tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704906222106374133.post3022099034318618429..comments2024-03-27T17:33:24.033+01:00Comments on Hammers in the Heart: The return of Big SamPete Mayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12492414093187007414noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704906222106374133.post-26062288356328433932016-02-27T11:47:07.926+01:002016-02-27T11:47:07.926+01:00I can't agree with the Sam-haters out there.
...I can't agree with the Sam-haters out there. <br /><br />I couldn't agree more with you, Pete, in your third paragraph outlining the list of quality talent that he brought in: Adrian, Kouyate and Sakho at the lead (and good prices too). We shouldn't underestimate what he did to bring the team to where it is now. Yes, Bilic has guided the team to more exciting football, but in four years, a team that very well could still be in the Championship is doing well. Sam laid the foundation for Bilic and I think Slaven is absolutely right to encourage fans to give him his due. Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03558119953967025579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704906222106374133.post-46677004949668842062016-02-26T22:19:55.063+01:002016-02-26T22:19:55.063+01:00Hmmmm, I saw some terrible football under Lyall, M...Hmmmm, I saw some terrible football under Lyall, Macari, Bonds, Redknapp, Roeder, Pardew, Curbishley and Grant. Sam did what his remit was, get us up and keep us up. It wasn't all terrible and he bought in lot of good players. Slav had said it was easier for him after Sam. Sam should get some credit.mjnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704906222106374133.post-80137190250503702482016-02-26T12:22:42.425+01:002016-02-26T12:22:42.425+01:00I'd agree he never understood what the club st...I'd agree he never understood what the club stood for Shane and was never a long-term solution, but he did a job. We could have carried on playing decent football but losing under Avram and ended up in league one. The season we went up he had to sell 18 players and bring in 15 so he has to take some credit for that. We then had to stay up by any means necessary and I'm not averse to WHU defending properly and scoring from set pieces. We had made some progress and played some good stuff up to Xmas last season. I don't like the way Sam picks fights with us fans either, but he did establish the club in the PL. Still, I guess BFS will always divide opinion and I'm sure my pal Fraser will give him a boo on your behalf...Pete Mayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12492414093187007414noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704906222106374133.post-64532682838493495242016-02-26T07:02:19.850+01:002016-02-26T07:02:19.850+01:00Sorry, Pete, but you or I could have got that team...Sorry, Pete, but you or I could have got that team up - and probably automatically, rather than by a play-off final fluke - given the money spent and the opposition.<br /><br />For me, there are two clear factors I of Allardyce's reign that can't be mitigated; firstly, he despised us and our aspirations - and made it abundantly clear. To him it was just a job, and even then not one he really valued.To bring up 'the West Ham way' and then state he didn't understand it (or know anyone that did), rather than offer to embrace it betrayed an arrogance I simply couldn't - and still can't - forgive.<br /><br />Secondly, and even more importantly, he came close to making me renounce my season ticket and stop going to watch the team I'd been supporting for nearly fifty years. I simply lost all pleasure in watching the negative tactics; the 'respect the point' attitude, the hoof ball approach. What had kept me passionate for nigh-on half a century was being systematically ruined by a man who wasn't fit to be part of the heritage of alternating pleasure and pain that is West Ham. Greenwood, Lyall, Brooking, Bonds, Moore, Devonshire, the lunatic Di Canio, Dicks; all parts of a culture Allardyce couldn't (or wouldn't) comprehend. Even Macari and Grant had some minimal redeeming features, but to me Allardyce had none.<br /><br />So as I won't be in the UK for tomorrow's game, my abiding memory of Allardyce will be a chilly night in Peterborough chanting 'We play on the floor' and that bloody ear-cupping after that dismal night against Hull. And that's enough. Allardichi, my arse.Bob Bloggerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01263187138289612612noreply@blogger.com