West Ham Till I Die
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Guest Post

Let's not get ahead of ourselves

Guest Post by Izo

There’s no doubt we are an excellent prospect to any new manager coming in to our club, with the move into the new stadium the main reason for us actually being able to contemplate hiring managers of the ilk of Klopp, Benitez or Emery. We have the history, the fan base, the right league, some stability, a decent squad, good funds and real potential. But there’s no doubt we are still a work in progress.

Whoever takes over now won’t get the riches that the stadium might eventually bring, they will still get a budget on average with most teams in mid table in the league. They will also probably have to oversea our transition into the new stadium, which isn’t always easy – as fans take time to settle in, and atmosphere can take a while to adjust (although some big, modern stadiums can suffer permanently). Not only that, they will be expected to entertain to a degree, stay well clear of relegation and start a long term project that could take years to reap rewards.

It’s a big risk for any manager who has already achieved success in the game, in reality why would Emery, fresh from winning the Europa League two years in a row, come into a club that may take 4-5 years to get the same point at best? A young manager has a reputation to build, successes can quickly be forgotten should things not work out, and without experience the Premier League can be a very tough league to work in. This type of manager may not want to take that risk so early in their career, it can be tough to come back from tattered reputations. Older managers may feel they’ve earned a bigger job, somewhere where success is imminent rather than a long term objective, or somewhere where the set up is ready to achieve success now, not in 5 years time. A manager like Bielsa probably doesn’t fancy his last job in the game to be a long term project with no guarantee of success.

So perhaps we should be prepared to wait a little. Luring in a young manager now is a very difficult task. Yes we are a club going places, but unless a new manager gets £50m-100m it’s a very tough ask to achieve what may be required of them in just a couple of seasons. There is no rush to do all this now – we’re in it for the long term; I’m certainly not going anywhere, are you? All we need at the moment is someone in charge to unite us all, someone who will get on with the fans and steer a team good enough for the top half to where they belong. It isn’t the hardest job in world football, it should be a good challenge for anyone. Let’s get through this transitional period with someone who has enough about them as a person to keep us going until the benefits of the stadium move can kick in, if it is true that it will open up new financial opportunities and allow us to compete with the top 6 in the league.

If Bilic is our man, I think he has enough about him, personality-wise, to keep us moving in the right direction, and who knows, he may have found the right job for success for both him and us. We don’t have to reach for the stars too early, we are in this stadium for 99 years, we don’t have to try and achieve too much before we have even moved in. Bilic would be accepted by most fans, and would at least be given a chance, he will get more leeway than Sam did.

Once we move to the new stadium, fill it, and show new managers just what is available to them by being able to show them the finished stadium, then maybe we can look to realistically entice some of the most talented managers out there. There’s no reason to ask for too much too soon.

So we may have, in what is another aspect of the “West Ham way”, aimed high and shot low in going for the very best managers available (if the rumours are to be believed), but if we don’t end up with Champions or Europa League winning managers then don’t panic – it may take a few years to demonstrate to everyone that we are worth taking a gamble on, it will seem much more attainable once we actually move in to our new home.

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