Saturday’s away defeat to struggling Leicester City means it’s now nine Premier League away games without a win.
On top of this is the inconsistent home form resulting in West Ham's season petering out hopelessly. Realistically I think most Hammers fans knew a top four finish was extremely unlikely, but the Champions League dream at the Boleyn was great whilst it lasted.Sitting ninth in the table with seven games remaining should be seen as an exceptional season for a club newly promoted in 2012, yet the manager with only two months remaining on his contract looks likely to be jobless in the summer. Every pundit and non-West Ham fan seems to find it difficult to understand why Allardyce’s job is in such jeopardy, and perhaps rightly so, but as a Hammers fan it’s easy to see.
Allardyce and some of the Hammers faithful have never seen eye-to-eye since his appointment in 2011. His perceived arrogance seems to repel fans who just simply haven’t taken to him.
The historic victories over the likes of Liverpool and Manchester City earlier in the season are a perfect example as he gladly accepted all the praise from the media for playing more attacking football; yet the embarrassing defeats to West Brom and Crystal Palace were down to “not taking our chances”.
However arguably Allardyce should have been absorbing the praises for the team’s fine form; yet I believe it was perhaps the owners and the introduction of Teddy Sherringham that finally convinced him to veer from the painful 4-5-1, and play with two strikers, something the fans were crying out for last season.
As well as this Allardyce very rarely praises the fans and in fact more often criticises us. It’s almost as if he wants to be a villain in order to prove the fans wrong, and that’s simply not the right way to manage a football club. This was evident in the home victory over Hull City last season where Allardyce mocked the fans for booing.
Coincidently a very similar match was played out in the previous home game against Sunderland and if our league position was slightly more precarious I’m sure a similar incident may have occurred.
The problem Allardyce has is that the West Ham chairmen are fans as well. However it appears Karren Brady is more in favour of Allardyce than the two Davids, which makes it all more bizarre why Allardyce would attack Mrs Brady live on Sky Sports, as he did in his post-match interview vs Sunderland.
In this interview Allardyce undermined comments made by Karren Brady in her column claiming “she’s wrong in what she’s saying”. However it was later reported that Allardyce blamed Sky Sports for asking an inappropriate question, perhaps realising it may be in his best interests to keep Karren on his side in order to remain in a job.
As well as his arrogance, his stubbornness is another reason why Allardyce is distancing himself from the fans. His reluctance to play players that the owners have brought in such as Zarate and Nene simply angers fans.
Saturday’s game versus Leicester was crying out for a spark of creativity or a cutting edge to gain the lead yet Allardyce would rather aim to settle for a point against a team who have nothing to lose at the bottom of the table. West Ham fans appreciate the hard-working players but we adore the flair players and would love to see more from Nene who has shown glimpses of brilliance in his limited cameo appearances.
Another major disappointment was the embarrassing exit from the FA Cup. With the European dream fading away this was West Ham’s last chance of glory and a decent draw against West Brom seemed a great opportunity for success. Edging into the game as favourites it was devastating to be thrashed by an out-of-form West Brom team with arguably our strongest 11 on show. This was perhaps the lowest point of the season.
The defeats to West Brom, Crystal Palace and Leicester also makes you wonder if Allardyce is struggling to motivate the players, which suggests he may be having the same problems connecting with the players as he does with the fans. The contract dispute with Winston Reid also reinforces this as Allardyce himself speculated Reid may have agreed a deal with another club, before Winston announced he had signed his new deal.
Nobody can dispute Allardyce has done a fantastic job at promoting West Ham and building a squad which is more than capable of staying in the Premier League, but as a match, I’m afraid it’s a square peg in a round hole. As cruel as it sounds the bottom line is Allardyce just isn’t a very likeable man which makes it difficult to get behind him and defend him.
Apart from the cheeky laugh at Chico Flores and the winding up of Jose Mourinho following the 0-0 draw at Stamford Bridge last season, it’s very difficult to get excited about him. Arguably people will say that football is a results-based business in which Allardyce is fairly successful, but there comes a time when you have to stop ignoring the fact the club and the manager just don’t match.
It just seems that with the season drawing to an end Hammers fans are just waiting for the outcome of the end-of-season review, with Allardyce’s job at the top of the agenda. Having said this one more season under Allardyce may not be the worst thing as his record would suggest Premier League football would be assured for the upcoming move to the Olympic stadium, yet speculation indicates a gamble may be taken in an attempt to push this club further towards success.
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