I took my seven year-old grandson to see West Ham on Saturday. When they announced the name of Anton Ferdinand in West Ham’s team against Southend, a section of the crowd booed. Alex, who proudly wears Ferdinand’s number on the back of his West Ham shirt, looked up at me with a puzzled expression on his face.
I know that Ferdinand’s behaviour last season left a lot to be desired. However, this attitude towards him seems very strange. As a teacher and parent of 35 years, I have always found that praising good behaviour is always more effective than criticising bad behaviour. I noticed at the end of the game, Ferdinand was the only player who came over to the West Ham crowd to sign autographs. Maybe it was his way of saying sorry. I would suggest we accept his apologies and get behind him for what could be an important season in the career of Anton Ferdinand.
You can see photographs of this incident here:
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/07WHferdinand.htm
I was very impressed with Ljungberg who linked effectively with the overlapping Lucas Neill. Bellamy's quickness off the mark regularly caused problems for Southend. He made runs all day and complained bitterly about not being found by his team-mates. Etherington and McCartney both received serious bollockings. Noble worked hard as always and Zamora led the line well. I thought Etherington was fairly poor but I don't expect him to play very much this season.
You can see the goals here:
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/07WHbellamy.htm
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