Tuesday 11 May 2010

Zola's Sacking is a Disgrace


Well, I got into my car and turned on the radio to find out England's final 30, and was still fuming over the selection of Jamie The Selfish Traitor Carragher when, suddenly, Radio 5 slipped in the news that Zola was very disappointed to be sacked by West Ham. And I'm not surprised!

What on earth do Sullivan and Gold think they are doing? Don't they understand that Zola is a great man, a great ex player and a great manager in the making? Have they taken no account of the terrible circumstances under which Zola has been operating? Do they not understand that Zola has worked a minor miracle, given all that has been going on this season? Do the opinions of the players count for nothing? Don't Sullivan and Gold understand how much everybody at the club adores Zola? Fools, idiots, blinkered buffoons, dildo wielding dunderheads!

This decision is outrageous for the following reasons:

1) Zola took over a team in the top 5 and, in the space of two seasons, manufactured a team able to finish 4th from bottom, thereby avoiding relegation. Portsmouth, Hull and Burnley all hold our club in awe. What would they have given to finish where West Ham have finished?

2) Zola has recognised the importance of the Premiership and surrendered our place in the League and FA Cups in two consecutive seasons. Last year, at Watford, he selected a reserve keeper, an overweight Uruguayan left back and a forward line of Di Michele and Sears. In a stroke of genius, he picked Etherington to play on the RIGHT of midfield! Little did I understand then that this was the early blueprint for the Zola masterplan of picking players in positions they are patently unsuited to! In the FA Cup, a competition Zola values apparently, we won against Barnsley and Hartlepool (a tricky fixture!) but surrendered our place in the 5th round despite a home draw against Middlesborough. To be fair, a full strength side was selected in the home tie against the soon to be relegated team, but Kovac and Sears were picked for the away tie. Yes, you remember, Freddie No Goals In The Fizzy Pop Sears up against Huth and Wheater! This season, we did our best to hand victory to our sworn enemy Millwall and, after a stabbing, a riot in Green Street and two pitch invasions, we scraped a victory over the Division Three outfit in extra time. But to what end? We duly surrendered at Bolton, with Zola fielding Hines, all five feet nothing of him, as the lone striker and pairing Da Costa and Tomkins together against that wily old bully Kevin Davies and his supporting cast of thugs. Zola even chucked in Spector at right back for good measure and then used as a sub N'Gala, the guy who may yet be good enough for Plymouth Argyle! Inspired! Wind the clock forward to a nationally televised 3rd round of the FA Cup against Arsenal, and Zola gives a first team debut to Daprela (as a warm up for his next appearance away to Chelsea!) and played Nouble up top on his own. Sears and Edgar were both brought on as subs in an attempt to terrify Wenger's big Gunners!

3) After inheriting a squad that has finished in the top half of the table for two consecutive seasons, Zola has set all sorts of club records this season: the lowest number of points we have collected over a Premiership season, the lowest number of away wins, the lowest number of wins overall, our first defeat at Fulham since 1966, our first home defeat against Wolves and a record 6 straight defeats in a row! Zola's win ratio, stretching over his two seasons in charge, is lower than any other manager in the history of the club. In the round, Zola is a record breaker of the lowest order!

4) And look what Zola has had to deal with! Hull imploded, Portsmouth exploded and Burnley fizzled out. Meanwhile, Zola was forced to sell one player, yes one player, and was allowed to sign Diamanti, Kovac, Da Costa and Jimenez. The Board actually invested in the team over the summer! Then, in January, nobody left and Ilan, McCarthy and Mido were all signed. And, of course, being the great judge that he is, Zola pressed for McCarthy to be signed, and then preferred Mido over both Benni The Gut and Ilan.

I could go on, and no doubt will in later posts. But just taking the above into account, how outrageous is the decision to dismiss Zola? The poor guy must be wondering what on earth he did to deserve it!

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

Completely agree with your sarcasm! LOL
Zola's quotes from today amused me...he was shocked to be sacked.

Are you kidding me Gianfranco?! Lovely guy, but woeful, woeful manager.

fred149 said...

completely agree why is zola such a twat it wernt his choice was it to contiue to play spector and keep out diamanti play the no pass forward kovac and mido the kebab

Anonymous said...

your a twat HF . prick. u dont know shit bout football all talk. but i bet u cant kick a ball properly

Anonymous said...

dont look me like that again ur life pat pat. u dont know me yeh. u doont know me. pat pat

hammalot said...

yo HF are their sources claiming Zola vouched for Benni McCarthy?

I dont understand ur final point really

Sav said...

No need to rub it in HF. If the guy could understand what he did wrong then maybe there wouldn't be such a pressing need to replace him. Is he taking Spector with him? I totally agree with you, but I am thankful he is gone and very worried about who will replace him. Perhaps you can write something on that.

Anonymous said...

Well said Hf. After reading all the news about the "shocking" sacking of zola, its great to read your views because its the TRUE!! I just wish you could it published and printed in the national press. Keep up the great work mate.

Anonymous said...

At least GFZ was dignified to the end, which is more than I can say about this article. Good luck to him for the future.

Wonder how many players are going to follow him out of the door?

Avram Grant looks nailed on with the bookies to take over. Barry Fry not even on the shortlist.

HF - tipped you off last night (20:07) on the Boa thread about this one!

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Hammersfan said...

Please don't cry too much for Zola. Does he deserve our sympathy? Nope. Any self respecting individual would have resigned. Look at the nation's anger at Brown. Now watch all the crocodile tears over the next few days now that he has resigned! The fact is, Zola clung on to the job even though it was obvious he was out of his depth. He had the opportunity to change course a number of times: to ditch 4-3-3, to play players on the correct flanks, to leave out Spector etecetera. Like all fools, he was pig headed and ignored what was staring him in the face.

After such a terrible season, he was honour bound to resign but he didn't. Why? Because he wanted to see the job through? Then presumably he will not take the pay off that he doesn't need anyway. If he does take the money, it shows that he was only ever in it for himself anyway. I will wish him well if he holds his hands up and says, I buggered it up, I'm sorry, I will know better next time. If he plays the "hard done by" card and takes compensation, then he will earn my contempt I'm afraid.

Feel sorry for Zola? Think back to that second half against 10 man Fulham at the Boleyn, remember surrendering a 2 goal lead against Hull, keep in mind that hammering we received in the second half at Sunderland when they were down to 10 men, remember the selection of Mido ahead of Ilan, think of our toothless second half performance against 10 man Arsenal, keep focused on the three defeats against Bolton, don't lose sight of the thumping at home to Manchester United (who played without a defence), remember the surrender against a half interested Liverpool, don't forget the shameful defeat at Burnley, keep in mind the toothless performance at Tottenham, remember the two defeats against Stoke, keep that hopeless performance at Fulham in mind (our first defeat there since 1966) and remember forever the disgraceful defeat at home to Wolves. He should have gone a long time ago!

Hammersfan said...

1944, you are the C*** if you can't type a single sentence without using a word that you know will lead to your post being deleted.

Anonymous said...

but did you see the goal zola scored in tony carrs testimonial

Hammersfan said...

That should have kept him in his job! Obviously knows a lot about strikers. That's why he picked Mido ahead of Franco, Ilan and McCarthy. That's why he thought so highly of Sears. That's why he signed Tristan! That's why he thought Jimenez could play as an attacking prong in a 4-3-3 formation! He scored a goal in a testimonial! What an epitath!

Deane said...

Zola was dismissed for breach of contract so no pay off (unless we lose again)
Deserves to go He seems a great bloke and I do feel sorry for him would have been great if he had succeeded for us and also to see a nice bloke with principles get on unfortunately he was shit

apache said...

I can't say that I'm surprised that you've taken this tone HF.

Having said that, I'm not here to criticise!

I turned onto Talksport thinking I'll hear a whole load of Happy Hammers, instead, it was full of fans and 'The Moose' saying that he should have stayed, because he was a nice guy!

Get a flippin' grip.

I'm a nice guy, and I can see that Spector should not be used as left back when we have another left back available.

Can I have the West Ham job?

You know from our previous Curbs battles that I have never advocated a West Ham manager to be sacked before.

Zola was incompetent beyond belief.

Best decision so far by G&S and I thank them for their decisiveness.

Having said that, they will be judged on who they bring in next.

It is so important to get it right!

I agree with 19.18, this post alone and your comments in the comments need to go national and people need to wake up and smell the blinkin' coffee!

Hammersfan said...

Cheers Apache mate. As you probably remember, I was enthusiastic about Zola's appointment; but I was wrong! My big fear is that Turds may yet return! God, I hope not!

Dave D said...

Roll up Avram Grant...

Gold & Sullivans porn empire and Grants lust for a dirty whore, Sounds like a match made in heaven.

Maybe he will come & work for us for nothing more than a load of dirty mags....plus Karen Brady on
a Wednesday.

I think he will do a good for us.

Hammersfan said...

LOL Dave, very good, I'm going to nick it!

Anonymous said...

TO* funny thing is he'll go to do very well, mark my words and YOU'LL all regret that we didn't keep him

Prediction*

TurdsOut said...

Is HF a bigger hammer than Julian Dicks?

"It's sad to see him go, most of the players and fans liked him," said Dicks

Hammersfan said...

It was sad to see Gordon go. That speech, the walk down Downing Street holding his children's hands. Dear God, it was even sad when Major faded away completely. Zola was a lovely guy. So what? The table doesn't lie. Mind you, Dicks doesn't specialise in management himself does he? Manager of Wivenhoe and Grays Athletic! That makes him a real authority on what it takes to succeed in management in the Prem! Mind you, I bet there's loads of Prem managers who are sad to see Zola go. They know West Ham might now give them a game next season!

Shaun said...

Deane 20:12... Not sure that 'breach of contract' was the justifiable reason for the dismissal...and anyway, Gold and Sullivan weren't responsible for his contract...that was sorted by The Icemen and Duxbury!
GZ still had THREE years to run, at £1.9M a year...that's £5.7M! Undoubtedly there will be a settlement but it won't be far off. The LMA have taken the case for Zola apparently, which is why he is refusing to comment! Will Mr Sullivan or Mr Gold be paying the settlement from their own pockets, so as not to increase the club debt I wonder? Hope so!

I actually liked him, but I recognise the need for change so that the club can improve and progress and not have to endure any more seasons hovering on the brink of disaster!

One thing that has left a sour taste in my mouth though, is the fact that neither Sullivan nor Gold had the professionalism or decency to tell him to his face and instead delegated Karen Brady to do the necessary for them in a very brief meeting this morning!!

Hammersfan said...

Hit the nail on the head Shaun, Duxbury worded the contract and Zola has been sacked for publically criticising the owners of the club. That was a no no under the Grand Puppet Master! Of course, Zola will have a case in the light of the comments made by Sullivan but, in return, S&G will quote Zola's own words when he said he didn't want to be involved in transfer dealings. Sullivan and Gold will also show that they ALWAYS backed the manager in public statements and reserved their criticism for the players. Have they been clever enough to get away without compensation? I doubt it; but they dangled a noose and, technically, Zola put his head through it!

Anonymous said...

Yep theres the spunkfest right there...

Shaun said...

Hmm...so he wasn't dismissed for under-achieving or falling short of high expectations?!
I've been following the saga quite closely and must have missed where Zola publicly and directly criticised Gold and Sullivan?! Maybe you could enlighten me with some quotes?

Also, it was my understanding that GZ had expressed only that he preferred not to get involved in the financial side or contractual negotiations relating to individual transfers...but expected to be consulted and advise on players that he thought would benefit the club, as any manager would?!

...and I'm pretty sure employers 'dangling a noose' for any employee would be frowned upon at any employment tribunal, don't you HF?! At the end of the day...they got rid...but I've a feeling the forfeit won't be cheap?!

Pablo the mule said...

Completely agree with you on this HF.

Zola is a lovely guy and a footballing legend but his record with us has surely got to be one of the worst of any manager in our history (I don't know the exact stats but I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong).

I can understand that he'll want to claim for unfair dismissal because of the way that Gollivan have treated him in the media but surely if you put things in to perspective, his results hardly warrant him keeping the job do they? Can he really have much of a case to argue against the decision?

Hammersfan said...

Have to correct you Pablo - his record is not one of the worst, it is the very worst, by some considerable distance!