Manuel Pellegrini: West Ham United’s 17th manager

[steps]

His high watermark, which came in his second season. The following season he finished fourth, with the best squad in the league, as Leicester romped to the title. That same season he was dumped out of the Champions League in the round of 16 after being spanked by Monaco. That same season he couldn’t even beat Celtic in two attempts!

That was the season he was told half-way through Guardiola would be replacing him at the end of it, no?

[e17]

I predict a riot

[Samba]

Yep....2 strikers, hoping a 34 year old goalie never gets injured again, defensively awful of late and an attacking unit that looks worse every week. Yep...a great squad.

They're trying to get him to walk surely?

"I know what you're thinking, Sully. 'Did I spend enough money last Summer'? Well to tell you the truth, in all of that razzle-dazzle, we kind of lost track ourselves. But being that we're dropping down faster than a one legged, can-can dancer and with no sign of us scoring any goals, let alone winning any points for the foreseeable future, you've got to ask yourself one question in January, Sully: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well do ya, punk?"

[Ironing Board]

That was the season he was told half-way through Guardiola would be replacing him at the end of it, no?

Yes, and it all sounds so familiar:

“City's Champions League future is hanging in the balance, with a daunting quarterfinal against Paris St-Germain next, and it seems the only factor keeping the Chilean in his job is that his successor has already been appointed and it's incredibly difficult to find a decent interim for eight matches.

“City were slow, disorganised, careless, dull and toothless in the Manchester derby. Worst of all, they couldn't respond to the setback following Marcus Rashford's opening goal, and they brought all of their problems on themselves. In the past 19 league games where they've been trailing at half-time, City have gone on to lose 18. The other was a draw.

“With the chance to send a message to the chasing pack in the race for the top four and beyond -- a title challenge looks incredibly far-fetched, admittedly -- City blew it. Instead, they announced to West Ham and Manchester United that they're there for the taking. Champions League football for one of those clubs is a real possibility next season”

[Wilko1304]

Good point, I remember that season well. They floundered and finished 7th whilst we romped home to champions league glory.

The club has never been the same since, just going from glory to glory to almost boringly easy glory

[Wilko1304]

Samwise's points per game: 1.38
Slav's points per game: 1.40
Moyesy's points per game: 1.19
Manuel's points per game: 1.35

Doing it quite simply, and using overall records which include cups (which I think is important - we want cup runs), I have divided points by number of games played. Sam is a very small amount above Manuel and that includes a season in the Championship. You'll have to forgive me any mistakes, I did this on Wiki data very quickly whilst talking on the phone.

So, IB, I'm not sure what your point is. Slav is the only one, I think, not to have lost more games than he's won if you discount Allardyce's Championship spell. Moyes the only one to have drawn more games than he's won. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter that his loss percentage is higher because it is about points on the board. We all fully well know that it's better to win one game and lose another than two draws.

To add to this, some context for each manager:

Sam
Pros: Stabilised when required. Dealt with a club that had sank to the Champ under an awful manager with a poor attitude in the squad. Promoted at first attempt and kept the side up.
Cons: A season in the Fizzy where he very nearly didn't get us promoted, despite a big budget on transfers and wages. Dire football, for the most part. Transfer record for the here and now, never with an eye on the future. Just not popular.

Slav
Pros: That season was bliss. Fitting send off to Upton Park. Tried to attack, would settle on a 3 centre back formation if he felt he had to. Likeable.
Cons: Lost the plot with it, seemed unable to manage the midfield (although now that seems to be a recurring theme from under-investment), it was downhill after the glorious season and never looked like recovering.

Moyes
Pros: Drilled the basics back into the squad. Wasn't too shy about thinking club needed restructuring. Got Arnie firing.
Cons: Bad football, defensive. Seemed to play Arnie and Lanzini plus 9 grafters/defenders. Once he recovered the basics, he seemed to have little left to give. Did nothing more than just about enough to keep us up. Valued draws over going for a win. His stats would be worse if we consider the end of season nonsense where teams were throwing us points.

Manuel
Pros: Attacks. Signs players for the future as well as the now. Has improved players technically. Reintegrated players into the squad and recovered their form when they looked like they must move on. When it's good, it's very good. Managed Rice very well.
Cons: Has lost the basics. Can be stubborn and arrogant about his side. Doesn't think about his opposition quite enough. Overly relying on Fabianski to be brilliant? Can he arrest this slide?

[Patito]

So, IB, I'm not sure what your point is.

We all know what his point is. It’s just completely wrong.

[Doc H Ball]

Well done Wilko.

With Slav, you have to take into account the move to the Deathstar. After that last season at the Boleyn we could’ve had Herbert Chapman exhumed and he still would’ve balked at the task.

TBF to Moyes he also walked in on a circus. I’d love to know what his real thoughts were as he stood there at Watford with the away crowd going bananas.

[hammerman11]

IF pelle survives the next 4 games he will have had us showing signs of life but I cant see us getting much from spurs Chelsea wolves arsenal !

4 defeats or only a draw against spurs will surely see the end of him.

who do we get in is the big question. first choice is eddie howe but he would want total control but doesn't need to spend too much in the transfer market. he would coach our players for sure and get them fitter. his teams tend to last 90+ minutes.
if we got howe in then maybe in the summer we could tempt a few up from the south cost. billing fraser ake king etc.

IF not howe then we are looking at the likes of hughton who would make us harder to beat. he would get us fitter and running harder. we would not go down. he would be cheap and enable us to pay off pelle his 10m+ .

so hughton until the end of the season and then go and try and get howe unless howe comes in december ?

money talks and so would the size of the club over bournemouth. the only thing they have better apart from their team is their board. how would howe deal with the dwarf, senile git and old slag ?

[S-H]

[Sloop John B]

Also, despite managing Real Madrid and Man City, all Pelligrini has to show for his time is two league cups and a Premier League. Claudio Ranieri has a better record.

This is just a laughable attempt at criticism.

[hammernsickle]

Ironing Board is a Spurs fan who has a grand old time when we are doing poorly. Proper forumming.

The rest of us need to prepare the "Welcome Back Big Sam" banners for his glorious return.

[taffhammer]

Each of our last four managers has appeared to put out teams who appear to show a complete lack of interest after a promising spell. Maybe they see a chance to push on, are not backed by the board and think theres no point in trying.

[S-H]

Each of our last four managers has appeared to put out teams who appear to show a complete lack of interest after a promising spell. Maybe they see a chance to push on, are not backed by the board and think theres no point in trying.

That's what I think as well.

[e17]

With Slav, you have to take into account the move to the Deathstar. After that last season at the Boleyn we could’ve had Herbert Chapman exhumed and he still would’ve balked at the task.

I’ve lived 40 (something) years in and around “Stratford City”, and despite that, still spent the entire first season walking to the ground with music from Blade Runner or The Warriors in my head. Somehow, even an area I know better than family birthdays became some sort of piss taking strange barren wasteland walk that felt like we all had “gullible c****” sharpied on to our foreheads.

I think that MIGHT have just rubbed off a tad on to our manager and his team.

[e17]

Ironing Board is a Spurs fan who has a grand old time when we are doing poorly. Proper forumming.

He was RM6 before he was IB. To be fair to him, I think he is proper West Ham, but he blatantly likes ugly football.

[Samba]

He was RM6 before he was IB. To be fair to him, I think he is proper West Ham, but he blatantly likes ugly football.

So he's not David Moyes trying to get his own job back?

[Doc H Ball]

Damn I liked the idea that David Moyes, sunning himself in Spain and getting even more wrinkly, was so bored at filling in job applications that he came on here for a bit of chit chat.

[Graza]

I predict a riot

it worked last time...

who do we get in is the big question. first choice is eddie howe but he would want total control but doesn't need to spend too much in the transfer market. he would coach our players for sure and get them fitter. his teams tend to last 90+ minutes.

IF not howe then we are looking at the likes of hughton who would make us harder to beat. he would get us fitter and running harder. we would not go down. he would be cheap and enable us to pay off pelle his 10m+ .

so hughton until the end of the season and then go and try and get howe unless howe comes in december ?

I just can't think of any other way to rebut this...

[Hammer1972]

It's just a plethora of stupid clichés, the idea that if we get in a 'young, hungry, English manager' and fill the team with 'young, hungry, English players' and get rid of the 'money hungry foreign mercenaries' then suddenly everyone will start 'playing for the shirt' and 'leaving it all on the pitch' and it will all be amazing.

Funny how all the lower league clubs with young English managers and young English players are all....in the lower leagues.