West Ham supporters have come together to back this year’s annual Christmas Toy Appeal.

The Irons Supporting Foodbanks group has provided support to the campaign, donating new sports equipment, trainers, football boots and clothing by the score, thanks to links with the club’s kit sponsor Umbro.

The Kevin Jenkins OBE Newham Christmas Toy Appeal is run by Ambition, Aspire, Achieve (AAA) in conjunction with the Recorder and supported by Community Links.

John Ratomski, from Irons Supporting Foodbanks, said the group was thrilled to get behind this year’s appealand said: “Thanks to a generous donation from our friends at Umbro, we have got off to a flying start.

“We’re sure we’ll be supporting the appeal even more over the coming weeks. No one wants to see a needy child go without at Christmas.”

John handed over the goodies to Candy Buckler from AAA at the charity’s Terence Brown Arc In The Park in Canning Town.

To donate to Colin’s fundraiser, visit https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/colin-grainger-3?

The Toy appeal now in its 44th has been renamed after its founder Kevin Jenkins who was a big West Ham fan but sadly passed away earlier this year.

Stuart Pearce has dropped a Jesse Lingard hint, insisting that the attacking midfielder will be in demand in the summer.

The Manchester United playmaker’s contract is set to expire at the end of the season.

There have naturally been suggestions that the Hammers could go for him in January, but it seems certain that there will be a race to sign him in the summer on a free transfer.

Pearce believes that there will be a number of clubs chasing him, and has dropped something of a hint that the Hammers will be in the race.

Of course, Lingard enjoyed an incredibly productive loan spell at the London Stadium last season, leading to him earning a recall to the England team ahead of Euro 2020, although he did not make the cut for the final squad.

He has struggled since his return to United, though, and has yet to make a Premier League start.

Speaking on talkSPORT, Pearce said: “I think Jesse, from what he showed last year, will be linked with varying clubs and there’s no doubt about that.

“The frustrating thing for him is that he came to us, played really well and managed to get himself back into the England fold again. 

“He’s dropped out of it at the moment and dropped out of the England fold as well.

“From his point of view, I’m sure he will be looking at the World Cup in less than a year’s time and thinking what do I have to do and where do I have to play my football.

“All we know is he’s a United player at the moment, I think he’s out of contract next summer and I’m sure he’ll have one or two suitors.

“He did himself no harm coming to us when he did and the form he showed.”

West Ham are understood to be one of a number of Premier League clubs opposed with some of the recommendations made in the fan led review of football which was published last week by MP Tracey Crouch.

Premier League clubs will debate the 47 recommendations from the fan-led review into football this Friday;

Key recommendations of an independent regulator for football as well as a 10 per cent tax on Premier League transfer are opposed by Premier League clubs.

The Premier League’s position is that it is open in principle to an independent regulator as long as it operates within existing football structures.

The strength of feeling is very strong amongst clubs against a regulator and the 10 per cent tax.

Premier League owners and executives such as Christian Purslow and Steve Parrish are some of the names reportedly against.

So too is West Ham Vice-Chairman Karren Brady and former West Ham managing director Angus Kinnear now at Leeds who have since come out in opposition.

Anybody who disagrees that Manu Lanzini hasn’t earned the right to a starting place in the Hammers line-up for Chelsea on Saturday afternoon needs to look at the numbers supplied by the Argentine playmaker last night.

Indeed the go as close to bearing out the suggestion made here and elsewhere that were he to have started rather than Benrahma we may have had a comfortable winning performance.

Per Hammers News via Dan Woffenden the stats on Twitter show that in the relatively short time he was on the pitch he was probably the most effective Hammer on view.

And as a result there will be a lot of head scratching should David Moyes stick with the misfiring Benrahma for a match of crucial importance.

Wolfenden claims his game by numbers showed a  94.1% pass accuracy,  10 final third passes attempted 9 final third passes completed,  4 take-ons attempted 3 take-ons completed, 1 foul won .

Yesterday’s VAR decision over West Ham’s disallowed goal confused many supporters including the match officials it seems who first said they were checking for a possible foul then for a possible offside infringement.

The decision seemed to take forever indicating that even officials struggled . Maybe there should be a time limit on difficult decisions if the original decision should stand.

The first to take into account is the two player rule, where the keeper and an outfield player must be in front of an opposition player so Antonio was technically offside however as the ball was knocked onto Michail Antonio from a Brighton player it was thought that would make him onside.

VAR officials went back to when the ball was first touched by Craig Dawson so before the ball hits the Brighton player and at that particular point Antonio was judged to be offside using the two player rule.

There could be argument as to whether Antonio affected the movement of the ball when he brushed his shin, many supporters say no but match officials said yes hence the goal was ruled out.

Silly I know but the letter of the law.

By Sean Whetstone

If you read some comments from West Ham fans on social media last night you would be forgiven to have concluded we lost the game or are facing relegation.

There was a predictable meltdown on Twitter after the late equaliser dropped two points for the Hammers.

Just a reminder…..

We remain fourth placed in the Premier League table in a Champions League spot.

We have already won out Europa League group with one game to spare and are in the last 16 of the Europa League competition, we have a realistic chance of reaching the final and perhaps winning it and qualifying for the Champions League football next season.

We remain in the League Cup facing Spurs in the quarter finals this month after knocking out Manchester City and Manchester City in previous rounds.

We have yet to start our FA cup campaign but no reason we cannot proceed well in that cup competition too.

Thomas Tuchel has admitted that he is worried about the injury sustained by Chelsea defender Trevoh Chalobah against Watford in midweek.

The Blues were given an almighty scare by the Hornets but eventually managed to grind out a 2-1 win.

Chalobah was forced off the pitch with a hamstring injury and the Chelsea boss has now admitted that he remains concerned about his injury issue.

The 22-year-old has become a first-team regular under the German manager this season, making 14 appearances in all competitions and even scoring three goals.

A former England U21 international, eight of those starts have come in the Premier League, and he has played in all three of their last three games, against Leicester, Manchester United, and the Hornets.

And Tuchel has confirmed his anxiety over the potential prognosis for the 22-year-old.

Speaking after the Watford game, as per the London Evening Standard, Tuchel said: “The most worried I am is about the injury for Trevoh Chalobah.

“It’s a big loss from Trev. I’m a bit worried.”

Chelsea remained top of the league after their win over Watford, one point ahead of Manchester City.

Sadly the dubious Michail Antonio conspiracy theories have started already on some forums!

The truth is of course that he is simply  out of form – it happens but I became a little irritated this morning by suggestions that he may be saving himself for Jamaica.

The theory goes that he has the chance of appearing in his one and only World Cup and as a result is protecting himself from harm in the Premier League.

It’s helped by the fact he scored a brilliant goal in the qualifier against the USA and hasn’t sparked in the PL since returning.

By protecting himself from any injuries on behalf of Jamaica the No 9 will be doing his chances of landing a half decent new deal with the Irons no good at all.

Beyond that Mikey Antonio is one of the most whole hearted players I’ve ever seen and it simply isn’t part of his psyche to take it easy on himself.

Also let’s remember if he’s not doing the biz for us he puts his World Cup qualification hopes with Jamaica in jeopardy.

So come on you guys who jump to these conclusions – give the guy a break. He’s suffering a form loss. End of!

Last night’s game  at the London Stadium was not without its troubles with arrests, homophobic chanting, a smoke bomb thrown on the pitch and missiles thrown also after Brighton’s goal.

Despite the Brighton game being  designated a Rainbow Laces promotion campaign game, West Ham fans close to away supporters continued to sing homophobic chants against the Seagulls fans.

The game featured a Rainbow Laces ball plinth, handshake board, substitutes’ board and corner flags, as well as the LED perimeter boards at the stadium highlighting the campaign. There was a rainbow armband for our captain, rainbow laces in the players’ boots and pin badges on David Moyes and his coaching staffs’ training jackets to let everyone show their support.

The pre-match light show had a Rainbow Laces theme, mascots Hammerhead and Supporter Liaison Officers (SLOs) worn a rainbow armband and rainbow lanyards respectively. The big screens and Official Programme also feature Rainbow Laces graphics and images, further illustrating our support for the campaign.

It was, therefore, disappointing that, after all that effort, uneducated fans decided to sign a chant that discriminates against the LGBT+ community.

The game also saw several arrests with one fans led away in handcuffs in front of away fans while Brighton fans threw a smoke bomb on the pitch after they equalised and a West Ham fan disappointedly threw a missile in the opposite direction.