The Curse Spreads: From Strikers to Managers
The curse of failed strikers at West Ham has now bled over to the managers, and we find ourselves without the old reliables of Antonio and Moyes’ to eke out a salvific win to hold us steady as is our tradition since leaving the Boleyn. Since Moyes’ departure, we’ve been left flat with Julen Lopetegui trying to plaster the cracks of our once strong fortress to no avail and suffered continued disappointment from Graham Potter who left the foundation eroding with an even worse record than Lopetegui.
Nuno’s Credentials vs. The Historical Failure
Enter Nuno Espirito Santos – a tried Premier League manager who brought Wolves out of the Championship and into the Europa league, had a 50% win rate in his short stint at Tottenham, and took Nottingham Forest from relegation territory up to 7th place, their greatest position since 1994. Nuno’s name has been amongst the potential perennials to pull out of the managerial mausoleum for placement at West Ham for the last few years with only Eddie Howe, Sean Dyche, and a possible dark horse appointment of beloved Slaven Bilic. True – Nuno Epirito Santos upon his September appointment was able to fight for one draw against David Moyes’ Everton in his first of four matches; but three losses followed leaving us in a nightmare position on this haunted league table in late October. West Ham have only had two worst starts to their seasons in their whole history, and those occurred in 1973 and 1923. Perhaps every 50 years we’re bound to repeat such failure with four points in nine games, as if we made a devilish bargain when taking our colours from Aston Villa? With the only West Ham win coming against Nuno Espirito Santos himself, before his arrival, and the only draw coming against former manager David Moyes, one would think that the Hammers are indeed cursed, and West Ham will be praying to “the Holy Spirit” (as is Nuno’s namesake) this Samheim for some hope for a turnaround in November.
The Managerial Recruitment Method and Deeper Rot
Nuno has the ability to drill fledgling and failing teams into cohesive units, with a counter attacking style suited to undeveloped players and teams lacking identity, and his appointment seemed fitting for West Ham. Partially because he’s a Premier League experienced manager playing a game that we’ve succeeded with since abandoning the Boleyn and the West Ham Way, and partially because he’s an out-of-work gaffer with former glories looking to resurrect his career, that David Sullivan could get on the cheap. The method of managerial recruitment seems to be just that: Find an out-of-favour manager, who once had some glory but has been passed around – think Pellegrini, Moyes, Lopetegui and Potter – and install them into a failing West Ham team lacking identity and discipline. There is no grasp for a manager on the ascendency, or a purposeful search for an up-and-coming leader that could be groomed to fit West Ham’s DNA but rather a desperate swapping of the top 40. After three losses, West Ham fans are still giving Santos the benefit of the doubt, as really if every manager fails, it’s something deeper than the perfect fitting manager, and rather suggests a deeper rot at the core of West Ham, like some withering jack o’lantern on your doorstep that’s been left out too long, its grin sagging under the weight of rot and lost hope. This is a well known fact at West Ham, made evident in a 20,000 fan boycott of the game versus Brentford.
The Vacant Dressing Room: Missing Leaders and History
Sullivan and his ghoulish legion are often cited for the decay at West Ham, not having a significant plan for a strengthening of the fortress, a revival of the club – at least one that will carry us to consistency through ups and downs. With all the money pouring into one of the most highly attended clubs each week in the world, there seems to be resources and with teams like Brentford and Brighton making a real mark on the league with half of the resources and popularity, it seems a system rather than a singular leader. But this change is too great to maneuver with limited power, so besides boycotts, letters, and a possible relegation reach change might not come. You might look at the players; because even though there have been slight changes to the squad with each manager, the core group has remained the same. Bowen is still the warrior leading the line for scoring and graft, and Soucek has always played with complete dedication – whether his form is bad or good, but we’re still missing real leaders and real graft since Noble and Rice left. There also is no history left in the team’s players at the club in that the last vessels of the Boleyn Age left with Cresswell and Ogbonna. So who is forming the identity in the dressing room? Who has carried the history? Who is disciplining, exhorting and praising the players to fight back the curse and carry them through this troubled time?
Hope in Nuno: The Nightmare Before Christmas
With the January transfer window still a couple of months off, a window that’s never held real success, it’s really up to Nuno to defy the odds from the top, and focus on the players to bring them into a functioning unit. So into the Holy Spirit of Nuno we put our hope – a man who has taken flaining groups and put them into a compact, attacking counter offensive; who pours into players with low confidence levels, and puts into tactical clarity with limited resources to push forward to success. Hopefully he can do this soon, so that the nightmare before kickoff won’t turn into the nightmare before Christmas.
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