Many mistakenly believe that things only started to go wrong in Zola's second season. The Italian's supporters point to the 9th place finish in our first season under his stewardship and claim he can't be a bad manager. He was a victim of circumstances, the argument then runs. It wasn't his fault. Blame the owners, blame Iceland, blame Duxbury, blame Nani, blame the players, blame Dame Fortune, blame anybody other than the lovable little Sardinian!
Well if people were to look a little closer at the facts, they would see that the "successful first season" of Zola is a chimera, an illusion, a mirage!
Zola took over 4 games into the season, 5 if you count the league cup game against Macclesfield. Indeed, Zola did not pick the team that beat Newcastle 3-1 in the first game after his appointment, so we can reasonably say that we were five league games into the season before he effectively took control. By that stage, tables are pretty representative on the whole and we were sitting in the top 5 of the Premiership. Had we won against Bolton seven games into the season, and just two games into Zola's reign, we would have been at the top of the table. We lost, of course, 3-1, with Green having an absolute mare.
Amazingly, from the position of being able to go top of the table after 7 games, we found ourselves in 17th place in the table in December, a truly startling collapse of form! Tottenham, who were rock bottom when Zola took over, were, by that stage, on our shoulders! Considering the head start Zola was given over Tottenham and Fulham, it was a remarkable achievement to manage to finish behind both by the end of the season!
The truth is, that apart from one "purple patch" spell under Zola, we showed relegation form during the rest of his first season tenure. During that wonderful blip, we won two Cup games and secured 15 points over an 8 game Premiership spell. Take off those 15 points and we would have finished the season with 36 points. Take off the 9 points we had already banked before Zola took effective control, and we would have finished with 27 points! Outside of these two windows, the Curbishley guided start and that one purple patch, Zola's team only averaged just over a point a game! If stretched out over the whole season, that would have seen us finish in 16th place, just 5 points clear of relegation!
Suddenly Zola's first season doesn't look so shit hot does it? Chuck in a pathetic surrender in the League Cup at Watford and the inept exit to relegation fodder Middlesborough in the F.A.Cup and suddenly that wonderful first season assumes true perspective!
Zola backers then claim that Zola was undermined by Sullivan and Gold. The argument goes that he stood no chance of succeeding because the owners were knifing him in the back. Well, again, the facts do not fit with this. Prior to the arrival of the Davids, Zola received 100% support from Duxbury but what good was that? Our results under S&G saved us; during the time that Zola had backing from above, we were utterly crap. In fact, it was the intervention of Sullivan that turned things around. He delivered the home truths that Zola wasn't man enough to deliver, and so ruffled the feathers of our Zola coddled players that they actually played with some fire in their bellies.
People argue that a comparison of Grant and Zola is impossible because of changed circumstances. What cobblers! We still have the debt. We have basically the same team. The big change is the removal of Zola. Yes there are other variables but they are minor by comparison!
Zola's win ratio as a manager is the WORST in the club's history. THAT says it all. If Grant cannot better that, then he should be shown the door in even quicker time than Zola!
43 comments:
We played some of the best football we have played in many years under Zola. That's why we liked Zola you jackass. It didn't work out. We move on. Let it go.
Did we? When jackass? In his first season? We averaged a goal a game under Zola! Brilliant! Fantastic entertainment! Our best football in years? How comes he has the worst win ratio of any manager in the history of the club then? Pray explain!
HF you just poned all your critics from your last few posts including stani
p.s hows my text this time
Better Fred but what does "poned" mean?
basically means u hopefully silenced your critcs
OK, thanks. But now we have to work on "you" Fred, not "u"! Come on, use the language as it should be used! And thanks for clearly making an effort!
by the way ive got a great post that you should use next somebody needs t oremind alot of fans about the fact we wouldve probably gone in to administration if it werent for sullivan and gold and other stuff as alot of people seem to think there trying to screw us over and have done from day 1 when they were in charge
Stick to your statistics. I'll stick to going to games and using my eyes. You should try it some time.
anon 1 persons opinion on us apparently playing well is just 1 persons opinion but for eg how can you say HF dont go to games when he bought the mini season ticket proof he goes games and you could see from match reports for god sake that we werent playing well for 2 seasons but another thing i'll give you 1 thing we went something like 10 games unbeaten under zola in season 1 but most of them were draws
Very nice blog friend!
I'm Spanish and a WHU fan, and your blog helps me to realize in which situation is West Ham United nowadays, because, you know that in Spain never talk abaout WHU in the news or in football programmes.
I'm agree with you in the fact that Zola wasn't the right coach to lead West Ham. The team needed a more experienced coach. I'm not saying that with Grant things are going to be the best, but at least I bet the team will improve enough so as not to have problems at the middle end of the season.
Greetings from Spain!
Prior to managing West Ham Zola was assistant manager for the Italian under 21's. That is probably his mark and I think he will always be a good assistant manager but doubt whether he will ever progress beyond that status
Cheers ike. Congrats on Spain's win. Which Spanish team do you support?
Fred, please try using full stops as well.
As far as I am concerned, if anyone still doesn't appreciate how bad was Zola as a manager and that he very nearly sent West Ham down the abyss of the lower divisions, I don't care to try to make him change his mind. I mean how many times should one repeat the same arguments over and over again. Let's just agree to differ and move on. It would be hard for Grant to do worse than Zola.
But the more you look at it Sav, the more awful his performance appears. It was only in answering Stani that I understood how poor his record was in the first season outside of that all too brief purple patch!
ZOLA OUT!!!!!
am I too late? I have been saying it for about 18 months
Hallelujah! Zola was pony from the very start and I really do not understand why people are still saying that the guy is some coaching genius. He should have been given the old heave-ho at the end of the first season.
I think the nail has truly been hit on the head with this post by hammersfan. I dont agree with everything you say but this is spot on.
The stuff we played last season particulary was so predictable, even someone like me who is by far a master tactican could of played tactics to combat what zola was doing. I think you wrote something before that the difference between zola and curbs was that curbs got the ball forward from the back four early and zola had his team pass aimless balls around a little before it was passed to the back four who lumped it forward.
Im a fan of Avram and really hopeful of this season, If we had done no busines sin the transfer market i still beleive we would finish at least mid table with him in charge. The players will play in there correct positions and while i think we will not get the ball down as much as zola tried and failed in doing, we wont lump up as much as we did under the previous two. Im really looking forward to this season.
AppyAmmer
"Let's carve him as a dish fit for the gods, Not hew him as a carcass fit for hounds".
the dish will have to be cooked — and HF is the only obvious ingredient
Keep them coming Caesar! Didn't Sullivan gob off in March?
and Julius Caesar also said:
"As a rule, what is out of sight disturbs men's minds more seriously than what they see."
So now let us move on.......
'We played some of the best football we have played in many years under Zola' .... what utter rubbish.
We played with little width, pretty little triangular passing around the half way line, every way except forwards, no passion, no committment - the most boring that I've ever seen at Upton Park.
We were not just the worst ever West Ham team last season - we were, at times, the worst team that I have EVER seen at Upton Park. The Bolton & Wolves games were absolutely appalling.
I am amazed that the crowd didn't turn on Zola. I think that we have had so much thrown at us over the last 20 years that we, the fans, just accept whatever comes our way with a shrug of the shoulders.
0939 hear hear - but knowing HF I doubt it very much indeed - the zola saga will unfortunately run and run and run.... he's a man who just doesn't know how to let go... I particularly feel sorry for his missus.
Apologies for the repetition HF, but I thought you might have missed this. You probably didn't, but then it applies just as well to this as it did to it's original post!
'No matter what anyone's opinion was of Zola, or presently is of Grant... it is totally unfair and inappropriate to 'judge' Avram Grant based on any comparison, past or future, to Gianfranco Zola, and vice versa!!
Grant's success will be the result of a whole DIFFERENT set of factors now in place....different approach, different players, different coaching methods, different tactics, different infrastructure. CHANGE has been implemented. Change is what was required...to bring about stability and ultimately, improvement! There are few of the previous constants left to base pointless comparisons on...Zola has gone, Clarke has gone, Duxbury has gone, Nani has gone, the 'project' is no more, the Icelandics are no longer in control, the debt is now being seriously addressed and sensibly managed....all change, and for the better!
You only have to take a look at Avram's press conference last week. The guy was upbeat, buoyant and smiling...yes, smiling! He talked about potential...he talked about improvement. He talked about the present and the future.
The media vultures attempted time and time again to draw him with questions on the near past and his predecessor, but he simply smiled and told them that he was only interested in the present and what is to come, and not what has gone before! Avram...I salute you for that!
Let's NOT 'judge' Avram against Zola! Let's forget Zola and the old 'regime'.
Let's give this guy a chance and the credit and respect he deserves...because he happens to be the Manager of West Ham United!'
Again, apologies for repeating what I've already stated, but my point is...your insistent repetition of your Zola crusade forces my repetition of an earlier post, because simply, it's applicable. It's NOT cobblers! Your comparisons and judgements are tenuous at best, not to mention hypothetical in part!
I'm reluctant to make any 'new' contributions to the numerous Zola tirades because, frankly, it's old hat and you really need to refrain and return to the 'now' and hopefully a brighter future for the club!
Put it to bed will you?
There is no illusion HF because you cannot argue against the fact that we finished 9th under Zola. You cannot change this and this is what most upsets those that ridicule him.
Can you please show me where you got the information that Zola did not pick the team for the Newcastle game because there were a few changes. The Independent disagrees with you. They say Zola did make changes and it was the game before that he was in the stands. Four games into the season or five games into the season, you're nitpicking anyway.
What is more astonishing is that you then cleverly use the cup game against Macclesfield to make it seem it was more games into the season, when we're talking about the position in the league table! What has the cup game got to do with the league table? The fact that no one has questioned this says a lot do you not think? Then again, it is not the most difficult thing getting the likes of Fred onside as he's clearly there for the taking, a G&S dream.
Even so, let's just say it was five games in (which it clearly wasn't) for arguments purposes, it is still absurd to claim that the position in the table after five games is representative of the whole season. I cannot accept that you would honestly believe such a thing. An analysis of the league positions of the other teams would blow this argument out of the water.
"from the position of being able to go top of the table after 7 games, we found ourselves in 17th place in the table in December, a truly startling collapse of form!"...but we finished 9th! An amazing run of form!...Curbs must have come back!
Take off points here, take off points there, people won't notice because it looks convincing HF! Garbage! You'd make a good politician you would! You do make me laugh sometimes the way you manage to take some people for a ride. We came 9th under Zola over a period of 34 games, in what was the best league in the world at the time. Take away from it however much you want but this is FACT, undeniable, unalterable. And as Sav, Shaun and Anonymous suggested, even though Sav seems a little upset, it's time to move on HF. You must get over this Zola obsession and this search for any opportunity to take a dig at him. You keep saying you think he's a top bloke, but everything else you do suggests otherwise, that you detest the guy. Let it go HF, be happy that you have what you wanted or is there something unsettling you deep within your conscience?
And let's not forget you changed your mind about Zola as you seem to do on a few things. You became against him like others because it was easy to do so. He clearly wasn't so bad in his first season or someone as astute as you would have noticed.
"The teamwork and organisation were great this year"
"Like Arsenal we have a good manager but Zola is just starting out in the management game"
These were your words, not mine at the end of Zola's first season where we finished 9th. Let that be the end of it.
Kev,
Nobody is saying he is a coaching genius. You are making it up yourself then arguing against it. Just an example of the hyperbole demonstrated by his detractors.
My argument, if you and other care to pay attention, is that Zola was not primarily to blame for our bad season and that one day he will be a excellent manager. I'm sorry if that upsets people, but we're all entitled to a an opinion...even me.
Good blog HF. Spot on too. I notice that the idiot that said WH played some of the best football under Zola couldn't say which game that was!
I'm fed up with all the times I've seen it written that Curbs played boring football and Zola played attacking football. It really wasn't true. Curbs is a boring man and Zola is an outgoing personality but the worst I've ever seen WH is under Zola.
zola was not a good manager i would admit. but give the guy some credit. he had to put up with a lot of shit at west ham.
where are our number of new exciting signings within the next 72 hours. that we were promised on the official west ham website. thats passed now.
Stani, here's where I admit that I'm Peter Mandelson!
Yes, I am more than happy to admit that I changed my mind Stani. That is what intelligent people do! I was once a staunch Socialist, then I grew up and became a Thatcherite, then I saw it had gone too far and wept with joy when Blair was elected, then we invaded Iraq on a pack of lies and I voted Tory because I would not support the return of a liar as Primeminister. Some idiots vote for the same party all their lives irrespective of right and wrong, strengths and weaknesses. The intelligent weigh things up, look back and reflect, look forwards with the benefit of hindsight, and make considered judgements.
So, I am happy to admit that I WAS wrong about Zola. I was wrong to back his appointment and I was wrong to gloss over his failings in his first season in charge. I was desperate for him to succeed. I like the guy and he wasn't Turds!
But since, I have reflected, I have considered, I have weighed up the evidence, I have evaluated. As a manager, he has the WORST win ratio in the history of our club. Outside of one 8 game spell, we average LESS than a point a game for all the Premiership matches that he was in charge. Outside of that one 8 game spell, we showed relegation form THROUGHOUT his time as manager. He led us to our LOWEST ever Premiership points total. He was incredibly lucky that there were three very poor teams in the Prem - because that's the only reason we avoided relegation.
Shaun, I saw your comments and dealt with them in this article. Of course a comparison is legitimate - the debt remains, the squad is basically the same, the one big difference is the manager. Take your logic and all comparisons would be impossible. Ryanair against Easyjet? Different routes, different planes, different pilots but both Low Cost Airlines so they are compared and the MDs are judged against each other. The differences between Grant led West Ham and Zola led West Ham are miniscule in comparison to the differences between Ryanair and Easyjet. I don't see the City analysts saying, "Can't compare performance because of the variables"! Like I say, cobblers mate!
'Arry is compared with Oneday Ramos and rightly so. Hodgson will be compared with Benitez and rightly so. Grant was compared with Jose, and rightly so.
The comparison is live and ongoing. I call it the Grantazola Index and I will regularly update through the season!
You can't be a socialist one minute and a Thatcherite the next - can you imagine a pit worker or docker supporting Thatcher, can you imagine a Eurobond trader voting for Harold Wilson or James Callaghan????
Geez man have you no backbone, conviction or moral fibre are you really so shallow and fickle?
I bet your father though Harold Macmillan's bit of paper meant something.....
Please tell me you are joking?
Correction:
You can't be a socialist one minute and a Thatcherite the next - can you imagine a pit worker or docker supporting Thatcher, can you imagine a Eurobond trader voting for Harold Wilson or James Callaghan????
Geez man have you no backbone, conviction or moral fibre are you really so shallow and fickle?
I bet your father though Neville Chamberlain's bit of paper meant something.....
Please tell me you are joking?
You need a love that will not change
You want a lover to remain
Forever yours
Oh, but you don't have to worry
You never have to fear
Through thick and thin Ill always be here
Ill be your bridge over and through troubled waters
You never have to face it alone
And when the world seems to treat a you unfair
Baby, for you Ill always be there
I wont be no fair-weather friend
Ill be there till the end
Even through stormy weather
Time and time again
I wont be no fair-weather friend
Ill be there till the end
Even through stormy weather
Time and time again, ooh
Sometimes I know its rough for you
And then there are times you're hurt and blue
Got so much pain
Oh, but I'm the kind of person
Who can take the hurt away
You never have to suffer again
Ill be your strength to carry you over the mountain
To lift you up when you're fallin down
Baby, be strong, you can believe in me
Cause I'm your friend and Ill always, always, always be right there
I wont be no fair-weather friend
Ill be there till the end (Oh...)
Even through stormy weather (Even through stormy weather)
Time and time again (Ooh)
I wont be no fair-weather friend (Never, never, never let you)
Ill be there till the end (Ill never, never let you go)
Even through stormy weather (Through the storm, through the rain)
Time and time again, ooh
Ill lay your head on my-my shoulder
Ill lay your head up on my shoulder
Ill be, Ill be
I will be right there for you
Through the bad times, my baby
Ill be your sunshine, woo, woo
Time and time again
Ah...ah...
Ah...ah...
Oh, baby, for you Ill always be there
Oh
I wont be no fair-weather friend-
COYI!!!!!
HF,
I imagined you more like Prescott no?
And about the change of mind....that is not what I am saying. The legendary Muhammad Ali once said: "A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.", and indeed, there is nothing wrong with changing, if you're not changing, then you're not alive. But, what I am saying is that at the end of Zola's first season, you had no issue, no qualms about any of the things you have said about him in regards to that first season, now. So why did you not see these things then but see them now? You had plenty of time to evaluate and reconsider.
Plus who knows, had Zola stayed one more season and we did well, you might have even changed your mind back....then again.
I agree with Shaun, you cannot compare with any degree of accuracy. This does work the other way around too HF so accept it. If Grant does bad here, we will not say Zola is better....actually we could because Grant has a better environment and better circumstance :)
I'm sure my father HOPED Chamberlain's piece of paper meant something, though he was very young at the time!
Fortunately I was never a miner. Fortunately I was not asked to go underground and risk my life every day in the most appalling working conditions in return for apalling wages. Go to Coalville in the midlands mate. I went there when the pit was open, a year or so after it closed and a couple of years back. I know which Coalville I'd rather live and work in! It is now a vibrant town; before it was an extension of the pit!
We change as we mature; or some of us do! Blair changed. Brown changed. Labour changed. Most kids went through a communist phase in the 70s and my socialism survived my time at University. But Britain needed Thatcher and whisper it quietly in Wales and Up North, but she did a good job until dogma suffocated common sense. The Poll Tax did for her and I switched allegiance at that point. The pendulum had gone too far and we needed New Labour. Then came the Iraq War and democracy demanded that Blair must go!
Nonsense Stani. As I say, I was desperate for Zola to succeed so I glossed over his failings. I have now reflected honestly.
...how do we know you aren't glossing over things now? :) We can't trust you any more HF, you've lost your legitimacy.
16@32 don't be so silly it was Herr Fanno's grandfather who handed the paper to Neville Chamberlain's (he's admitted that he swaps sides at a drop of a hat - just a shame he didn't swap to ManUre as I think he would be far better suited with that lot)
16:42 you're an idiot sir the poll tax in same system that is operated through most of Europe - it's a fairer system that was just poorly presented.
16:51 you can't ever trust a turncoat... they'll stab you in back at the drop of a hat.
1728, the Poll Tax was a flat tax and all flat taxes are evil. How can it be right for a millionaire in a mansion to pay the same tax as a pauper in a bedsit? How can a responsible government introduce a tax change that reduces the tax burden on the super rich and increases the tax burden on the poor?
@Hammersfan
Well, thank you for the congratulations! It's a pity that England didn't reach the semifinal at least, you were one of the favourite national teams to win the Cup before the World Cup. I really don't know why is Capello managing the team...
I support Real Sociedad, I don't know if you know the team. This year we have promoted to the 1st Division again after 3 years in the 2nd Division.
(Truly, my name is Iker, but no matters mate :D )
Ok Iker, so The Games Gone Crazy has now officially adopted real Sociedad as our Spanish team. Where are we based? What's the name of our stadium? Who are our best players? Sounds like Real Sociedad are a West Ham equivalent in Spain!
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