It was wonderful to watch Parker run to Zola after scoring that goal. The affection for his manager was obvious and you could see from all the players that the win was as much for Zola as it was for themselves, the club or the fans. What conclusions should we draw from this? How can you sack a guy who obviously has such support from the team he is managing?
The Zola backers will use this as the main reason in favour of retaining the lovable Italian. The argument goes, don't blame Zola, he clearly has the support of the players. The trouble is, should the players love their manager so much?
Listening to a Hull player on MOTD last night was very informative. The criticism of Brown was amazing. Most were shocked by Brown's (effective) dismissal, but it seems he had lost the players completely. Obviously you don't want to go that far. But what good has appointing Dowie done them? Hull looked a better team under Brown to me, perhaps because he was prepared to chew off the primadonna "superstars" who now "grace" our football pitches in the Prem.
Let's bring it closer to home. Who was more popular with the players, Curbishley or Roeder? Who was the more successful manager? Who did the players and fans like more, Bonds or Redknapp? Who has proved the more successful manager? Apparently, Greenwood and Moore had very little time for each other as people, but that didn't make Greenwood a bad manager did it?
It was player pressure that landed Roeder the job at Upton Park and look at how disastrous that proved!
How popular are the best managers? Martin O'Neill had a tense relationship with Clough and Robertson, one of his European Cup winning players, said how he did not like Clough, the man. There is no doubt that Clough, one of the best managers the game has ever seen, was objectionable in the extreme - but that didn't stop the players recognising his brilliance as a manager did it?
Would the players have ever hugged Revie? Not a chance. Revie was a manager - a man apart in public, but his players respected him enormously and knew that he would back them to his last breath. A mate? No. A manager? Absolutely. Can you imagine Revie not being in contact with "one of his boys" if he was out for 12 months with a career threatening injury? Mobile phones didn't exist back then, but Revie would never have ignored a player in the way that Zola ignored Ashton.
Do you think the players "like" Wenger? Do they run to the touchline and hug him? How about Ferguson? Jose is an interesting one. He is Clough like, playing with the emotions of the players, using the team almost as an extension of his own ego. But do the players like him in the way ours like Zola? I doubt it.
Sadly, football and management are not about being "nice" and popular, football and management are about winning. Why were the players hugging Zola? Because we were winning -against Wigan! Winning has become such a rare event at West Ham that any victory provokes this public outpouring of relief. That's not to the credit of Zola, that's an indictment: a home victory over a team in the bottom 8 should not be cause for wild celebrations, should it?
So where do we go from here? Has this changed anything? We will survive, but we may survive with the lowest number of points ever secured by a club not relegated from the Prem. Even if we win our last two games, we will still finish with 2 points less than when we were relegated under Roeder. Those are the hard facts and no amount of smiling and hugging will change that. On Monday, we surrendered at Liverpool. Zola's response was to field the same team, except for the return of Parker. Yes we won, but how well did we play? If we are honest?
Zola is a very nice guy but what good is that if very nice guys finish 17th - or lower?
12 comments:
After the Liverpool game I finally ran out of support for Zola, I felt so low. But after seeing the genuine reaction of Scotty Parker to Zola i now have my doubts. Maybe if we can get rid of the deadwood and bring in 4 or 5 new players (plus Zavron Hines back)maybe, just maybe, Zola could be succesful. They wanted to sack Ferguson at one point, so,who knows? Keep up the humour
the comment about Ferguson is fair but also the only one anybody can cite Ferguson also had the backing of the board, didn't sell off his best players and was able to buy the best players around bit different to Zola's job lot
That's the problem mate. If we stick with Zola because we allow our hearts to rule our heads, God help us. Leeds didn't stick with Clough because the players DIDN'T like him and look how Forest benefited from that! People keep quoting Ferguson but he is the exception that proves the rule. Boro ignored the warning signs with Southgate; Tottenham, on the other hand, did not bugger around when it was obvious One Day couldn't hack it, and look at where they are now.
At first: I like Zola.
But as u mentioned a manager needs more than being nice. It may work to be a nice guy but additionally you have to be a critical thinker who is able to kick the teams arse if it is necessary. It is not enough to say "Well, the first half was a good performance but let's try it a bit better". That didn't work for anybody so far...
When I was about 10 years old, I played with my football team against one of our rivals. At HT we were two nil up. Our players were satisfied with the performance and we walked to the locker room. when we arrived our manager smashed the door and yelled at us what the fuck we were doing. He told us what we have to change but in a different way Zola probably does. In the End we won 14 nil and crushed them. In general our manager was a nice and friendly guy but he knew how to motivate players...
Well said HF, the hugging was weird with parker pointing then jumping on Zola. What Parker should have done was run to the fans and HUG THEM!! The handsake with martinez was pathetic. Grinning from ear to ear and looking up at him like a child in a candy store. Whispering something in his ear like...I WON I WON, I'm a manager just like you and I WON!!!!
Bloody hell HF, you could have at least waited for us to make that point before coming out with a retort! Too excruciating was it ;)
I think the players of today have to be handled much more thoughtfully, whether it's right or wrong. Just listening to Boeteng yesterday would tell us that had the likes of Clough been around today, players would probably end up not playing for them at all. Definitely Clough would have had to change his style for today's players. This does not mean that the other end of the scale (being too nice) is right. BUT, what we witnessed yesterday with Zola was not a product of Zola being too nice a manager. Despite the celebration with Zola yesterday, the players still maintain a respect for him and as he said in the past, when he needs to be tough he is. Yesterday's celebration doesn't happen all the time. It was just an expression of the relief that we were going to stay up. It was not proof that the players love him so much that there is a risk of it having negative effects like it leading to a lack of respect. Being a nice guy doesn't make you a rubbish manager.
I think Zola has a good balance which will only get better as he makes a reputation for himself as a good manager. The reason he does not have a reputation yet is because this is his first job.
I think we should give Zola until January even though this probably wont happen. Just look at the guys we are being linked with to replace him; Gary Johnson and Peter Reid. When Zola goes and we get a new manager, he will be a product of the style in which our owners have functioned. No decent manager would work for Diarrhoea mouth Sullivan. I guess sometimes we should be careful what we wish for.
My final and most important point; Scott Parker, our player of the season, would have ran through brick walls this season, clearly. So whatever it is that Zola has done to have this affect on Parker, cannot surely be a bad thing.
One thing he FAILED to do was make Parker captain! Inspired! Truly inspired!
Jose is like Clough, and I suspect Martin O'Neill has similarities. Ferguson is definitely old school. Remember the boot thrown at Beckham's head? What about Redknapp's "My wife could have scored that one" comment and his refusal to sanction a Christmas party? Look what happened to Keane after he organised the Dublin trip - Scotland was the closest 'Arry could get to sending him to Siberia! I don't think Moyes minces his words either. Moyes, Redknapp, Ferguson, O'Neill, Allardyce, Pulis, Bruce - think any of them mince their words? Can you see Zola having a fight in the showers or throwing a boot at a player?
...inspired because it worked :) Parker did the business. Maybe leaving it with Upson even improved his play. Had Upson been stripped of it, who knows the negative affects that would have had.
Jose loves his players HF. He has a kind of siege mentality at his clubs and they love him and he loves them. This may not be immediately obvious from the outside but it is how it is. That's why Terry and Drogba were ready to have his children. As for Fergy, he has adapted by standing back more and allowing his number twos to do the hands-on stuff. He knows he can't be so hard on the modern fragile player.
I can see Zola getting pi**ed off, definitely. His balance might not be just right at the moment but it is definitely not far off as you suggest. And like I said, when he carves his reputation, the perfect balance will automatically restore itself. It is only his first job. You cannot get a nicer guy than Pep Guardiola. Yes he has good players, but he has done a very good management job.
Stani, why all the excuses for Zola but no quarter was ever given to curbs.Have you watched any of the games recently. The back 4 like to pass to each other just for the sake of passing!!! Then one of then (Da Costa yesterday) may complete a forward pass or dare I say run at the oppostion. Usually its a back pass and green boots it up field to the other team. Zola's beautiful football eh? Isn't that why Curbs was crucified with all that boring stuff. Why does Zola get of the hook?? The team are WORSE under zola, at least with curbs the defence would put up a fight against the likes of the big 4. Under Zola its seems to be an honour to play on the field with the likes of Man Utd. We have been stuffed by Man Utd, humilated at Liverpool and Chelsea, beaten by 10 men Arsenal and of course Spurs got the double over us. All that seems not to matter because we defeated Wigan. Just read the org, they have headlines like why we should salute Zola!!! Its so depressing reading views like yours stani and the like on the org. This is why West Ham Utd will never be a force in english football. Fans like you and the org do us no favours at all.
Anonymous 1836,
You are unfairly comparing me to what is going on at this 'org' site everyone is talking about. I can only assume you haven't been reading my views on here for any serious length of time. I have nothing in common with them. You have been to that site, seen yesterday's results, read my comments and come up with 5 when you just started with two 2s. I recognise Zola's short-comings and the mistakes he has made. BUT, I also recognise his potential and the difficult circumstances in which he has had to work.
These are not excuses, I am giving you good reasons and backing my points. Why is it an excuse just because it is in disagreement with your view? The "Zola out" brigade and the "In Zola we trust" brigade are just two cheeks of the same arse. I do not count myself in either of these groups.
We are playing rubbish football because most of our players are rubbish. I'm not sure why our results against the top four are frustrating you because the top four don't lose many games in a season do they?
You are comparing Curbishley to Zola but how many of Zola's problems were directly inherited from Curbishley? He had been managing for God knows how many years and just look at the mess he left us in after getting a few quid to spend like a child in a sweet shop. He and Duxbury are amongst the most responsible for our clubs situation.
Simply, if you ask me if I'd want the likes of Peter Reid (linked today) or Zola, the choice is clear to me. But don't worry, Zola will not stay and we will get someone new....and that is the scary thing. And let me know which of my comments cause you to become depressed because a differing view should not cause you to become depressed but should make you de-center yourself and take a look at where you stand with your opinion and whether it is indeed a result of considering all sides of an argument.
truly I do worry as to the dire dross Gollivan will hire to replace Zola I was pleased when Pardew went cos I thought Eggy would get Guus Hiddink and he got Turds now my sights would be set on getting Pards back so we'll probably get the guvnor
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