by Rich Sprent
All successful businesses work with a plan.
Financial projections are drawn up, liabilities, growth, debt, assets – they’re all scrutinised and the budgets are presented to the board.
From here they are able to assess the direction the company drives out in determining milestones along the way. Football clubs are no different. Except that away from the business side of things there is the complication of the actual football.
Currently West Ham is a club on the up. Back from the brink of administration and relegation the club’s first team is in the top half of the Premier League albeit amidst a run of poor form. The future football growth is at an important crossroads.
It has been well documented that the owners prefer to give 2year contracts out to their football manager reviewable at the end of each season. Coinciding with that review is a very important milestone looming in the business plan – the move to the Olympic Stadium. This makes the next two seasons possibly the most important in the club’s history – the last at the Boleyn and the first at Queen Elizabeth Park.
With the season in its final third the current incumbent manager appears to be lurching his way towards the end of his contract and tenure. Much has been written of the discord between David Sullivan and Sam Allardyce.
And not to mention the unbridled hatred of 50% of the fanbase towards towards the man from Dudley. It really matters little what he has achieved or could achieve with West Ham, half of the fans won’t be changing their opinion. And that is a dreadful situation for any organisation to be in.
The board have more than just the decision of who to replace Allardyce with – as it surely must be. Whatever the man’s merits, to be reviled by half of the paying customer is as divisive as it gets. And it is that division, as can be seen on any Hammers internet forum, that shows how destructive it can be. Every little step back gets blown up and it’s trench warfare between those who want him (or just for now) and those who don’t.
Many potential manager names have been bandied about however, a factor that is only scratched at is the level to which the football club is being directed to compete at. Someone on a similar managerial level who isn’t Sam Allardyce may appease the masses for a while. Unless the team can progress to challenge for European football then he would only be a cosmetic change and nothing but a caretaker.
The next appointment along with the ‘warchest’ handed to him will show exactly what the board’s ambitions are. Our current footballing aim is clearly to challenge for European football. That is to break in amongst Liverpool, Sp*rs, Southampton and keep ahead of Stoke, Everton, Swansea and Newcastle. The team currently has an excellent first XI. The bench is creaking with deadwood and needs overhaul.
The Saints may have developed a way in doing things that should be looked at and maybe even emulated. The beginnings of a legacy is what they hope. It certainly is showing early signs of promise for the south coast club with Koeman continuing the work started by Adkins and moved on by Pochettino.
The David’s have the opportunity to show their thinking with a progressive move this Summer. I wrote earlier that Rafa Benitez would be an ideal upgrade on Allardyce. Yet at a reported £6m year to even talk to us it begs the question of whether the club could afford the ‘warchest’ he’d expect to improve on things.
There are plenty of managers out there. Most are no better than Allardyce. Those that have successful CVs will expect a lot of money to spend. The danger of getting in manager who is in effect nothing but a caretaker for two years is a real one for me. This is an opportunity to rebrand West Ham United on the pitch as well as a business. The beginning of a legacy. Dare I suggest it, a West Ham way.
One thing is for certain, whatever direction they decide to go, if the board can appoint someone that unites the fans then we’ll all be onto a winner. As Sham69 is often heard over the Boleyn sound system, ‘If the kids are united, then we’ll never be divided’.
The views expressed in this article are those of the blogger and are not necessarily shared by ClaretandHugh.
No pain no gain. I think this have to be our motto.
BFS lovers have no dreams, no ambitions, no growing desire, they just want to survive through “stability”.
Maybe it is because West Ham has not an history of winning, but that doesn’t mean it won’t change someday, and I think this is the most appropriate period to show courage.
The new Stadium is a great opportunity: more money, more media attention, more sponsors, more appeal for important young players.
I think the key figure will be the manager: someone who shows pleasant football, someone able to focus on youth, someone who has an international vision of football. This is the only way to reach another dimension: Barcelona, Ajax, Borussia Dortmund are the most obvious examples of this policy.
Take a great manager, pay him well and I’m sure will, in the long-term, be money well spent.
I think there will always be a percentage who wont want whichever manager takes over a football club and this will probably still be the case whoever takes over.
Depends what the percentage is i guess.If its 5 or 10% that will always happen.When its 50% its clearly a problem.I have no sympathy for Allardyce at all,he has brought most of it on himself.
I’m not a Sam lover but I think he’s done a very good job so far. I have dreams and ambitions for West Ham but my opinion is that we are still 2 years away from bringing in someone to move us to the so-called next level. As mentioned in the article above, this is going to be the two of the most crucial years in our history, we can’t afford to get things wrong. Another two years with Allardyce keeps continuity and improves on the steady progress made so far. Once we are established in the new stadium in two years time, it’s then that we should re-evaluate our goals and ambitions.
Problem is that there is no longer any patience in football and looking at the bigger picture. We were recently close to picking up 7 points against ManU, Spurs and Chelsea, there is a fine line and a new manager is not guaranteed to do any better.
Realistically the Premier League is split into two divisions. 1st is the Champions League division consisting of ManU, ManCity, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham. This is based on the spending power of those clubs, the other clubs cannot compete with that. There will always be a chance maybe for one club to nip in based on gathering a decent team or one of the above 6 having a bad season (Southampton this season) but otherwise we should be aiming to win the 2nd league which is 7th. That’s the aim for us and this season we might not be far off it. So what are we really expecting here from Sam? Until we get millions to spend we cannot compete with the top 6. For now our best hope is to aim for 7th with the hope of maybe clicking at the right times and maybe nip a top 6th place.
I just don’t understand what everyone is expecting when/if Sam goes. Are we all naive enough to think we can realistically be a top 6 club spending less than half the amount of money that the top six are spending? Hopefully the spending will improve and we can eventually get there but I don’t see it this season or next season.
Thank you coyi1973. You are a voice of wisdom in a time filled with boisterous uninformed opinions. I could not agree with you more and will sign the petition to keep Sam here for the time being. With a few good additions to our squad we could fulfill the promise we showed in the first half of this season. COYI
As this season has show a lot fans will oppose any manager as soon as they lose a few games: Arsene, Pellegrini, Pochettino, Rogers, LVG, Koeman have all faced disgruntled fans calling for their head/s. These clubs were smart enough to dismiss these fickle fans (who frankly have no idea how to run a football club) and I hope WHUFC do the same dealing with the Sam issue. They made a good move last season sticking with Sam despite a tough year and instead made a plan to build the squad instead with new blood. I hope they stick to their plan despite some of our clueless fan base calling for Sam’s head. We would be much better off growing our squad by 4 or 5 keys player than sacking off Sam and starting again.
For all of you Anti-Sammers do me a favour and instead of moaning about Sam, respond with a constructive comment on who you would replace Sam with and how you plan to grow this club moving forward.
Oh sorry for being anti-sam,didnt realize not wanting him made us clueless.Funny it is never the sam lovers who are clueless isnt it.
I guess if he doesnt get offered a new contract the board will be clueless as well & clearly dont know how to run a football club.
Thanks for your constructive reply Tyson. I’m glad you’re not running this club with your complete lack of plan moving forward.
I replied to coyi,because unlike you he comes on regularly & talks a lot of sense even if we do disagree on the manager.He doesnt appear & call everyone who doesnt like sam,whingers,clueless & fickle.You are just a pompous man with a crap attitude.You suddenly appear calling everyone who doesnt love your sam unintelligent in all but wording.I dont need to reply to that crap.I only am now in case you think i cant string more than two words together due to the fact i am so dense.I have nothing more to say to you.Go slag someone else off,hopefully on another forum!
Tyson I want the same thing as you which is a successful whufc. I’m all for a diversity of opinions but I want to know how you would replace Sam. Right now we need to stay in the league. That should be our top priority. Sam has never been relegated so he seems like a good man to take us through the next couple of years and take us to OS.
Sacking him isn’t the solution as then we have a club with no manager. Surely that’s even worse?
No we aint naive enough to think that.But i also dont understand why people,mainly sam lovers think that a new guy will not give us the continued stablity(that famous word again) or actually improve our team,style of play,investment in the youth by let them at least within 20miles of the first team.Not just when we are down to the bare bones & Sams pets are not about.As was mentioned on here Southampton are a great model as to how to sign decent players & blend it with youth & experience.With Sam we will continually be buying 30+ age group players or his happy band of ex players from under him.West Hams world wont suddenly come crashing down if Allardyce leaves.It always gets mentioned by people that his other clubs all went down,well it is totally different circumstances.One team had a group of guys coming to the end of their success,newcastle were & still are a mess & blackburn were bought by chicken breeders who should have bought kfc not a football club.We will prosper without Sam & his empty trophy cabinet.The club is bigger than one egotistical man.
Whats you are saying works both ways. Yes there is no absolute reason thatg if Sam goes that everything will fall apart. A new manager could do a far better job, who know? But I get the impression that anti-Sam people think that anyone is better than Sam. Please name me the names that you think we can get and will do this much better job.
And how do you define a better job than what Allardyce has done? Where would you expect us to finish? and how?
Regarding the youth, has it ever dawned on you that maybe our youth are just not good enough and no matter which manager we have they’ll not play them. Name me the players from the youth team (who are bottom of the U21 league) that should be starting or in the first team?
As for age over 30, I think if you look at the squad this season that the average age is below 30.
Fickle fans,haha,yeah sure.I pay every year with my hard earned for my season ticket.If i think he has had his time then i will express it Canberra,it neither makes me fickle or clueless.I hate to think how many thousands,maybe hundreds of thousands i have spent following The Irons over the years.This last four years i have watched some of the biggest dross i have ever seen under Sam.So yeah i will say he has had long enough & i will say it again without feeling like a fickle fan.I support WHUFC with every fibre in body but i dont have to agree with a Sam fan or not express my distain for the guy as a manager,& it certainly doesnt make me fickle or cluess.ffs.
Thanks Rads. So who are you suggesting we get instead of Sam? I missed that part of your post…
What is the point in any of us putting names forward when we have no idea what monies are available for a new manager.What should i say?,Guardiola,Simone.No one can suggest a plausable manager without knowing what budget we have you Muppet!
Sometimes i really do wonder how many people who are content with whufc the sam way actually go to watch us.Because if they did go to matches they would understand much of the frustrations.Not just sit on forums telling us what a great job he is doing.I have watched us under many managers,some good,some bad,but this over a period of time is the most frustrated i have ever been about a manager.Still at least we have stability,we shouldnt wish for too much & its better the devil you know.I surrender.
you cant please the yes brigade with the no brigade ie bfs he is a poor manager end of when the season ends a big black taxi for Sam to anywhere away from Upton Park the bloke is clueless & a child we get gubbed at the gooners last week & he sends in Mcdonald for press conference. ALLARDYCE YOUR FIRED!!!
I can’t surrender Rads because these deluded fans who want the sort of football that BFS turns out week in week out have no ambition for our great club,
We surport this club because we want a entertaining game played not just to win something,
It’s funny how we are running down our youngsters now when the Fat Man put them all to the sword last year in the cup,
No team produce 11 good players each year in the under21 but we have Lee,Oxford,Boothe
And Potts,all on the verge of the first team,
If all you want is stability then you you will loose all our best players because they want European football and the big bucks,
BFS OUT
This article has got it so, so wrong by talking about fans who are opposed to Sam actually hate him.
It has nothing to with him as a person but what he does and has done with this team. For me this started when he got Carroll and Nolan back and had them back in the first team almost immediately, this, in spite of our success without them.
This spoke volumes to me for it revealed a one dimensional manager, who is more interested in proving he is right and is comfortable just surviving.
This inability to adapt is why he won’t/can’t take this team forward
Bang on the money canchaz,i have no hate towards the man.I dont like his ridiculous self promoting in the press & his view he is a far better manager than he is,but i dont hate him.But i do want a manager who doesnt want to play one upmanship games with the board to try to prove a point.I do want a manager who doesnt complain we tried to hard to score a second goal when 1-0 up & i do want a manager who doesnt want to defend from the 65th minute onwards when 1-0 up.If i am wishing for too much Sam fans im sorry,but as you say,we non sam fans are clueless,fickle & lack no sense.It is you with knowledge & deep understanding of football.You with the loyalty towards West Ham United,not anti sam fans.We ofc just want the club to crumble into ruins while we mock Sam for absolutely no reason.We are fantasists & delusional.They club is in the safest hands possible & we should all be so grateful for this.Too watch Sam football style with a broad grin on our faces & relish another season of his flambouyant attacking style of play.Any of you want to stump up for my season ticket for The OS? There again you would be better actually buying one & going to some games for a change yourselves instead of coming on here telling us all how marvellous life is under Sam when most of you probably aint even set foot in the ground under The Mighty Sam.If most of you had then maybe you wouldnt think the sun shines out of his a*se.
You dont need to be a manager on 3m a year to destroy a wining combination,but i am clueless like other non sam fans.I wouldnt have had the vision to have Downing playing the best football for years at the tip of the diamond & then move him back on the wing to play Nolan.I wouldnt have had the vision to send Zarate,Lee out on loan & Cole almost leave then end up short of forwards so we have to buy a free agent.I wouldnt have had the vision to want Wickham instead of Sakho who wasnt good enough.Were would we be now without Sakhos goals.Yep im just a fickle,clueless fan as well it seems.No understanding of football.I understand one thing though.If we keep Allardyce lets look forward to another few years of mundane,boring football.The sort that sams fans love so much.Stable football,sterile football,sh*t football! Allardyce out!!! Enough is Enough of this pantomime thats been running for four seasons now!
I’m totally against Allardyce, as man and as manager. it is impossible to separate the two: his way of coaching reflects his personality. He never put himself out there, he is not developing and consequently his football is the same as always.
Funny thing is that sometimes i think maybe we are wrong.But then when i talk to people who support other teams who are real football guys who have a great knowledge of football they would rather have no manager than Sam.They all say much the same thing.He is one dimensional,has a huge ego he cant back up & he is just not all he hypes himself up to be.My mate,a Newcastle season ticket holder would probably shoot himself if he came anywhere near Newcastle again,lol 😀
I was a season tkt holder in lower bobby moore stand upto 2 seasons ago but the Hull game at home when there was no atmosphere dross utter dross so called football being sort of played & then finding out that bfs was on around £3 to £3-5 mil a contract no thanks I walked away & il go to games when he as gone & takes Nolan Carroll O’Brien with him
I also don’t believe 50% of fans want him to stay,if a true poll was held I think it would be 60% want him gone 10% want him to stay and 30% don’t know or don’t care ,
If you were running a business which is what the 2 Daves say this is you have to come to a choice keep lowing money in to the club under BFS and get no return as a mid table club or get a new manager and develop the team into a top 6 team and sell at a profit.
BFS OUT
It’s funny that not a single one of you whinging fans has suggested an improvement on Sam. As above I’m happy to discuss this with you but I won’t partake in your aimless whinging. COYI
You just have done
No one wants you to partake anyway & if youre actually from canberra in australia who the hell are you to judge people who pay there money to follow the team all round the country watching some of the crap sam has served us up in the last four years.We maybe clueless,fickle & whingers but atleast we are there week in week out even though we have a mug as a manager.We support the team to the bitter end on match days,that is a totally different matter to not liking the manager.We are there all over the country following the team.Are you?
For the record I live in London if that makes a difference…
Didnt realize we were answerable to you CanberraWhat do we know anyway,we are just fickle,clueless people who pay good money each year to go to the ground to watch Sams dross football.The board will appoint the manager.No point in us making suggestions,we are not intelligent enough are we.
I think its funny how its the ‘Sam Out’ guys who are meant to find the new manager for our club .. personally I have to spend most of my waking hours grafting and when I finish my work I spend my time with my wife and young baby & supporting West Ham. I certainly do not have the time to scour every league in Europe and beyond to find the right guy for the job (what diff would I make anyway) BUT Im sure the club have people helping them who do have the time & are experts in doing just that.
As for actually naming people for the job… there have been a whole raft of names put forward and many of them appeal to me more than staying with Sam and his negative brand of football.
What are the Sam lovers saying ?? they believe Sam is the best man on the planet for the job ? do they believe it would be impossible to find a someone to achieve the same level of mid-table mediocrity in a more pleasant style of football ? surely not.
Personally I used to be happy with an attacking approach & exciting style paired with mid-table safety (not BFS then) but now we have the opportunity to think bigger and swop mid-table for Europe, the FA cup or higher … Sam’s never won a single trophy in his glittering career, Sam has a style of football which is laughed at & stuck it the past, Sam struggles to bring through the youth players, Sam thinks success is not being relegated. I want more & we deserve more