It’s been the most painful, the most heartless, the most embarrassing long goodbye you could ever imagine.
Julen Lopetegui’s distressing 230 days as West Ham head coach has finally come to an end, six-and-a-half months of inept performances on and off the field, to the relief of the fans and probably the Spanish coach himself.He’s left without ever really managing a rapport with Hammers fans, half of whom struggled to pronounce his name and the other half not understanding a word he said in those excruciating TV interviews.
But the way his departure has been dragged out, with potential replacements being approached and interviewed in full view, has been a disgrace.
And it’s pretty clear that Lopetegui is unimpressed with technical director Tim Steidten’s role in all this, banning him from Rush Green in the same way David Moyes did when he was aware the German was scouting for his replacement.
You have to wonder how long Steidten will survive under Potter. Lopetegui took training this morning, no doubt cleared his desk, and was gone at 3.15pm, along with his Spanish staff.
And owner David Sullivan has been rightly criticised for the way this saga has been handled. This is not the way to treat people. If you want to sack the guy, do it, put Kenny Brown, Kevin Keen or Mark Noble in charge for an interim period and sort out the replacement then.
That’s the decent way to behave. You don’t hang out to dry the guy you want the sack, see him arriving to take training for two days with everyone - including the players - knowing he’s for the chop.
And you can’t doubt he gave it his best shot. But he was never really up to the task; his selections, substitutions and man management were never right. Tales of rows with players, punches thrown at half time in matches and certain players going behind his back to the club demanding his exit - or they would. What a vile place Rush Green must have been these past month.
It took just 22 matches, the same length of time Lou Macari had all those years ago. Seven wins, five draws and 10 defeats. Goals for 26, against 44. Just for some context, David Moyes’ side conceded 47 goals in his final 21 games.
Lopetegui goes having failed to inspire an expensively-assembled squad, having failed to instil a new progressive style and with the fourth-worst goal difference in the Premier League, with three wins in 11, and multiple opportunities to have sacked him before now.
The horror defeats at Spurs and at Nottingham Forest. The grim display against Everton, the incompetent defeat at Leicester and being outplayed at bottom club Southampton before Jarrod Bowen saved the day.
Lopetegui was the cheap option that went badly wrong for Sullivan. The agents that set up the deal when we managed to cock-up the potential arrival of the much more expensive Ruben Amorim, who, after a shaky start at basket case club Manchester United showed us all how to play against Liverpool at the weekend and make Trent Alexander-Arnold look foolish.
So we ended up with Lopetegui, with a CV that didn’t take too much probing and looking for a job after walking out on Wolves. The alarm bells were ringing, many advised Sullivan not to appoint the Basque, but he still went ahead - and then clung on to his man for far too long.
He didn’t want to sack him because that would cost upwards of £8m, so the season dragged on to the current mess. 14th in the Premier League and just above the relegation zone.
And now Sullivan has to fork out to get rid of Lopetegui’s entourage and now bring in Graham Potter on good money, with his own team and the promise of funds in this transfer window. So much for being brassic and up to our limits under FSR.
So out of all this public embarrassment we're about to appoint Graham Potter, a 49 year-old born in Solihull and with a win ratio of 43.35 % after 466 games in charge in senior football that has stretched from Ostersund in Sweden to Swansea, Brighton and Chelsea.
He’s recognised as an academic in football terms. His football is described as tactically flexible, attacking and possession based. Pep Guardiola is a fan. An Open University degree, work at Hull and Leeds universities, and a modern coach who enjoys a project, rather than being a fire-fighter like Moyes and Sam Allardyce.
In Sweden he took Ostersund to two promotions and a Cup win and into the Europa League, where we first noticed him when he plotted a victory at Arsenal. I’m liking him already. At Swansea he reached the FA Cup quarter finals and started to impress with inventive, adaptable football.
Brighton came knocking in May 2019 and he set in motion the impressive trajectory the south coast club are on now. There was a double over Arsenal - see what I mean? - and notable victories over Newcastle, Spurs, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United. Even us!
Then came Chelsea, and the wheels fell off. It is what our fans worry about; can he cut it at a higher level? And what went wrong at Stamford Bridge?
The place was an unmanageable basket case when he took over in September 2022. The first team squad consisted of nearly 50 players, they needed two dressing rooms.
The older players from Thomas Tuchel’s regime wanted out and with owner and sporting director Todd Boehly buying a string of players over the manager’s head, on big wages and fees, this was always going to be a tough gig.
Potter lost his way at Stamford Bridge. He had 12 injuries to contend with and confusing selections. Things were going on around him that he didn’t know about - he arrived at training one day to find the club doctor had been fired without his knowledge.
This sounds like I’m trying to make excuses for him being sacked and to a certain extent I am. But in there is a highly skilled, positive manager with the respect of his peers.
He has to knock into shape what has become a dysfunctional West Ham squad, and quickly. In many ways he is the new breed of manager we have wanted. We can only wish him well. Good luck at Villa Park!
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