markybwoi 2:06 Mon Aug 25
2003 Season
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I've been watching the DVD of the 2003 season when we got relegated, seeing the first team we had I genuinely can't get over how we got relegated. I was only 11 at the time so can't remember it too well (DVD only shows the wins) so was just wondering from anyone who can remember why we actually got relegated?
Poor Manager?
Poor Goalie?
Poor Defence?
Chances not being taken?
Chances not being created?
Players not wanting to try for the manager?
Thanks for any opinions on what went wrong.
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Replies - Newest Posts First ( Show In Chronological Order)
ChesterRd
11:44 Mon Aug 25
Re: 2003 Season
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And how nice to see Tel The Fan back in the posh seats....
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Mad Dog
10:10 Mon Aug 25
Re: 2003 Season
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I take it man u, sp*rs, arsenal, Liverpool etc are due their "turn" soon then
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Eddie B
10:03 Mon Aug 25
Re: 2003 Season
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Don't know what everyone is moaning about, Terry Brown said it was our turn to go down. Simples.
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dicksie3
4:21 Mon Aug 25
Re: 2003 Season
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Getting by 'on the cheap' is so fucking typical of us though...
The fans can always sense danger or doom and gloom around the corner...
The board and the pencil-necked rat-faced cunt thought that because we'd finished 7th; we had nothing to fear and could finish mid-table again the following year...
We let loads of squad players go and, when we got injuries and suspensions, we had no quality replacements...
It's like last summer, 2013, with the forward position... The arrogant walrus cunt actually laughed when asked if he needed to buy cover for Carroll... He insisted that Maiga could cover until Carroll returned in early September (which never happened, obviously)...
When that transfer-window closed last season I was so fucking angry and our manager and board tried to sugar-coat it and insist that everything would be alright... We could so easily have gone down last season without a mini decent run-of-form in February time when we fluked a few wins...
Still, we did learn this summer though and made some good signings and our squad is definitely stronger than last season... I think that we'll land a couple of decent loan buys as well still... Micah Richards would be fucking awesome for a start...
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riosleftsock
4:14 Mon Aug 25
Re: 2003 Season
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Can't we get some locals to fly some radio-controlle planes into them?
Like a sort of re-enactment/tribute act?
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dicksie3
4:10 Mon Aug 25
Re: 2003 Season
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When Harry left, Roeder was appointed, and the new Lego towers went up, that killed a part of West Ham for me. Before then it was like a completely different football club."
THE DRUIDS fucking love those Lego towers though!...
I'd love to be the bloke to push the button to knock those embarrassing cunt things down!...
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REALGSA
4:06 Mon Aug 25
Re: 2003 Season
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We have never been the same since we went down back then
Pardew done very well, then Iceland went bankrupt, the odds, when we get billionaire owners the World goes into fucking recession
Lets hope Qatar doesn't run out of oil by the time we get into the Olympic Stadium
They already own E20 except the stadium and a football club!!!
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inconsistant fc
4:05 Mon Aug 25
Re: 2003 Season
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"In defence of Roeder though, he was messed about significantly by the left back he thought he'd signed on a Bosman from Newcastle (name I can't remember)..."
That was Olivier Bernard, IIRC. He eventually ended up at Newcastle.
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mallard
4:03 Mon Aug 25
Re: 2003 Season
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Giving the captain's armband to a 21 year old still baffles me!
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inconsistant fc
3:59 Mon Aug 25
Re: 2003 Season
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A culmination of those things really. An awful start didn't help and I reckon it might have been different if we'd beaten Arsenal from being 2-0 up and Kanoute missing a penalty at 2-1.
The transfer window fucked us a bit, but Roeder/the board should've ensured we had enough players brought in. By the time we signed Brevett and Les Ferdinand it was too late really. Roeder and Di Canio falling out didn't help us either and I still feel that Roeder should have put differences aside and played him a bit more as he had the ability to win us football matches.
The defence was a massive problem- Repka and Dailly were just awful for the most part (particularly Dailly) and Breen was even worse when he played. Johnson, although young at the time, should probably have been thrown in earlier and we needed a left back but couldn't sign Brevett until Jan (as mentioned) and, at that time, Premier League clubs weren't allowed to loan players from other top flight clubs. Schemmel's meltdown was a bit of a bizarre situation as well, particularly as he'd been excellent the previous season. I don't think you can really apportion much blame to David James as he had to play behind that shit most weeks.
Really though, with the attacking players we had, there is no way the club should have been anywhere near a relegation battle and having to play Ian Pearce- a centre half- as a striker. Ultimately, the manager has to take responsibility for that. This was painfully obvious when Brooking came in following Roeder's unfortunate illness, and nearly kept us up. Playing 3 up front in a few games too.
Other issues included Sinclair having a disappointing season after coming back from the World Cup and all the other teams around us picking up points and going on runs with an abysmal Sunderland side getting turned over by everybody and being an easy 3 points. Failing to beat Bolton or Birmingham at all over the season tells its own story.
That's how I saw it anyway. One of the worst and most crushing seasons in our history, IMO.
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Mad Dog
3:17 Mon Aug 25
Re: 2003 Season
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1 terry brown
2 glen roeder
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i-Ron
3:09 Mon Aug 25
Re: 2003 Season
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I remember once being on here and actually posting positively to Ian Pearce going up front just because we were that bad in the final third.
Terrible football. Terrible manager. I think the board thought we could just get by.
When Harry left, Roeder was appointed, and the new Lego towers went up, that killed a part of West Ham for me. Before then it was like a completely different football club.
I still don't think we've ever fully recovered from it, although the iclandics probably take more blame for the money situation.
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,
3:05 Mon Aug 25
Re: 2003 Season
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Ian Pearce was way below CFC as a centre forward.
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JustAFatKevinDavies
3:04 Mon Aug 25
Re: 2003 Season
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i convinced kaka to get todorov on the back of his shirt
didnt work out to well for him
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i-Ron
3:02 Mon Aug 25
Re: 2003 Season
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After the first season with Roeder I didn't renew because I didn't like him or they way we were being run. What a decision.
I think it was the first season where the transfer windows were in place.
He sold Todorov, and didn't replace him. Todorov ended up scoring 20 odd for Portsmouth and won promotion.
He failed to address the problem with Winterburn. Partly because he'd wasted his money on Labant I don't know.
We didn't have enough in depth up front, left wing, central midfield, or in defence.
We tried to get by on the cheap, and it backfired.
Everyone will still blame Kanoute's penalty miss though.
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dicksie3
2:53 Mon Aug 25
Re: 2003 Season
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We hardly spent a penny in summer 2002 after finishing an impressive 7th in 01/02...
Injuries, suspensions and fall-outs didn't help but we needed to get more quality players in still - we were asking for trouble...
Players like Repka, who had Champions League experience with Fiorentina, and Schemmel - one of the best right-backs in the league the previous season - couldn't have performed much worse though... It was just shocking... We had very talented youngsters but not enough cultured, experienced pros with leadership qualities to ride-through the storms; instead we capsized and sunk - and everyone died...
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Darby_
2:44 Mon Aug 25
Re: 2003 Season
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Terry Brown telling us that we had to tighten our belts while the board gave themselves a pay rise AND another backdated pay rise.
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Paulie Cashews
2:41 Mon Aug 25
Re: 2003 Season
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I think 2003 was the perfect storm for us , we had a lot of talented young players but as is usual this wasn't backed up with a strong squad , as a previous poster has said , if Kanoute puts that penalty away , we beat Arsenal and it would have been a different season , In 2004 we would have signed Drogba and the Like of Cole , Defoe , Johnson Carrick and maybe Kanoute would have stayed..
I think we were hit by injuries to Kanoute who was out for months , Di Canio had a fall out with Roeder and Winterburn's Legs went, Schemmel turned to shit and Roeder had no idea how to turn the tide..
I remember at the start of the season Houllier being asked if there was any team that we should look out for ... He said he fancied West Ham to surprise everyone ... We certainly did that
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dicksie3
2:30 Mon Aug 25
Re: 2003 Season
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*Breen - fucking spell-checker cunt browser...
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dicksie3
2:29 Mon Aug 25
Re: 2003 Season
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I remember that useless cunt Gary Green being some way at fault for all 6 (SIX) of Man Utd's goals in our 6-0 FA Cup loss at Old Trafford...
That performance was possibly the worst that I've seen from an individual player at West Ham United... Should've been released the following day without even a goodbye or good luck... He was that shit...
Dailly and Repka did their best to fuck things up for us for most games that season though... A mighty good job they did as well...
How people rated Repka I never fucking know... £5.5m he cost in 2001... What a shit defender he was... Awful buy... That was a sizeable fee back then... Probably the equivalent of spending £12m on a centre-back now...
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David E
1:44 Mon Aug 25
Re: 2003 Season
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In Roeder's defence - and of course he should never have got the job - Di Canio was the source of a lot of difficulties. Picking up mysterious injuries, not pulling his weight in away games, having a troubled relationship with Kanoute. I was told about this personally before the season started, when we were all really happy having just finished 7th. The source was a West Ham legend who was closely involved with the club at that point.
I think David James in his autobiography also referred to a senior player causing massive problems. He didn't name him but described him in a way that could only have meant one person.
Ultimately though it comes down to the board not spending enough money to reinforce the squad at the start of the season, for which Brown had the sense to apologise in the programme notes for the last game. That, and the fact that Roeder made some stupid choices - recalling an unfit Kanoute to the team for the crucial match at Bolton being one glaring example.
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