People seem to be forgetting that Zola inherited a team that had finished 10th the season before and had banked 6 points before Zola took charge in his first season! The Italian turned a functional team into an uncoordinated mess. If Grant had taken over a successful team, as Zola did, then the criticism would be fair enough. But he didn't! Unlike Zola, Grant inherited an absolute mess!
Nobody is blaming the Coalition for the debt left behind by Labour. To blame Grant for Zola's mess is absurd. The guy needs time. To judge him this early is truly ridiculous.
We are in the semifinal of the League Cup for God's sake! How many times have we been in a Cup semifinal in our history? Not bloody many!
19 comments:
An argument with yourself. Sigh.
You're losing your touch.
We no longer have the luxury of time so unfortunately neither does Grant. We're 5 points from safety with barely half of the season left.
We don't know what he says behind close doors with the players but his media persona is far from inspiring from a fans point of view.
I understand that he doesn't want to panic but he does need to publicly acknowldge the urgency of our situation. Ideally with some passion!
His interviews remind me of Comical Ali during the Gulf War. Smiling in denial of any problems as the Allied Forces tanks steam towards him the background. Swap relegation for a US tank and you have a post-match Grant interview.
The cup semi final is a great bonus but not anywhere near as important to the club as PL survival. Back in the pre-PL 80's a good cup run or even win but with relegation didn't mean what it does now. Relegation could finish the club, it's that simple.
Whatever Grant is or isn't is almost irrelevant now. It's purely the results between now and the end of the season that matter and Grant and the team are failing miserably on that score.
We can't change the entire first team so the only other key variable that can be influenced is the manager.
Grant has to go before the New Year and in our current position we have very little to lose by sacking him. Our league position and performance levels certainly can't get any worse!
I really don't understand the point of this debate? Is it a competition to see who can be the worst WH manager in history? Do we need a winner in that category?
From where I'm sitting both are useless and don't deserve the job of managing West Ham. Neither's results are anywhere near good enough so who cares who is better or worse?
To say Grant is better than Zola is like saying I'd rather die by being hit by a bus than a lorry, irrelevant.
Zola was rightly sacked for his results and so should Grant.
Grant hasn't had as much time as Zola but unfortunately we're in a more desperate position than we have been for a long time so he has to go.
Any change could spark an improvement at the moment and that's what we need!
We can sit and change nothing and continue our slide towards relegation or we can at least try and change something and if we do still go down, we go fighting and having tried to fix some of the problems.
Things certainly can't get much worse that's for sure!
We Have some decent playes. Zola couldn't manage them and was given the boot that he deserved. Grant was the wrong man to pick as Zola's replacement. He too cannot manage. He too should get the boot that he deserves. No matter how you dress it up, Grant just isn't up to a managers job.
So what you're saying is that Grant has taken over a mess and ummm, made it worse.
A glowing endorsement then to keep him in charge
*shakes head*
So tell us what Grant was doing during pre-season to address this problem HF?
You need to think the points in your arguments further, to a natural conclusion. You will then find that they do not stand up.
This is the question you asked earlier in the season:
"The pre season hope has evaporated completely and part of the problem is Avram's decision to play the "Zola players" rather than the new recruits. The team at Villa only featured one Avram man (and he was poor) and yesterday we started with a Zola 11. If the new recruits are so poor that they cannot force their way into the team at this stage, why did we sign them?"
Why indeed HF.
You cannot say the league is stronger this year HF.
-Bolton: Finished 14th last year, currently doing better in 6th place. I dont think they signed anyone in the summer, so same team.
-Sunderland: Finished 13th last year, currently doing better in 7th place. They signed Bramble and Gyan. Gyan is only starting to get games now so yo cant put that improvement down to just these two signings alone.
-City finished 5th, they are now 3rd. Doing better.
So for every point you make about the league being harder this year, there is a counter point, like the examples of the above three teams doing better. I have told you before, that there are too many variables to rely on this simpleton's argument. The table clearly demonstrates that some teams are doing better than last year, HENCE some teams will do worse than last year. It's normal, and absurd to conclude from this that the league is stronger this year. And even if it was, we should be stronger too right after Avram's shopping?
Then, there are all the teams YOU said were worse than us. They are: Newcastle (in 8th), Blackpool (in 10th), Sunderland (in 7th), and West Brom in (11th). Almost all in the top half of the table.
These were your words just4/5 months ago: "Let's get something straight at this point. We will not be relegated. Blackpool and Wigan are doomed, that means there is just one place up for grabs. We are better than Sunderland, West Brom and Newcastle certainly and at least as good as Stoke, Birmingham, Fulham, Blackburn and, despite yesterday, Bolton. "
If they are worse than us like you said, why are we below them? Why are some of them in the top half of the table?
I apologise for pulling up old quotes...well not that old I suppose, I do not feel comfortable doing it, but it is just to demonstrate that you are not being honest with yourself and are protecting Grant for some perverse reason when any other manager in this situation would be getting your deserved criticism.
How does the song go? Oh yeah, 'Desperado...'
Well done for pulling up the old quotes, they took some searching out!
The point is, the teams you quote ARE stronger. Stoke signed Kenwyne and Walters, and Wilson and Bergovic who you rate!
Sunderland spent £13m on a player, something we dream of doing! They have also signed a future England player on loan.
Newcastle, West Brom and Blackpool have surprised most people, I am not alone there. I still fancy Blackpool to drop but if they keep getting results, that hope will soon evaporate!
Bolton have Petrov and a revitalised Elmander. They were a useful team badly managed. The improvement came LAST season, once Coyle took control.
At full strength we are the match of Fulham and Birmingham but look at our injuries! If we are to escape, it will be at the expense of one of those two, and we have drawn games against both of them already, suggesting there isn't a big gap between them and us. The trouble is, we are behind them and we do have the injuries.
Grant is now playing his men. Jacobsen, Obinna, Piquionne and Ben Haim are first picks when available. Hitzlespurger presumably would be if fit. Barrera is being used in most games.
To everybody else, Grant inherited a mess and it takes time to sort out a mess. We may not have time, but we should have sacked Zola earlier on that basis. By leaving him in charge in January, we wasted 5 crucial months. Had Pardew been given the job then, we would not be in this mess now. Had Grant been recruited then, I suspect we would not be in this mess now. But Zola was retained.
Anybody who witnessed our pathetic performances at home to Wolves, Blackburn, Bolton and Stoke, and away to Man Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea, Bolton, Fulham and Burnley should understand why Zola should have gone sooner. However, the "In Zola we trust" idiots smiled their way through the slow death of our club. We needed a manager in January, we didn't get one until late May!
HF - Completely agree that Zola should have gone sooner and that's exactly why Grant should go now as well. We need to learn from past mistakes!
What I don't understand is why you feel that had we had Grant sooner that we might not be in this mess??? He's done NOTHING to indicate that he's a better manager than Zola.
His results at both Portsmouth and WH over the past 12 months haven't given any indication that his input has helped to lift the performances of either squad of players.
Both clubs under his management have simply continued their poor form while he shrugs his shoulders in denial.
It would be madness to keep him, we need a change of Manager and soon!
Apply your reasoning CA and you would call Tony McCoy a crap jockey because of all the years he failed to win the National. The trouble is, if you are riding a nag, you aint going to win! The Portsmouth nag was waiting to be put out of its misery all season and was stabled at the Knackers Yard. Grant then took over its stable companion!
Tell me, how does a crap manager take Portsmouth to a Cup Final, Chelsea to a Champions League final and West Ham to an FA Cup semifinal?
Likewise how does a good manager take two teams to relegation?
You can't have it both ways. So he's the reason that those teams got to the finals but not responsible for getting them relegated??? Surely he's either accountable for both or neither.
McCoy had the luxury of years to perfect his craft. At WH we simply don't have the time for Grant to do similar.
I've seen McCoy kick some nags home is selling plates mate, but he can't get them to win the National! Burnley were going down under Coyle; does that make him a bad manager? Lyall took us down; does that make him a bad manager?
You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. You can't blame Grant when he inherited a shite squad!
1606 Stani you are a giant of a man! thank you thank you thank you
18:29 I salute you - a fine brain shines through!
He's the ONLY manager to have ever spent an entire 12 months managing teams in the bottom 3 of the PL.
I agree that he inherited bad squads at both Portsmouth and WH but surely he was brought in at both clubs to help improve performances and results.
He's now failed to improve results at both clubs and has to take responsibility for that.
His record clearly shows that he is not a good manager. I have no idea how you can defend him???
No they didn't take much searching out HF. Give me some credit mate....I can be bright sometimes.
I knew your list of teams that were better than us was posted at the beginning of the season so I just clicked on 'August' in your blog archive there on the right. I also knew that one of the teams you said was worse than us was Newcastle. I then pressed control+F (to find a word on the page (firefox browser)) and searched the word Newcastle, clicked next and there it was. It must have taken literally less than a minute :)
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