WHZ Top 3s: West Ham’s greatest managers of the PL period
Welcome to West Ham Zone’s Top 3s series, where we will take look through Hammers history and decide which people or events rank highest with topics as varied as players, managers and goals…
West Ham have only had 11 permanent managers since the inception of the Premier League in 1992 and it’s fair to say that choosing a top three from those 11 could be a challenge.
While compiling these picks it was more a case of ‘best of a bad bunch’ rather than picking some Hammers greats from a very small list.
The Hammers have been relegated from the Premier League twice in the 24 years in which the club has taken part with the highest finish achieved by West Ham being the 1998-1999 season’s 5th placed finish.
So really there isn’t a great deal to choose from in terms of ‘top’ managers but there have been great seasons to remember under certain coaches and those have been a big factor in this list.
Alan Curbishley isn’t far of being off the top three in fact. That is the calibre of manager we are dealing with here. He was as boring and mediocre as his football but purely because he didn’t fail catastrophically, he nearly made it into the top three managers West Ham have had in the Premier League era.
Brace yourself, here are West Ham Zone’s top three West Ham managers of the Premier League era.
3.) Sam Allardyce
Ah Big Sam. He immediately won over fans by getting his new club promoted at the first attempt, culminating in a dramatic play-off final where a late Ricardo Vaz Te goal against Blackpool confirmed promotion. In his first season in the Premier League, Allardyce managed a top ten finish, which for a newly promoted side was rather impressive, it gave the Hammers something to build on going into their second consecutive top-flight season where they finished, 13th. A season of underperformance was summed up by Kevin Nolan being the top-scorer with seven goals and the following year another mid-table finish meant Allardyce’s contract was not renewed by the West Ham board as the fans turned on Allardyce and his unattractive football. Unfortunately, this list can’t count Allardyce’s achievements in the Championship, but he still makes third on the list.
2.) Slaven Bilic
Now, stay with me. Yes, Bilic’s time at West Ham ended badly after results started to completely fall away. But he was the man who gave us Dimitri Payet. Just think, those free-kicks against Crystal Palace and Manchester United, the nutmegs, the skills. For the signing of Payet alone Bilic deserves enormous credit. He also oversaw the last season at Upton Park where the Hammers finished seventh in the league, one of their highest top-flight finishes. Neither Bilic nor West Ham as a club enjoyed the transition to the London Stadium and as Bilic left Upton Park for the last time, so seemingly did the prospect of him recreating the results of his first season. But for the 2015/16 season alone, Bilic deserves second place.
1.) Harry Redknapp
Who else? Michael Carrick, Joe Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard, Stuart Pearce, Paolo Di Canio, Trevor Sinclair, all of these Hammers legends were either signed or brought through the academy on Redknapp’s watch. He also saw the club qualify for the Intertoto Cup and then win that competition which secured a place in the UEFA cup. Redknapp also saw the Hammers to their then-best Premier League finish of eighth and the club were never threatened with relegation on his watch. Top job Harry, you’ve earned the top spot on this list.
In other West Ham news, Carlton Cole has backed David Moyes to be given a new contract.