The ‘shortlist’ of about fifteen names- has just got a little shorter. West Ham’s head coach crisis is likely reaching a pivotal point in the next two games as Julen Lopetegui needs results to go his way in order to keep his job. The ‘must win’ game against Everton was drawn with the most dire football in the Premier League this season.
So Lopetegui is on thin ice , needing to get something from the away match tonight at Newcastle or the Arsenal match at the weekend.
A host of ‘possible’ head coach replacements have been touted with everybody seemingly having their own favourites. Despite sources within the club repeating the mantra that West Ham don’t pay compensation – meaning the club would only recruit an out of work coach for the role if Lopetegui becomes surplus to requirements – there have been rumours most recently linking Bournemouth coach Andoni Iraola with taking over at London Stadium.
Another on the ‘possibles’ list of candidates has today ruled himself out of the running. Brendan Rodgers, at Celtic for his second stint, has made it quite clear he plans to stay where he is for the time being. Comments he made to a Celtic fan site 67hailhail.com are pretty conclusive: Rodgers said:”They say in life, the biggest currency you have is time. As you get to 51 and older, you realise that. Time around people you love, your family, your workplace. And I would have to agree with that. Where I am at the minute, I’m at a brilliant place so we’ll just keep it that way.”
So, one name down, twenty others to consider: Lopetegui could ease his burden by putting on a decent performance at St James’s Park tonight. However much the bookies see a Newcastle win, I’m always an optimist when the whistle blows and will be just hoping for a moment of Summerville or Bowen magic which might grab us an unexpected win – and then the fun would really begin regarding Lopetegui’s future as everyone (yes, Claret and Hugh included) seems to have written him off.
yes we all know the culprit in this fiasco sits at the top.appalling bargain basement replacement after Moyes that most fans could see coming a mile away.totally agree about the manager compensation fee too.in reality its peanuts to these billionaire owners and yes the old adage of the closer you are to something the less you see fits Sullivan perfectly.I can guarantee that it will be the same old team with Alvarez back in and not a chance of one of our younger players on the bench to add a bit of excitement for the fans.
I’m glad Sullivan is taking most of these problems. He is the cancer in this club
Totally agree with comments above… Sullivan is the culprit in the demise of our club..No one else!.. With the financial benefits of the Olympic stadium we should be in a far healthier position…Bad decisions with managerial appointments and also players have put us in the bottom half of the PL.. Constantly looking over our shoulder….It shouldnt be like this.
It’s utter insanity that we have this ridiculous ‘self-imposed’ rule that ‘we don’t pay compensation’.
Brighton identified Hurzeler – paid compensation
Villa identified Emery – paid compensation
Utd identified Amorim – paid compensation
Liverpool identified Slot – paid compensation
Chelsea identified Maresca – paid compensation
Yet for us? No – we’re happy to spend £20m on Danny Ings, AND pay him £125k a week – but we simply won’t spend £5m on a manager.
This ‘rule’ comes from Sullivan and is one of a number of reasons why he needs to sell up and go. Get a Chief Exec in to run the club properly. You only have to look at how Paul Barber runs Brighton to see what the depths of analysis, foreward thinking and planning ahead does.
I’ve never felt so disconnected from this club. Who cares if Lopetegui gets the sack if Sullivan chooses another cheap freebie. We all know it’s going to be someone like Gareth Southgate, Steve Cooper or Rafa Benitez. What’s the point.
JB15 is spot on. Any successful business has to have good leadership. We simply don’t. The 2 years of league success of Moyes ( ably assisted by COVID in season 1 ) led to 3 seasons in Europe ( the last the result of winning a Euro cup ) so it was really 2 seasons of sustained results before the wheels started falling off. So IMO it was what they call serendipity ( the fact of finding interesting or valuable things by chance) with Moyes really brought in to fire fight when Sullivan finally panicked. But fair play to Moyes who used circumstances and a “pragmatic” approach very well for those seasons. But Moyes approach just wasnt sustainable ( squad depletion, inadequate recruitment despite available funding, low block tactics worked out ).
We just had to get everything right last summer. The Sullivan insistence on Loppy has massively backfired because aside from Moyes ( as mentioned unexpected ) success, he has always all but once recruited the wrong person, and as JB15 says, is not using data analysis and a long term strategic approach that aligns the football culture and philosophy to drive recruitment. Sullivan is the man with the “golden gut” and use his contacts ( agents ) to guide his choices.
Last summer he supposedly still has the pick of 3 players while Steidten had 3 and Loppy 3. Yes Summerville and AWB might be decent picks and better than Steidten’s and definitely better than 2 of Loppys. Thats not the point. Brighton and Bournemouth thru necessity ( crowd size etc ) are examples of how to run a club. The appointment of Steidten, allegedly at the insistence of other board members, has been undermined by Sullivan intentionally or unintentionally. Sullivan is a rank amateur in the world of professional sport. With the size, reach, location and stadium deal, West Ham should be doing so much better but his 14 years are largely a muddled mess.
well, we are the 16th richest club in the world (last i saw), problem is he doesn’t know how to make that work
Optimism, the silent killer….