Our future manager is... Avram Grant

[Yea Why Not]

The one important question is..... WILL HE WAVE?



He ****ing better

[Chrissieboy]

Well I grew up around Royal Navy estates in Gosport as my Dad was a matelot so obviously know a fair few Pompey fans though when I was at school half of them supported Liverpool, Man Utd and Spurs. As I said they liked Uncle (shiver) Avram and admired his passion. They also said he did well to motivate the players and get them to the final in the position the club was in, but none of my mates have said they liked his tactics and none are gutted he has left. A wee bit sad perhaps after his display of emotion and his efforts, but most definitely not gutted. All of them questioned him playing one upfront at home (ring any bells?) in must win games when there was still a slight chance of staying up and said he was always slow to make substitutions when they were clearly needed.

Can't see him definitely bringing stability to the club either. He was at Chelsea and Portsmouth for only a year each. 4 years with Israel granted but before that 2 at Maccabi Haifa. Why is he going to bring stability? I suppose if the Davids put faith in him as they have with others things will be stable. Not sure what he will be able to do or is capable of doing in the transfer market but we will see soon enough. Anyway not my choice but I'll support him and I hope he does well and stays 4 or 5 years. I'm not excited about his appointment but maybe that is good (Hughes or Jol might have used us as a stepping stone) and he'll do okay and stick around and keep us safe and maybe take us on a cup run and go one better than Pardew and himself this year and win us a cup. I wouldn't moan if that happened I wish him luck and welcome him to the club. I'm just not excited. If he wants to take me to a Thai massage parlour to remedy that though I will get Grant on the back of my new Macron shirt. Mmm... Macron. Cole off to Stoke (maybe), Green perhaps losing his place to James and no Parker in the England squad. A week of dull news for the club. When we sign Henry and Beckham things will perk up.

[m-h]

At Pompy he managed to aviod defeat in over half of his games as manager as well as getting them to an FA Cup final. Considering the sale of most players and all the sh*t going on in the background thats f***ing impressive

Was Pompey's squad overall better than ours ?. How many games did he win as a manager with them ?. Just a opinion thats all, but i don't think he's as good as most on here are thinking and if you set the expectations to high, then the let down will be worse.
Will he keep us in the PL, yes. Will the tactics be better, yes. If you make that the expectation then anything above and beyond that is a plus. If you thnk he will take us to immediate glory based on his "impressive" background, i would ****ing love it, just don't expect it. We're going to find out though in a couple of months.

[I am law]

Would his appointment attract supporters from Israel?

[Don't think there will be many at the Boleyn from Turkey or Gaza........

Fog on the Tyne delaying their journey?

[Hugh Jargon]

I think this is an odd appointment to be honest. I reckon Roeder could have kept a bit of momentum going with the squad Chelsea had upon his appointment.

Pompey? How can anyone judge the chaos that has occured there...in my mind this is still a gamble.I would have gone for Hughes..a much safer bet...and younger with uncreased ear lobes..Pardon?

[steveyrockstar]

Doesnt Kumb go into meltdown at times like this?
millions of people trying to post etc.

I think it kind of sums up the feeling of most as being eh, alright Avram it is.
dont get me wrong I hope he does well but it doesn't fill me with excitement...
maybe it will when we see what signings he makes

it's because we've all known for at least 2 weeks that Grant was going to be manager. Had the appointment been more 'sudden', good, bad or mediocre, there would have been meltdown

[pablo jaye]

at last .... we have a manager and most importantly ....why hasn't he signed anyone yet? Why hasn't he been photographed in next season's shirt yet? ....Grant out!!!

[pablo jaye]

it's because we've all known for at least 2 weeks that Grant was going to be manager. Had the appointment been more 'sudden', good, bad or mediocre, there would have been meltdown

...also, most sensible people, if not working will be outside enjoying the sun and trying to avoid World Cup fever and anyhting to do with football!!! I am clearly not sensible!

[Johnny Pa(i)ntsil]

Is this the first manager we get where the majority of the fans will warm to him? Rather than moan and grumble?

No

[Upton Larks]

I think this is an odd appointment to be honest. I reckon Roeder could have kept a bit of momentum going with the squad Chelsea had upon his appointment.

Pompey? How can anyone judge the chaos that has occured there...in my mind this is still a gamble.I would have gone for Hughes..a much safer bet...and younger with uncreased ear lobes..Pardon?

There was no momentum at Chelsea, and he managed to get them closer to the Champions League win than either Mourinho or Scolari managed.

As for not being able to judge Pompey ... ok, a stark assessment on results may be a little difficult to assess, but the team spirit he managed to galvanise there in the midst of that chaos when all seemed lost, when many teams would have just given up, complained, asked for transfers etc. was immensely impressive. So results aside , although getting them to an FA Cup Final beating top 4 teams on the way is no mean feat ... i'm more impressed by the spirit and teamwork he managed to get from his players at Portsmouth more than the results. I also thought Portsmouth played some decent football with some cutting edge, that had they a half decent forward would have reaped far more dividends and maybe even stayed up.

[hongkonghammer]

Severly underwhelmed by this appointment. Maybe it's just me but I strongly believe that our managers should have some association with the club either as a player or as member of the backroom. On top of that I'm fed up with the whole fashionable foreign manager bit that seems to have gripped the top division in England.

Hope he does well but can't say I fell inspired or excited at this appointment

[devonshire flu]

Was Pompey's squad overall better than ours ?. How many games did he win as a manager with them ?. Just a opinion thats all, but i don't think he's as good as most on here are thinking and if you set the expectations to high, then the let down will be worse.
Will he keep us in the PL, yes. Will the tactics be better, yes. If you make that the expectation then anything above and beyond that is a plus. If you thnk he will take us to immediate glory based on his "impressive" background, i would f***ing love it, just don't expect it. We're going to find out though in a couple of months.

He won as many cup games last season as Zola won league games (eight). With a club in absolute meltdown.

I haven't seen one post on here suggesting that we are looking at immediate glory. We got half as many league points as Spurs did last season - any improvement on that will be most welcome.

[Upton Larks]

No one is expecting him to get us a top 6 finish ... the most excited anyone has got is mention of mid table mediocrity, and pushing the boat out, a decent cup run.

All i ask, is that he makes it fun to watch West Ham again. ... that he gets us all involved, has us folloiwng the team and him as a manager. Results are just that ... its the experience that counts. If we finish 12th or 7th, i don't really care too much ... just as long as I've enjoyed the season, and that i like the players, manager and club again.

I optimistically believe Uncle Avram will deliver me that.

[Hambrosia Stu]

Maybe it's just me but I strongly believe that our managers should have some association with the club either as a player or as member of the backroom. On top of that I'm fed up with the whole fashionable foreign manager bit that seems to have gripped the top division in England.

I just don't buy that
I was talking to my boss the other day about our vacant manager position (he is a passionate and well informed Liverpool fan, much as it pains me to say it!)

He made that exact point. "You West Ham fans want some brilliant English coach, who played for West Ham, stood on the terraces as a boy......get real!"

His point, and one I personally agreed with, is that in this day an age, you pick the best person for the job. It's great if you can get someone who has an affiliation with the club, but how many are there who fit that criteria? Curbs or Bilic I guess

He also made the point that having an English manager isn't all it's cracked up to be. The world has opened up, and a foreign manager isn't as foreign as it would have been 15 or 20 years ago. His point being there aren't that many good English ones, and even fewer who would be a good fit for West Ham, yet there are plenty of good foreign coaches who do fully understand the English game

The most important thing is to get someone who can tap into the spirit of the club. Pardew made a point of really trying to do that, and to a large degree succeeded. I'm sure a lot of our fans (certainly the younger ones) felt they had more of a common bond with Pardew than they did with Curbs, despite him being one of our own

[Broomfield Hammer]

I was talking to my boss the other day about our vacant manager position (he is a passionate and well informed Liverpool fan, much as it pains me to say it!)

He made that exact point. "You West Ham fans want some brilliant English coach, who played for West Ham, stood on the terraces as a boy......get real!"

His point, and one I personally agreed with, is that in this day an age, you pick the best person for the job. It's great if you can get someone who has an affiliation with the club, but how many are there who fit that criteria? Curbs or Bilic I guess

That makes him an exception, as plenty of Liverpool fans seem to be calling for a Kenny Dalglish & Ian Rush "Dream Team" to replace Rafa.

FWIW, I make him absolutely spot on and I'm happy with Grant's appointment. Mind you, I'll be calling for his head when we lose to Colchester in the first round of the League cup!

[Hambrosia Stu]

That makes him an exception, as plenty of Liverpool fans seem to be calling for a Kenny Dalglish & Ian Rush "Dream Team" to replace Rafa.

Mind you, I'll be calling for his head when we lose to Colchester in the first round of the League cup!

I did make the dig, that with the manager his club have, they're hardly the best advert for foreign managers!
And was greeted with the legendary scouse sense of humour failure when any banter is directed at them

As for your second point, won't we all!

[nickstanley66]

He'll be able to tip all his Vice Girls with Ann Summers stuff on the cheap i guess.

[saludo de carlitos]

Our future manager is... Avram Grant, does that make sense?

[chigwells finest]

as long as we dont sign monty matzo or larry lokshen i'm moderately happy .....

[prince_huggy]

Our future manager is... Avram Grant, does that make sense?

Yes