Only a week after defeating Newcastle and deservedly leaving St James’ Park with three points in the bag, West Ham seem ready to part company with manager Julen Lopetegui (he may already be gone by the time you read this).
The Hammers were walloped 5-2 by Arsenal at the London Stadium at the weekend and have now followed that up with another poor 3-1 defeat to Leicester City at the King Power.
Lopetegui is no mug and was manager of serial Europa League winners Sevilla when they won that particular trophy yet again in 2019/20.
The Hammers are in disarray it looks, both on and off the pitch, which now makes their win at Gallowgate all the more remarkable.
I’m going to look back into a different time and era that coincided with West Ham United’s glory days.
For four decades West Ham became a club renowned for it’s outstanding loyalty towards their managers.
Ted Fenton(1950-1961), Ron Greenwood(1961-1974), and John Lyall (1974-1989) are testament to this.
Ted Fenton was a loyal club servant as a player, before picking up the reins as team manager following a spell in charge of Colchester United.
One of the best things Ted ever did was to sign Vic Keeble from Newcastle in 1957. Fenton had already managed Big Vic at Colchester and he knew what he was getting.
Keeble was awesome and helped fire the Irons win the Second Division title nine months later.
Ron Greenwood led West Ham to FA Cup glory in 1964. They followed this up by winning the European Cup Winners Cup a year later with a team that featured future World Cup heroes Bobby Moore, Martin Peters and Geoff Hurst.
Ron Greenwood then moved upstairs as General Manager, leaving the door open for John Lyall to take his place.
The transition was a smooth one and Lyall delivered another FA Cup in his first season in 1974/75.
Going into the 1980 FA Cup Final against Arsenal, Lyall’s by now Second Division Hammers were massive underdogs.
Against all the odds West Ham did the business and won the Cup again, courtesy of a headed goal by Trevor Brooking.
Extreme loyalty all round led to the success West Ham once enjoyed.
Today, football is a different game altogether, where a manager’s shelf life can be as little as a few months.
All fans (that definitely includes us here on Tyneside) get frustrated and restless when our team goes through a slump, even if it’s only a couple of poor results on the spin.
Football supporters should be careful what they wish for.
For instance, if Unai Emery hadn’t been hounded out at Arsenal, I think the Gunners would have lifted the Premier League title by now.
Even if the worst comes to the worst against Liverpool under the lights tonight, I want the Toon Army to stay loyal to Eddie Howe right through Christmas and into the New Year.