The announcement came today that Sam Allardyce has won the Manager of the Month Award for his great achievements in February. He was truly the only candidate for it in a month where West Ham, and only West Ham, won all of their Premier League games. It’s an award he may not have wanted, but certainly deserved, to win.
You don’t often think of Big Sam as humble, but in his Evening Standard column he made sure to include others in the accolade, saying that “It was good to be awarded the Barclays Premier League Manager of the Month for February as recognition of the job the players and staff did during that time.”
It’s a nice sentiment, and after a month which saw us storm up to tenth, and, so far, stay there, has Sam gotten back on the right track to winning over the fans who demanded his head a few months ago? Has he earned a second chance?
#AllardyceOut is still appearing on twitter, although in a drastically reduced (and mainly sarcastic) manner (except for one man who seems to use it pretty much daily.) Whilst it’s nearly impossible to get a 100% approval rating from fans while a manager is still there, it surprises me to see people still asking for the head of a manager who just got declared the best out of all twenty teams for the month of February.
Of course it stands to reason that Sam’s particular style of football does not sit well with everyone, and it’s understandable that some people would rather someone else specifically for the style of play, but for those calling for his head based on the – really rather awful – results from earlier in the season, have you changed your tune? After that month, do you believe that he should stay, or will you reserve judgment until the final whistle blows on May 11th?
I’m always going to believe in giving managers time to develop and build a good team – Hi Fulham – and so for me, for now, I’m glad we stood by our Sam. We still have a few months before we know finally whether or not that was a good decision, but for now, I’m proud that Allardyce’s good month was publically recognized, and truly hope we don’t succumb to the curse of losing the next match – particularly against a Stoke who are without some key players.
Well done Sam – but there’s still work to do, and hopefully we can keep building starting at Stoke City.
Totally agree.
As far as I’m concerned the word supporter or supporters should imply a depth of knowledge and understanding of West Ham United Football Club as well as the game of Football in general. Unfortunately not all of our supporters are able to see the long term view (only the close up).
We’ve done the change your manager frequently until success is achieved already….. Fulham, West Brom, Sunderland etc. have proved It DOESN’T work and you DON’T need a Phd to understand this.
We HAVEN’T had unlimited funds but Big Sam has had to achieve and meet targets with certain priorities…… Retaining Premiership status being the main one. We haven’t got a depth of squad like ANY of the top eight clubs in the Premiership, so when we had the number of injuries that we had, we were always going to come up a little short.
These are BASIC facts which any TRUE supporter would understand, but we still have to put up with the sniping on social media sites.
Basically I’ve heard so much nonsense from some sections of our supporters, that I’ve almost become immune to it. Big Sam is one of the most skilled,experienced and knowledgeable managers in the premiership at this point in time and I do believe that surviving our “Deadly” second season in the premiership will see the club being able to invest in better targets and players this summer & establish the club as a premiership force, before substantial investment leading up to the move to the new stadium.
I’ve supported the club for a great many years and the one thing that always irritated me was our fragility and inconsistency. I WANT flair and attacking football but I alas understand that it will be a process in getting there as with better players will come more options of team play from an attacking nature, but we’re going to have to go through a period of evolution not BIG MONEY revolution!
COYI
I was among the many who wanted Sam out , I did not want him to be replaced until the end of season and I still stick by that !!
For many fans, they hate the style of play but can just about justify it when we are getting results. I personally can’t wait to get rid of him. I’m a football fan as well as West Ham fan so to sit at the Boleyn watching us play terribly but grind out results gives me no pleasure whatsoever. The atmosphere at the ground is awful nowadays and that is down to the fact that there are precious few moments during games to get the crowd excited. I no longer enjoy being at the Boleyn to watch my team play and driving home seeing that we are 10th in the league doesn’t make up for that. To those that say it’s a process and we need to go through this period before we start playing good football, we will NEVER play good football under Sam Allardyce no matter how many millions he gets to spend and that is FACT he has proven that at every club he has been too, no matter how far he takes them, they never start playing good football.
Kudos to Sam though for giving the players and surrounding staff some praise, FINALLY. Every post match interview he either blames the players for a loss or talks about how great his tactics were when we win so nice to see him finally give everyone else a bit of praise.
We could go on almost indefinitely debating the merits or otherwise concerning Big Sam. But there comes a time when we have to draw a line and look to the future. For we are now entering the most interesting not to mention important time this club has known in years. If we manage to muck up this golden opportunity we may never get another one! So far Big Sam and the owners have stabilised the club and stopped the club hurtling through the relegation trap doors and financial oblivion. They then got us up and have, give or take a wobble or two, established us in the prem again. Now comes the hard part! Next we have to develop the club, Expand the fanbase, clear our debts, add both numbers and quality to the squad whilst grafting a more attack minded game plan onto our new found defensive resilience, all in time to kick off in the OS! No pressure there then! Seriously though, if we can develop the club to the next level and create a team built on firm foundations that is worthy of the new OS then all the pain and anguish during the big Sam’s tenure thus far, won’t have been in vain. COYI!
Same old RVT ,
How sweet it is. What a great way to shut those knockers up Sam. Congratulations to you & the lads, you have earned it. Good luck for today. Bring home the 3 points lads.
Sam Allardyce wins manager of month
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/26574101
Yes ,quite agree JB , glad the club is in safe hands . If RVT had got his way goodness knows where the club would be now ,thankfully the owners are taking the long view to steer the club through what are still some treacherous waters , not careering ahead like the Titanic with the skipper saying “what icebergs” !Well done Sam and the boys ,try and win the award again before the end of the season .COYI
I think Sam was on a no win situation straight away,we all know how he set he,s previous teams up,hard to beat and route one football,neck in a brace time,but how would our fans react to playing football the right way,on the floor,pretty passing,great flowing football,entertaining stuff,off the seat malarkey,but losing every week,i don,t think we would all like that either.Sometimes in life you just cannot win and Sam is in that boat and heading towards the rocks,play it again Sam,LOL.
If there was an award for worst manager of the month he would have already won that. Not only his awful style of play but his failure to develop the club particularly the Dev squad and total disrespect for the clubs traditions should see him shown the door at the end of this season, please.
Many teams have tried to play pretty football and stay in the premier league, However many have failed and have been relegated as were WHU with our team including Carrick, Defoe, Sinclair, Di Canio, Kanoute, Dailly, James, Johnson and Joe Cole. Remember them? The West Ham Way? a wet Lancashire night in Oldham and losing 6-0. In the 70’s we played open football when losing did not seem a disaster, in 1986 we almost made it good football and winning. But tell me what has happened since? Attractive football, the Academy, no I don’t think so, not any more unless we get loadsa money! Until If or when that happens BFS is pretty good for me.
Well said Geoff , i agree 100%
i watched the game today and in fare we did play some good football and should never of lost this clearly nolans goal was onside,and a penalty clearly not given,and good to see nocerino and diame starting witch i think are better than taylor on the ball,stick by our man till the end,man u next week bring it on
Nolans goal was very much offside as the player playing him onside was in fact the last man which would normally be the goalie. As the goalie was forward he was playing Nolan offside…….
neil Schofield i suppose the hand ball in your penalty area was
ball to hand as well ……the ref was crap … . Just proves we r not out the woods yet , our defence was awful at times today…