Forever blowing bubbles!

West Ham United 2009-2010

Zola…….the rabbit in the headlights of the premier league. This was the report in the English press after West Ham had paid 5m pound to Chelsea for Jose Morinho’s ex number 2 Steve Clarke. In my life as a football supporter I have never heard of so much money being paid by a club to bring in a back up to the manager. Zola had obviously asked for him as soon as he realized he was out of his depth (not hard at 5 foot 3) in the best league in the world.

 
Chelsea fans were saying ”Agent Zola, Agent Clarke, mission is relegation for West Ham and then come home.” It was funny at first but as the season dragged on it began looking like a reality.
Season itself started well with an away win at Wolves and a narrow home defeat to Spurs, but then it all started to crack as arch rivals from League One, Millwall stunned Upton Park by taking the league cup game to extra time. This should have been a wake up call for Zola and co. but instead things went from bad to worse as they began a run of 12 games with only one victory. Against the claret and blue of Aston Villa. By this time The Hammers were struggling near the drop zone.
 The next win came against the only other claret and blue in the league, Burnley. I travelled over with the West Ham Fans Sverige to see this one, came third in the quiz the night before the game and had a great day out. 3-0 up at half time and then leading 5 – 0……..could this be the turning point? We are after all ”too good to go down!” One blink and its 5-2, then 5-3! Bubbles had been burst again, we were all very nervous and then relieved as the final whistle went. Things were obviously not right at the club as the previous Icelandic regime had left more than a cloud of ash over the East End and with so much talent at hand, Zola still struggled to get them to bond as a unit on the field.
One win in the following 10 games (against bottom club Portsmouth) meant time was running out and the need for big changes was a desperate one. New owners by the name of Gold and Sullivan took a major stake in the club and immediately announced that they have a plan B if West Ham get relegated. At least there was a plan, the problem was, and still is that it seems that plan A is to clear up and fix the mess that the Icelandics had left behind. At the same time try to increase moral at the club by announcing that the 2012 Olympic stadium will be the clubs new home as soon as the games were over. Meanwhile Zola given a voye of confidence and continued to baffle fans and journalists with his tactical mysteries, resulting in a slide into the bottom 3.
A lifeline was thrown as the only back to back victories of the season against Birmingham and Hull provided a needed 6 points. Diamanti was on form, Carlton Cole had recovered from injury, Scott Parker was running the middle and England keeper Green had kept 2 clean sheets in a row. Surely we must be safe now!! Of course not. Zola was still there and 6 straight defeats sent us into April and only 6 games remaining.
Squeaky bum time as they say and with Portsmouth already down it was a fight to the death, until Hull sacked manager Phil Brown and brought in the highly qualified, extrememly ugly, completely useless Ian Dowie. Owen Coyle had already deserting Burnley for Bolton, leaving Burnley managerless with Brian Laws (same thing as being managerless) and West Ham found themselves with 3 teams below them that were in fact worse than them and, hard to believe and even harder to say, with managers worse than Zola. We had a chance!
Scraping a win against Wigan and Hull losing on the same day meant survival. Not sure if it was deserved but either way I have the feeling that it would have been a long long time before West Ham would have played top flight football again. With the money guaranteed to come into the club as a result of premiership football, the new owners can now begin to rebuild, hopefully starting with the demolition of the current managerial set up and a new, experienced face to lead the club next season. I just couldnt face another season like 2009/2010.
I am saving my pennies for my trip to the World Cup but The Scandinavian Hammers and the West Ham Fans Sverige are all going over for the Tony Carr testimonial and the last game against Man City. I wonder if Tevez will score against his old club again and then score against England in South Africa in the summer.

Guest Blogger

Gary Thornton