The return of Big Sam

There's two pages on the return of Sam Allardyce to Upton Park in tonight's Standard, with Sam, never slow to promote himself, claiming, "I saved a broken West Ham." In footballing terms he has a point, though the problem was that in PR terms Allardyce, whose take-it-or-leave-it gruff persona might suit some northern underdog clubs, was never right for West Ham, where the descendants of hardened ironworkers still want a little fantasy and escapism. Saying that he didn't know what the West Ham way was got him off to a terrible start and the low point was cupping his ear to the fans after the unconvincing win against ten-man Hull.

But it's also fair to say that despite some West Ham fans refusing to admit that anything he ever did was of any value, Sam did save the club from going the way of relegated PL clubs like Bolton, Wigan and Leeds. It's very very difficult to get promoted first-time and Allardyce achieved that despite having to revamp the entire squad, giving us a great day at Wembley in the process. It wasn't always pretty but the finishes of 10th, 14th and 12th established the club back in the Premier League — though the post-Christmas fade last season suggested the time was right to change for both parties.

He made some unsuccessful buys in Matt Jarvis and — based on his injury record rather than ability — Andy Carroll. But it was also on Allardyce's watch that the core of today's successful side arrived, such as Adrian, Cresswell, Collins,  Kouyate, Song, Valencia and Sakho. He also coached Winston Reid and James Tomkins into becoming much better players. The players seemed to enjoy playing for Allardyce and at times his long ball reputation was exaggerated. Mark Noble would not have kept his place if the team was an exclusively long-ball outfit and we still score a lot of headers from crosses now, without any criticism of Bilic.

So I won't be joining in the boos aimed at Big Sam, though the time was right for both parties to part. Slaven Bilic is much better at saying what the fans want to hear. He understands the club and the fans' need for entertainment and glory nights. Allied to the genius of Payet, it seems we've got an upgrade and that Sullivan and Gold called it right. We could do without him yet again saying how over-demanding West Ham fans are, but Allardyce does deserve some credit for being part of that building process too.