One thing is certain. West Ham’s Chairman won’t want to get it wrong again. The folly of appointing Julen Lopetegui in the summer has unravelled very publicly: No improvement in performances, dreadful capitulations against some very ordinary opposition, two separate fall – outs between Lopetegui and his squad and just six points above the relegation zone is a very far cry from where West Ham’s directors expected to be after spending £140 million in the Summer.
Before Lopetegui wrecks the whole season he has to be replaced: West Ham’s board are in meetings and will ‘continue in the next few days’ as the succession is planned. Surely it should have been ready to go after the ‘must win’ Everton game which Lopetegui didn’t win. This crisis will be come a disaster if Lopetegui lasts until the weekend.
There is now a consensus amongst several journalists and media sources that West Ham have a shortlist of four possible candidates to replace Lopetegui. As reported widely – for example in today’s thesun.co.uk, the three under final consideration are:
Graham Potter 49, fond of the high press, great results at Brighton but the wheels fell off at Chelsea. Ticks all of the Sullivan ‘essentials’ boxes- free, no compensation required, has Premier League experience but he will have expensive salary demands having had stratospheric pay at Chelsea. Not, reportedly, David Sullivan’s top choice (probably as he’s costly!)
Edin Terzic 42, former assistant head coach at London Stadium under Bilic so probably;y side-steps Sullivans ‘Premier League experience’. Great Bundesliga success but divisive having had dressing room bust ups with, amongst others, Niclas Fullkrug at Borussia Dortmund. Steidten ‘already spoken’ apparently.
Sergio Conceicao, 50, Former manager of Porto, winning 11 honours including three league titles and the double in 2019–20 and 2021–22. Lots of possession play, bit nervous about his preference for ‘rotational’ play with team members less rigidly positioned. Hope he isn’t Lopetegui 2.0. No Premier League experience. Has already – reportedly – turned down Everton to wait for West Ham job. Reportedly a Steidten pick.
However, gaining traction even in the last 24 hours is ‘the fourth man’ –
Max Allegri 57, Is a former AC Milan and Juventus Manager. Fourteen tropies. No Premier League experience.Rumoured to have been in UK learning English. However he is super expensive – reportedly wants €8 million a year to manage in the PL.
Frankly, after the last few days, I’d cheerfully get behind any of those. I’m sure you are all as exhausted as I am from watching the wheels come off as the games unfold and reading about it too- and from the comments it is 100% clear that Claret and Hugh readers would like to see some decisive leadership from inside the club.
The question is; who is going to energise this squad? We have some excellent players and a captain who is committed and gives his all but is very quiet and just leads by example. So, to my mind we need a manager that is going to communicate with a bit more passion and get their belief back. Not sure that is Potter. I would love to give him another chance after Chelsea but I listen to him as a pundit and I have never been very impressed with his contribution or style. Not sure there is a silver bullet option in that list to be honest.
Talking of magic, why not get Graham Potter’s namesake Harry.
“Frankly after the last few days I’d cheerfully get behind any of those…” What for 14 games? Or will you stretch to 15…
I hope you’re never standing behind me at the London Stadium….
I don’t like his set up or the football he’s trying to play
I want him gone pronto.
But has anyone seen him.on the touchline,? The man is ill. The job is making him worse. Sully needs to pull.the pin and get rid of him
For west Hams sake. And mainly for loppys health.
Put him out of his misery.
We need a new manager! The most tactically inept, poor man manager since avram grant. To play Ings as a front man against Leicester defies any logic. We have probably the best squad for a long time, but are playing like a 2nd division team. He must GO!
Allegri…. Not ANOTHER manager that will struggle to communicate in English with players, fans and the press?
I’ll take any of the others.
We went for the cheap option for the manager
Missed out on Jon from Villa to expensive
A pattern forming CHEAP
Which after spending so much on some good players is maddening
COYI
Repeating the same mistake and expecting a different outcome is madness.
Heard Rooney is very interested……..😁😁
Sorry, shouldn’t jest really, put nothing past the Porn Baron.
What a Soap Opera this club is !
Sullivan still worries the hell out of me – heard he’s speaking to Wayne Rooney !😁😁
Jesus… I’ve just checked the odds and he’s three to one on next for the chop…
Keep your money in your pocket, John.
Who is, Jesus? I didn’t even know he had applied. He’s got good contacts and known to work the odd miracle.
It serves no purpose at all to keep Lopetegui in his job a minuet longer. Sullivan needs to stop shilly-shallying and send him on his way immediately.Apparently, he has lost the dressing room and that situation must not be aloud to continue to fester. The Board must know by now who they want for the job. They need to get whoever that is in as quickly as possible to stop the rot and to give him as much time as possible to assess what he has got to work with before the January window
At the present moment we need someone who picks the strongest starting eleven, sets them up coherently, makes thought through substitutions and doesn’t get involved in dressing room bust ups. You would not have thought was too much to ask.
What we do not need is the cheapest possible option so as we end up with yet another disaster.
It’s highly likely that any of those four would very quickly have us in much better shape. On paper the team looks good enough for top seven or eight, it’s only on grass that we look like a shambles.
The really important thing is that we get on with it.
More dithering from Sullivan & the board
It seems that Kasper Hjulmund (the former Danish national manager and apparently a Tim choice) is the strong favourite. Let’s hope he speaks better English than Loppy.
What’s the big thing about having Prem league experience I would have any of these over Potter and Lopetegui who both have PL experience but have never proved themselves
Potter has proven he wasn’t missed at Brighton disaster at Chelsea Lopetegui disaster both clubs Yet other managers in the Prem League now that have never had that experience are doing FAR better I don’t get this reasoning when they have all got great qualifications
Like Hurzeler the recommendation from your favourite German 🇩🇪
“Potter has proven he wasn’t missed at Brighton disaster at Chelsea Lopetegui disaster both clubs”
Do the research first Annette,
Potter’s record as Coach at Brighton was:
135 games, 42 wins (31.1%)
At Chelsea:
31 games, 12 wins (38.7%)
Previously in 300 games, 148 wins, win% almost 50%
Lopetegui was not a disaster at Wolves, 36 points from 27 games, saving them from relegation.
Amazing to think JLo hasn’t been sacked yet! Sullivan really needs to appreciate that if he doesn’t act now to replace the head coach the Irons are likely to to be relegated – and I am sure he wouldn’t want that. Get your ego under control Sullivan and do what’s necessary
The problem is Sully, his ego, stubbornness and complete lack of a clear vision and strategy for us to progress.
Loppy not being sacked already shows just how poor our Chairman is.
This is like asking who we’d support if not West Ham.
A) Spurs
B) Millwall
C) Chelsea
D) Arsenal
It’s pointless, and Sully will chose another coach we don’t want and history will repeat itself.
None of the above 🤦♂️
Let Tim actually be a Director of Football and make the biggest decision as Sullivan should not interview our next coach. We actually need a coach aligned with Tim.
Hoeness is the best candidate and the outstanding choice.
All of the above are out of work. Didn’t work out that well going for the last immediately available Jorge Mendes appointment.
But as Sully never learns and repeats mistakes, it’s likely we will go for another Jorge Mendes client.
Tim is aligned with Tim and only Tim Moyes couldn’t Lopetegui couldn’t and from what I have read neither has anyone else been able to get on with his ego and for me has not got too much right in his buying skills either
Well said Annette
So you both trust Sully with our new coach and player recruitment……really??
Totally agree.
Left to Sullivan we wouldn’t get a signing over the line.Tim works hard,pre-season everyone is loving his work now it’s whinging,pretty typical. Jlo is a Sullivan cheaper choice and the reason we are in this mess. Board need to act a bit sharpish.
Just asking are you a relative of John Lattimore who attended Holbrook School ?
Well this is what happens when the manager is not aligned with the tech director i.e. the board is picking the manager. The only way this works is if the tech director runs it all. The footballing ethos, the coach to put it in place on the pitch as well as the recruitment. This is why Brighton keep losing managers but remain successful. The style of play, doesn’t change, the youth management doesn’t change, the player recruitment doesn’t change. It means new coaches can come in and hit the ground running, rather than the Hammers approach of start from scratch every time because the wheels have come off. West Ham are operating 30 years out of date and that’s down to Sullivan and his cronies.
Tim did ok with Alonso at Leverkusen didn’t he…..
Picked a fair few decant players for him there didn’t he that went on to win the league….by the way Kudus ain’t a bad player either is he ? If Tim had been allowed to do his job properly last January think there would have been a few decant signings come in instead we ended up the Yorkshire Pudding Kalvin Phillips who was David Moyes only pick and how did that work out again? He didn’t get on with Moyes cos Moyes was an arrogant ***** and from my close reliable sources wasn’t well liked there,as for Lopetegui Tim advised against him as well but at the end of the day it’s always Sullivans calls and final choices…..You say from what you read so ease up on that because unless you actually work there nobody really knows what goes on in the offices behind the scenes but what we all know is that regardless of what players Tim does or doesn’t bring in or whatever Manager/Head Coach is in charge we will never achieve anything with that poisoned pygmy running it all.
We are a massive sleeping giant with huge potential to be tapped into if only we had the right people running the show instead of the muppets we do now.
Nobody knows what has transpired between Tim, Sullivan and JL. Nobody knows who the next Head Coach is going to be, or whether he will be successful.
Success at clubs is contextual. JL was a big success at Porto and Sevilla, but not at other places. Moyes success at West Ham was in the context of having 18 good players he could play til they dropped. When that eventually happened his success turned to failure. I can recall the vociferous rejection of Unai Emery by many on this board because he had failed at Arsenal. We’d all like a bit of Unai magic right now wouldn’t we.
In football management, past success or failure is no real indication of the future.