West Ham have come a long way under David Sullivan and David Gold.
The former Birmingham City owners celebrate three years in charge later this month, having steadied the ship following the farcical Icelandic experiment, putting together a well thought out plan to settle the club’s debts and have now begun looking towards the future with the move to the Olympic Stadium.
They’ve also shown a good degree of flexibility in the transfer market, backing Avram Grant and now Sam Allardyce when additions were needed – particularly in the wages department – but not extending the finances beyond breaking point.
Yet, in those three years leading the Hammers, decisions they make in the next few weeks could prove critical in the long-term future of the club.
Following a horrendous run of form which has seen West Ham drop to second-bottom of the Barclays Premier League, Irons fans have suffered the embarrassment of watching their side humiliated 5-0 at Championship side Nottingham Forest and then a morale-sapping 6-0 thrashing at Manchester City in the Capital One Cup semi-final.
Quite unsurprisingly Hammers fans are now calling for Sam Allardyce’s head. To stick or twist? That’s the question.
Stick and save £4million by keeping Allardyce on, hoping that something will change and the return of the injured duo of record signing Andy Carroll and the influential Winston Reid will spark the Hammers into life.
The twist option, seemingly for the majority of West Ham fans (including this one), would represent an opportunity to finally kick-start the season.
Sullivan and Gold have watched Sunderland, Crystal Palace, Fulham and Cardiff City – all clubs around the Hammers at the foot of the division – change manager and all, to a degree, see an improvement in results.
Let’s be honest, the owners and Kraren Brady have seen this before under Grant and they showed loyalty. They decided to buck the trend and stick with their manager, showing faith and conviction in their decision to hire him. Relegation duly followed.
After a fine first season back in the Premier League, Allardyce led West Ham to 10th and the future looked rosy. But it was in the summer transfer window that the cracks began to show in life under Big Sam. After going all out to sign the injury prone Carroll, Allardyce made a significant mistake by effectively telling every striker in world football – together with every opposition manager – that West Ham would be playing with one forward and they would be playing second fiddle to the Geordie. It should therefore have come as no surprise that Sam drew a blank when trying to find a replacement for the injured Carroll.
What’s of deepest concern, perhaps on a par with Allardyce’s inability to now motivate a talented squad, is the fact transfer targets can see his faults and are turning down a move to Upton Park. In the summer it was reported Big Sam made enquiries about some 20 or so players. When it mattered, Demba Ba, Romelu Lukaku, Salomon Kalu and Fabio Quagliarella all opted against joining the Hammers.
In this critical January window, Everton defender Johnny Heitinga has already embarrassed Allardyce by rejecting a move at the last hour, while interest has been well documented for the likes of Ba, Jermain Defoe, Joleon Lescott, Rickie Lambert and Ishak Belfodil. None at this stage look like coming off and with each heavy defeat, Allardyce’s bargaining power rescinds.
It’s now time for Sullivan and Gold to bite the bullet. They need to twist and shout.
Written by Glenn Pearson
Bet they don’t though !!
Twist all the way. We got 15 should have 21, what do you do? TWIST!
Spot on Irons Maiden. It all started to go horribly wrong as soon as they put all there combined energies into getting Andy Carroll, whilst letting Carlton Cole go. Now Carlton isn’t the best striker in the world, but he was quite happy to be understudy to Carroll &, knowing the Geordie was injured when we signed him, would have slotted into that lone striker’s role again. That would have given Nolan the big striker to feed off and it would probably have been a season as successful as last year!
When Allardyce bought Downing I felt it was bewildering at the time, but in hindsight I can see that he was the nearest thing to a striker that was prepared to come to us!
I believe that this Cardiff game is the “stick or twist” game. A good performance & it’ll be stick. Another woeful performance & it’s got to change.
It’s weird, Avram Grant was a disastrous experiment as well…but I don’t remember the same vehemence behind getting him out.
I went to many games under the Grant regime and it was pretty woeful on the pitch apart from the odd highlight (Utd 4-0, Stoke City at home, 1st leg of the cup semi against Birmingham etc. although not that many etceteras mind you). But I just remember that the majority seemed pretty resigned to our fate.
Regardless of my feelings about Sam Allardyce – which are irrelevant – there often seems to be something almost personal about it. And the same with Nolan too.
Is it because they’re Northerners?
Sounds crazy. Except I’ve been to lots of games where the Northern card is played pretty ferociously by a lot of supporters against any team that is from North of the Watford gap. For example, I’ve heard Nottingham Forest players and fans being called ‘Northern Monkeys’ and ‘You f*ucking Northern Cs’ and ‘You dirty Northern…’ And they’re from the Midlands!
Yep…crazy…surely we wouldn’t be that shallow.
COYI!
No, they need to learn the “Hard Way”. There must be close to 3/4 of all Hammers fans who can see just how arogant & uncompromising Sam Allardyce is, ie, it’s either Sam’s way or the highway, well with fans now talking about the highway and stopping attending any further Hammers games until Sam is gone, well that’s the death of a club until he is gone. I originally liked Sam’s tough approach to the game, but when his inability to be flexible becomes arogant & he shoulders the blame on everyone else, while all along it was his fault & his stubborness in putting all of West Ham’s eggs in one basket with Andy Carroll, well, events may unfold where Sam has no choice but to walk or be fired by the 2 Davids, because if he continues with his one man Andy Carroll show, & this doesn’t work, then he will have failed & he will have to go!
Sam has the players here to beat better teams than Cardiff. There is no excuse for not getting a result. Carroll is in the squad, so it would be better to start Carroll, so that everyone warms up together & sub him for Carlton Cole at half time if need be. To win games you need 2 strikers. Forget Johnson or Taylor. This is a quality squad with many millions of pounds worth of talent on display here. Most teams have not even got this much talent. Provided Sam plays them right, there should be absolutely no problem at all.
This would be my selection for Cardiff v West Ham United Cardiff 11th Jan 2014
22 Jääskeläinen
20 Demel
03 McCartney
16 Noble
15 Morrison
05 Tomkins
7 Jarvis
21 Diamé
23 Downing
9 Carroll
11 Maiga
Substitutes
13 Adrián
8 Rat
10 Collison
18 Diarra
26 J. Cole
14 Taylor
24 C. Cole
Should have put more effort in to get Quagliarella. Just based on hours played he would have put us in a better position. Lets stop kidding ourselves into believing Andy Carroll is gonna save our season single handedly irs gonna take ages for him to be properly fit, fingers crossed he doesnt pick up another injury. Even then lets remember that apart from a few good seasons at newcastle and a good start last season, he’s still got a lot to prove.
Am I alone in thinking that the real problem with the current Hammers squad is that they have too many players not up to Premier standard? Am I mistaken in also thinking that the person responsible for signing those particular players wasI Sam? The Bolton contingent were never right for West Ham apart from Jaaskelainen, and Nolan when playing with his chum Carroll. In my opinion (79 years a supporter) Neil,O’Brien, Taylor were poor buys whilst dear Joe Cole is past it, Diame has lost it and Maiga never had it. The jury are still out on Jarvis and Downing whilst faithful Carlton Cole is struggling badly.We have our own Tomkins, Noble and the important Reid when fit along with Morrison, McCartney plus some talented but untried youngsters. Jack Collinson has to step up a gear but who else is good enough to get us out of trouble? If the cavalry doesnt turn up then I would incorporate some of the youngsters in the team for future insurance.