It’s that time of year again when I issue my perennial ‘West Ham are in deep trouble, the season’s going down the toilet’ post.
(If you’re remotely interested, you can read the previous entries here:
Anyhow, despite the fact that we’re currently 5 points adrift from safety at the bottom of the premier league, the club have sought fit to keep beleaguered manager Avram Grant on. At least for now. (The omens aren’t good – Grant hasn’t been out of the relegation zone for a single day in the last year since taking over as manager of now relegated Portsmouth in November 2009).
Instead, they’ve jettisoned Grant’s assistant, Zeljko Petrovik, the fall guy for the team’s run of poor form.
With Petrovic now gone, the rumour-mill has gone into overdrive with regards to who will replace him. And the fans’ favourite is none other than former player Paulo Di Canio.
The club are doing nothing to dampen the expectation, even going as far as very publically inviting Di Canio as a guest of honour to this Saturday’s “Save Our Season” game against Wigan.
Perhaps the passionate Di Canio, a man who has always worn his heart on his sleeve, would be the ideal antidote to Avram Grant’s dour and expressionless demeanour; the perfect yin to Grant’s yan? And something has got to change if West Ham are to rescue their season.
But, before we get carried away with ourselves, let us not forget the last time we appealed to Di Canio to save our club and to save our season.
We ended up getting relegated to the Championship, after failing to win our final game of the 2002/2003 season at Birmingham. Di Canio came on as a late substitute, and even managed to conjure up a late goal, but the team had left itself with too much to do, too late in the season. And that was the team that was dubbed as ‘too good to go down’, featuring as it did players such as Joe Cole, Michael Carrick, Jermain Defoe, Freddie Kanoute and Glenn Johnson.
Let us also remember that this is the same Paulo Di Canio who was censured for publically assaulting referee Paul Alcock;
- Di Canio assaults Referee Paul Alcock
the same Paulo Di Canio who argued on the pitch with team-mate Frank Lampard over who should take a penalty;
and then, later in the same game against Bradford City in 2000, sat down on the halfway line in the middle of the pitch and refused to play on because he wasn’t happy with the referee;
the same Paulo Di Canio who got himself into hot water by delivering a single-fingered salute to visiting supporters;
Di Canio Middle Finger Salute
and the same Paulo Di Canio who did himself no favours by delivering an allegedly Nazi salute to the Lazio fans. An act that certainly won’t endear him to Avram Grant, an Israeli and an orthodox Jew.
Di Canio's (fascist?) salute
Whatever else happens, it is clear that something needs to change to save West Ham’s season. The club have initiated the change by sacking Petrovic. If Paulo di Canio is to become a part of the new regime then he may be able to instill some much needed passion and belief.
However, he’s certainly not the messiah that many Hammers fans would have you believe – he’s just a very naughty boy.
