Don't believe all you read in the papers: Mail's Allardyce "exclusive" isn't.

Newspapers really do love printing rubbish when it comes to football rumours, don't they? In January, we had the Mail, the Sun and the Mirror all at fault for publishing "exclusives" over the future of Hammers midfielder Mohammed Diame which all, ultimately, turned out to be completely untrue; now, it appears that West Ham manager Sam Allardyce is the figure of choice for papers to spread entirely unfounded rumours about.

This time, it is every Iron's favourite quality daily the Mail which have made a bish of sorts. The paper's "EXCLUSIVE" looks, to be frank, a little suspect. Allow me to explain. The "story" is that the Hammers hierarchy are going back on what they originally said in regard to Allardyce's contract and are, in fact, opening talks over a new contract this week after recent rumours linking former Irons Paolo Di Canio and Harry Redknapp to the job at the end of the season. This, despite months of statements from co-chairman David Gold that no negotiations would begin until the end of the season. Fair enough though, maybe the Mail knows something that the man in the street doesn't.

However, this would be an incredible feat of investigative journalism indeed, given that Gold's co-chairman David Sullivan has been widely quoted in the press this morning, notably the Sun as saying that "at the end of the season, we will sit down with Sam. If he is reasonable in his demands and wants to stay, he will stay."

Now, contract negotiations in the football world are a secretive business and there is often a whole sub-plot of smoke and mirrors, but from where the Mail has gleaned the knowledge that what the Hammers chairmen have been saying for months and what one of them re-iterated only this morning is false, I'd truly love to know.

Just business as usual on Fleet Street I guess...

By Alex Shilling, News Editor

@alexshilling