This time last year the tide had turned against Sam Allardyce. Despite winning against Cardiff, we had just lost heavily to Nottingham Forest and Manchester City in the cups. The general feeling was that Sam Allardyce time was up at the club, be it the following week or in the summer. 12 months on and we are looking at a very different picture.
An indifferent start to the season, 2 defeats in 3 league games and exiting the cup to Sheffield United, was quickly followed by a run of 1 defeat in the next 11 games. This saw West Ham reach the heights on 3rd place in December and were 4th at Christmas. A remarkable achievement considering all the problems Sam Allardyce faced heading into this season with a fractured support.
Sam Allardyce has earnt his praise; there was a change in the style at the start of the season. The first option was now no longer to go long but to pass the ball and see whether there was a way through before it became a consideration. He has overseen home wins against Liverpool and Manchester City and got us scoring goals away from home, a problem for the first two Premier League seasons under Allardyce.
So the questions should now be focused on ‘When do we offer Sam Allardyce a new contract?’ and ‘How long of a contract should we give him?’. Yet it seems the question of Sam Allardyce’s future is starting to rear its head again in uncertain terms. Andy Carroll’s reintroduction into the team has seen the return of a more frequent long ball option and over the Christmas period this was something of a sticking point with fans. The criticisms over the style were starting to be raised again, and as we all know from last season this is an issue that can cause a lot of friction.
Then there is the Mauro Zarate situation, a player reportedly brought in by David Sullivan during the summer against Sam Allardyce’s wishes. Despite not getting many chances to play, he is a player that has caught favour with the fans who feel he is a better option than Kevin Nolan. Sam Allardyce did not help himself in this regard by declaring that Zarate was ‘not good enough for West Ham’. A six month loan at Queens Park Rangers could become very awkward for Sam Allardyce is our form was to slip and Zarate was to score goals. The Kevin Nolan situation needs not explaining.
However in the end the choice over whether Sam Allardyce will be offered a new contract will come down to the owners. Arguably there could be said to still be a visible friction between David Sullivan and Sam Allardyce, the issue over Bony and Carroll was brought up again, and while it is only a war of words at the minute the two are not on the same page on this issue. This can be seen as David Sullivan trying to undermine his manager’s transfer targets, building up the reasons behind not offering him a new contract, or it could just be miscommunication.
Aside from this I also found the comments from Sullivan, before the Arsenal game, that Allardyce may leave the club in the summer due to wanting to ‘go out a winner’ and he may have ‘had enough’ as a little out of the blue. In my opinion this read like something that has already been decided, either between Allardyce and Sullivan or by one of them, and the groundwork had already been laid for the reasons behind his departure. Also linked into this interview was Sullivan mentioning Sam Allardyce may decide he wants a £10 million contract, which they can’t afford. We know from last season that Sam Allardyce earns £3 million a year, now with the Financial Fair Play rules in effect, if Gold and Sullivan feel they can no longer afford that and Allardyce doesn’t want to take a pay cut everyone may decide to move on.
Although even if by the summer he maintains the support of the fans, and the owners decide to offer him a new contract, he may decide against a renewal of his contract. He said in 2001, after signing a 10 year contract at Bolton, that he wanted to retire at the end of that contract. He has also remarked down the years of not wanting to ‘do a Fergie’ and still be managing at 70. He said in October: ‘When it comes to the crunch, when you get to your senior years, you judge each year as it goes on.’ He doesn’t have to retire completely from the game, but I remember him mentioning having turned down offers from Dubai clubs when he joined us in 2011, and he could go off for a nice big pay check in the sun.
So there are still a lot of question marks over Sam Allardyce’s future. They will be answered in due time. Until then let us just enjoy the ride for the season, there are still chapters of this story to be told. Let us hope that it has a good ending.
