Friday, September 26

What doesn't kill me only makes me stronger

Another day another disaster. Carlton Cole has been arrested for drink-driving, being stopped by the Old Bill on Tuesday night at 4.30am, just three days after Zola was talking about him playing for England.

Zola claims that Cole is now a different, more mature player to the one he was at Chelsea, but that he will “have to learn to look after his body”. And also, presumably, that drink-driving risks killing innocent people.

Meanwhile Dean Ashton, having injured himself in training on Zola's first day, is now having an operation on his dodgy ankle. It’s interesting that one of the “sources” close to the club dissed Curbs to the press for wanting to accept Spurs’ £18 million offer for Ashton. He’s a great player, but maybe Curbishley realised his fitness was more of an issue than we thought.

Oh, and Sheffield United players might also sue us for loss of earnings on top of the £30 million the club wants. Zola is right when he says that not even Maradona could win a game on his own and such rulings endanger the future of all competitive sport.

But perhaps strength comes through adversity. As Nietzsche, whoever he played for, once said: “What doesn’t kill me only makes me stronger.”

We are West Ham and we’ve been through the dark days at Rotherham. We came back to reach the Premiership and the Cup Final and we can do so again.

At times like this it’s appropriate to draw consolation from the greatest ever Doctor Who story Genesis of the Daleks:

“We are entombed but we live on! This is only the beginning! We will prepare! We will grow stronger! When the time is right we will emerge and take our rightful place as the supreme power in the Universe!!!”

And maybe even make the fourth round of the Carling Cup.

No comments: