reid appeared on the goal line to miraculously head the ball up against the bar, then post... back into Green's arms. It must have been a bit of a choker as Freddie Sears raced away up the other end linking up with Piqionne, then Spector before bursting into the box to finish the game off with a 5th. Personally I'm delighted Grant has managed to find a position for him out on the right. After such a promising start Sears had endured an alarming goal famine lasting a couple of years but, after a decent spell down at Scunny, has finally started to fulfill his potential weighing in with a couple of goals. Good for him. Meanwhile Avram Grant seems to have decided the "we'll score more than you" approach is the way to go for the rest of the season. Whether West Ham stay up or not I'm expecting quite a few goals to fly in - for and against.

Blimey !

Well... I'm sat here enduring an extraordinary first half at West Ham. Currently 3-0, it should actually be 6-2 ( sorry 6-3, O'Neill just hit the bar) If I had to settle for one word to sum up what I'm witnessing I'd probably go with 'appalling'. It's one of the most inept, clueless displays of defending I've seen in 6 decades - and that's saying something. The board clearly can't afford to sack him but Grant should be placed on 'gardening leave' immediately - and I mean immediately. he shouldn't even make it to the tunnel - and literally anybody put in temporarily as caretaker manager until the end of the season. Whoever they promoted couldn't possibly do any worse.

Well... that's torn it !

That was a poor decision substituting Sears near the end against Everton. It left us with nobody up front to compete for the ball and invited Everton to press forward at will. 2 points lost.

It really is awful how Avram Grant has been treated the last few weeks. He's been seriously undermined yet the team goes into the 2nd leg of League Cup a goal up and also put a reasonable enough run together to keep us within touching distance of the teams in the relegation mire. Until the defeat at home to Arsenal only Man Utd had a better record over the last month... Martin O'Neill is no doubt lined up to take over and is probably our best chance at avoiding relegation. However, he must surely be aware of the abysmal treatment Grant has received and I for one wouldn't blame him if he passed on the opportunity of stepping into this particular minefield.

They used to have 'guess your age' booths at the fairground/carnival. At least I think they did. Perhaps I'm imagining it? I'd be really embarrased if Illunga and I went over, only to find their isn't one there ;-)

One of the 'comments' below the article is actually very critical. 'Warimashi' claims that Dupree was "never actually tried on the rape charge" and that "every detail of the story is wrong"...

I've been finding it hard to sit down and type anything here lately. My most recent trip down to East Ham was for the visit of WBA which fizzled out like a damp squib. Scott Parker did connect with a long range effort to level the scores, then an early 2nd half penalty seemed to have put us in the driving seat again. Cue, everybody falling back into defense inviting the opposition on. West Brom duly equalised with a free header which just about everybody (but the West Ham defence) saw coming. So 2-2 and another 2 points wriggled out of our grasps. What's inspired me to write tonight? Well, according to the Evening Standard, Upton Park is to be sold to a supermarket chain. This coming on the back of Boris Johnson backing the decision to let Spurs re-develop White Hart Lane seems to suggest that West Ham are Olympic Stadium bound. I suspect I might not be the only 'old timer' (I've been going to the Boleyn off and on since 1966) who's not sorry that we'll be saying farewell to Upton Park. For those of us who remember some of the memorable nights under the floodlights, the Stadium has become a lopsided, lifeless theatre which I'll be glad to see the back of. I suspect I'm not the only one. One concern is that the Olympic running track will be retained. Well, I was sat in the west stand the other night and that has somehow ended up miles away from the action. I used to love standing in the chicken run with my Dad. You were literally on top of the players. It was an intimidating atmosphere for the visiting team (and occasionally for some of our own players). Right now I'm thinking of Leroy Rosenior scoring 2 goals against Chelsea in a 4-1 win that prevented relegation. George Parris's cannonball shot in the last minute against Watford. The roar from the crowd was like Concorde whizzing overhead. I'm trying to think of recent games where the atmosphere has even come close. Ipswich in the play offs was good but after that I'm struggling... Nope, I'm looking forward to seeing West Ham in a new home. Hopefully it will be easier to get to, there's the potential for really big crowds and maybe we'll get some atmosphere going again. Maybe...

Meanwhile... here we are a month on and it seems to be a case of 1 step forward, 2 steps back, step sideways, go to step forward, hesitate, after you, no after you... The performance against Newcastle was an almighty step back - all the way back to the Wolves debacle last season. Our inability to pass the ball to another West Ham shirt in the second half was literally breath-taking. Since then there's been a bit of progression. We've progressedin the League Cup and put up a much better fist of it at Arsenal. Now, we're being told that Grant has 3 days to save his job. I'm hoping that is just paper talk as I've never believed chopping and changing the manager is good practise. Talking of 'short term thinking', I'll be down for the West Brom game next week. Having paid £30 for Academy membership which entitled me to a half price ticket (£27) it's a little bit galling to see tickets now available for £15. I'm sure season ticket holders aren't exactly thrilled either... No matter, like a lot of other people I simply won't bother renewing next season and go along cheap when I feel like it. Happy now fellas ?

Yes Duncan. I've just taken another good look at the Jeffries clip. JFK seems to make 2 waving gestures very quickly. The first at around 22 seconds (which I managed to freeze frame after several attempts) then very quickly again at 23 seconds. I'm inclined to think after the first wave he does appear to put his left fingers around his right hand. After the second wave... to be honest, I'd just be guessing.

I've had a good look at the Jeffries clip that Duncan has posted above. Might JFK possibly be putting his left fingers around his right hand which is resting on the side of the car rather than balling it into a fist ? There's an indication of that at 22 seconds

I looked at your animation last night Bob. For some reason I can't see it today? My original impression at the time though was, at frame 139, JFK's fingers seemed to be slightly bunched and not quite as far back as his hairline. It's almost as if he was 'picking' at something. Whenever I 'brush' my hair back my fingers are straight and the motion includes going all the way back behind my ear. I'm sure Kennedy brushed his hair back numerous times that day. He was travelling in a open top car after all, but at frame 139 I would agree he seems to be doing something slightly different.

Things are definitely looking up. A decent, hard earned draw at Stoke followed by an away win in the League Cup at Sunderland. Plus a little bonus of debut goals for Piquionne and Obinna. A little gap in the clouds appearing...

I went along to the Chelsea game on Saturday without any great expectations. For once I sat at the right end (or wrong end ?) as I had a good view of 3 of the goals scored. I also had a great view of Piquionne's miss from about yard. More of that later. I don't know if I've mellowed with age but the verbal abuse that Drogba received when he trotted over to take an early corner seemed a bit unneccesary. He had the last laugh when Essian got on the end of his cross to give Chelsea an early lead. Worse was to quickly follow when Drogba ignored more verbal onslaughts to fire in a dipping free kick which Green fumbled. Upson inexplicably kicked the rebound against Malouda which sent the ball looping over Green to make it 2-0. Upson had time to clear the ball anywhere other than where he did. It really is alarming how West Ham have contrived to give the opposition headstarts in recent times. Nobody ever seems to return the favour ... From then on West Ham did manage to rally a bit and for long periods of the game were certainly a match for Chelsea, although they could have gone further ahead when Mikel hit the bar as Green looked on rooted to the spot. I really don't know if Cole was offside or not just before half time but it was a well worked move which he finished off nicely only for the lino to raise his flag. If we'd gone in 1-2 it would have been a big lift. As it was in the second half Chelsea were content to sit back as West Ham buzzed around without ever looking like scoring. When Chelsea did eventually press forward Green produced a couple of outstanding saves to keep the lead down to just 2. Finally Essian got on the end of a good cross to make it 3-0 and that really should have been that... but West Ham heads didn't drop and Parker pulled one back with a deft lob from the edge of the area. Cue Piquionne's extraordinary miss on 90 minutes. From where I was sat Illunga's cross eluded everybody. Cole didn't get a touch, Cech was beaten and the ball was about to curl nicely into the back of the net when up popped Piquionne to head the ball up and onto the cross bar. 2-3 would have flattered West Ham at that point but as Everton showed earlier in the day flattery gets you everywhere. I wandered away from Upton Park feeling the team are beginning to get things together and will start to get some points on the board soon. At times they performed very well against a Chelsea side that are currently sweeping all before them. However, they've got to start games more brightly (Chelsea caught our defense cold early on ) and hopefully Green's second half display will restore his confidence. Hang in there everybody...

Green made several good saves but made a mistake with the first goal punching a cross that was going off for a goal kick. Downing was clearly offside but the referee and lino missed it Reid was given a roasting at right back by Villa's winger Albrighton. As far as I know he isn't a right back and did better the last quarter of an hour or so in the centre after Tomkins was substituted. Ilunga mediocre Tomkins had a very poor first half. Underhit a back pass (again) to Carew. Green managed to tackle him only for the ball to ricochet off Tomkins 20 yards against the post. Tomkins then gave the ball away again immediately and gave away a free kick near the edge of the box. It was actually comical... Upson: Not very impressive. I'm going to stop there... other than to say I counted 5 occasions Villa hit the woodwork. West Ham did have a reasonable spell just after half time and created a couple of chances. We already have several players out injured. Most notable among them was Hitzlsperger (up to 6 weeks) who was injured on International duty. In other words... same old same old.

McCarthy looked a little bit fitter than he did towards the end of last season, but that's not saying much. Sears seemed to be most effective when he drifted out on to the left wing. It's just possible he might make an impact out there. Up front I'm sorry to say he is too lightweight. Of course Sears did in fact score for Crystal Palace - against Bristol City. Unfortunately for him the Referee, Linesmen and 4th official were the only people in the entire stadium who hadn't realised his shot went into the net and back out again. I just hope he can find a goal from somewhere and maybe get his confidence back again. It's definitely 'make or break' for him. I suspect League One beckons... Meanwhile, Edgar and Montana were both very impressive. Thank you for your report. Did McCarthy look fit? I suspect it is too late for Freddie Sears. He did not score during his time at Crystal Palace and I suspect he will have to drop into the lower-leagues in order to get goals.

Fortunately for me West Ham began their pre-season just a stroll up the London Road at Peterborough United. A monsoon-esque downpour finally drifted away just before I had to set off. So, no umbrella required. The players came out on to the pitch in their new retro away kits (white with one claret and one light blue hoop) as worn by Noel Cantwell in 1960. Peterborough (the Posh) came out looking remarkably similar to Chelsea. Pre-season games are usually played in a good spirit. You're unlikely to see too many hefty challenges, though Mark Noble put in a couple of tasty tackles in the first half. West Ham took the lead following smart work by new signing Hitzlesperger. He slipped a left footed pass into the penalty area which Carlton Cole got on the end of to lift over the Keeper. Posh had a great chance to equalise when 2 players played a one - two down the right wing. The cross was perfect for Mikael-Smith who somehow headed wide from 6 yards.Ex-Hammer Grant McCann also fired in 2 excellent on target free kicks which Kuruckz did well to keep out. Half time brought quite a surprise with it. If someone had told me that Mike Tyson would appear on the pitch wearing a Posh shirt I'd have thought they'd lost their mind. Yet there he was with 'Tyson 1' printed on the back of his shirt. The second half saw a number of changes in the West Ham team. Benny McCarthy and Freddie Sears both got an extended run out as did James Tomkins and Kieron Dyer. Sears is definitely in the last chance saloon at West Ham. He literally has to start delivering this season or I can see him drifting away into lower league obscuity. Anyway, he eventually ended up doing quite well out on the left and even had a chance to score near the end. You can tell the crowd are desperate for him to succeed, unfortunately a loud chorus of groans went up when he shot over the bar. A suitably inspired Posh deservedly equalised with a simple free kick routine that caught the West Ham defence a bit flat footed. Hibbert got on the end of a low cross into the box and finished well firing the ball first time into the corner of the net. It took a while for the West Ham line up to gel. Hibbert got tangled up with Tomkins in the box and could easily of had a penalty but the Ref waved play on. Finally West Ham got themselves organised and it wasn't any surprise when we went 2-1 up. Edgar did well to create a bit of space for himself on the edge of the box and fired in a low left footer just inside the post. That turned out to be the winning goal though substitute Montana came on and nearly scored following an impressive burst of speed that took him clear. He rounded the keeper but his subsequent goal bound shot was blocked on the line. Posh had one final chance to equalise during injury time but headed well wide from a corner. A fairly decent start for West Ham who certainly look a bit more lively than last season. Posh look a decent side as well and look like they have a squad capable of challenging for promotion.