In an interview with the Guardian newspaper on Saturday, West Ham’s new manager Sam Allardyce said that his side would ‘at least’ make the play offs next year ‘unless I become the worst manager ever overnight and the players become the worst there has ever been.’ Now it’s one thing to be bullish and supremely confident, and another to be arrogant and underestimate the task ahead of you. The West Ham side that toiled dismally through the entirety of last season, at or incredibly close to the foot of the premiershiptable, has been stripped of 12 of its senior players and could still potentially lose Robert Green and Carlton Cole along with Scott Parker before the season begins. It seems foolish to take a return to the Premiership for granted even if the board are throwing money at it.
Allardyce signed Kevin Nolan from Newcastle United to lead this charge straight back up, an astute purchase. Nolan was talismanic when Newcastle faced a similar task, no doubt his experience will be invaluable. Alladyce has also signed Matthew Taylor and Joey O’Brien from Bolton as well as Abdoulaye Faye from Stoke. He is building a strong core for his new side but to turn this West Ham team around Allardyce needs more. He needs his optimism to be infectious.
The necessity for success in no way guarantees it but it is clear that the West Ham owners are desperate for an instant return to the top flight. Attracting Premiership players to a championship club must require some fairly reckless wages, (Nolan is rumoured to be on £55,000 a week) and Sullivan and Gold evidently feel the short-term gamble is the best approach. They have only two attempts before the move into the Olympic stadium.
West Ham are currently the favourites for automatic promotion in a very competitive Championship, but Allardyce has yet to do the hard work. The chairmen are applying the pressure just through this impressive spending and West Ham certainly did not respond well to pressure last year. Allardyce has to change the mentality at the club and he has to shake off a season of underwhelming performances. Somehow, he has to convince this squad of his genuine belief that he can take West Ham into Europe, that will not be an easy task. Having a strong squad is not enough.
If Allardyce fails to convince Green and Cole to stay he could face a very difficult season in the Championship. The last time they were relegated it took two years to come back up, with the reckless spending of this summer, that could cripple the club this time.
Written by Philip Wroe for FootballFancast.com.
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You’ve kind of given the answer to your own statement. It’s all very well saying that west ham are worse off than last season because they have gotten rid of half of their squad but when those players did nothing for the team in contributions or morale then the club is better off without them. Demba Ba, Manuel Da Costa and maybe Jonathan Spector aside, the club is well shot of the rest. We wont miss players like Upson and Dyer and certainly wont miss the manager.
I think you are mistaking arrogance with a new found belief and will to succeed which definitely wasn’t there last season. Sam and various other managers have also said that this will be the toughest championship for years. But he is a good manager who gets players to play as a team, the players left and the new players are perhaps more competant and definitely more focused than last season.
We don’t think we are going to stroll it and it doesn’t help with the bookies putting us as favourites as every team will want to shoot us down. Sam has already suggested to judge us after 10 games. If Green and Cole go it wouldn’t be the end of the world as you suggest, Parker is expected to leave, hence not being given the captains armband and has been replaced by the excellent Kevin Noble.
This article sounds like it is written by someone who doesn’t want West Ham to do well when we have no axe to grind with anyone. Maybe we wont go up first time but Sam Allardyce is hardly going to say that at the start of the season is he?