Filed under: Football
Sam Allardyce admits his appointment as West Ham manager represented a rather substantial risk. And he should know because he reckons he's the one whose reputation stands to take the bigger kicking by failure.Avram Grant's successor has a busy summer ahead of him as he plots to restore the club's Premier League status within two years in the knowledge that a section of the Upton Park faithful are wary, at the very least, of his penchant for route one football.
But the former Bolton, Newcastle and Blackburn manager, never one to under-sell himself knowingly, was adamant that he was in fact doing the Hammers a big favour for deigning to set foot in the Championship.
"In many ways, from a personal point of view, I've taken a risk by losing my Premier League status, which had been built over the last 10 years or so, and coming down into the Championship to try to bring success to West Ham," he opined. "Hopefully I have made the right decision.
"Nobody wants to be in the Premier League more than me. Believe you and me, I don't want to spend too in the Championship if I can help it."
The Allardyce vision ("without meaning to sound arrogant...") could hardly be clearer. Promotion must be won, at the first attempt if possible but certainly in time for the club decamping to the Olympic Stadium in 2014, through a brand of pragmatic football that will see the Hammers no longer be soft touches outside London. Kevin Nolan, lured from Newcastle on the promise of a lengthy and lucrative contract, will be the captain and chief cheerleader in a new era when West Ham fans will come to realise they prefer to watch their side win rather than entertain.
And after that? Challenge for Europe and the knockout cups of course, before Big Sam moves on to the job he feels is rightfully his: the England post. Samuel Allardyce esquire is not shy, that's for sure, but can back up his braggadocio with statistics too, mainly concerning his record at Bolton and the fact that he was indeed interviewed for that very post in 2006 when Steve McClaren was eventually chosen to replace Sven-Goran Eriksson.
Those two will now be his biggest rivals to success next season of course, with Sven in charge at Leicester and McClaren freshly installed at Nottingham Forest. And there is so much still to be done at Upton Park, where half a team has already slunk off in search of another pay day and England trio Scott Parker, Robert Green and Carlton Cole sure to follow.
How many new additions will be needed to replace the departed? It is difficult to say and Allardyce has also to find himself a new home near the Boleyn Ground at some point.
But his mind has already been whirring away busily, perhaps too much so. "I have hardly had any sleep and the phone has never ever stopped," he said. "And it's not just phones, there have been emails. I have been haring around 24/7 trying to get a plan in my head and focus on what is most important. I seem to be waking up at five o'clock in the morning, writing notes down and when I do finally get up in the morning, I find they don't make too much sense." Like Avram's team talks then...
So, the Big Sam era is about to begin and with the stakes already set so high it can only end in success or failure as there is no room for anything in between. But then again when was the last time West Ham as a club had a big smile on its face? Allardyce may be boastful and perhaps heading for a fall but at least the targets he aims for are worth achieving. West Ham have bumbled along for too long, first under Gianfranco Zola and then Grant, who were nice guys but terrible managers. Big Sam may be an incorrigible egotist but perhaps that's exactly what is needed at a club where both owners have always been quick to stick in their respective oars as Karren Brady pens her caustic newspaper columns in the background...
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