The East End faithful can be a fickle bunch at times, but just what exactly can West Ham fans expect in the future? A promising start has seen expectations go sky high, with ridiculous talk of challenging for the Champions League places abuzz back in December. As expected, the Hammers fell away after a tough run of fixtures and now sit a perfectly acceptable and pleasing ninth with the same number of wins as the entire duration of last season with eight games still to play.
The key to West Ham’s success have been the new signings and how well they have fit into the squad that finished a miserable thirteenth last season. Alex Song, on loan from Barcelona, has been commanding the midfield, a real shrewd piece of business in last summer’s transfer market. Diafra Sakho’s and Enner Valencia’s pace and power up front have been blitzing defenders. The unsung heroes are the wing-backs, with Aaron Cresswell adapting to the Premier League instantly and on the opposite flank, the willingness to get forward from Carl Jenkinson has meant West Ham have scored the most headed goals this season and this is due to their service from wide areas. The on-loan Arsenal man will definitely be on the manager’s mind as to whether to pay the required amount to sign him on a permanent basis.
Sam Allardyce deserves far more credit than he is receiving from West Ham fans. He brought them up from the league below at the first time of asking, albeit via the play-offs, and kept them in the Premier League with a solid top half finish. Last season was a disappointment, with fans showing real anger towards him as the Hammers went backwards, struggling to emulate the previous season. After a promising start this time around, West Ham have fallen away but still are on track for a top ten finish, showing signs of real progress with the possibility of having a positive goal difference to show which would be the first time for them in the top flight.
Next season West Ham have to stay up without question as they move to the Olympic Stadium in London, Stratford. A 54,000 seated stadium in the Championship would be disastrous so staying up is the ultimate goal. The irony is, the one man West Ham would want to keep them up is the man who is currently in charge at present. A man who has never been relegated with any team he has managed, surely he will keep the Hammers up next season before the big move.
Pundit Robbie Savage on BBC Radio 5 Live made a good point in that away from the usual top six (Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham) West Ham sit third from the bottom 14 which he referred to as a “mini league”. Savage makes a valid point as realistically teams do not challenge the top six with Everton and now Southampton being a minor exception. To break the league down into two, West Ham have had a tremendous season. A strong, forward-thinking squad is finally being built which is showing the right characteristics such as grit, determination and resilience to not only stay up, but challenge the top teams as West Ham have shown at Upton Park with victories over Manchester City, Liverpool and only a late equaliser denied three points over Manchester United. The East Enders seem to have found a balance between entertainment and results, with the lack of “West Ham way” not even being mentioned anymore.
The Irons should be proud of this season’s and especially Sam Allardyce’s achievements. With results going as they have and his contract needing renewal at the end of the season, I can see David Gold and David Sullivan offering him at least another two years which would take him into the first season at the Olympic Stadium and it is the least he deserves.
Amazingly, a European tour is potentially on the cards for the happy Hammers with West Ham sitting top of the fair play league. UEFA give three places in the Europa League for the countries with the best fair play record and England are currently leading the way. A run in Europe is probably not what the club desires right now, with the move to the Olympic Stadium just around the corner. All focus has to be on the league campaign next year with the 2015-2016 season being the biggest in the club’s recent history.
The future for the club is one that is exciting and to keep up the good results from this season will allow confidence to flourish going into their final season at the Boleyn Ground. Watching West Ham United has been much more enjoyable this season than before, and we move on from Upton Park to the Olympic Stadium as a unit. Things are looking bright for West Ham United.
