Imagine you're the board

[Leg biter 0]

Your club is in trouble.

You''ve come down from the premiership, and are struggling to make an impression. You''re got talented players, but they''re not performing. You think the manager is good, but the fans are getting on his back, saying he''s not good enough, has lost the plot, and needs to be replaced before things get worse.

Do you

a) trust your judgement, stick with the manager and give him more time to get things right

b) sack the manager, and get someone new in

If you go for a), you go up through the play offs, and have a good start to the season in the Premiership. Because you''re West Ham.

It''s struck me how us calling for Worthy''s head is similar to the vitriol heaped on Pardew over the last two years before West Ham got back in to the Premiership. Back then everyone thought Pardew didn''t have a clue, was tactically naive, and not big enough to put the Hammers back where they should be. After all, he''d never won anything, and had only had relative success with Reading.

I assume those fans are still giving Pardew a hard time now.....much like our fans will give Worthy a hard time if he turns our fortunes round.

[Old Boy 0]

Yup - it''s a good comparison. I''d like to have given the topic a 5-star rating, but the Pink''Un database reckons I''ve already rated it. Hmmm. And, yes, there are Hammers supporters who are still waiting for Pardew to fail, as he will because virtually all managers do eventually. Sad isn''t it? No, it isn''t actually, because there are also Blades fans itching to get stuck into Warnock, which is nice.

[Sing up the river end 0]

I''m not normally one for calling for a managers head.I feel Nigel has done a great job for us,but at the end of the day i feel he has taken us as far as he can.Also it seems clear he has lost the dressing room.His subsitutions and team sellections have at times been very strange indeed.He knew at the start of last season we needed a bigger squad and at very least a good centre back,so why did it take till the loan signing of Davenport to get this?.To survive the first season in the premiership you need to buy proven premiership players just as wigan and west ham have done.We all see foriegn players normally take a season or so to get used to the pace of the premiership if they ever do.How else does he bolster the defence by buying a right back from one of the teams with the worst defencive rcords of last year ie Lous John.I just feel its time for a change and would love to see us get George Burley so he can get one over on the scum for the way they got rid of him.

[sonyc 5,492]

A good comparison LB. And imagining myself as a member of the board, I would be seriously thinking about Worthington''s future - but outwardly I''d be backing him.

I''d be worrying about the run up to Christmas because the January Premiership window would be beckoning and I''d be thinking if we''re still within striking distance of League One then I''d be sure to lose the heart of one of the best strikers I''d helped bring to the club and also I would be very concerned therefore that I''d lose my credibility as a board member when thousands (not hundreds) of the fans (who I very publicly thank every week) start registering their displeasure.

What do other posters think is in the board''s mind? Is it more than Ashton versus Loyalty?

Of course there''s the matter of merchandising sales dropping off, gate recepits going down, corporate boxes becoming emptier. As a board member I have the financial future to worry about and its much more complicated than loyalty. Worthy knows this too. I bet privately he will have been very open and honest (reckon that''s the kind of man he is) but the board will have told him not to worry, there''s still time. But putting myself into a board member''s shoes I''m going to be sleeping uneasily.

Great post subject. Yes, certainly worthy of 5 stars - whilst others on the board have posted their strong views (and nothing wrong with that) I cannot help just ponder about the board''s private thoughts and when will that collective consciousness strat to come to a head of steam. In Pardew''s case he just pulled it around (and it was mighty close) and we would all love the same story - but as I live too far away to see home games I can only read the thoughts of others, as well as talk to my relatives, but the performances and spirit don''t feel right. As a board member I cannot have failed to witness that either. Like it or not I will also be aware that the situation has been going on for some time. 

steady on....

[Syteanric 1]

if your B) u sack the manager, get someone else in, go on a good run and go up through the playoofs... because your crystal palace....

 

works both ways my firend...

 

jas