Are West Ham Fans Foolish To Be Calling For Paolo Di Canio?

In recent weeks, there has been increased unrest amongst West Ham fans with the way we have been playing and the lack of results. This has led to criticism of Sam Allardyce which, in my opinion, he wholly deserves. The past two weeks have seen chants for Paolo Di Canio and an increased number of fans asking for a change in management. Is this the view of foolish fans or is there some ‘method to the madness?’

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I am not great fan of Big Sam, as you might well have discovered from my previous articles. Having said that, he has done well for us and we are much more settled as a club now that he has joined us. However, I don’t think it is purely down to Big Sam, most of it is down to David Gold and David Sullivan steadying the ship financially. Big Sam has done a good job but we can’t confuse financial stability with great management but undoubtedly he has done a good job for us.

We got promoted at the first time of asking. This is the basis for many fans saying that Big Sam has performed miracles at the club and thus sacking him would be a disgrace. I disagree. I expected to get promoted straight away, we had by far the best squad in the league yet we still needed the play-offs to get up and were the worse team on the day of the final. Over the season, looking back to how we played it was verging on embarrassing how negative we were against teams that were so beneath us in quality. Big Sam’s tactics very nearly screwed it up for us and whilst the playoff final was an incredible day we should really have been automatically promoted. Yes, we got promoted but you a doing the squad a disservice if you thought the tactics we used last season were those of a team leaps ahead of others in the league.

We are already seeing this season that the negative way in which we play is causing poor results. Those who say we can’t win with attacking football just need to take a look at Swansea City who have built a great squad of young, quick and ambitious footballers who have bags of talent, something which Big Sam will never do. This season, we started very well, having said that we had an easy run of games. Then we hit our tough patch and did well but the last 13 games have been embarrassing. 2 wins in 13 games is unacceptable. We have a squad capable of a top 10 finish yet aren’t producing the kind of form we should be purely because of Big Sam. His way of getting results against the big teams is his redeeming feature for many Big Sam supporters but it isn’t exactly rocket science so why would Di Canio or any other manager for that fact not be able to get results against the top sides? I have every faith that Paolo Di Canio would know how to get results against the bigger sides; in fact, any manager in the world can copy Big Sam’s tactics to be perfectly honest.

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However, are we really in a position where sacking the manager would be a just and fair decision? I don’t think so, especially when you look at the inexperience of Di Canio. Whilst I am thoroughly disappointed and incredibly frustrated with how we have been playing we are still 9 points clear of relegation. Expectations and goals change, so for me scraping through and just staying up would be disappointing. We are 13th but the way we are playing doesn’t fill me with any confidence at all.

Our squad is already shaping up to be a bunch of old, squad players who lack skill and flair because that’s the sort of squad that suits Big Sam’s style. Matt Jarvis cost us over £10 million, is 1 goal and 0 assists in 21 games worth that sort of money? I don’t think I need to answer that question. Paolo Di Canio would build a good, youthful and thus sustainable squad. It is no coincidence that Blackburn Rovers and Bolton Wanderers both got relegated after Big Sam left because when he builds a squad, there is only one way you can play, direct, boring, defensive football, anything else won’t work.

Paolo Di Canio has a better attitude to football, especially for a club like West Ham. I don’t want to continue watching us under Big Sam because it is just plain boring and negative. The players he chooses to buy in only suit his style of play and then when he buys someone with great potential such as Modibo Maiga he never plays him because he isn’t a big lump that can sit up front on his own all day. We have a great crop of youngsters in Jordan Spence, Ravel Morrison and Rob Hall among others but those 3 could seriously be pushing for a starting berth next season. Under Big Sam will they get a look in? I doubt it, especially when you see this season Kevin Nolan is still starting ahead of Jack Collison which is a mind boggling decision after Nolan’s recent form. Paolo Di Canio would likely build and use a youthful squad, Big Sam doesn’t.

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The ideal solution for me would be to leave Sam in charge until the end of the season. Hopefully he will keep us up, and then get Di Canio in. He has done wonders at Swindon Town and we said Gianfranco Zola lacked experience and sacked him but look at how well he is doing at Watford now. Di Canio has proved his skills as a manager at Swindon so why shouldn’t he get a chance for us. I really don’t want Big Sam as our long term boss because of what we will become. He ruins players’ confidence, has his clear favourites and loves signing strikers only to never use them. It is too early to be calling for Di Canio but is it foolish? No. Big Sam hasn’t performed miracles, he has wasted money in the summer and we are just not playing well enough. If we got relegated with Di Canio, would it damage his reputation as a legend? Never in a million years.