Worst Ever West Ham Managers

5. Gianfranco Zola (Sep 2008 – May 2010): I put Zola on this list slightly reluctantly as he was popular amongst supporters, for a while at least. He started with great promise and alongside Steve Clarke it looked as though we had a strong set up, leading us to a fairly solid 9^th place in the 2008/09 season. However, despite the fans willing for his success he eventually began to look out of his depth and the following season we stayed up by the skin of our teeth with a points total that would normally result in relegation. He has the lowest win percentage of any manager in our history, proving that being a nice guy does not make you a good manager.

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4. Alan Curbishley (Dec 2006- Sep 2008): It may seem harsh to include a manager who kept us up from a seemingly impossible position in 2006/07, but this inclusion is more to do with signings then results. Curbs’ was responsible for bringing in Freddie Ljungberg, Kieron Dyer and Luis Boa Morte just to name a few. They were all on high wages and were all total flops. He also had the nerve to blame injuries for a poor run of results after signing a collection of the most injury prone players in the league. He then resigned and sued the club for giving him a lack of control over ins and outs.

3. Glenn Roeder (May 2001 – Apr 2003 and Jul 2003 – Aug 2003): Like Zola, Roeder began his West Ham career well and guided the team to seventh in 2001/02 his first season, but the fans were never really excited by him and the following season we struggled from the off. With what looked a decent squad on paper we were bottom at Christmas and looked certain for the drop. To make matters worse, Roeder fell out with Di Canio and stubbornly refused to play him, to anger supporters further still. Roeder then suffered a brain tumour and Trevor Brooking took charge for the remaining three games, which produced a late rally, but ultimately too late as we were relegated. Roeder came back from his illness to manage us in what was then Divison 1 but was sacked after more poor results.

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2. Lou Macari (Jul 1989 – Feb 1990): Macari took charge following the late John Lyall’s long and impressive reign of 708 games. He would last just 38. Macari never really got us in contention for promotion after relegation in 1988/89 and his no nonsense approach seemed to install unrest in the camp rather then discipline. After stories came out that he had been involved in a betting scandal during his time at Swindon he parted company with the club to the relief of the majority of the fans.  

1. Avram Grant (Jun 2010 – May 2011): Grant was another seemingly nice guy, but had little to no leadership skills. It summed up his control over the team when it took Scott Parker to give what I imagine was the first inspiring half-time team talk all season to encourage a 3 goal come-back against West Brom. Grant just did not bring anything to the table. He made a series of average/terrible signings and led us to bottom place in his only season in charge. Perhaps Gold and Sullivans biggest mistake was not to bring Allardyce in mid way through the season. Instead they stuck with Grant after a failed attempt to get Martin O’Neill and despite Scott Parker’s best efforts we never looked like beating the drop. Grant was subsequently sacked.