West Ham give managers more time than most clubs before sacking them – why?

If there is one story that sums up how ruthless West Ham United used to be when sacking managers, then a memorable fixture against Wigan Athletic on May 15, 2011 is a good starting point.

West Ham were relegated to the Championship following the 3-2 defeat. Less than an hour after full time, manager Avram Grant was given the bad news by co-owners David Sullivan and David Gold, along with vice-chairman Karren Brady. Gold, who passed away in 2023, described it as his worst moment in all his years of being a supporter.

Grant conducted his post-match press conference as planned but refused to reveal if he had already been sacked. It took until a West Ham spokesman returned to the press lounge shortly after and confirmed Grant’s departure for the news to emerge. The Athletic has previously highlighted what went wrong during his 11-month spell. But the players only became aware of his sacking when he went on the coach to retrieve his items, as a taxi had been arranged to pick him up. Eventually, Grant was allowed to join the team on the journey back to London.

Thirteen years on, West Ham no longer operate with such mercilessness around managerial departures. In fact, the club ostensibly do not like sacking managers midway through a season. West Ham’s track record of sacking managers shows they are often not in favour of paying compensation. Over his two spells, David Moyes left when his contract expired — in May this year and in 2018. Sam Allardyce also departed when his deal was up in May 2015.

Of the eight managers hired since the current ownership group bought the club in January 2010, Grant, Slaven Bilic and Manuel Pellegrini are the only ones to leave midway through their contracts — and of those, Grant only left when relegation was confirmed. The financial implications are an obvious factor, but West Ham’s hierarchy are now inclined to give managers time.

In the Premier League era, West Ham are one of 13 teams to change their manager more than seven times within a season. On average they had played 23 games before changing their manager in those seasons — which is the highest among those 13 sides.

Head coach Julen Lopetegui was appointed in May on a two-year deal, with the option of a further year. But he has been under pressure for much of his time at the club due to their results and the chastening defeats. While results were already bad in October, the hierarchy had no intention of weighing up the financial cost of sacking the Spaniard.

But after back-to-back losses to Arsenal and Leicester City, which saw West Ham concede a combined total of eight goals, a board meeting was held to decide Lopetegui’s future. It was later decided that he would be given time to improve West Ham’s form. One particular board member was against the idea of sacking the head coach, factoring in time constraints in terms of finding a replacement. West Ham might have a better squad but they are not in immediate threat of relegation. But with Lopetegui being a new appointment, the board still believes he merits time to build the team in his image.

West Ham have shown signs of improvement in league fixtures over Wolverhampton Wanderers and Bournemouth. Sustaining that upturn in form in upcoming games against Brighton & Hove Albion, Southampton and Liverpool will be the true test. But get through that, and he could easily have a longer stint in charge, given West Ham’s preference to stay with those in the dugout.

Historically, West Ham have not been a sacking club. Between their foundation in 1900 up to 1989, only five people held the role of manager.

In the Sullivan and Gold era — with 27 per cent of the club also owned by Daniel Kretinsky — the extent to which West Ham do not like sacking managers can be seen in how they treated his predecessor Moyes. The Scot regularly found himself under pressure at West Ham. But he could still have been in the hotseat to this day had Sullivan not withdrawn a contract extension. Moyes was offered a new deal after West Ham’s 2-0 victory against Arsenal on December 28, 2023, although he was not happy with the terms of the deal. Both parties eventually agreed to wait until the end of the season. But after discontent from supporters, the club opted to go in a new direction.

Managing on a game-by-game basis affected Bilic towards the latter stages of his managerial spell. The Croatian, who played for the club in the 1996-97 season, was appointed manager in June 2015 on a three-year contract. Under Bilic, they finished seventh in 2015-16. He helped with the transition from Upton Park to the London Stadium and signed key playmakers Manuel Lanzini and Dimitri Payet. But in November 2017, and in a rare mid-season move, Bilic was sacked with the club in the relegation zone. Sullivan later admitted he should have sacked Bilic in the summer.

“I’m pleased for him, knowing him and knowing what he’s been going through,” Ian Wright, the former Arsenal, West Ham and England forward told BBC 5Live at the time of Bilic’s departure. “I just think for himself and his health he needs a break from it. You can’t work like that. You’re always a couple of games from the sack and then you’re OK. I’m pleased for his sake that he can get a break from it and get on with it.”

Bilic had only 11 league games in the 2016-17 season, the second-lowest number of games taken charge of out of those former managers — Grant, Harry Redknapp, Glenn Roeder, Pellegrini, Alan Pardew, Bilic and Alan Curbishley — who were sacked midway through a season.

“When you lose your job it’s not ideal but you learn from it,” Bilic told The Athletic in an interview in March 2022. “At West Ham, I made a few mistakes. After the first season at West Ham, I didn’t push for new players. If I asked for new signings and we didn’t get any, I’d just get on with my job and work with the squad. But I should have fought a bit harder to improve the quality of the team. Looking back, I let myself down.”

West Ham sacked Pellegrini in December 2019 after a seventh defeat in nine matches. Pellegrini’s side were hovering above the relegation zone and a 2-1 defeat by Leicester City sealed his fate. The club trumpeted his appointment 19 months prior.

“We believe that his experience, quality and proven record of taking teams forward quickly will ensure that he is successful here,” said majority shareholder Sullivan. “We have listened to fans who asked us to be ambitious. We hope they agree it is an exciting appointment.”

In March 2021, West Ham’s accounts revealed the club paid Pellegrini and his backroom staff £3.5million. He remains the last West Ham manager to be sacked midway through a season. It is something they aim to avoid at all costs. Only time will tell if Lopetegui will continue to benefit from the board’s new-found patience.

(Top photo: Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images)