West Ham Move On from Sam Allardyce
By Ryan Wrenn
“Sam Allardyce – West Ham United bench” by Egghead06 – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
As was largely expected, West Ham have declined to renew Sam Allardyce’s contract with the club. His departure comes after four seasons in which he guided the Hammers back into the Premier League in his first year and has kept them there comfortably since. That West Ham’s ownership decided to move on now seems both odd and brazen.
Allardyce’s biggest criticism throughout his management career has been his perceived affection for ‘long-ball tactics’. It’s not entirely unfair; Big Sam’s teams have at times relied extensively on the long punt and muscular defending. That a penchant for those tactics are the significant reason why West Ham are in the Premier League at all is often forgotten. Regardless, this prejudice has soured many supporters to the English manager and it seemed only a matter of time before club owners David Sullivan and David Gold were convinced.
To their credit, they did give Allardyce a chance. Last summer they demanded that West Ham begin to play a more attractive passing game while also scoring goals at a more reliable clip. To that end, they hired former West Ham star Teddy Sheringham to coach the team on offense and re-fitted the side with new parts. Ecuador’s World Cup star striker Enner Valencia was brought in to pair with the relatively unknown Diafra Sakho up front, while Alex Song was brought in from Barcelona to improve the passing game. The tank Allardyce had built was being transformed into a fighter jet.
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Sheringham and shiny new players weren’t going to be enough on their own to improve the club’s look. To do that took a bit of tactical nous from a man famous for disdaining such things. He made the midfield narrower and relied on new fullbacks Aaron Cresswell and Carl Jenkinson for width. The rejiggered look allowed West Ham to have more control in midfield and shield Song as he marked time with his passes from deep. It was less a reimagining of West Ham football and more a repurposing. Stewart Downing, brought into the club for his ability to cross the ball from out wide, was shifted toward the middle to help dictate the attack with Valencia and Sakho. For a side that spent much of 2013/14 fruitlessly launching the ball into the box whenever they could, the changes felt dramatic, made all the more so by how well it all worked.
For the first half of the season, West Ham did more than simply compete. They won nine and lost only six in the months before the New Year, enough to keep them in contention for the Champions League places. It felt nothing short of a revelation. A manager who had been defamed for much of his career for his boorish and outdated methods was suddenly putting on a tactical masterclass.
The seams began to show in January however, and by the concluding game of the season they had been all but ripped apart. West Ham won only three matches in 2015 and dropped a total of 13 points from winning positions. They finished the season 12th, one better than last term, but still not enough to ward off the critics. Though injuries and a relatively shallow squad certainly played their roles, it cannot be denied that Allardyce lost something of the magic that fueled West Ham’s rise in the first half of the season. It was those admittedly unsustainable highs that damned him in the end. West Ham had tasted the top half of the table and were not content for only marginal improvement.
It’s from a wider angle that the decision to axe Allardyce comes off as especially brash. While he was not able to sustain that early season success, what manager that West Ham could hope to attract would have been able to? More importantly, West Ham’s priority in the coming year isn’t about trophies or qualifying for the Champions League, it’s simply staying in the Premier League ahead of their big move to the Olympic Stadium in August of 2016. They certainly don’t want to make their debut in their new home while playing in the Championship. At the very least, Allardyce has proven that he can survive with the sometimes modest resources of the club and, indeed, might have been able to build on the improvements from this season.
Without Big Sam, West Ham will have to pray they choose wisely when appointing their next manager. The new man will need to settle quickly and get the most out of the squad built by Allardyce. Most worryingly, West Ham have earned a spot in the opening qualifying rounds for the Europa League by virtue of their sparkling disciplinary record. Should they make it through to the group stages, West Ham will be stretched even thinner week to week. Given that even clubs the size of Tottenham struggle with having to balance the Premier League with the Europa League, that will be no modest challenge.
As of this writing, former West Ham defender Slaven Bilić is the favorite to replace Allardyce. The Croat has had two remarkable seasons managing Turkish club Beşiktaş, but that’s no guarantee of success in the English top flight. He’ll need the funds to deepen the squad and help prevent the injury crises that struck the club this season. His brief time playing for the club should earn him the support of the fans, but they’ve proven themselves fickle before.
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The one thing any new manager of West Ham will need but most certainly will not be given is time. Allardyce’s immediate success at getting the club promoted back into the Premier League is no mean feat. He had experience in the league and knew what had to be done to stay in it. There’s no promise that Bilić or any other candidate is as capable.
West Ham have saddled themselves with the uncertainty of a new manager ahead of one of the more vital seasons in the club’s history. It’s a serious gamble, one that many neutrals struggle to understand, and there’s not much to fall back on if it doesn’t pay off. Perhaps this time next year West Ham will be ruing the lack of Allardyce’s brand of reliable, if unattractive, football.