WHZ Top 3s: West Ham’s worst 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 the worst three will be a lot easier than choosing a top three.
Our last list selected the Hammers’ best three managers of the Premier League era and there were certainly fewer candidates for that list than this one.
It’s fair to say that West Ham fans haven’t enjoyed their time in the Premier League as much as they maybe deserve to. Afterall West Ham is a massive club with a huge fan base, but their success doesn’t match the size of the club.
There have been more bad days than good for the Hammers since the Premier League began in 1992. Terrible managers, some terrible teams, two relegations and a move away from the club’s spiritual home.
We’re about to take a look at the managers who have overseen the worst periods in the clubs recent history, these guys make Alan Pardew look half-decent.
Here are West Ham Zone’s top three worst West Ham managers of the Premier League era.
3.) Gianfranco Zola
Zola’s first stint in management should’ve gone so much better, though there were positive signs during his first season. He managed to secure a top-ten finish as the Italian looked like he could be a decent manager as well as one of the best players to grace the English top flight. But that second season. Dismal football and a 35-point haul that almost saw the club relegated. Zola massively got away with one but his contract was terminated a few days after the season finished. We all wanted it to go well but it wasn’t to be.
2.) Avram Grant
Ahead of Zola is the man who replaced him, the early 2010s were not kind to West Ham. First, Grant gave his new club their worst ever start in the Premier League and he wasn’t even in the dugout when the Hammers picked up their first point away to Stoke as he was respecting a Jewish holy day. By the end of November, the Hammers were bottom and that’s where they would stay. West Ham won more cup games than league games under Grant and only picked up one point from their final eight games. Truly terrible.
3.) Glenn Roeder
This one may prove controversial after the very good job Roeder did in his first season as Hammers boss. He guided West Ham to seventh place in the league and signed some decent players like Tomas Repka and Don Hutchison. The reason Roeder is top of this list is the severe drop in quality from his first season to his second. Nothing went right for Roeder as he couldn’t find a way to stop the Hammers falling down the Premier League table. He suffered a brain tumour towards the end of that season so he wasn’t actually in charge when relegation was confirmed but the damage was already done. He returned to West Ham after he recovered but he couldn’t even pick up points in the second tier, leading to his sacking in August 2003. He should’ve kicked on and propelled West Ham into the top six, but it wasn’t to be.
In other West Ham news, Michail Antonio wants to spend the rest of his career at the London Stadium.