Last season, the West Ham United board decided not to renew David Moyes’ contract after his second stint at the club, which lasted four and a half years. Before the end of the 2023/24 season, it was announced that Julien Lopetegui would take over as head coach and work alongside his backroom staff and Tim Steidten, the technical director.
David Moyes’ time at the club saw West Ham qualify for European football for the first time since the 2014/15 season, achieving a place in the Europa League by finishing 6th and, in the following season, qualifying for the Europa Conference League finishing 7th, which West Ham would go on to win undefeated, giving them their first trophy since the Intertoto Cup in 98/99.
Meanwhile, the replacement, Julien Lopetegui, had also had his fair share of success. His previous history saw him be undefeated for 20 matches as manager of Spain, as well as winning the Europa League with Sevilla in 2019/20 while previously also managing Real Madrid in 2018.
Lopetegui had a short stint with Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers, he signed for the club in November of 2022 and would leave by mutual consent in August 2023. He joined Wolves when they were bottom of the Premier League and would finish his only season with them in 13th position with 41 points, taking 9 wins from the 23 he managed, which included wins against Chelsea and a 3-0 battering against Liverpool.
Lopetegui would leave Wolves after 10 months in charge due to the financial status of the club; owners had promised him significant funds to buy players yet when the summer window came around, he was denied, subsequently leading to his resignation due to the relationship with the board.
After a year out of managing, Lopetegui started to attract the attention of West Ham United, with David Moyes not too happy with the contract renewal offer, as well as his relationship with the fans deteriorating each week, David Moyes decided not to renew his deal.
Before the end of the season, Lopetegui was announced as West Ham’s head coach on a two-year deal, with a clause to extend for another year if he achieved European Football.
West Ham are currently 11 matches into the season and sits in 14th place with 12 points, three wins, and three draws. The wins came against Crystal Palace, Ipswich, and Manchester United, and the draws came against Fulham, Brentford and Everton.
The Hammers so far have had a horrid start to the season, signs of sackable offences have been shown with results such as a 5-1 loss to Liverpool in the Carabao Cup, a 4-1 defeat to London rivals Tottenham Hotspur as well as a 3-0 loss to Nottingham Forest have already all occurred with as little as 13 games played in all competitions.
The Irons so far have a concerning average of conceding two goals per game, which raises eyebrows as three new defenders were signed, totalling a staggering £55 Million spent. [To be £90 Million spent with permanent clause triggered for French international Jean-Clair Todibo]
However, if recent history is anything to go off, Lopetegui perhaps may already be a dead man walking. In the previous season under David Moyes, he was heavily criticised for his results, losses such as a 5-0 result to Chelsea, 6-0 to Arsenal at home and 5-0 to Fulham were the final blow for David Moyes and his time at the club, he’d lost the fans completely and banners such as ‘Moyes Out’ were being displayed creating a highly toxic environment and one that turned sour very quickly.
Lopetegui could be the next victim of this, betting sites already have the Spaniard predicted to be the next manager sacked, with only the manager of Southampton, Russel Martin, close behind him.
Fans have already started to turn, with some calling for him to be sacked in the upcoming two-week international break. It has been reported by various sources that the West Ham United chairman, David Sullivan, has already requested technical director Tim Steidten to draw up a potential shortlist of managers to replace Lopetegui.
The rumours so far have been all over the place, but confirmed by close sources to the club, the two primary managers that are being pre-targeted in the event of a sacking are Graham Potter and Edin Terzic.
The first candidate, Graham Potter, is a target that West Ham has always consistently been linked to. His career kicked off after having a remarkable stint in the Swedish League, which resulted in him landing a job at Brighton. After mass success at Brighton and transforming the club after a few successful seasons, he was then picked up in a massive move by Chelsea FC, who he’d be replacing the previous season’s winner of the Champions League with Chelsea, Thomas Tuchel. The move would ultimately end as a flop as Chelsea initially spent £21 Million to buy out Potter and all his backroom staff. Potter would go on to manage 31 games, losing 11 and finishing in 11th place. This ended up being the final curtain for Potter, and Chelsea would pay him off for a record-breaking fee, earning Potter £13 Million.
Since the sacking in 2022, Graham Potter hasn’t been in another job, in the summer just gone, he very nearly reportedly took the Ajax job, however, after going to the interview, it was determined Ajax couldn’t meet his demands. He has since made it very clear that he is only wanting a job in England.
The second candidate, Edin Terzic, has recently just had a mutual termination with Borussia Dortmund. Terzic, in the previous season, managed to get Dortmund to the final of the Champions League, which he’d go on to lose 2-0 but had a very valiant effort. He managed 128 games for Dortmund, winning 75 and losing only 29. Terzic’s previous managerial history only consists of being manager of Dortmund, Besiktas and West Ham but in only assistant manager roles. Terzic’s previous time at the club came in 2015 when he was Slaven Bilic’s assistant, and West Ham managed to get European Football with his help. He previously has spoken out, saying how much love he has for the Hammers and how much he admires the fans, could a return be on the cards? It would be a full loop for the fans, that’s for sure! A return around a decade later.
As you can tell by the two targets, one of the things they have in common is that they’re both available for free. It has become very clear that David Sullivan and the remainder of the West Ham board do not believe that you should pay for managers. If you look at the previous managers, they consist of David Moyes [2], Pellegrini, Bilic and Allardyce. All managers were brought into the club for free, and none were ever paid for, so if we look at the odds, chances are that the next manager will also be free.
Lopetegui’s future is completely in the air; no one is truly sure what the future holds for him, the strong argument which seems to hold the most weight is that if Lopetegui were to be sacked now fans believe the season could be salvaged and another manager could come in, deal with the squad better than he has, and make sure that West Ham finish in an acceptable position.
The flip side to it is that is there a point in sacking Lopetegui as he has just had this summer window where he has spent £121,000,000, the 11th highest spenders in the world, so to sack him would mean a lot of it would go to waste, therefore raising the question is there a point?
But unfortunately, in Football and especially the Premier League sometimes, you can’t always be given time, you have to deal with what you are given, and in this situation, the matter of the fact is that quite simply if Lopetegui does not pick up the results soon, he may very well find himself facing the sack as West Ham have high ambitions. By Christmas, if there hasn’t been a clear sign of improvement, it very well could be the end.
Is the end near, or is this just the start of a rocky road where you must experience tough times before you reach the good ones? Fans will be hoping for the latter answer, but ultimately, it is in the hands of the Spaniard.
Will Lopetegui turn the Hammers’ performances around, or will it all salir mal?
