Has Sam Allardyce won over the West Ham faithful?

“We are West Ham’s claret and blue army, we are West Ham’s claret and blue army”

 

Has the time come for West Ham fans to start singing Sam Allardyce’s name? I sit in the Bobby Moore Lower and I have never heard one song that includes our manager’s name. Actually I am wrong there, in the Play-Off final fans sang ‘Allardyce’ while Coldplay’s song ‘Paradise’ was being played as Kevin Nolan lifted the trophy.

 

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The last manager I can remember whose name we sang on a regular occurrence was Alan Pardew’s. Allardyce has come into the club after we were relegated and has done a great job but still people moan and wonder if he is the right person for West Ham. He got West Ham promoted at the first attempt from a league that is probably one of the hardest in the world to get out of and we are now sitting in 11^th place in the table on 26 points.

 

I had my doubts about him last season and wondered if he would be the right manager for our club, but I think that was because of the football he is brandished with. But I think we have noticed this season that Allardyce and West Ham aren’t just about the long ball up to the striker. We can play some really nice football at times and produce some good attacking flair.

 

Allardyce has to be given some credit for the squad he has built at West Ham. He was able to keep hold of the majority of the squad when we were relegated and brought in experienced players that he thought would get us promoted and obviously it worked. The signing Kevin Nolan was all down to him and I don’t think Nolan, who had had a great season at Newcastle United, would have joined us if it wasn’t for Big Sam. I know quite a lot of people have a problem with Nolan, including myself at times, but if it wasn’t for his goals this season and especially last season we wouldn’t be where we are today.

 

 

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The depth in the squad is good in some areas and he has improved it so far in this January transfer window bringing in Joe Cole, Marouane Chamakh and Wellington Paulista. He realised that we needed some more creativity and goals from the strikers so has brought players in in those areas. (Lets hope Chamakh and Paulista have got goals in them.)

 

In the last couple of weeks we have become very short at the back so he is now trying to strengthen that area. So I think it is fair to say that not only has he built a good Premier League squad but he is always trying to improve it and knows the areas that we need to get more players in.

 

In the midfield we have got a huge variety of different sorts of players which is always good to have. The signing of Diame was a massive one and he has been outstanding for us this season and Allardyce needs to make sure that he convinces the midfielder to sign the new contract that has been offered to him and stay on. He brings a different dimension to the team and we have massively missed him since he has been injured.

 

Hopefully Big Sam can work his magic and bring in a few more players and get Diame signed up for the foreseeable future.

 

Follow Sam Hodges on Twitter @hodges_journo

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