Simon Roberts

Attacking Midfielder (L) - West Ham United
12 Nov 2035
Monday
Process

Marked for Simon Roberts

470 Edition

The West Ham United Courier

30 Jul 2035
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Soungoutou Magassa

15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. West Ham United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at West Ham United

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Market

Keiber Lamadrid is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at West Ham United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Market

Preston Fearon hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what West Ham United can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Tempers go at West Ham United

Ethan Nwaneri was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Words at West Ham United training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jarrod Bowen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

In brief

  • Squad Simon Roberts is a better footballer than he was
  • Market Ângelo wants European nights
  • Market Brighton are about to pick up the phone
Back issues
421 Edition

The West Ham United Courier

21 Aug 2034
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Nowhere to hide for West Ham United

0‑3 against Arsenal, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.

Market

West Ham United turn down Milton Keynes Dons for Aaron Wan-Bissaka

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Rento Takaoka asks to leave West Ham United

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Only the photograph left for Keiber Lamadrid

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Keiber Lamadrid will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around West Ham United the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Market

Kwame Poku’s move to Plymouth Argyle falls through

The deal that would have taken Kwame Poku to Plymouth Argyle has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to West Ham United with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.

Match

5 matches without a win for West Ham United

The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around West Ham United are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Tempers go at West Ham United

Ethan Nwaneri was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Ezra Mayers falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Squad

A move Simon Roberts would have made for nothing

There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Simon Roberts is living that version at West Ham United, and it tends to show in the first month.

In brief