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Well, someone’s got to say it. Only West Ham could foul up the sacking of a lame-duck manager, who it seems has lost the players as well as disheartened fans.

It's a little ironic that the club are using the "we honour contracts" spiel, in the week that it was revealed that they offered David Moyes a new contract last December and withdrew it three weeks later.




I know, it's not quite the same thing, but I’m sure any of you out there who experienced the same sleight of hand would be more than pissed off with such treatment. An offer is as good as a handshake in my world. Clearly not David Sullivan’s.

You may hate everything about Moyes and his style, and you are entitled to that opinion, but when that happened we were sixth, had just won 2-0 at Arsenal with one of the best defensive displays I’ve ever seen. We were European champions and still in last season’s tournament final stages - and Sullivan does that to his coach.

Let’s not doubt that Moyes’ team knew all about this shenanigans. These guys had won a European trophy and played three seasons amongst UEFA’s elite. Do you not think the treatment of their manager had something to do with the collapse of the season after new year?

That got me thinking. Having been ‘introduced’ to Julen Lopetegui in October, West Ham may well have known they had the Spaniard as a fall-back option. And Moyes admits it wasn’t that good a contract and probably eliminated him from transfer dealings. Just a thought.

Anyway, we now have Lopetegui back home in Spain visiting his dad - no issue there, we all have greater issues than football - while the club scramble around looking for reasons not to axe him.

I sense that the 60,000 dispirited souls who witnessed the Everton shambles could think of many reasons to end the 58 year-old’s six month tenure at the London Stadium. I accept that there are many who cling onto the theory that it’s only 13 games, he’s having to handle bringing the old and the new into a cohesive squad, he needs time, even this whole season.

Even the coach is on about how it will all be fine in a couple of months and the players have to learn his ways. He’s even suggesting the club have signed the wrong sort of players, a bit like the wrong sort of leaves on the line when the trains stop. Ssuch a feeble excuse.




But that’s the issue. Just look at the players’ body language, look at the near dissent when players are hooked - yes, Aaron Wan-Bissaka comes to mind. And then there’s the rumpus with Mo Kudus at Brentford and the rumours of dressing room unrest seeping from every pore at Rush Green.

Players are the first to know when a manager is on his way, and first to know when he cannot hack it. When the rot sets in, there’s only one outcome in the end, no matter how many words of support, how much sympathy and ‘let’s give it time’ - the coach always ends up going. Such is the football world.

I’ve seen too many of these situations over the years, far too many in 50-odd years. You all know what’s coming. I can think of just one occasion that I’ve witnessed at close quarters something different.

Back in 1990, when Alex Ferguson had been under massive pressure in his fourth season at Manchester United, it was common knowledge he would be sacked if Man United lost a Cup tie at Nottingham Forest. Up stepped teenager Mark Robins to score the winner and the rest is history.

It's ironic again that Robins, viewed by many as the best manager outside the Premier League, should be sacked by Coventry last week, to universal surprise.

And then there’s Erik ten Hag and Ruud van Nistelrooy on the market, OK, a long shot, but you can be a failure at Old Trafford and still become another club’s best manager in 30 years. Both those two Dutchman could do a better job than Lopetegui.

You have to wonder who is capable of stepping up to save Lopetegui’s bacon at Newcastle in a couple of weeks, if he even lasts that long. Now I’m not suggesting we go for Robins, but you wonder sometimes what bright, adaptable, organised young coaches in the Championship have to do to get a crack at the big time.

Would he seriously be any worse than Lopetegui, who seems to have basked in a somewhat deceptive CV for some time?




Fourteen games in charge of Real Madrid, sacked, the anniversary of that axing was six years ago, last month. Twenty with Spain. Sacked. Walked out on Wolves, 27 games. He was also sacked by Porto and Seville. So are we looking at a coach who has basked just a little too much on the Madrid/Spain appointments.

The Spain, Real, Wolves, West Ham era is just 74 matches at the top level. You make your own minds up.

So here we are, with the club doing their level best not to sack him and cost themselves £5m minimum to clear the decks. The Times ran a story saying there would be talks between Sullivan and ‘white trainers man’ Tim Steidten this week, instantly denied by the usual grifters.

KUMB sources are aware of talks that have taken place, that a planned escape route is being discussed, but it’s likely that Lopetegui will be in charge at Newcastle. The decision should have been taken by now.

Leaving it to drag on is little more than an insult to the 3,000 loyal fans who will be travelling north on a Monday night with no trains home.

It all keeps throwing me back to last season, I wrote last week reminding fans of exactly where we were a year ago, sixth and European champions.

It was then pointed out to me that in April we were facing Europe’s form side at the London Stadium in front of a raucous, fanatical packed house. A Europa League quarter finals with Bayer Leverkusen. We drew 1-1 and had we not conceded a very late goal in the first leg, that second showdown would have been a real nail biter. Six months ago, think on that.

Compare that to the muted, almost acceptance of the situation after the draw with Everton. Nothing to cheer and Lopetegui should have been gone before |I got home to Manchester.




Our demise has been a disaster that will long be remembered in the club’s history when we are long gone. The waste has been criminal, and the board and their selection of Moyes’ replacement is responsible.

I accept that Moyes had run his time, It was time for a change, but this appointment has been a disaster. And I hope and pray that I am wrong and speaking too soon, and that Loppy’s style and methods works and points us into a new era.

But when you analyse Lopetegui’s system and where we are you cannot be confident. He was asked to bring in a possession based, modern, style. An end to the pragmatic, long ball, counter attacking Moyes era.

OK, bring it on. But the analysis of Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Everton shows we are more long ball now than last season. We are spinning the ball across the defence but in the end still launching it towards Michail Antonio.

Wan-Bissaka, once described as the Premier League’s best defensive right back, is now failing to understand a role that sees him constantly marooned miles up the right.

Jarrod Bowen, our top scorer and at his best running at defenders and shooting on sight, is a pale shadow of what we know he can be. Lopetegui has all but wrecked his England career, although he must have been delighted to be a late call up due to injuries.

The bottom line is that Lopetegui is unable to translate his style and system to top players, talented, regular internationals for Brazil, Argentina, France, the Czech pair and Africa’s finest young star. Players who should be able to accept and interpret coaching instructions.

But they look as if they don’t understand - don’t want to understand, maybe? - and want a change of leadership. That’s why our board should act now. Make use of the international break and give us our team back.

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