Like him or loathe him, Sam must stay at West Ham

 

Another away day defeat had West Ham fans moaning about Sam Allardyce and his tactics, and his contract is running out. Ralph Ellis argues that at the moment Hammers would be better off with the devil they know...

 

I'm no fan of Sam Allardyce, and even less so after watching the way West Ham performed at Aston Villa yesterday. Why have a class player like Joe Cole in your midfield if you keep whacking the ball over his head at Andy Carroll?

 

But for all his faults I'd still rather that West Ham owners David Gold and David Sullivan got him sorted out on a new contract sooner rather than later. Big Sam's current deal runs out this summer and so far, it seems, there has been no rush to sit down and negotiate the next one.

 

Gold and Sullivan - together with their managing director Karren Brady - have a good record for not sacking managers. They always proudly point out that at Birmingham they stuck loyally by every single one of the bosses who ran the club. It's a slight rewriting of history because they weren't, however, afraid to gently point a few of them in the direction of the door and then wait until the man concerned resigned.

 

It seems they might be using the same tactic now with Big Sam. He is a proud man, and after winning promotion and then establishing the club fairly comfortably back in the Premier League he is entitled to feel some satisfaction at what he's done.

 

The football away from home might have been dreadful at times, and after yesterday the results are pretty poor too - one from the last 24 points available on the road. But at Upton Park there have been days when the quality has been better. And certainly after some of the meek performances under Avram Grant in the last Premier League season you can see the benefit of having a strong manager in charge. The club, like it or not, is moving in the right direction.

 

After scraping up last season through the play-offs, West Ham were matched as tight as 2.7 for relegation at the start of the season.  They are now 14.0, and on 30 points after 26 games it would take a horrendous run to drag them back into the drop zone. Their home form - they are only one win worse than Chelsea and Tottenham and better than Liverpool in that department - should ensure it doesn't happen. In fact just three points behind Stoke, the current price of 4.6 for a top ten finish is more than tempting.

 

So the big question is what happens next? There are plenty of Hammers fans who would love to welcome cult hero Paolo Di Canio back to Upton Park with dreams of playing expansive, attacking football. And it would be a populist move for Gold and Sullivan.

 

But the Italian is a walking volcano and not, at this time, suited to the Premier League where every public utterance goes round the world in seconds. This weekend he described his Swindon team as "stupid donkeys" and "the best lads I have met in my life" within the space of a few minutes.

 

It might not be pretty for another season or two, but what West Ham need is some stability. Giving Allardyce a new contract is the best way to achieve that. The bigger picture - especially with a move to the Olympic Stadium still in the offing - is to get the club firmly re-established in the top flight.

 

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