Ciao
I am happy to announce that I will remain the West Ham manager for the foreseeable future. After losing six games in a row, including three very winnable home games against teams in the bottom half of the table, I thought it advisable to take some time out to consider my options. Should I remain manager of West Ham United or resign.
The most important consideration was whether or not I wanted to continue. I have a contract you see, and so the Board are not able to remove me without digging deep in their pockets, and I know that money is tight at the club. So, as much as Mr Sullivan may wish to sack me, he is not really in a position to do so.
I also needed to consider the wishes of the fans. I heard their cries for me to go after the Stoke game and, for the first time, I had a sense that the fans no longer trusted me. That might have persuaded me to go, but then I thought, most of the fans had left the ground by the time the final whistle blew, so the malcontents who remained were not necessarily a representative sample. Had the majority wanted me out, they would surely have remained to join in the cries for me to go. How could I walk out on these wonderful fans when they wanted me to stay?
Then there was the issue of my salary. £1.9m a year is an awful lot of money and, after my performance as a manager at West Ham, I am unlikely to be offered a similar figure anytime soon. Then there is my dear friend Steve Clarke who, as a journeyman footballer, has never had the opportunity to earn the mega salaries of the Zolas and Beckhams of this world. I owe it to Steve to keep him in the style to which he has recently become accustomed. Had I resigned, I would have betrayed my friend and I am no Brutus.
But finally there is the issue of unfinished business. I took over a team in the top five of the Premiership and, in the space of 18 months, have guided them to the very brink of relegation. Hull are level on points with ourselves with a game in hand so our destiny is no longer in our own hands. Having nearly finished the job, it would be criminal to walk away now with the Championship so nearly in touching distance.
I have had a wonderful break and return fit and ready for the challenges ahead. I am confident that the players will still respect me despite the pathetic figure I cut in interviews after the Stoke game and know that my tactics will come good in the end. I have no intention of changing tactical direction for the Everton game. Why should I? It is not a game we expect a result in anyway.
Yours most sincerely,
Gianfranco Zola
Look it's done now, let's just hope we miraculously stay up. Little point in repeatedly putting the boot in as it won't change till the summer. COYI!
ReplyDeleteYou know what is the hardest thing to take in? Skysports reported that 100% of all the fans asked were in support of Zola staying! You see, this is what makes West Ham so special. If it was any other club on six straight defeats and threatened by relegation there would be at least one questioning the Manager and his tactics. But with West Ham fans, no way! We are all believers or should I say dreamers. This is exactly why West Ham has always been such good hunting ground for people looking to make a quick buck. West Ham fans are the best. We have to be loyal even when it is abundantly clear that we are being screwed!
ReplyDeleteThe best? Total and utter mugs. None of the fans around me wanted Zola to stay on Saturday. How many of those asked have actually seen the team play?
ReplyDeleteI find the unthinking support beyond the incredible. It is a crazy badge of honour the fans wear. We are West Ham, we back the manager. Like they backed Roeder. Amazing. Pardew won a Cup at the weekend; Zola cut a pathetic self pitying figure after a sixth straight defeat. Was Pardew afforded that luxury? He had just taken us to a Cup Final where we stood toe to toe with Liverpool and look at how he was repaid!
Let's be clear, at least, why Zola has stayed. In Zola we trust? Bollocks, he has just betrayed that trust by putting himself and Clarke above the team, the club and the fans. God help us!
I definitely like your critical view Hammersfan but your last two were a bit too much british humour - at least for my liking ;)
ReplyDeleteDear TurdsOut
ReplyDeleteI am determined to carry on. Losing on Saturday was emotional for everyone but I know we can turn it around and that we have the ability to achieve our objectives.
It has been a tough week but the owners have backed me and I am very grateful for that. With the backing of the joint-chairmen both myself and the squad are determined to fight for every point possible. My only thought for now is to keep this club in the Premier League and I will give everything I can to make this happen between now and the end of the season.
I have had time to think and reflect, and will have to work harder than ever before. I know we can get the results we need and I will work hard to make it happen. The performance was better against Stoke but it is not the level we should be at. We can, and we will, do better.
The good thing was that at least the team performed better as a team. We just couldn't get the final touch. The end product was not as good as I expect it to be and that was the difference, really.
We had better team shape and tried really hard. [Stoke scorer Ricardo] Fuller made a difference when he came on with a piece of quality. Sometimes in games, especially in a tight situation like this one, one bit of quality can make the difference and that was definitely the case.
To lose Guille Franco before the game and Kieron Dyer at half-time is typical of our season. But I will not make excuses.
Six defeats with a difficult game coming on Sunday is not great, but the players are committed and we're going to be working on making that commitment more effective.
I have a great staff and we are working together to find the solutions. We have a responsibility to turn things around and that is what we will do. I am here and I am ready to do what I need to do to get the results. We have seen before that we are capable of playing at a high level.
We will go to Everton on Sunday determined to get a result. People might not expect us to get something from the match but we are positive. No one should write us off. Although we are in a serious position we have time to sort things out and be in control of our destiny at the end of the season.
We said before Stoke that one game would not define the season but we also know that each of the games we have left will be cup finals. They will be massive and I know you will once again get behind us starting with Everton and we will give everything to reward your support. You have been brilliant and we owe you.
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Thanks for your support and don't Harriet Fanny is the devil is disguise - if you see him beg him not to attend for he is more negative than a thousand men - and the energy saps as all including the fans!
Zola Signature
Gianfranco Zola
HF, my reference to "the best" was of course made in irony. Yes, we are all nice guys. But that doesn't make us the best.
ReplyDeleteI am glad to hear that there are some dissenting voices. It is hard for me to get to Upton Park as I live abroad now (but I watch every game on satellite TV). I totally agree with your assessment of the situation and applaud you for having the courage to tell it like it is. Ever since I was a teenager travelling from West London to Upton Park every other week to watch West Ham I never found another supporter who would dare be critical of things at the Club or God forbid, the Manager. It was like the old ages when if one spoke against the Church he would burn on the stick. It is still like this today, I am afraid. But, be that as it may, it is too late to do anything about it now. As you say, God help us. With Zola back on board, we really need a miracle now! So, I guess our strategy for getting out of this mess is to appeal to God. At least we finaly know what the plan is!
If we stay up I would love to see Billy Davies take over. I could see a real David Moyes type legacy there, honestly.
ReplyDelete".....the owners have backed me and I am very grateful for that. With the backing of the joint-chairmen both myself and the squad are determined to fight for every point possible"
ReplyDeleteSo HF a moral dilemma of the highest order - do you finally get behind the team, the manager and the owners and fight for West Ham and your mini season ticket - or do you continue to belly ache like the squealing **** that you are?
I can only imagine what kind of "support" you offer at the game, cheering or jeering? singing or whining?
One thing I've never seen you write and it's rather odd considering your claim of being a hammer and that's........
COYI
Think about it
yeah he never says that COYI
ReplyDeletewell spotted the fellas an obvious ringer
WTF wouldn't he say that???????
COHF
ReplyDeleteLet's hear you say it
Come on you can do it - get behind the team, the players and the owners. Let every hammer be counted
Shit or best
COYI
bust
ReplyDeleteI think along the same lines as Savvakis, HF. We could have sacked Zola any number of times in the last few games. We are loyal fans, maybe far too much so. Anyways, Zola is staying, the writing is on the wall. We can survive this i have no doubt, but it is going to take an immense effort from both Zola & players. The die is cast. We need to be positive as there is nothing us fans can do to change what has happened. Like it or not, we are here in this moment & time. Cahill has said he doesn't want to kick start our season. We need to exterminate him. Play Diamanti in the position he was designed to play in. God knows why we play Faubert at RB. Behrami is a RB, Faubert is a running winger. Mido says we can get a draw, we don't need a draw, we need to go out to win. No choice now. Onward, onward, into the valley of death rode the 400.
ReplyDeleteBy the way HF. I notice that Carlos cracked a hat trick against Wigan. I think that he still cares for us. They play Burnley next. Would Tevez sink us on the last day if it came to that. Ah Carlos, we still love you. If only we still had him.
ReplyDeleteWest Ham the worst team in the top tier. 12 straight defeats, in zola we trust. We are a joke and a disgrace. Come on Everton, 4 nil.....number 7 and counting.
ReplyDeletewho is going to score for us? no-one. Maybe zola should play, wouldnt that be a laugh, zola scores, thats the plan
ReplyDeleteput your boots on zola, a striker at last.
ReplyDelete06:10, 06:13, 06:15 get behind the team, the manager and the owners - COYI - the time for whining is over - save it for the end of the season.
ReplyDeletePMA our team needs us
So Zola and the team are going to try harder. This only indicates they have not been trying their hardest in the last few games,Why? and constructive critism does not mean you are a bad supporter it means you are so desperate for the team to do well burrying your head in the sand and pretending everything is ok is not an option
ReplyDeleteWe can keep complaining until the end of the season or we can get behind the team and try some positive mental attitude..... COYI save the moaning until the last day of the season.
ReplyDeletehf's default setting is plainly a negative one.... as it's been observed the bloke doesn't ever say COYI - which speaks volumes
ReplyDeleteHis negativity is why so many less positive people are attracted here - but to keep complaining seems pretty futile as it's confirmed that GZ is staying until the end of season. Let's just try some positive thinking, to keep complaining and moaning just seems so fcuking masochistic.......
COYI
HF
ReplyDeleteYour view on how the rest of the season will pan out from here on please?
Consider the following; Benni McCarthy having a Carlos Tevez type effect on the team from now on. And Wigan (who we still have to play) finishing below us. I think these are two distinct possibilities.
I do wish people could get their facts right. Go back through history to West Ham v Wolves. early team news. I doubt you could find a more positive post than that and I believe I say COYI. Some good it did us.
ReplyDeleteFor your information, I was single Bubbles and COYI with the best of them at the last three games, again some good it did us! I also joined in the calls for Zola to depart at the end. Both represent good support in my book. I support West Ham, not Zola's ego or Clarke's pension plan!
Should read singing! The voice isn't up to X Factor and a single release!
ReplyDeleteHope you are right Stani as for the lowlife don't just bury your heads make a good job of it.
ReplyDeleteLOL Very good John. I may steal that for a forum topic!
ReplyDelete