The curious case of Sam Allardyce

Cast your minds back to last season for a moment. It isn’t pretty, is it? Embarassing defeats, terrible tactics and the fans dissatisfaction for Sam Allardyce at an all time high.

So what’s happened? What’s been a factor in the turn around that currently sees West Ham sitting seventh in the Premier League compared to their final placing of the 13th last season? Bear in mind that a chunk of last season’s campaign was also spent in the bottom three. The 2013/14 season concluded pretty poorly with only a 2-0 victory over London rivals Tottenham Hotspur being cause for celebration. After the Hammers quite dismal showing the board decided that a series of crunch talks at co-owner David Sullivan’s house was the only way to resolve what had gone so badly wrong last season and if Big Sam would still be the man in charge for the 2014/15 season. Or part of it at least. At the end of the mini ordeal Sam drove away grinning. He’d kept his job, but with a few conditions. The club stated they “want to see progression on the pitch and at least a top 10 finish” as well as seeing West Ham play attacking football, something that hasn’t been done on a weekly basis under Sam Allardyce. The Metro labelled Allardyce as “an old fashioned, rugged football man” and described the task of West Ham playing attacking football under him as “mission impossible”. This old fashioned football man was out to prove everybody, from the board, to the fans, to the media, wrong.

However, pre season just attracted even more doubters. Being 2-0 down to League 2 outfit Stevenage before scraping a draw thanks to two goals in the final 10 minutes followed by a 0-0 to more lower league opposition in the form of Ipswich Town would’ve done his case no good. Next up was a quite frankly disastrous tour of New Zealand where the Hammers were downed 1-2 and 1-3 in the shape of Wellington Phoenix and Sydney FC respectively. This was the final straw for groups of East Londoners. Social media was alight with fans vowing not to renew their season tickets as long as Allardyce was still at the helm. “LOSER!” emblazoned the back page of British tabloid paper the Daily Mirror after Sydney FC comfortably triumphed over the hapless Hammers describing how Allardyce had “lost the plot” by admitting he didn’t want summer signing Mauro Zarate and wanted Ravel Morrison out the door, much to the fans dislike. Another winless tour, this time to Germany in the Schalke Cup, followed by a late winner by academy graduate Reece Burke in the 3-2 win over Sampdoria concluded pre season. Patience once again wearing thin with just about everybody.

The season got underway with a 1-0 loss at home to rivals Spurs. A little harsh on West Ham who dominated in large spells of the game and missed a penalty from normally consistent Mark Noble. Apart from the scoreline West Ham fans had very little to moan about. Wins against Crystal Palace and Champions League outfit Liverpool only helped boost the popularity of Mr. Allardyce and the board could feel happy and rather smug in their decision to keep Allardyce for another season. There’s not many times West Ham fans feel they should’ve won at Old Trafford, but the meeting this season was one of them. Three points against QPR before October’s international break fired the Hammers up to seventh place. Maybe this attacking football lark isn’t so bad after all. The board definitely called that correctly.

Another complaint from the supporters is the lack of youth that has come through in the reign of Sam Allardyce. This season, however, seems to be a turning tide with the development of youth players. Reece Oxford, Elliot Lee and Lewis Page all took their places on the bench in the Capital One Cup tie against Sheffield United with Reece Burke starting and impressing. Lee and Burke also featured on the bench in the victory over Queens Park Rangers.

Inspirational signings have helped Allardyce’s case as well. Kouyaté, Cresswell and Sakho have all been playing some beautiful stuff home and away this season, with Zatate, Amalfitano, Valencia and Poyet all looking the part too.

It looks like attacking football is here to stay at Upton Park for the foreseeable future. The attacking football that won West Ham countless trophies in the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s and gave names to legends such as Bobby Moore and Sir Geoff Hurst to name just two.