“They fly so high, nearly reach the sky, then like my dreams they fade and die”. So goes the famous Blowing Bubbles tune which accompanies West Ham wherever they play.
Long have supporters seen the irony in a song which represents how West Ham should never expect too much as misery is inevitably just around the corner. Self-mockery is never far away from East London but they are still one of the best supported and loyal fan-bases in the EPL.
It was a huge surprise that the opening fixture at Upton Park this weekend still has tickets available. It was even more surprising when the opposition are fierce London rivals Tottenham.
Clearly supporters are voting with their feet and showing that no longer will they force themselves to witness the un-gamely and disjointed performances West ham have put forward under Sam Allardyce’s reign.
Allardyce is under huge pressure following a very disappointing EPL season where a terribly unappealing long ball game produced few highlights as the club floundered and was lucky to reach the 40-point mark.
Many including myself believe the board must part company with Big Sam and furthermore he should be replaced by David Moyes.
Save for a wonderful February which saved their season, the campaign was an unmitigated disaster. Allardyce fell out with players, supporters and board members alike and finished with 8 defeats in the final 11 fixtures along with the humiliation of being thrashed 6-0 and 5-0 in both Cup competitions.
While adopted son Kevin Nolan continually gave his support, many other squad members voiced their disdain for Allardyce. Supporters regularly booed and taunted the manager fed up with the dreary football on offer at the Boleyn Ground. But even with both players and supporters offside the biggest issue which faced Big Sam and still hangs above his head like a guillotine is his relationship with David Gold and David Sullivan, West Ham’s majority owners.
In a strange finish to last season it appeared Allardyce was on his last legs when a meeting was called to decide his position.
It was expected he would inevitably be sacked.
Remarkably Allardyce hung on but was given the directive to play a more expansive, attacking and generally more appealing brand of football. In a results-driven business it must sound alarm bells for the Hammers manager that not even a winning start could hold off the axe if the football isn’t played in the right way.
Surely it must also worry Allardyce that he no longer seems to have a say in who stays and goes at Upton Park with his request to offload Ravel Morrison turned down by the board while they have signed a number of players without his consent.
A bizarre preseason tour to New Zealand helped no-one, with the Hammers defeated twice by A-League opposition. Coupled with the predictable Andy Carroll injury, you suspect it is a matter of when not if Allardyce will be given his marching orders.
Let’s not forget that West Ham will shortly have an 80,000 seater Olympic stadium to fill and if they can’t sell Upton Park out for a season opener against Spurs, the board has every right to be concerned.
This brings us to his replacement – David Moyes.
Moyes has obviously endured a horrible run over the past 12 months as Manchester United fell from champions into mid-table mediocrity. But following a legend like Sir Alex Ferguson he was always going to be hard and despite the Manchester squad coming off a championship year, the team he inherited were not the same ilk we had seen from United in previous seasons and had clear deficiencies.
Moyes has over a decade experience managing Everton who performed admirably every year under his watch often without any significant financial support and regularly challenged for European football.
West Ham, not known for a big budget, would be a perfect fit for both parties.
For Moyes it represents a chance to once again get back into the Premiership, work with a team well supported and with a club who clearly have visions of grandeur with the Olympic Stadium move on the horizon.
This could be Moyes opportunity which he never got at Everton in seeing a mid-level club rise to become a powerhouse without having to change teams. For West Ham they would acquire a manager who prior to Manchester United got a lot out of his players, was a shrewd operator in the transfer market and built on his squad year after year to compete with the bigger clubs.
With the acquisition of the Olympic Stadium as a home ground West Ham have been given an amazing free kick on its rivals in the league. On a silver platter they have been given the chance to become a massive club overnight should they get the football fixed on the park and the administration working well off it.
Big Sam is not the man to take them into this new world and hopefully David Moyes is seen prowling the Upton Park touchline sometime this season.
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