Over the course of the past nine months, KUMB Editor Graeme Howlett has been writing a weekly diary for Echo newspapers.
Condensed into a month-by-month account of the 2013/14 campaign, today we take a look back at April of this year - a month for controversial referees and a sad, final farewell...April 4th
So West Ham are all but safe from relegation, to the immense relief of everybody associated with the Club. Monday night's 2-1 win at troubled Sunderland saw to that - a far more encouraging performance than the drab effort against Hull that spawned a cacophony of boos from the Boleyn Ground unfaithful only days earlier.
The Hammers' Premier League form since mid-January, when the likes of Andy Carroll, James Tomkins and James Collins returned from injury has been quite exceptional. Since the team's crippling injury problems were eased, Sam Allardyce's squad have collected 22 points from 12 games - form good enough to trouble the top four.
Yet whilst wholly welcome, that fantastic run has helped to mask what was a dreadful opening half of the 2013/14 campaign. With only three wins from the first 20 games, the Hammers were cited as bookies’ favourites for the drop with Allardyce facing calls to go. Glaring errors - such as leaving the team without an adequate back-up for Andy Carroll - could have had disastrous consequences but for the rapid improvement in 2014.
The Board's decision to place their faith in Allardyce has been hailed as a masterstroke in football circles, with the current bottom five clubs in the league having all twisted when West Ham opted to stick. But there are a growing number of fans expressing dissatisfaction at the unwavering support shown by the Board to the manager, whose style of play continues to be criticised on forums and social media.
One such dissenter is novelist Irvine Welsh (of 'Trainspotting' fame), who was a guest on this week's KUMB.com Podcast. A former season ticket holder at West Ham - "not a Sam Allardyce club", according to the Miami-based Scot - he maintains that regardless of the sparkling recent run of form, the manager should be replaced at the end of the current campaign.
What will be, will be. Right now, we look forward to the tantalising prospect of temporarily derailing Liverpool’s seemingly unstoppable charge towards a first title since 1990, when the in-form Merseysiders visit the Boleyn Ground this weekend.
Brendan Rodgers’ side will arrive full of confidence having won eight on the bounce – but with survival having been all but assured now, hopes are high that West Ham will adopt a more adventurous and aesthetically-pleasing approach than in recent home games.
Over to you, Big Sam...
April 11th
Although the end result wasn't quite what we'd hoped for, West Ham's battling performance in last Sunday's defeat to Liverpool did at least serve to galvanise a fractious Boleyn Ground crowd.
Even though Sam Allardyce's team failed to take any points from the game, they could at least claim a moral victory given that the free-scoring title contenders had to rely on two debatable penalties in order to win the match.
Both spot kicks - the first for hand-ball and the second the result of a phantom foul by goalkeeper Adrian - were angrily contested by the Hammers. Liverpool's complaints were equally vociferous after Andy Carroll appeared to foul Simon Mignolet prior to Guy Demel scoring his first West Ham goal.
At the centre of the controversy was referee Anthony Taylor, who faced the wrath of an incensed crowd at the end of the game. This was familiar territory for the errant official, who received a similarly angry reception after bizarrely dismissing Carlton Cole and Darron Gibson for high tackles in a Premier League match with Everton 16 months before (both cards were later rescinded by the FA).
Liverpool's two penalties on Sunday took their total for the season to 12 - the highest in the Premier League and five more than closest rivals Manchester City and Chelsea, with seven. Brendan Rodgers' side were also awarded the third highest number of penalties in the 2012/13 and 2010/11 Premier League seasons, plus the fourth highest in 2011/12 - which, coincidentally, coincided with the arrival of Luis Suarez...
As disappointment over the Liverpool defeat fades, attention turns instead to West Ham's next Premier League outing - the short trip to Arsenal next Tuesday evening. Since Bobby Zamora secured a famous 1-0 win in the 2006/07 'Great Escape' season the Hammers have managed just a solitary point at the Emirates from five games. Which doesn't bode well.
However the Gunners are badly out of form having gone four matches without a win, leaving them in real danger of missing out on a coveted Champions League spot. The pressure on the hosts to beat West Ham will be intense and felt by the players and manager Arsene Wenger, who increasing numbers of dissatisfied fans wish to see replaced.
David Moyes is in a similar position at Manchester United. As was Chris Hughton at Norwich until Sunday. Football supporters are a tough crowd to please.
April 18th
Earlier this week midfield powerhouse Mo Diame expressed a desire to join 'a top six club'. Liverpool, he insisted, had previously expressed an interest in signing him and were one possibility - apparently forgetting that his contract with West Ham has another year to run!
Sadly for poor Mo, if any potential suitors have been scouting him recently then I suspect he has about as much chance of securing a move to Anfield this summer as I have.
Blessed with tremendous acceleration and power, Diame - who has been referred to as 'a poor man's Yaya Toure' - has an alarming tendency to run into blind alleys and is regularly guilty of squandering possession. As for his shooting accuracy, the less said about that the better.
Sam Allardyce responded to the story in light-hearted fashion; when asked at a press conference about Diame's desire to leave the Hammers, he quipped: "Well he'll have to perform better, won't he?" - much to the amusement of the assembled press pack, but probably not to the player himself.
* West Ham's worrying inability to capitalise on a lead has cost them dear in 2013/14. On Tuesday it was a familiar story as the Irons were beaten by Arsenal for the second time this season having scored first on both occasions.
Whilst a soft underbelly might well be a trait associated with several West Ham teams of old it certainly isn't typical of a Sam Allardyce side, the likes of which are historically made of stronger stuff.
But like Arsenal, Everton, Norwich, Fulham and Stoke have come from behind to beat West Ham this season, something that will concern Allardyce and his backroom team - not to mention the club's owners, with each Premier League position being worth around £1million extra in prize money this year.
* This weekend, Crystal Palace visit West Ham for the first meeting in the top flight between the two clubs at the Boleyn Ground since 1998. Although somewhat contrived, the Eagles' lively 'Ultras' fans have enhanced many a subdued Premier League stadium this season with their noisy and colourful support.
The recent good form enjoyed by Tony Pulis' team has given the fans plenty to cheer about and Palace's unexpected win at Everton on Wednesday took them to the magic 40 point mark - an achievement West Ham can only emulate if they manage to beat the Eagles on Saturday.
April 25th
Last Friday we received the sad news that Dylan Tombides had lost his three-year battle with cancer. The announcement came as a huge shock to many supporters who had followed his progress and believed the forward - who featured for Australia's Under 22s as recently as January - was on the road to recovery.
An emotionally-charged Boleyn Ground paid tribute to Tombides prior to last weekend's match against Crystal Palace, just 24 hours after the youngster - who moved to England with his family five years ago in order to pursue his dream of becoming a professional footballer - finally succumbed to his illness.
That Tombides achieved his ambition of playing for West Ham's first team - albeit just once, in a Carling Cup tie against Wigan in 2012 - will bring some comfort to his immediate family, all of whom were present at the Palace match.
Prior to kick-off and to a deafening round of applause, Dylan's father Jim and younger brother Taylor laid his (now retired) number 38 shirt on the centre spot. Thereafter a football match followed which visitors Palace won 1-0 courtesy of a second half penalty from Mile Jedinak.
In a 1981 TV interview with Shelley Rodhe, Bill Shankly famously remarked that, to him, football was more important than life and death. But Shankly was wrong. For on a day like Saturday, a game of football - for that is all it is - was of little significance.
* Sam Allardyce is once again feeling the heat following three consecutive defeats against Liverpool, Arsenal and now Crystal Palace. Dissatisfied fans, temporarily silenced by February's return of 12 points out of 12 are now piling on the pressure once again with renewed calls for him to be fired.
David Moyes is the main candidate for some to replace Allardyce. He's an odd choice perhaps given that some Everton fans were hugely critical of his playing style during his time at Goodison Park where Moyes faced many of the same complaints as Big Sam does from Hammers fans!
As for those supporters banging the drum for a young, progressive coach, it's fairly unlikely that their wish will be fulfilled. After all, one of David Sullivan and David Gold's first tasks upon purchasing West Ham was replacing Gianfranco Zola, who had successfully avoided the drop, with Avram Grant - who relegated West Ham at the first attempt.
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