Four dramatic years of Sam Allardyce’s reign at the helm of West Ham United came to a disappointing end after their 2-0 defeat to a Newcastle side who were in free-fall.
Fourth at Christmas and with scalps such as Liverpool and Manchester City under their belts, most West Ham fans could be excused for dreaming the ultimate dream…..Champions League football?
That barnstorming start to the campaign provided an impressive 32 points from 19 games for the Hammers. But an obvious return to the tactics and style of play that nearly saw them in a relegation battle last term provided a measly 15 points, leading to a pretty much unthinkable 12th place finish, light years away from their initial top six target from co-owner David Sullivan.
The football of late has been woeful, and with the patience of the West Ham fans now non-existent, a parting of the ways was pretty much inevitable.
Many will say Big Sam was fighting a losing battle before his new side had even kicked a ball when he arrived at the Boleyn Ground back in 2011. He was clearly not alot of fans cup of tea due to his bull-headed manner and ‘long ball merchant’ tag. This was clearly no way near their supposed ‘West Ham way’.
But Sam quickly made his own way; effective winning football in the Championship. Sensible purchases of experienced campaigners such as Kevin Nolan, Matt Taylor and Abdoluaye Faye in conjunction with the exciting prospects of James Tomkins, Winston Reid, Jack Collison and, ofcourse, fan favourite Mark Noble created a side that was very difficult to beat.
This was evident when at the end of the season, West Ham had only lost 8 games out of 46, the least of any side in the Championship. But this was the first of many bug bears about Big Sam among the supporters, you don’t win things by losing the least games, but by winning the most!
Despite their ability to avoid defeat in over 80% of their games that season, they missed out on automatic promotion. But in the end they won the games when they really mattered with a comfortable 5-0 aggregate win over Cardiff and a dramatic 2-1 over Blackpool in the final. Sam had done his job.
Amazingly supporters were calling for his head already, but not to allow him a crack at the Premier League after promotion at the first attempt would have been madness.
A comfortable 10th place finish followed, the goals of Kevin Nolan and later on Andy Carroll after injury were to thank for that. West Ham were starting to play direct but effective football. Sam had done his job, again.
Sam’s next big challenge was to avoid ‘second season syndrome’ a term you’ll hear a lot when a promoted team avoids relegation in their first season.
If someone were to tell you that West Ham would achieve 14 clean sheets (5th best in the league) – you wouldn’t expect them to then lose 20 games and finish on just 40 points, a total that would have seen them relegated in 2002-03. To Sam’s credit, the objective was to survive, and he did that.
But fans were arguing that you can’t ‘avoid defeat’ your way to safety, you have to try and win games. And with the top-scorer with 7 goals being Kevin Nolan, it was clear if the club wanted to achieve their lofty ambitions to regular European football at their new, big, shiny stadium. Things needed to change.
His contract was renewed, but it was well documented that the owners wanted a change in style. More attacking, entertaining football was required at Upton Park.
The prize coup of world cup star Enner Valencia was the first of many new faces to put indicate the clubs ambition. He was followed by Diafra Sakho who’d scored 20 goals in FC Metz’s title winning campaign in Ligue 2. Aaron Cresswell, Carl Jenkinson, Alex Song and Cheikhou Kouyate all made their mark in a memorable first half of the season. A change in system seemed to do the trick with Stuart Downing adopting a CAM role. Goals were flowing thick and fast, and so were the points.
After 19 games West Ham were only 8 points shy of their entire total from last season. Things were looking bright at West Ham. But a barren run of only 3 wins from their final 19 games lead to a 12th place finish and only a marginal improvement in terms of points than last season.
It was this run that led to the big decision of the board to part ways with Big Sam.
Looking back on Sam’s tenure, the stats will tell you that after promotion at the first attempt, West Ham cemented comfortable mid-table finishes. What more could you ask of a team on the brink 4 years previously.
Sam will leave with his head held high, and a pleasing new addition to his C.V.
But where next for the Hammers? Bookies favourite and former player Slaven Bilic looks to be the front-runner for the role. But with the resignations of Jurgen Klopp, Roberto Di Matteo and the apparent interest from Michael Laudrup, there are more candidates out there. This is a big week for the future of the football club.
Whoever is appointed, the expectations are rising. 54,000 people simply won’t come to watch them finish 10th-13th every season. Regular European football is what the owners want, and seemingly what the club needs.
Writers View: I backed Big Sam all the way. His tenure split the opinions of the supporters right from the start of his appointment. Some people just won’t change their mind and for some he was fighting a losing battle before his first season even started.
There have been some memorable moments. I will never forget the 2012 play-off final for as long as I live, and will be eternally grateful to him for that result. He did what he had to do in the seasons that followed, but my frustration started in the second half of this campaign. When we had an opportunity to really push for a top 6 spot, we didn’t and Sam reverted to the ‘don’t lose’ philosophy that nearly got us relegated in 2014.
I wouldn’t have been disappointed if he’d stayed to lead us into the new stadium, afterall, our premier league status is paramount for the 2016-17 season. But I don’t think he’s the man to give us a regular top 8 spot in the league. For me it’s better to start on the path to that now, than when we’re already in the new ground.