Sam Allardyce admits that West Ham have underperformed this season - but is determined to right the wrongs of the 2013/14 campaign next year.
Speaking to the Evening Standard, Allardyce revealed that he had some sympathy for those disappointed by the quality of football this season - but that he hopes to get the fans back onside with the kind of football that resulted in a play-off final in 2011/12 and a top half Premier League finish last season."I saw the banner at West Brom last weekend and I understand the fans’ frustrations," he said. "My first responsibility has to be to the people who employ me but I also have a commitment to the supporters of West Ham United.
"I don’t take on the fans; there is no future in picking an argument with them. I understand their frustration, I really do. There is no hiding the fact that we expected to do better this season.
"But it’s not what some of them say about me which really matters - it’s that it can affect the players. If we’re not doing as well as they would like - and we’re not at the moment - their response can help turn that around, or it can make it worse.
"I know how difficult it is because they want to come to the Boleyn Ground, see their team do well and be excited by the football. This season we haven’t done that enough and when that happens you can’t expect your fans just to go home satisfied."
Tomorrow afternoon West Ham take on Tottenham in their final home league game of the season. "It would be absolutely fantastic to beat them at home, having beaten them in the Capital One Cup and in the league," mused Allardyce in his pre-match press conference.
However the 59-year-old is already looking beyond this season to a busy summer of activity and recruitment as he enters the final year of his latest contract, which he signed last May having steered the Hammers to a tenth place finish in the club's first season back in the Premier League.
"You've got to remember that we're all in this together," he said. "I wouldn't see it any other way, until either David Sullivan, David Gold or Karren Brady ring me and tell me otherwise. We're trying to progress the football club so I'm delivering what the owners want - and at the moment we've nearly got what we want.
"We're very, very close to being in the Premier League for a third season and trying to become a club that has the capability of sustaining its Premier League status, growing slowly but surely and making sure it stays in the Premier League for a long period of time."
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