Julen Lopetegui’s position is quickly becoming untenable at West Ham and David Sullivan is said to be assessing alternative options.
West Ham have given Julen Lopetegui one last chance after defeat to Leicester.
Fans calling for the Spaniard to be sacked have been ignored by the owners.
So the beleaguered 58-year-old will lead the team out against Wolves on Monday night.
The Hammers hierarchy say they felt ‘morally obligated’ to give Lopetegui another game.
It appears to be no coincidence that since announcing they are sticking by the boss, one highly-detailed story after another has started to emerge from the sanctity of the dressing room.
A number of high value players have told West Ham they want to leave if Lopetegui stays.
Lopetegui position becoming untenable at West Ham
The farcical situation has seen supporters turn their anger on the board.
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In the background, four different reputable journalists have claimed the owners are simply buying themselves some time to line up a replacement.
Lopetegui has been given the mammoth task of winning every game from now to Liverpool at the end of the month.
The list of managers being linked as replacements is growing by the day.
The number has reached double figures this week alone.
Debate has raged among fans over who would be the best choice.
Now a top David Sullivan ally has offered up four managers and it suggests something exciting is afoot at West Ham.
David Sullivan and Julen Lopetegui.
Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images
David Sullivan ally offers up 4 managers
Earlier this week Hammers News revealed two English managers want the West Ham job.
It was claimed Brentford boss Thomas Frank is also now a target for the Hammers.
Three Telegraph journalists claim West Ham’s owners like the idea of Frank as a long-term option.
The Hammers have even been told how much it will cost to bring him from west to east London.
Top bosses from the UK, Italy, Germany and Spain have all been linked as potential candidates.
Now Sean Whetstone has really set tongues wagging among fans.
The top level board confidant is close to majority owner Sullivan and vice-chair Karren Brady.
Whetstone often polls supporters to gauge fan opinion on important matters.
Many fans believe he does so in order to feed directly back to Sullivan and co.
Supporters have always been highly critical of Sullivan for refusing to pay compensation to go and get a top manager out of their club.
But a poll put out by Whetstone to his 50,000 plus followers on social media suggests that might be about to change.
And the options put forward are seriously exciting.
Taking to social media, Whetstone asked which of four current in contract managers fans would like to see Sullivan approach if Lopetegui is sacked.
All four managers listed have been linked with the club this week.
West Ham owner David Sullivan with his son Jack watch the action at Copper Box Arena on December 21, 2019 in London, England.
Photo by James Chance/Getty Images
They include Bournemouth’s impressive Andoni Iraola, Middlesbrough’s former Hammers academy graduate Michael Carrick, Fulham’s Marco Silva and Brentford’s Frank.
Don Hutchison told West Ham’s owners they should be ‘all over’ Iraola after he witnessed Bournemouth’s brilliant performance in the victory over Spurs.
It was claimed during the international break that the Spaniard is high on West Ham’s list of targets.
Carrick is said to be one of the managers very interested in taking over at the London Stadium.
His name has reportedly been championed by sporting director Mark Noble.
Silva is a big favourite of Sullivan and has been heavily linked with West Ham on several occasions in the past.
But the Hammers have previously baulked at his alleged £13.5m release clause.
Not a bad choice between them but will Hammers pay?
Frank has been linked this week and is a manager respected by Hammers fans for the job he’s done on a shoestring budget at the Gtech.
It would reportedly cost £9m to get him out of his contract.
If – as fans suspect – Whetstone is doing the bidding of Sullivan and co, then this list will have supporters seriously excited.
Cynics will say there’s no chance the club will pay to get any of them.
But the fact Whetstone is offering them up as options might mean that’s about to change.
If the results are being fed back to Sullivan, they’re pretty evenly spread.
At the time of writing, though, Carrick is the one in the lead with 40 per cent of the vote.
If Sullivan is going to break the habit of a lifetime and pay to bring in a quality manager, then it would go some way to winning back the trust of fans.
Realistically there isn’t a bad choice between those four bosses.
Things could be about to get very interesting indeed.
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