Next week West Ham will finally decide manager’s fate

Next week the fate of Sam Allardyce will finally be sealed, the sword of Damocles has hung over the Hammers boss for over a week now and it may well come crashing down on his Gregory Peck.

I have to ask, has he really done that bad a job? In 2011 when Big Sam took the job West Ham were a joke, they’d finished bottom of the Premier League and were staring at a long and arduous journey back to land of milk and honey.

In Sam’s first season in charge he steered the club back into the top tier, critics may say he didn’t do it automatically or that with the squad he had it was a simple achievement…these arguments are irrelevant because he got the job done. The first objective of his tenure was met.

Sam’s next task was to then keep West Ham in the elite in the 12/13 season and he over-achieved; its not often that newly promoted teams finish 10^th having lost only four at home all season and having only failed to score in two home games.

Last season was the only campaign in which you could say that West Ham underachieved during his reign; yes the football at times was dreadful and yes there were far too many home defeats but ultimately he kept an average squad of players in the league. With the amount of free transfers, academy graduates, loan signings and players bought on the cheap in this current West Ham squad; finishing the season with 40 points, 3 victories over Spurs and a run to the league cup semi finals was actually a damn good achievement. What more could we realistically expect?

The culture of rolling 24 hour news, the advancement of social media and stations like talkSPORT have in my opinion lead to a culture within football of wanting immediate success and that regardless of circumstance each football club needs to play like Bayern Munich or Barcelona.

I fear what would’ve become of legendary managers of West Ham United’s past by today standards; would upon a poor season fans be hollering for the likes of Greenwood and Lyall to be shown the door? Would ‘Greenwood out’ or ‘Lyall out’ have become popular hashtags?

The ever-revolving doors of football management are fine for the likes of Spurs, Chelsea, Manchester City etc. because they have exceptional squads and money to burn; ultimately whoever manages those clubs has got an easier life; yes the expectations are higher but they’ve got the quality and the money to ease those burdens. At West Ham however the money simply isn’t there to make wholesale changes, any new incumbent would more or less be working with the same squad as the current manager.

Some of the names linked with West Ham job should it become available are so uninspiring it beggars belief how people could seriously entertain the notion of any of them replacing Big Sam. Glenn Hoddle hasn’t managed in eight long years, Malky Mackay has been a manager for about five minutes and is grossly overrated by the British press and media, Eddie Howe has never managed in the Premier League; how on earth would he handle keeping West Ham up with limited cash to spend and an incredibly average squad of players?

Just say Sam was sacked and one of the aforementioned managers was given the job and after 6/7 games we’re bottom of the league? Then what? Make another change? Where does the revolving door policy end?

I for one hope Sam keeps his job, is given money to spend and improves the squad. In his three seasons in charge Sam has done everything asked of him. The club shouldn’t oust him for a flash in the pan or a young pretender.