Is It Time For West Ham To Part Company With Sam Allardyce?
Since West Ham United returned to the Premier League many fans felt Sam Allardyce proved what he was capable of. However, now we have got back to the ‘holy land’, is now the time to part with him or stand by what he has to offer?
From the moment he joined Big Sam was fighting an uphill battle with many of the West Ham faithful, due to plenty of fans fearing he would take the ‘route one’ approach and we would lose our touch playing the ‘West Ham way’. But with good reason and a successful first season in the Npower Championship he restored all trust in the fans and winning us promotion and proving all the doubters wrong.
With every streak things have to come to an end (unless your Sir Alex Ferguson) however, in the modern day of football managers come and go so fast and any idea of loyalty, commitment and time are out of the window and I am sure many fans don’t want to see Big Sam one of the next few managerial casualties this season.
I personally feel as great as Big Sam has been for us and as much as I would love him to stay for at least two more seasons, I can’t help but crave for the day Paolo Di Canio takes over and puts his stamp on the club again. This is a view I’m sure thousands of other West Ham fans agree with.
By having Di Canio as manager we would go in a complete new direction as to what Big Sam has taken us in and I think that is a change that has to happen if not sooner, then at least later at some point.
As a player he won the heart of every Hammers fan, playing with passion, pride and a genuine love for the club that won a place in his heart still today – he even has his own box at the ground.
It is clear that we are the club that he wants to manage and he was even considered as an option before Big Sam was hired. But because of his lack of experience managing in English football (well football all together) he was told to get some experience and then in the future he would be considered a strong contender.
Since his career started as a manager he has had two fantastic seasons with Swindon Town, guiding them to a promotion in the 2011-12 finishing Champions of League 2. He also won a personal accolade, receiving the 2012 League 2 Manager of the Year award. Despite Swindon Town being 5th in League 1, the club and Di Canio parted ways.
Di Canio has so far been strongly linked with a move to Reading, but this was dismissed by Di Canio, creating more speculation he is being lined up for Big Sam’s replacement as he still hasn’t signed a new contract with the Hammers.
Although I am dying for Di Canio to be hired as manager I do feel that this should happen in 2 years time and not now because what Big Sam has/is accomplishing there is no need to change a formula that appears to be working and disrupting a squad and staff morale. If Di Canio can hold out for a couple more seasons and keep testing himself at lower levels or another Premier League club, there is no doubt he will be the next man to take charge at Upton Park (or the Olympic Stadium depending on the year) who knows that might just be the plan they have up their sleeves (David Gold and Sullivan that is).
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March 20th, 2013
sht football is sht football, whether it keeps you up or takes you down. there’s a fine line between up and down- give or take a fortunate win or dodgy penalty decision. … the underlying fact is we often (very often) struggle to put passes together. sometimes we are fantastic, devastating, a joy to watch… but not so often lately! its usually poor and embarrassing. .. we gave away the cups and any ambition of success this year, and if it wasnt for a decent start to the season we’d find ourselves in the relegation zone now. an awful run of results! … and don’t get me started on the money that’s been spent on Jarvis, Carroll, Chamakh, Maiga, Pogatetz with very little return on investment. someone’s accountable and it’s not me. i’m sure there are hundreds of candidates out there without premiership experience that could do a better job (on and off the field).
March 20th, 2013
Can’t believe the rubbish written in this article and the comments. I thought us Irons understood football. Sam has provided stability and some decent players (Nolan, Carrol, Cole etc). Form has suffered in the last few months in part due to injury. It’s a small squad, after all. Sam knows exactly what it takes to keep a club safe in the Prem and to push on for the top seven, even on a budget. He knows more about football in his little finger than you muppets here. Di Canio, the ignorant little fascist, was a magical player, but will very quickly be found out in top level management – too authoritarian. Works in the lower leagues, but that’s it. Huge risk to bring him to West Ham.
March 20th, 2013
Well said Mark!!!
Sometimes when I read a thread like this and I see some of the comments I really wonder if I’m missing something!
March 20th, 2013
Somehow it always seems that supporters think they know better then the managing staff and to be frank…out of all the football fans ive taked to over the years from different countries…british fans have to be the most fickle and have the biggest sense of entitlement ive ever seen. I mean no offense by it… Its just the way it is.
When most of our squad is championship level i dont know exactly what people expect. We spent nothing in January. At the moment we don’t even have a full, prem quality, starting 11 not to mention back-ups. We got players that could do a job in the championship and they did…they are also on course to keep us up in the first season back. Anything more needs a pretty significant overhaul of the team.
I have no doubt the owners and Sam want to reach a higher level but that means spending money. We shall see whether or not we keep AC…personally i’d like him to stay as imho he improves our game even if he is not a out and out goalscorer. We also got Diame who improved our squad, Jarvis who is looking better and better and i expect him to really come into his own next season. We signed J.Cole who fits the bill as an advanced playmaker. These were all good signings but at the moment we are still lacking quality in 4-5 positions. I am eager to see what we do transfer-wise come summer. It will reveal the level of ambition our board has.
If we can get the players Sam wants in and he cant improve on our league position then i’d have to question him. Personally i’d really like to see what he is capable of before passing judgement.
March 20th, 2013
Just two words: YES PLEASE
March 20th, 2013
when you say in a reply above “it shows how desperate we are to get rid of allardyce” … who exactly is the “we” you are referring to?? … because on all the polls i’ve seen that part of our fanbase that wants Sam out is actually a minority (the part that want Paolo in smaller still) … and that wont change just because that minority is loud-mouthed. Yet, somehow, some of you seem to think you speak in the name of the majority of WHU supporters.
March 20th, 2013
I think Sam needs to be given a two year deal,and a warchest of around 20 million plus whatever we can fetch for the dead wood at the club,and if progress is not being made by Jan 2014,show him the door,but he deserves a chance!
March 20th, 2013
what so he could go and buy kevin davies behave we should bring in slavan bilic if poss if notsomeone likeglen hoddle at least you would look forward to watching westham play at the moment painfull does not come close
March 20th, 2013
I have been going to most of the home games at Upton Park since 1971. I will not return to U.Park until Allardyce has gone. The crap players we are forced to watch; O’neil,Taylor,O’Brien,Pogatetz,Vaz Te,and the weekly passenger Nolan is too much to suffer. Along with Allardyce playing 3 centre halfs against Villa and taking Demel and Diame off against Spurs at 2-2,these are just a couple of examples of his incompetence. We slip closer to relegation with every game and I don’t see us taking many more points in the run in,though I hope I am wrong. Maybe bring in Di Canio,I loved him as a player,but the 2 Daves have to spend some money….our team are not good enough for the Premiership.
March 20th, 2013
We will get relegated if we sack Big Sam. Simple. The day we sack Sam is the day our decline back to the championship begins and the last 2 years hard work to restore some soul back to the club and get them competing in the Premierleague will be thrown out the window as we will be handing over to a new man with new ideas which may come to soon for us as we try to establish ourselves. Nearly the whole squad are Sam’s signings and he will have ideas on what players to bring in to improve the team that fit in with his style. Whether you like this style or not we just have to put up with it for now and see how we do the rest of the season and next. If we can improve next season and reach 45-50 points and a place in the top 10 then we are heading in the right direction and there would be no reason to get rid of Big Sam.
March 20th, 2013
For fooks sake….. Some of the rubbish written above cant be from season tickets… I’ve seen some great stuff at him. Not so away… But hey, when were we ever great away. An obsession with hoofball stories and a permanently negative view of things really shows the limited views and appreciation of what’s happened over the last two seasons.. Go support a “winning” team elsewhere…. Do us all a favour, and come on FW, stop releasing this rubbish…
March 20th, 2013
Here Here mate
March 20th, 2013
What an utterly mindless and idiotic comment.
March 21st, 2013
Erm… Hugh, I would love you to elaborate…
I am a masters holder an FA coach and a season ticket holder.. so possibly not mindless or idiotic…
We were relegated with the worst performing team I remember watching, with an goon for a manager, almost bankrupt… things seem to have improved to me now… so either things got better, or I live in a parallel universe? I’m not expecting (or caring) about silverware, just want to stay up and develop… Ferguson was on the verge of being sacked by the Manc’s…. Bolton always did well under BFS, and I went there most seasons… it wasn’t hoofball, they mixed it up, BFS cant help looking ugly, but his teams are not one dimensional.
If you have any no Mike Bassett comments to make, i would love to hear them..
March 21st, 2013
Congratulatons on the masters and other qualifications but that doesn’t mean you can never make idiotic comments but as you clearly seek some praise for your educational achievements I will offer you some.
What you say about things at West Ham improving is true and fair. We were quality away last season so last season was a time when we were good away, despite you suggesting we haven’t been good away for some time. Unfortunately, your comment turns in to a mindless and idiotic one when you suggest those of us who don’t like Big Sam’s football and what he stands for should go support another team. With that last line you suggest that only your opinion is valid correct. Perhaps because of your sense of entitlement due to your supposed educational prowess you believe you and only you are correct.
I hate Big Sam and I hate sitting in freezing conditions to watch us. I understand those who think oh well we are in the PL so who cares but I disagree with that view. I would prefer to see us play good football in the championship than watch us hoof it, play for the draw and lose in the PL but I am not going to start telling other hammers fans to go support other teams as that is utterly mindless.
March 20th, 2013
I think there is a fair split in opinion on this subject, between the sky sports generation and those that remember when football existed outside of the premier league. The younger fans 30 and under will seem to put up with watching any standard of football providing it is played in the premier league with high value transfers twice a year. Whereas the older fans generally want to be entertained first and foremost regardless of division. Personally can’t wait to see the back of the man
March 20th, 2013
the problem is that we have players in the squad that were ok at championship level but are sub-par in the premiership. Whatever Sam does they are just good enough. Might as well keep it simple. Furthermore, statistical data rarely confirms this “long ball” mith about Allardyce. In fact, Chelsea hit 62 long balls to our 61 in our last game. The fact that the players cant make simple passes and keep the bloody ball is down to poor quality relative to the level of the league.
I for one am glad we had these players in the championship cause they did the job but unless we get better quality in the summer our style wont improve. It’s like putting a Skoda engine under the hood of a Ferrari and expecting it to drive just as well…its just not possible.
And mate, it has nothing to do with generation or age or whatever. The sport itself has changed, it is more a business now then ever before and in order to afford that Ferrari engine to replace you beat up Skoda engine, you need to be in the Premier League. Otherwise, no matter what kind of football we play, we will never evolve as a club especially on the results front.
March 20th, 2013
*just NOT good enough* is what it was suppose to say.
March 21st, 2013
Statistics will prove whatever you want them to prove and should be avoided in sports that are not constant. But of course sam knows better. Had we had possesion for the same time as chelsea our long ball stats would have been over 100 and theres around 30. And Sam bought or signed these players so if as you say they aren’t good enough then whos fault would that be exactly?
March 21st, 2013
I have exagerated. if the possesion was reversed chelsea long balls would have been 44 and west ham 84 As i say statistics will prove whatever you want….
March 21st, 2013
Actually i dont think thats entirely accurate. My statement wasnt either though…i was making a point based on incomplete data that is true though the fact that we are a long ball team is still not actually true imho.
Personally i when i look at how much we rely on long balls i would do something like long balls/(long balls + passes attempted). That would basically give you an estimate of how many of our total passes are long balls. Possession is very relative…imho it is more dependent on player skill (as in his ability to keep possession) rather then coaching.
Anyway…what i would do in this case is 61(long balls)/385(long+short)=0,158…which means aprox. 16% of all the balls played towards a teammate are long balls. In chelsea’s case that would be 62/233 = 0,097 so only aprox. 10%.
Anyway, our 16% isnt actually that much imho. We actually tried to pass the ball more then in other games and Jussi threw it out quite often instead of his usual kick. Our throw-ins were also shorter and more accurate instead of our usual long-throws to whoever. That would indicate that the team was told to try and hold on to the ball more…the fact that certain players lack the skill or confidence to play in on the floor results in them resorting to the long ball because its just easier and “safer”.
Just my 2 cents…
March 20th, 2013
And here we go again! Same old same old boring repeated tabloid rubbish! If fat Sam keeps us up keep him! Di Canio isnt established enough to be our manager now and may not even be in another 2 years time! Can you all imagine one of our own coming back to manage us and it turns out to be a disaster? I for one would feel sick to my stomach and im sure that would go for all us loyal Hammers! I have been a season ticket holder for many years now and although i dont agree with fat Sam’s tactics at times we now have stability, something at West Ham that has been in short supply for many years. If you want to rock the boat then yes lets gamble once again and get in a non proven manager with no experience of the Prem, if you want to have a manager who hopefully keeps us in the Prem for many years to come and stops us from being such a bloody yo yo club then stick with fat Sam and give the man a bloody chance!!!!!! I rest my case……….