Well the board took their time in making official their decision to sack Slaven Bilic in the wake of the Liverpool embarrassment. Why they made Slaven wait another 48 hours when the inevitable was going to happen lacks class and is devoid of any respect that, love him or loathe him, Bilic deserved. When they sacked Sam after the final game of the 2015 season it was a rush to beat the manager to the cameras, before he could say his tenure at West Ham was untenable. I just think not putting Slav out of his misery immediately after the Liverpool game sums us up as a club at the moment. However, there are some rumours that Bilic knew his fate and so did the players a few weeks ago and Slav stayed on until the new man was all sorted. Whether this is true or not I don’t know. If it is, it is another example of what a fine man Slaven Bilic is, if it is not I stand by my original comments. Fans will have differing opinions on the job Bilic did for West Ham, I am sure only the misguided would not agree that he conducted himself at all times with integrity and grace while manager of our club?
I have sat on the fence for a long time regarding the decision to keep on supporting Bilic. Torn between what I was seeing now and my West Ham DNA. In private I told a close WHTID’er 12 months ago that I thought he was tactically making too many poor decisions and we should be looking for a replacement then, but there was still a lot of love for the man amongst the majority of supporters and I thought perhaps I was being too smart for my own good. I think we all like to think we are tactical geniuses and know best? Often we don’t, however clever we like to think we are. My personal thoughts at the time flew in the face of all what I had been brought up with following West Ham and that was why I still wanted him to succeed. We show loyalty, especially to people who genuinely care about the Hammers – I have no doubt Slaven Bilic does love this club. When I first stepped into Upton Park as an eleven year old the club was only on its fourth manager some 72 years after formation. For fans who started to follow the club in this era it is often more difficult to understand and agree with the constant merry go round of managers. In those days there was more of a “we are in it together” vision. Perhaps I live with rose tinted glasses because I can’t remember watching football in the 60’s and 70’s and any fans complaining about players “not trying”. It seems to be an epidemic nowadays. On one of my visits back to the UK in 1996 I ran into an old mate who was a Spurs fan. He used to go to all the home games. I asked him about the Spuds and he said he didn’t go anymore. “I got the hump spending most of my Saturdays, spending my hard earned to watch my team where it was evident some players were not even trying. I would have given anything to be good enough to play for my club and I am not paying money to watch over paid prime donnas waltz around with not a care for the club whilst earning as much in a week as I do in a year”.
Iron Liddy posted a link to an article for me the other day. It stated that in 2015 the average tenure of a manager across the 92 League clubs in England was 1.23 years. Interestingly, Arsene Wenger is single-handedly keeping this figure over the one year threshold. I wrote an article a few weeks ago which said that Bilic would go “eventually” – and so will the next manager and the next. Almost certainly in similar circumstances. It is a sad indictment on today’s game that so many players think they are bigger than the club it plays for? Yet they kiss the badge when they score whilst their agent works on a move for another multi-million quid move.
The Bilic/Payet season is one that no West Ham fan will ever forget. Amazing wins at Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City. The comeback at Everton and the final match at Upton Park where tears flowed. But those days have long since gone. I am not going to post stats on here – we all know it has not been pretty for a while. But I would like to thank Slav for the good times and wish him all the best for the future.
So, where to now? We languish in the bottom three with as tough a run of fixtures you could ask for looming in December. David Moyes has been backed into the “certainty” range with the bookies to take over the manager’s job. However, nothing is simple or straight forward when it comes to our club at the moment. Apparently the Board may be getting nervous twitches about the appointment now because of the reaction on social media to their current number one choice. It is obvious that Moyes is not flavour of the month with many of the fans. And then there are reports that the job is only “short term”. Really? So if the players aren’t currently playing for a manager who’s job initially wasn’t going to last beyond the end of the season, why would they play for another manager who’s tenure is exactly the same? I am sure it is not as simple as that but it does beg many questions of where the club is heading and why we are in such disarray at the moment? It will be interesting to see if the pressure of twitter, Facebook and fan site polls will have any effect on the Boards decision regarding any new manager?
We are currently the 18th biggest football club in the World and should be able to attract a top class manager under any circumstances, or so you would think? Taking over a team that is in the relegation zone should be a challenge for the brightest of managers in the knowledge there would be a handsome bonus for avoiding relegation. A World class stadium, OK but most would fall for that, and a club with fantastic support and traditions along with (on paper at least) a good squad of players, please don’t tell me no one wants the job? Or can I take those rose tinted glasses off again because whilst our manager has under achieved in the past year, our problems I fear, lie much deeper?