Forever blowing troubles

Sunday 15 May will go down as one of the darkest days in West Ham’s recent history. 2-0 up at half-time, Premier League salvation seemed possible. 45 minutes later and they were staring into the abyss following the concession of three soft goals to relegation rivals Wigan Athletic.

Owners David Gold and David Sullivan admitted to the Guardian prior to losing that game that the club was "in a worse financial position than any other club in the country".

This week in the same newspaper David Conn reported that ‘West Ham made a £21m loss last season and relegation will cause a crisis’.

The club have been in trouble since the ownership of the Icelandic group headed by Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson, prior to the former Birmingham chairmen taking control. Pete May, author of Hammers in the Heart, said: "They (Gold and Sullivan) have been pretty crap but it’s not entirely their fault as they inherited huge debts from Gudmundsson. He owned an Icelandic bank which went bust following the ‘credit crunch’."

The signs are not good for the future as players will have to be sold to help trim the club’s £54 million annual wage bill and the loss of Scott Parker, the club’s talismanic skipper, will be sorely felt as the Hammers try to return to the Premier League at the first attempt.

Here are the key factors behind their demise, along with the thoughts of Hammers legend Tony Cottee and writer Pete May:

The appointment of Avram Grant

Gold and Sullivan sacked Grant in the immediate aftermath of the Wigan debacle. This was hardly a surprise as the former Portsmouth boss’s second relegation in a row should never have happened with the players at his disposal.

With experienced internationals like Parker, Robbie Keane, Wayne Bridge, Carlton Cole, Rob Green, Thomas Hitzelsperger and Matthew Upson, relegation should never have been on the agenda.

Stories of a rousing half-time speech from Parker in the 3-3 draw at West Bromwich Albion hardly did Grant any favours as the question that followed was: shouldn’t this kind of inspiration be coming from the manager, not the captain?

As for his tactics and selections, Grant came in for particular criticism for the way his side lost from winning positions. The capitulation at the hands of Manchester United, in a addition to the Wigan result, proved fatal.

His decision not to start with Parker, who was recovering from injury, or Cole against the Latics has also attracted criticism, particularly as he went for inexperience in the form of Jordan Spence, who made his debut at the DW Stadium.

With typical dignity, Grant told the Guardian: "Yes, I take responsibility. I am not a guy who gives responsibility to other people. It is my responsibility to pick the team and choose the tactics. The results were my responsibility. My job was to keep this team in the league and I failed."

Cottee: "Absolutely it was a mistake to appoint him. I’m not saying that now. I was saying that when he was appointed, it was a mistake. I think everyone in football knew it was a mistake but we can’t keep looking back and how bad the manager was. It’s over and done with now. We look forward."

Bad recruits

The purchase of in-form striker Demba Ba apart, the Hammers’ transfer record over the last 12-18 months has undoubtedly contributed to their downfall.

Winston Reid and Pablo Barrera, who both arrived for sizeable sums last summer, never looked like Premier League players.

In January the Upton Park outfit tried to rectify those mistakes but loan signings Wayne Bridge and Robbie Keane never had the desired effect.

Bridge’s debut against Arsenal included giving away two penalties and Keane, who arrived on loan from Tottenham Hotspur, contributed just two goals and will be best remembered for missing a host of chances to secure victory against fellow relegation battlers Blackburn Rovers earlier this month.

May: "For £90,000 a week you expect more from Wayne Bridge. You would expect him to help organise the defence. If you saw the way N’Zogbia, for Wigan, turned him inside and out, you expected a bit more from someone who’s supposed to be almost as good as Ashley Cole. Benni McCarthy’s another one. He was a complete waste of time. They (Gold and Sullivan) wasted £5 million on him, but he was signed before Grant’s appointment so I guess he can be absolved of any blame for that one."

Gold and Sullivan

As bad as Grant was, Gold and Sullivan are the biggest cancer at Upton Park. For a start, they appointed the Israeli in the first place. To make matters worse, they made a right mess of trying to appoint Martin O’Neill back in January as Grant’s replacement, only for the ex-Aston Villa boss to turn the job down once the story was leaked to the press.

As a result, Grant was severely undermined. West Ham played Arsenal at Upton Park in the midst of the fiasco and the visiting fans heaped more embarrassment on the Israeli when they chanted "You’re getting sacked in an hour".

Since his dismissal, Grant has claimed that six people were offered his job during his tenure.

Cottee: "They’ve got to prove to the fans that they’ve got the interests of the club at heart. In my view, they’ve got to pay the wages for a proper manager to run the football club. We haven’t had a proper manager in the last year. It’s important, to get a proper manager, to pay the right wages and that’s what I would like them to do so we can entice a Martin O’Neill, a Sam Allardyce, or another big name to West Ham to put us back where we belong. If they do that, not too many people will be complaining. Obviously, they need to sort out the financial situation at the club as well."

Injuries

Players absent through injury happens at all clubs yet West Ham’s squad, especially after their January purchases, were top heavy on strikers and lacking in midfield replacements. Therefore, the loss of Thomas Hitzelsperger at the beginning of the season for seven months and Scott Parker, their inspirational captain and PFA Player of the Year, for the final weeks was seen as crucial as the Hammers struggled against the tide taking them towards the Championship.

May: "We were unlucky with Hitzelsperger and Parker but it’s been never-ending. Ilunga, the left-back, never really recovered from injury and was left out of the 25 man squad for the second half of the season. Noble getting injured against Chelsea a few weeks ago left our midfield threadbare. Upson’s had his usual fair share of injuries, as has Tomkins, who has been one of the few bright spots in an otherwise disappointing season. But we’ve had the squad to cover for injuries so it’s no excuse really."

Players under-performing

Ask any West Ham season ticket holder and they will air their disgruntlement regarding certain senior players.

Matthew Upson seems to have continued his downward spiral ever since his lamentable display against Germany in last year’s World Cup.

Carlton Cole’s performances have ranged from disappointing to woeful and Robert Green has withstood a lot of what opponents have had to throw at him but even he was culpable in that defeat at Wigan.

Cottee: "The players under-performed. The players need to have a real good look at themselves because they just didn’t perform. You can blame the manager all you like, which I have done, but they’re the ones that go out onto the field and they didn’t perform."

The next managerial appointment is crucial

Former striker Cottee is in no doubt that the next guy to come in as manager has a huge task on his hands and the club, unlike last time, need to get the decision right.

He said: "I think it’s now a situation where everyone’s got to look forward to next season and the club needs to re-build. The most important thing is to get the right manager in. Once that’s done then the next manager will have to get rid of all the players that are either out of contract or don’t want to stay. Try and keep all the good, young players. And then just re-build the squad in time for August, next season."

Cottee knows who he would most like to see take the reins. He said emphatically: "I’d love to see Martin O’Neill. He’d be my first choice."

And if the Northern Irishman turned it down? "I would have no problems with Sam Allardyce," he said. "Slaven Bilic, I wouldn’t have a problem with but I would’ve thought most of those guys that I’ve mentioned are going to want pretty big wages to come to the club so if they’re not given big wages, then you’re not going to attract a big name manager. Then if it is a cheaper option, it could be anyone really."

The problem many West Ham fans would have with Allardyce would be the likelihood of an uncompromising, direct style of football but Cottee believes the former Blackburn Rovers gaffer could adapt his managerial style to suit the Hammers’ traditions.

"You’ve got to get the club back up but obviously there’s a tradition at West Ham and there’s a style of play, a football ethos, if you like, that the fans want to see," Cottee added. "Listen, Sam Allardyce is no-one’s fool. He knows how to play football. He normally works with the tools that he’s got and if he did come to West Ham he would know, more than anyone, that West Ham have got a certain style of football to play and I’m sure he would adjust accordingly. He would make sure you’ve got the right players in the club but the fans also want to get back into the Premier League so it would have to be a combination of both - winning football with playing football the right way."

And West Ham fans would settle for that as they have not seen much of either commodity for quite some time.