O’Neill a top choice for Hammers

According to this morning’s reports West Ham United are about to sack boss Avram Grant and replace him with former-Aston Villa boss Martin O’Neill.

The Iron’s have had a poor season and the club are currently bottom of the Premier League table.

Decent

I consider Avram Grant to be a decent boss but when he arrived in the summer the squad wasn’t as strong as he would of have liked.

He also wasn’t given any major financial backing to improve to improve it either.

Grant always strikes me as a firefighter. A manager who comes into a club on a temporarily basis until a permanent manager can be found. Grant’s position in the East End has been under scrutiny for the last few months as his side have struggled to stay afloat.

It now seems the West Ham board have lost patience with Grant and his side’s poor performances. And it’s believed that the Israeli could be sacked after West Ham’s home game against Arsenal later today. The West Ham board are said to have met with Martin O’Neill and expect him to take over as manager by the end of the weekend.

Villa

Martin O’Neill is a boss with a big reputation. He has been linked with a variety of managerial posts since leaving Aston Villa last summer. Before leaving Villa he had been touted as the next Liverpool manager and even talked about as a replacement for Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford.

His exit from Aston Villa was a major surprise. It came just a few days before the Premier League season kicked-off. He cited his reasons as lack of ambition shown by the Villa owner Randy Lerner.

The American had invested money into the club but O’Neill felt that he needed more transfer funds to strengthen his squad. He was also unhappy at the fact that he was basically forced into selling England midfielder James Milner.

Achievement

Although he never won any silverware with Villa he moved the team forward from perennial midtable finishers to a mainstay of the top six. His time at Villa lead him to become one of most highly rated coaches in the English top game.

He has been criticised by Vila fans for the fact he couldn’t take Villa to the next level of winning silverware or qualifying for the Champions League.

However Villa had big competition from the likes of Manchester City, Tottenham and Everton just for a place in the Europa League, let alone the Champions League. O’Neill was maybe a victim of his own success at Villa. The current situation at Villa shows just how well O’Neill did at Villa Park.

Options

West Ham has also been linked with a list of out of work bosses such as Sam Allardyce, Chris Hughton and Martin Jol. All three have their backers among the Boleyn Ground faithful but it seems that O’Neill has the majority of support from the West Ham fans.

Backing

If Martin O’Neill does take the job it means that he has had reassurances from the West Ham board and owners that he will be given funds in this window to strengthen his squad. The current West Ham squad needs new faces and fast.

Avram Grant has had to rely on youngsters in recent weeks but you can’t expect them to bail you out every week. O’Neill won’t have much time to strengthen but if as believed talks have taken place between the Irishman and West Ham owners I’m sure he already has an idea of who he wants to bring in.

Survival

Martin O’Neill is a man motivator. His style of play as a manager isn’t always the prettiest but he has managed to get results at every club he has been at. Due to the tightness of the Premier League table West Ham are just two points away from 14^th place Fulham.

They are by no means dead and buried in the relegation battle. O’Neill’s ability to motivate a team and get results should be enough to keep the Hammers up and then maybe next season they can have loftier ambitions.

Would Martin O’Neill be a good appointment for West Ham?