On Wednesday morning my article requesting West Ham United end the unprofessionalism and appoint David Moyes as manager was published. Four hours and 39 minutes later, the club issued a statement confirming Moyes’ departure from the club!
It appears as though this was Moyes’ decision rather than the board’s. The Scot had seemingly had enough of the lack of appetite within the club to rid it of the media leaks, culminating in Sullivan’s hardly-secret meeting with Paulo Fonseca early last week. David Gold went public on Tuesday, saying he wanted Moyes to stay – perhaps he should have a meeting with his Joint-Chairman (y’know, communicate..!) and discuss exactly what it is they want from the club’s present and future. It is highly concerning when the two men at the top of the club are not singing from the same hymn sheet.
And so, for the second time in six months, we are contemplating the possibilities of a new manager – hardly the West Ham Way. The new appointment will be the sixth permanent boss to work under Sullivan and Gold since they bought the club eight years ago. After the initial club statement vowed “The Club will be making no further comment until a new managerial appointment is confirmed”, supporters were ‘treated’ to an update just 28 hours later which promised a “high-calibre” manager with “a proven record of success at the highest level of the game”. Why Sullivan felt we needed to know this before an appointment is made is beyond me – he must learn that actions count, not words. Incidentally, well done to those who picked up The Smiths references in this piece’s headline!
My personal choice of those mentioned would be Manuel Pellegrini. The Chilean took Villarreal from eighth place before he arrived at the Estadio de la Ceramica to third place in 2004/05. He finished seventh and fifth in the following campaigns before recording a second-place finish in 2007/08, finishing above Barcelona. The club finished fifth in Pellegrini’s final season with them, in 2008/09. Pellegrini also took Villarreal to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup in 2005 and the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2006, where they were defeated by Arsenal. The Gunners would again defeat Pellegrini’s side in the quarter-finals of the 2008/09 Champions League.
Pellegrini joined Real Madrid in the summer of 2009, with president Florentino Perez signing (among others) Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Xabi Alonso. The club were knocked out of the Champions League in the last 16 and finished second in La Liga. Pellegrini, in words that should echo in the ears of David Sullivan, said of his time at the Bernabeu:
“I didn’t have a voice or a vote at Madrid. They sign the best players, but not the best players needed in a certain position. It’s no good having an orchestra with the ten best guitarists if I don’t have a pianist. Real Madrid have the best guitarists, but if I ask them to play the piano they won’t be able to do it so well. He [Pérez] sold players that I considered important. We didn’t win the Champions League because we didn’t have a squad properly structured to be able to win it.”
As an aside, herein lies the rub. If West Ham are going to appoint a manager of Pellegrini’s ilk, they are going to have to up their game in terms of professionalism throughout the club and they are going to have to provide significantly greater funds over time to allow him to be a success, as well as allowing Pellegrini and his management/recruitment team to have control over who comes in and who goes out.
Upon departing Madrid, Pellegrini moved to Malaga in November 2010, the club having just finished 17th in 2009/10. Under the new ownership of Sheikh Abdullah Al Thani and the management of Pellegrini, the club finished 11th and moved up to fourth in his first full season. Pellegrini took Malaga to the quarter-finals of the Champions League in 2012/13 and finished sixth in La Liga. He left the club with mounting financial problems and excluded from Europe due to Financial Fair Play rules.
Many West Ham United supporters will remember Pellegrini for his time at Manchester City, particularly their 9-0 aggregate win over Sam Allardyce’s side in the 2013/14 League Cup semi-finals. The Hammers did beat Pellegrini’s champions 2-1 at Upton Park in October 2014 though, with Slaven Bilic’s Irons recording a 2-1 win at the Etihad the following season. Pellegrini won the Premier League title and two League Cups at City before departing two seasons ago, with Joe Hart a key figure in his success in Manchester. He has been manager of Hebei China Fortune since August 2016, leaving the club yesterday. He finished fourth in 2017 and leaves the club, including former Hammer Javier Mascherano, in eighth position.
I would not be disappointed if Rafa Benitez were to rock up at the London Stadium but I really don’t see Sullivan paying the £6m release fee. Personally, I don’t see why a board of directors would be happy to pay £20m for Andre Ayew and £10m for Robert Snodgrass but baulk at £6m for a manager – then again, this is the same board of directors who have not paid a permanent transfer fee for a first-choice goalkeeper since they took over the club (Stephen Henderson being the only custodian who has cost the club a fee in that time). Reports this morning suggest that Zenit St Petersburg could move for Benitez as a replacement for Roberto Mancini. My preference is for Pellegrini as he’s known for more attacking football. In addition, Benitez oversaw three different sets of four league defeats in a row last season, something neither Slaven Bilic nor David Moyes experienced during 2017/18.
As for Marco Silva, I think he has his head too easily turned which, at a time when we are craving stability, rules him out for me. After hoping on Wednesday morning that the club would show a desire to end its unprofessionalism and appoint Moyes, I now hope that the new incumbent is appointed swiftly so we can begin planning for next season and beyond. If it is Pellegrini or Benitez, their vast experience will hopefully put an end to West Ham being run as a “basket-case club”, as I read in one publication yesterday. It’s going to be an interesting week…
Finally, huge congratulations to Jiahao Wong, who won The Official WHTID League via the Premier League’s Fantasy Football with his team ‘AdrianSupportGroup’. Jiahao amassed 2,305 points over the season, topping a table which consisted of nearly 250 participants.