After just short of two years in charge of our club, Gianfranco Zola was today dismissed as West Ham United manager. His sacking was expected but was no less disappointing and regrettable for that. The club statement was extremely concise, thanking him for his efforts and stressing that every effort would now be made to find a new appointment. Zola was the most amiable of football managers and perhaps his persona did help him through some of the bad times and win the support of the majority of Hammers fans. The number crunchers may point to our win percentage being just below 30% during his tenure but I will remember some of the beautiful football we played under him. He enjoyed a very promising start to his managerial career but then went a long time without a win. It was during the second half of last season that he really came into his own. The away win at Wigan will always stick in my mind, as we went ahead through a delightful team goal finished off by Cole and we also showed plenty of grit and composure to keep a clean sheet. This was to be a feature of our play as we pushed for a potential Europa league spot.

We all know that this season did not follow that script as we were dogged in particular by poor defending and only managed one away win all season. Nevertheless I think there was widespread empathy and understanding of these results given the perilous financial state of the club and lack of investment in the squad. The arrival of Gold and Sullivan brought a degree of enthusiasm and relief but their comments since acquiring a 50% stake in the club consistently undermined Zola. They spoke all too frequently about the terrifying spectre of relegation and publicly pondered whether Zola was too nice to succeed in management. There was also dramatic criticism of the players, the launch of a complaint against Fulham and an attempt to sign a player both without the knowledge of Zola. It was quite clear that they were seeking to push him out despite saying that staying up was all they could ask of him come the season finale. Of course there are a few legitimate criticisms that can be made of Zola this season including his decision to play Diamanti on the left of midfield and the all too frequent changes at the back which often backfired. That said I think many a fan would have welcomed Zola being given another chance with some cash to spend. The money spent on sacking Zola and recruiting a new manager could have been added to the transfer kitty. Too early to speculate on who the best candidate is to replace Zola but let’s hope our chairman can find someone who has their confidence so we can be spared their clumsy comments to the media.

Thank you Gianfranco for not walking after the Stoke defeat and rousing the players who must have been demoralised to get a vital point at Everton which spurred us on to crucial home wins against Sunderland and Wigan. If only our owners had an ounce of your dignity, honesty and humility.