Thanks Sam job well done Sir.

[HeresJohnny(Moncur)]

I for one had my opinions about BFS when he came in and they haven't changed.

We have and will continue to play SOME boring and far from attractive football under him, but if it works, I for one could not give the slightest of ****'s at the moment.

After the last few years of hell, I'll take kicking lumps out of the opposition in exchange for points for the next few seasons.

[Hambrosia Stu]

I just won't be able to fully back the bloke if he fails to change his ways. That means stop banging on about himself, show a bit more respect to our club, stop the bull**** excuses when his teams get shown up and cut out the negative tactics he instinctively resorts to.

I dont think he can but would be more than happy for him to prove me wrong while he's our manager

Now, I see it as the exact opposite

The last thing I'd want him to do was to change his ways. He is successful at what he does because of the way he does things. If he suddenly changed his ways, he'd be a fake fraud of a bloke, in my eyes, and would most likely fail at what he is good at

That's not saying he can't adapt to the unique challenges he faces at West Ham. I'd say that in the latter part of the season, he did start showing he is adapting to West Ham. We did start playing on the floor. Not at the expense of the solid pragmatic set up he favours, but as an addition to it

That's exactly what i hoped when he was appointed. I didn't want him at the time, but did think that in an ideal world he could complement us very well. Opposites attracting I guess. That is, we knew he'd bring the solid pragmatic appraoch, a side of the game we've been lacking for donkey's, imo, and one of the reasons we ended up the shambles we were when we were relegated. The ideal, in my mind, was that he could combine his solid approach, with the "West Ham way", of passing on the floor. I'm not suggesting for a moment that the job is done, but I saw a lot in the latter stages of the season to think that is the direction he is trying to take us

Sure, next season we'll probably have less chance to play fancy football, and will go with the pragmatic approach more often. But I do feel that if he is happy with the solidness of the side, he will aspire to us playing on the floor, as we did in our best spells this season

[ironsonthebrain]

The man does the job he was (very well) paid to do - and everyone lines up to praise his pish! Only at West Ham eh?

[Chelmo Hammer]

The man does the job he was (very well) paid to do - and everyone lines up to praise his pish! Only at West Ham eh?

I don't get what your saying. All of our players are paid very well to do the job they do, so by your logic none of them deserve any praise

[cockneySparrow]

Now, I see it as the exact opposite....

Sure, next season we'll probably have less chance to play fancy football, and will go with the pragmatic approach more often. But I do feel that if he is happy with the solidness of the side, he will aspire to us playing on the floor, as we did in our best spells this season

I was hoping that when Sam started he would bring some backbone to team and conversely, the West Ham tradition would also seap into his veins.

It seems to be working too. Early days but within the first year he has peformed what I believe is nothing short of a miracle.

He can only work with what he is given from the Acadamy and the Market but the Club seem to have produced something of an identity now that is much more attractive than the last few years.

I hope it is the beginning of a new era here.

[ironsonthebrain]

I don't get what your saying. All of our players are paid very well to do the job they do, so by your logic none of them deserve any praise

I thought it was fairly clear but here goes again - Allardyce does what he was brought in to do (ie get WHU promoted), I just don't understand the rush to kiss BFS's arse that this seems to have set in motion!

I'm not saying people don't deserve praise for doing well but I feel a lot of posters on here seem to have lost all sense of perspective! We didn't win the Championship, didn't get automatic promotion, didn't play entertaining football for the most part, but we DID get promoted (despite being outplayed for long spells of the final) via the playoffs. With BFS's reputation, experience, selfconfidence or arrogance depending on how you see it, and the amount he was allowed to use to build a strong squad wouldn't you have expected him to deliver the playoff win at the very least? Don't get me wrong I didn't expect us to walk this league but with so much supposedly in his favour wouldn't it have been a massive failure had he not delivered? Compare the situation he had with Chris Hughton at Birmingham - it's nothing short of a miracle him getting them to the playoffs!

We're up, and I'm relieved and pleased that we are but FFS let's all get a grip!

[hammer1975]

he did well to get us up imo without being an absolute miracle worker

it did take him longer than I expected to find the balance that was both loyal to his naturally solid tendencies but delivering some of the flair that the crowd were desperate for. i'm pretty sure that if we had played half of the season in the manner of the last few 5 or so games then there would have been few dissenting voices - but maybe that phase was something we needed to go through. the post match interviews showed how proud and pleased he was with the style of football as much as the results so that bodes well imo.

his transfer dealings averaged well but there was a big spread from abysmal failure (carew) to unmitigated success story (vaz te)

he delivered stability, and steady but stable evolution

i massively warmed to him as he fought out from his darkest hours at west ham but the thing that may come back to haunt him far more than the style of football (which I suspect people will be more understanding of next season) are his comments - re: fans don't have a clue, deluded, 4-3-3 v 4-5-1, and the stats published on the OS. if we have a bad spell next season the press will drag that lot up again and again

hoping that he keeps showing the steady and stable evolution next season but keeps some of his put downs to himself. would welcome the stability of keeping a manager for a few seasons.

plus allardyce to the tune of Coldplay's paradise is great

[SpongeBob's Pants]

He did what was expected with a very good squad, so deserves some praise for that.

However, a point has to be made here. If you compare our squad to Southampton's, as an exmaple, ours is better. We have current England (and other) internationals, and players full of Premier League experience. Southampton came up from League One. Player for player, we are better. We spent significantly more on wages, etc. Yet they fiished above us, and scored more goals than us.

When you consider that, some of you lot are going way overboard with the praise, as if Sam is some messiah. He did a reasonable job, for which we sould be happy with.

But he didnt blitz the league. We didnt play fantastic football. We didnt do anything "special". We just did a normal job with the players and resources available to us.

[dapablo]

Just a reminder to the ingrates on here, saying "thank you" is, as your mothers may be able to remind you, called good manners, some of us still like to think they're important and wish to use them.

and once again a request to remove "BFS" from the thread title as I didn't and wouldn't use the term and still find it disrespectful to our club we are supposed to be West Ham fans here aren't we

[Happyhammer]

Just a reminder to the ingrates on here, saying "thank you" is, as your mothers may be able to remind you, called good manners, some of us still like to think they're important and wish to use them.

and once again a request to remove "BFS" from the thread title as I didn't and wouldn't use the term and still find it disrespectful to our club we are supposed to be West Ham fans here aren't we

Here,here.

[claret parrot]

Jeez I sometimes wonder if those banging on about the quality of the squad he inherited, actually remember what last season under Grant was like. Sam inherited a group of demoralized players. The guts had been ripped out of the team. It's heart was in limbo waiting on a transplant to WHL, and we had a load of expensive deadwood to ship out and find decent replacements for - no small task in itself!

Sam has transformed this club in just one season and got us promotion into the bargain and in true West Ham style (I have the bitten down fingernails to prove it). Who would have swapped the play-off triumph for Southampton's relatively comfortable stroll toward the PL? By WH style I mean the unpredicatibity rather than the pretty football mind you there have been signs that we are moving in the right direction in that respect as well. There is nobody better equipped to establish us in the PL with limited resources than SA. You've only got to take a look at Bolton and Blackburn to see what happens when you start thinking you could do a lot better with a different hand on the tiller.

Most of us are warming to him and rightly so. Anyone watching him belting out Bubbles at Wembley might get the impression that he's warming to us too.

[davids cross]

should've walked this league with the players he had and those he brought in, .

This gets said a lot when talking about the season............."Should have walked the league with this squad"

Of course it ignores the fact we have never bounced back at the first attempt, including squads with far superior players than at our disposal this season. Also ignores a psychological element that has to be overcome. This is why so many fail to return first time round. It's not just about the talent of your players but freeing them and the club from the disappointment of relegation, he managed this.

Am I his No 1 fan ? ...No, probably won't ever be. Does he deserve much credit for bouncing back first time? ....Yes, lots.

[Hambrosia Stu]

This gets said a lot when talking about the season............."Should have walked the league with this squad.

Only by the deluded....

Of course, Leicester should also have walked that division, with the squad they had, the finances at their disposal, etc, etc, zzzzzzzzzz

Anyone who thought we'd walk that division doesn't really understand that division, imo

[HeresJohnny(Moncur)]

Only by the deluded....

Of course, Leicester should also have walked that division, with the squad they had, the finances at their disposal, etc, etc, zzzzzzzzzz

Anyone who thought we'd walk that division doesn't really understand that division, imo

Agreed - there are not many (if any) leagues around that are tougher than the Npower Championship!

[davids cross]

Stu,

Brooking, Bonds, Devonshire, Alvin Martin, Cross, Lampard, Pop Robson and half a season of Phil Parkes................all legends of West Ham, could only take us to 5th at the first attempt in 78-79. Trev got injured in the second half of the season, but my point is still made.

Now, regardless of anything, any difference in standards or parachute payments or anything............that group of players had huge quality. And it actually took them 3 years (minus Pop) to get back up.

It's never easy and shouldn't be thought of as so...

[ironsonthebrain]

Just a reminder to the ingrates on here, saying "thank you" is, as your mothers may be able to remind you, called good manners, some of us still like to think they're important and wish to use them.

and once again a request to remove "BFS" from the thread title as I didn't and wouldn't use the term and still find it disrespectful to our club we are supposed to be West Ham fans here aren't we

Cos of course BFS has been completely respectful to us all season eh? Its a 2 way street, if he wants good manners, respect etc... he could have done a lot worse than show some to us !

He did the job he was paid to do , in the same way that if Carlton Cole scores that's what he's paid to do. Or if your postman delivers you a letter that's what he/she's paid to do! Or if your dentist puts a filling in the tooth you have with a cavity. Why is it in football it seems that if someone does something reasonably well everyone goes OTT ? If we'd won the Championship with 3 games to spare then great but we didn't - we got back up via the playoff which is great but no more than I expected Allardyce to do considering his experience, reputation etc... After all isn't that why the Porno Bros gave him the job? I mean thanks Sam you got us promoted but a sense of perspective please,
Yuirs sincerely
KUMB ingrate

PS can I have an 'ingrate' t shirt for next season to go with my 'deluded' one please?

[DaveWHU1964]

Ironsonthebrain,

You've said in more than one post now that people need to get a grip, stop going OTT, keep perspective and even that there's a rush to kiss Allaryce's arse (yuk). Am I missing something but I don't see much if anything on here that warrants your comments.

This thread is entitled 'Thanks BFS' and that's what some of us are doing. Let us eh?

It just comes across that you are annoyed that some of us want to give him a bit of credit because we think that all circumstances taken into account, this league was never going to be as easy to get out like some would have us believe. It just looks like people are trying to make out that it should have been an easy task and therefore no, or little credit should go Allardyce's way. I'm sure if we stay up next season some of the same people will be saying stuff like 'we're a big club so of course we should stay up by virtue of our very name'. And again the reason will be to ensure that no credit has to be given to someone you/ they dislike.

[dapablo]

I mean thanks Sam you got us promoted but a sense of perspective please,

Well done, it didn't hurt did it, there has been no brown nosing on this thread we leave that for others and elsewhere, if you have awareness.

Can we please revert the thread title back to the original I posted please, instead of the disrespectful one you moderators appear insistent on retaining, this board is for supporters of West Ham I thought.

[Denbighammer]

The man does the job he was (very well) paid to do - and everyone lines up to praise his pish! Only at West Ham eh?

At what level of remuneration would Allardyce's performance been acceptable? His pay is totally irrelevant.

[Chicken Run Supreme]

Of course it ignores the fact we have never bounced back at the first attempt, including squads with far superior players than at our disposal this season

Bonzo got us straight back up in 1992-93.