Sam’s six crunch games

Sam Allardyce will get the first six games of the season to prove he is the man to contiue as West Ham United.

ClaretandHugh has learned that the opening games against Spurs, Palace, Southampton, Hull,  Liverpool and Manchester United will see Sam on Trial.

There’s never been any danger of the manager losing his job in pre-season but a weak start to the campaign and the axe will fall.

Allardyce knows he is under pressure from above to produce results with style and although pre-season has left many unhappy it’s seen as wrong to sack  during friendly  games.

However, with the work that has gone into getting the targets the manager wanted there’s an expectancy that the team gets away to a good start.

We were told: “I guess the crunch could come as soon as the second or third game if things were to go really wrong but  the trial period is likely o be extended until the end of November.

“They are a good mix of matches on which to make a judgement.”