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Best Manager under David Sullivan

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With many question marks being placed over Julen Lopetegui and his reign at West Ham, I noted that under David Sullivan, West Ham have had six previous managers since 2010.

I thought it would be interesting to rank each and every manager that has worked under Sullivan during his reign as West Ham Chairman. Given Lopetegui is the current Head Coach I have omitted him from the list.
In last place, it has to be Avram Grant. He lasted one season in which the Hammers were relegated finishing bottom of the Premier league in 2010/2011. He did however achieve a semi final place against Birmingham City in the League Cup, yet in the league West Ham finished on 33 points and he was dismissed after the penultimate game of the season where a 3-2 loss at Wigan consigned our fate. West Ham threw away 22 points from winning positions, and Grant left West Ham with a 32% win percentage.
Next on the list is Gianfranco Zola who was at the helm when Sullivan and Gold took over the club in January 2010. In his first season West Ham against all odds finished ninth, yet finished the following season just one place above the relegation zone. He was a world class player, and in training sessions used to show up the players. Carlton Cole once said  “I’m looking at him and I’m thinking I can’t do what he does. This geezers world class”. Craig Bellamy even went into see the gaffer to ask him to not participate in training “You can’t train with us. You are too good.” Zola left West Ham with a 29% win percentage.
Manuel Pellegrini – was brought in to replace David Moyes who ultimately steadied the ship, yet the board wanted a big name and Pellegrini ticked all the boxes. Armed with a substantial war chest, West Ham finished tenth, yet struggled the following season and he was ultimately sacked in December 2019 following a 2-1 home defeat against Leicester City, their ninth loss in twelve games. His win percentage was 35%.
The choice between second and third place, is not easy yet I have let my heart rule my head, so Sam Allardyce makes third place.

On paper he was not my favourite manager in terms of the football and his ego. Yet through gritted teeth he was the right man for the job in order to get West Ham out of the Championship. Being West Ham they did it the hard way via the playoffs yet a memorable day at Wembley culminated in a 2-1 victory versus Blackpool and a return to the Premiership. West Ham became a mid table team, finishing in tenth, thirteenth and twelfth place during the following seasons. Bizarrely his win percentage was only 30% which surprised me.

Slaven Bilic and David Moyes

Bilic was popular at West Ham

Boleyn ground bounce for Bilic under Sullivan

 Slaven Bilic features in second place, as his first season in charge was a story written in the stars. He started so well, and at one point West Ham occupied a Champions league place only to finish the season in seventh place, and a quarter final place in the FA Cup. The season was an emotional roller coaster in part due to it being the final season at the Boleyn Ground. There were some historic wins at Liverpool 3-0, at Arsenal 2-0, and further victories against Tottenham, Chelsea and Manchester City. The final game was a memorable 3-2 win against Manchester United. Dimitri Payet wowed the fans, and he became a legend over night.
Into the next season, and West Ham finished eleventh and Payet went from hero to villain, leaving in January. For the 2017/18 season West Ham found themselves in the relegation zone and they parted ways with Bilic in November 2017. His win percentage at West Ham was 34%
So in first place it has to be David Moyes – Moyesball may have infuriated a lot of fans – myself included yet we won a trophy under his leadership and also competed in a semi final and quarter final in Europe. League finishes of 6th and 7th were also major achievements. In 198 games, West Ham won 73 which gave him a win percentage of 37%.
Lopetegui had a win percentage of 41% at Wolves – which is more than any other manager has achieved at the club, so let’s hope he can replicate that record at West Ham. After 9 league games and two league cup games he is currently on 36%.

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I have been a season ticket holder since the late eighties, so experienced the highs and lows of being a West Ham supporter. I previously wrote for OLAS and have contributed to a number of football publications in the past.

7 comments

  • Ian the sub says:

    What outstanding manager would have left their squad in such a terrible mess as Moyes did after spending 100’s of millions . mostly squandered on players he couldn’t use ( for various reasons) . For him to rate so highly in your estimation suggests not much of the others or perhaps you need to overhaul the VAR. system you’re using ?

  • Ian the sub says:

    An extensive article Matt but you appear to have overlooked one MAJOR element to be considered in the equation. how much did each manager spend (and lose) on transfers? can you add that ? please.

  • D says:

    Suli was truly out of order when dealing with Zola. Zola probably wasn’t the greatest manager but deserved to be treated with dignity and respect rather than have Suli publicly lambasting him.
    Big fat Sam, don’t get me started! Most of his games were in the championship so his win rate should be through the roof, it just goes to show how crap he was .
    I think Tezzards comment about trying to stop chopping and changing all the time, is very true. I’m not sure JLo is the right man at all but do feel he needs to be given a chance otherwise we will end up like Everton who have got rid of some decent managers ( i don’t include Moyes) because of fan pressure and have ended with Sean dyche and in continual relegation battles……
    Good point about zero compensation 😄

  • Hmm says:

    Win percentages can’t be compared because all over different lengths of time and different amounts of games played. Also includes cup games which might be against differing quality of opponent. Perhaps success should be measured by what they’ve achieved in terms of league position or trophy success.

    • Zahama says:

      I think that a good statistic to use would be average points per game in the Premier League – that would boost BFS with his “Respect the point” mantra – also for the owners if the points per game are at least 1.2 then it is almost impossible to be relegated

      We now have JLo so let us hope that he proves a success – we will never know if Amorim was ever serious about us or just wanted to use us to get an offer from Liverpool

      If we change managers during the course of this season it will be because we are in a relegation battle and Sully is sure to go for a super defensive coach – so let us hope that we are not in that situation

  • DB0895 says:

    Lopetegui has taken charge of 9 league games and 2 cup games. So 11 games total. He’s won 4 of them. That’s a 36% win rate and not 45% as this article incorrectly states.

  • Tezzard says:

    Zola shouldn’t be included since he was employed by the previous owners , absolutely nothing to to do with Sullivan, apart from firing him, and getting a free (obviously ) safe pair of hands in to take over , and finish bottom 😅.

    It all makes for pretty grim reading tbh , flip flopping from one manager to the next (and back again ) with zero consistency in style, vision, or approach . In fact the only thing they have in common is they all cost the club zero in compensation.

    What a surprise

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