So it’s Slav out and Big Fat Sam in as two former West ham bosses command the headlines this afternoon (Wed).
Oh, the IRONry of it all with the game’s Mr Nice Guy replacing Allardyce at the Hammers in 2015 with Black countryman BFS now having a little stroll to work down to the Hawthorns as his successor.
And should – as we understand – he is announced as Baggies boss tomorrow (Thurs) you read it first on ClaretandHugh at 7.30 am this morning!
You really have to feel for Slav…if there were a manager’s nice guys XI he would be the skipper and maybe that’s always been the problem.
But to have gone to Manchester City and grabbed a draw last night to find himself sacked in the morning really is pretty brutal.
This will become Allardyce’s 11th managerial gig which doesn’t include the brief interlude when he blotted his copybook with England.
His last club excursion didn’t end well either when he left Everton a year before his contract was due to end in 2019 with fans demonstrating against his style of play.
Under Allardyce’s management, Everton were ranked 20th for total shots, 19th for total shots on target, 16th for passing accuracy and 17th for shots faced in the Premier League.
Despite having been out of football management for a full season, in July 2019 Allardyce had the opportunity to return to Newcastle United but turned it down.
He played for the same number of clubs as he managed and now at the age of 66 finds himself again back in work.
We wish Slav all the best for the future!
Sort of karma in a way isn’t it. Maybe bilic was a bit too nice to his players. I always felt standards dropped off in training when bilic and dicks were involved. Let’s face it dicks never used to like training when he was a player, he used to warm up by having a can of coke in the bath and bilic was a heavy smoker. In the premier league now you have to be an athlete and you have to train like one. When West Ham’s form started to die off under bilic the team was starting to be associated with bad statistics in terms of running and effort. The same was true under pellegrini. It’s easy to see how Moyes has turned things around by instilling discipline, organisation and a hard working ethic to the team. Our running stats now put us amongst the best in the league. No coincidence we now have players like souchek, Bowen and fornals working their sick’s off during a game, putting the miles in.
You only have to look at our late goal scoring stats to see how fit the team is now compared to previous 5 seasons.
Notice that you didn’t wish BFS all the best for the future, too … made me chuckle.
Very glad you noticed Daz …very deliberate. LOL
If BS gets appointed he will for sure get West Brom out of trouble . He is rediculousy underestimated . If memory serves “ weren’t West Brom the last team to be bottom at Christmas and secure Premieship status ?? “ . Maybe someone will help me with that !!!
Bizarre. Hire a manger with BFS’s history?
Imagine BFS has already put in a bet, with good odds, that the Baggies get relegated.
Slaven Bilic reaping the rewards of over-achieving last season. Wouldn’t have happened with Alan Curbishley overseeing progress.
Sam’s record is very sound. Whether he can work another miracle with the Baggies remains to be seen. Everton’s statistics don’t make inspiring reading but they did halt their decline, avoided relegation and gave themselves a platform on which to build. Sam’s England record is the best ever. Shame some ‘journalists’ decided to trick him into saying more than Hello at a time when we could have done without it. We might have won a World Cup now if Sam Allardyce had not been told to resign so that England could benefit from the corporate guidance of Gareth Southgate. Sam was well and truly hung out to dry by the noble FA leaders. Shameful. Then and since then, he has continued to conduct himself with dignity.
Now, if Slav was being replaced with Avram Grant – beware the end is nigh.
COYI
I must say that under BFS it was often painful to watch West Ham – I remember a 2-0 victory over Cardiff in his second PL season (when we fought relegation) being a particularly torturous watch – yet to give him credit he does save teams from relegation (Crystal Palace and Sunderland come to mind). I am not sure how much game time Grady will get under BFS – I can see a lot more than before for Charlie Austin
I am very happy that we already have 20 points because relegation will be very tight this year – there arfe only seemingly 5 clubs involved – everyone says Brighton are in a false position and Burnley’s results are now starting to turn around – and there is the promise of American money for them, while Fulham’s performances have also improved – so the relegation scrap this year will be very interesting
Love the geezer and only imo not being backed enough here and wba too with cash to improve the team has been his downfall . Forget easy the super slav was an international manager who did well even against England his maybe too likable and nice as a person which doesn’t help in this game. A draw against city who has the best coach in the world and gets sacked with the worst coach coming in to make wba hopefully go down with his archaic football that seems to make him the special one to keep teams up. Dislike his football and the person so hopefully goodbye to Burnley wba and Sheffield Utd.