West Ham United - Return Of The Mac

15th June 2013



I was on the motorway, driving back home to my native Scotland, where I was going to visit my family in my home town of Bellshill and stay with them a few weeks, when I tuned into talkSPORT radio, and heard about the latest manager departure in the Premier League, and I thought to myself, could this be it? Could this be the chance I have been waiting for to really make my name as a football manager? I know I have had two great spells already in English football so I can’t really take those for granted, but I believe this job could really rejuvenate my career and allow me to show the world what I’m really capable of as a manager. Immediately I phoned up my agent, and asked him for advice on whether or not I should make the club aware of my interest in taking the job, and we stayed on the phone for about an hour discussing the possibilities of what could happen if I managed to get the job. We had to spoke about where I would live, would it be best for my family to move there with me, and would it be the best job for me to take in the first place seen as there could be other teams willing to hire me in the future as-well.

About 10 days into my two week stay in Scotland, I sat down with my family and discussed the chance I had to further my career in management. I had discussed the details with them, and they had agreed that it was a fantastic opportunity for me, and they were willing to join me in the move, which put a huge smile on my face as it’s nice to know your family support you in your decisions no matter what. When my time in Scotland was over, I put my CV together, and sent it off in hope that the club where I dream of managing would accept my application to be their new manager and take them to new heights in the league.

Two weeks had then passed, and I had already tactics out in my head on the way down from Scotland even though I had not got the job or even heard from the club. While I was up in Scotland, I had already drawn up a list of potential transfer targets to present to the owners for if I did get the job so I could start my reign right away. I knew what players would be leaving too, as I want to overhaul the squad and bring in some younger, fresh legs into the squad and give us some flair and push up the table. I sat down into McDonalds with my family, and we began tucking into our BigMac meals, and this is at the point where after two weeks of not hearing anything about, I had started to give up hope and think that I would not get the job. Then my phone started ringing, and I began to get a rush of excitement through my body as I looked at the number and knew exactly who was calling me. I motioned to my partner, Pamela, that I needed to take this call outside, and then walked out of the restaurant, to take the call. 10 minutes had passed, and I walked back into McDonalds with a grin on my face, I had got the job. All the details had been provisionally agreed over the phone, and I had to travel to the clubs stadium, where in three years time they will not be playing, to sort out the paperwork then I would be officially announced as their new manager. Just as we began to leave McDonalds, a familiar song came into my head, one which I would be hearing a lot once from the fans once I take up the job, and I began singing it under my breath as I walked through the door.

“I’m forever blowing bubbles, pretty bubbles in the air, they fly so high, nearly reach the sky, then like my dreams they fade and die.”

31st May, 15 days earlier



West Ham United have today sacked manager Sam Allardyce, despite the 58 year old leading them to Premier League survival after he managed to get the club promoted to the Premier League the previous season. Allardyce who last season managed to guide West Ham to promotion to the Premier League after he guided The Hammers to the play-offs, where they defeated Cardiff in the final, has expressed his shock at being sacked in an interview with talkSPORT radio, but there is no reasons released as to why he has been sacked, only rumours from some known sources, and some unreliable sources on social media and other places on the internet. These sources are said to have claimed that the reason Allardyce was sacked is because of his transfer dealings, with fans complaining that the players he brings in are not suitable enough for playing the West Ham way. Some of the transfers they are not happy about is the loan signing of Andy Carroll from Liverpool, who has since agreed to make the switch permanent for a fee of £15m, Alou Diarra who fans feel is too old and not capable of playing at the highest level and that the club should be looking to bring in younger players who will put in a performance for the full 90 minutes and also be able to score the goals to help keep the club in the league for a further season.

There have also been rumours that Allardyce was unhappy at the clubs decision to move to the Olympic Stadium in 2016, as he feels the club do not have a big enough fan base to be able to fill out anywhere near the 60,000 capacity at the stadium. Fans have come out and blasted their former manager on social media site Twitter, saying the move to the Olympic Stadium will help to attract new fans to the club and that it was a fantastic opportunity for the club to take a further step forward in an attempt to grow in size and eventually challenge for a place in European competition. Allardyce has had a decent managerial career as to date, starting at Blackpool in 1994 before he then left in 1996. After a year out of the game, he returned to management with Notts County, where he stayed at for two years until 1999, suffering relegation and also celebrated promotion, and then 6 days after leaving Notts County he took up the job at Bolton Wanderers. In 2001 he got Bolton promoted to the Premier League, and also managed to get them into the UEFA Cup before he eventually left the club in 2007. A month later he moved to Newcastle United, where he was at for just over a year before moving onto manage Blackburn Rovers, before eventually being sacked in December 2010. He took over as manager of West Ham in 2011 after Avram Grant was sacked following relegation, and took them to the Premier League through the play-offs. Talking to talkSPORT radio, ‘Big Sam’ had said he was ‘disappointed’ and ‘hurt’ to be sacked after he helped them avoid relegation, and wishes the next manager luck for the job when they take over to replace him at Upton Park. Managers such as former Hammers coach Steve Clarke, former player Paul Ince and MK Dons manager Karl Robinson all being touted as early favourites by bookies to take the job.

Who have you decided to impersonate? Ince? I wish it is Ince

Great start, goood luck with West Ham, whoever you're impersonating, you're hiding it well. I have no idea who it may be - maybe Zola?

Maybe you could get West Ham playing decent football for once

Well, I'm not giving it away, the title kind of does but only if your good at guessing or read a certain sunday paper Got one more post before the manager is revealed, but yeah Nick, I hope to get them playing decent football

Loving the opening, wonder who the manager is

Thanks Mate:) And you know Told ya earlier

West Ham United managing Director Karen Brady has today stated they are not interested in hiring Paul Ince, Steve Clarke or Karl Robinson. MK Dons manager Robinson, has done a tremendous job in the project he is building at the Sky Bet League One side and has been linked with a vast amount of Sky Bet Championship and Barclays Premier League clubs over the past season, but he does not have enough experience in higher divisions according to Gold and Sullivan. Ince has been out of work since he was sacked as manager of Blackpool, which was by text as he went to an FA coaching course at St.George’s park without telling club chairman Karl Oyston, but his last top flight job with Blackburn Rovers saw him get the sack, and he is not considered good enough to manage The Hammers. Steve Clarke has already revealed he applied for the vacancy at Upton Park, but the club were quick to reject it due to his lack of managerial experience.

Speaking exclusively to BBC Sport West Ham's managing director Karen Brady commented on the current managerial situation, as the club look to release some sort of clarification for the fans over who will become the manager. “The first thing I would like to say is that we would like to thank the fans for staying behind us during the last couple of weeks due to us being managerless. We have been working effortlessly for the last few weeks though to draw up a list of candidates for who will replace Sam Allardyce as the manager of West Ham United. We’re moving to the Olympic Stadium in 2016, and we hope that will be a major factor in the hunt for hiring a new manager, and we aim to speak to a few people within the next two weeks, and reveal them by the start of July. We have been linked recently with Paul Ince, Steve Clarke and Karl Robinson, but we have no intention to hold talks with any of these managers. Paul (Ince) did not have a good enough spell in charge of Blackburn Rovers, and to be honest, and we would love to see him back at Upton Park in the future in some sort of role but we do not feel he is qualified or experienced enough to take over as our manager, we feel we must go for a more experienced name and we wish Paul the best of luck in the future. Steve (Clarke) did a fantastic job last year at West Brom, guiding them to 8th place in his first year as a manager. We think he does have suitable qualities to be a successful manager, but we feel that he is yet to have enough experience in the top flight, so we are not going to take a risk on hiring him just incase his work last season was a one off. Karl (Robinson) is doing a fantastic manager as manager of MK Dons, but we don’t feel he has anywhere near enough experience in higher divisions to become the manager of West Ham. If he had a couple of years more experience, and was managing in a league higher than League One, then we would consider him more, but at this moment in time, we are not willing to disclose any of our targets to bring in as our manager."

It's going to be interesting to see who becomes the new manager!

Ahh All will be revealed either tonight or tomorrow. Next update will say