Former West Ham United boss Sam Allardyce says his replacement Slaven Bilic has no chance of emulating what he achieved in east London.
Speaking out for the first time since departing the Hammers after four years at the helm back in May, Big Sam told beIN Sports Bilic’s squad is not capable of competing for a place in Europe.
West Ham co-owners David Sullivan and David Gold have backed their new manager by signing 10 players so far this summer with the promise of one or two more before the window closes at the end of the month.
The likes of Stewart Downing and Carlton Cole have departed to leave the east Londoners with an overall net spend of around £18 million.
But despite bolstering the team with top class internationals such as French star Dimitri Payet and Italy defender Angelo Ogbonna, Allardyce says competing for a European place – which the Hammers achieved under Allardyce last season through the FIFA Fair Play rankings – is not realistic.
“If (West Ham co-owners) David Sullivan and David Gold have told Slaven Bilic that they expect to get into Europe this year then I think it’s way beyond the capabilities of the squad at this moment in time,” Allardyce told the beIN Sports.
“I told them that. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons why they didn’t renew my contract in the end?”
The bitter former Newcastle United manager also hit out at his former bosses saying they did not appreciate what he did for them at West Ham during his four-year tenure.
“I did everything they asked for and they wanted more, and I found that extremely ungrateful in terms of what I’d done for them,” he added.
Sour grapes or speaking the truth?
There seemed to be a general consensus of opinion towards the end of Allardyce’s West Ham era that it had reached a natural conclusion.
Big Sam was in many ways the bitter medicine the Hammers had needed for years. But after doing a first class job overall West Ham were all better.
What had seemed an amicable parting of the ways has now been tarnished by Allardyce’s outburst, but does he have a point?
It is beyond little doubt West Ham are lacking in firepower if they want to truly challenge the top teams over the course of a season.
They currently just have Diafra Sakho as a proven Premier League goalscorer and promises to sign at least one, if not two, new strikers have so far failed to materialise.
In that respect some of what Allardyce has said rings true.
But you cannot help but think there is a hint of sour grapes about the whole thing.
Sullivan, Gold and Bilic have been at pains to laud the job Allardyce did dragging the club back up to the Premier League and keeping there after the disastrous reign of the hapless Avram Grant.
Allardyce was backed with decent money at West Ham
However, some of Allardyce’s signings proved shambolic with £33 million spent on Andy Carroll, Matt Jarvis and Modibo Maiga.
Carroll has been injured for the best part of two years while Jarvis has been another expensive flop. Maiga is another signed for over £5 million who the club cannot even give away on loan.
So it is perhaps now surprise the owners didn’t trust Allardyce to spend anymore of the club’s money while fans were very restless with the team’s style of play and negative setup.
Allardyce also showed little faith in the club’s youngsters who, so far under Bilic have been not only used in the first team but have showed they belong there.
Bilic meanwhile looks to have already spent the owners’ money wisely bringing in the exciting Payet and solid Ogbonna to get West Ham off to a flying start with a 2-0 victory away at title hopefuls Arsenal.
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