Big worries over Big Sam

Firstly, a belated happy new year to one and all. With more allegations of racism within our stadia, a pulsating Manchester derby and a managerial casualty already under our belts, 2012 has started with a bang. Oh and, West Ham have been knocked out of the FA Cup at the first hurdle. Predictably.

Hammers enjoying a steady start

Given the Hammers’ push for promotion, a potentially distracting cup run is probably not what the club needs right now. Last season, with the club almost permanently in the bottom three, West Ham went all the way to extra time in the semi-final of the League Cup, only to lose the tie and eventually their Premier League status too. So whilst us nostalgics will never cheer an FA Cup exit, I doubt very much Big Sam will be shedding a tear.

But what of Big Sam? Having completed just over half the season, he has led West Ham to second place, level with league leaders Southampton and busily searching for the reinforcements that could secure one of those coveted automatic promotion places come May. Considering we are yet to really get out of third gear, surely the first half of Big Sam’s inaugural season as West Ham season must be viewed as a success?

Well yes and no. No-one can deny that Allardyce has made West Ham a tougher and stronger proposition than any of the club’s fans can ever remember them being. Opposition managers now talk about how difficult West Ham make it for teams to play, or of how when playing the Hammers, you know you’re going to be in for a battle. As a club historically known almost as much for its soft centre as its links to an old ironworks, this kind of talk has baffled supporters throughout the season.

Big Sam has also managed to remedy the club’s woeful away form. From a team that struggled to win as much as a throw-in away from home last season, West Ham - along with Middlesbrough - have now so far won the most away fixtures in the Championship - seven. For the first time in many a year, Hammers travelling up and down the country to follow their team are having something to cheer on a Saturday afternoon.

And who can argue with the club’s standing in the Championship? At just over halfway, West Ham are perfectly poised: already in one of the two automatic promotion places and looking to kick on and secure their return to the Premier League at the first time of asking. The brief was promotion and at this stage, Big Sam looks set to deliver for his employers.

But all has not been rosy in Big Sam’s big West Ham garden. As I wrote here at the start of the season, I was more worried about the impact of Allardyce’s success than his failure. I was concerned his muscular style would rip out the fabric of the club; making West Ham the type of team that the opposition found it difficult to play against, or had to beat in a battle before they could even think about winning the game. True to form, that is exactly what Allardyce has done.

Many West Ham fans are pleased with this transformation. They were sick of watching their team get rolled over home and away and welcome Big Sam’s ruthless approach. We’re now difficult to beat, we’re big and strong and no-one relishes playing the Hammers, when in previous years they would have sensed blood and eyed an easy three points.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not going to complain about being difficult to beat, and I am certainly not going to complain about being second in the league. But having watched half a season of some of the worst football I have ever seen from a West Ham side, I still have concerns about the direction Allardyce is taking the club.

Supporters of other clubs will think this ridiculous I’m sure. They will argue that the only direction that matters when in the Championship is upwards, and ensuring promotion. Style, they will probably say, comes a very poor second to substance.

But those supporters of other clubs have probably not had to watch the kind of football we have at Upton Park this season. Lacking in width, creativity and often a pass less than 40 yards in length and height, it has certainly not been pretty. It’s the kind of football we might have expected from an Allardyce team, but that doesn’t make it any easier to watch, or should I say endure.

My concern is that if successful and promotion is achieved, Allardyce will be heralded a hero. His football ideology will be considered a blueprint for success and the Hammers will almost certainly approach the task of surviving in the Premier League using the same brash style of football that got them into it. 

And what then of the club? A club that still has ambitions of swapping its tightly packed and intimidating home to renting the bowl-shaped Olympic Stadium. A club that has prided itself not on winning at all costs, but on the way it entertains its public.

I realise to many this will all seem laughably romantic at best, and pathetically naïve at worst. But as football supporters, we are in it for the long haul. We have seen good and bad times, and will see them again. And as Hammers fans, it’s likely that we’ll see more bad than good. So forgive me if hanging desperately on to the club’s traditions seems twee, but with failure only ever round the corner with West Ham, its our traditions that make us the club we are and the reason we keep going back.

I’m still firmly behind the team of course and am looking forward to what promises to be an exciting end to the season. Hopefully it ends with the Hammers crowned champions having adopted a Barcelona-like passing game, following Sam Allardyce’s chance meeting with Pep Guardiola in an East End pub one lonely Tuesday night. And like my dreams they fade and die….