Pair End Time With West Ham

It was expected that last summer would bring the beginning of a new dawn at West Ham United under the guidance of Julen Lopetegui but five months on, it didn’t quite have the effect that some of the personnel at the club had hoped for.

After a number of players were brought in to strengthen the squad, it was also thought that both results and performances would improve after just four wins to start 2024 under the stewardship of David Moyes.

Whilst the names coming in sounded exciting prospects, the majority of outgoings were names that Moyes had recently given first-team involvements to.

For whatever reason, the balance of the team was unsettled and they just weren’t gelling. This was particularly prevalent on the pitch and it certainly showed.

Several heavy defeats in a short space of time meant those who opted to appoint the Spaniard over other out of work managers were probably regretting their decision.

Speculation over Lopetegui’s future really came to a head after the team were perhaps unlucky to come out on the wrong side of a 3-1 defeat at newly-promoted Leicester City on 3 December. Although ironically they had turned in one of their better performances at The King Power Stadium, the trouble was the lack of consistency.

In recent years, it has become an unexpected luxury if the club was to pick up anything from games against both Liverpool and Manchester City and West Ham were the unlucky ones to face these two teams back-to-back when the current fixture list was released back in June.

The inevitable outcomes happened and just four days after that defeat at The Etihad Stadium, Lopetegui was out of a job and he was followed this week by Technical Director Tim Steidten.

It was time for Graham Potter to take the hotseat in East London and rather than repeat the mistakes of the summer, it became clear that he wanted to assess the squad before making any major moves and only succeeded in bringing in Evan Ferguson from his old club Brighton and Hove Albion on a loan deal until the end of the season.

However, it appeared that further names were on the way out of the East End after Monday night’s deadline.

It was confirmed a day later that Junior Robinson will temporarily spend time Sutton United and join teammates Bradley Dolaghan and Regan Clayton in dropping down to the Vanarama National League.

A busy week continued when news of further outgoings emerged on Thursday morning. A year ago, the club decided to let youngsters Thierry Nevers and Archie Woods pursue other opportunities and a little more than twelve months on, it is time to bid farewell to another pair of youngsters, as the club have decided to let both Favour Fawunmi and Sean Tarima move on.