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Eric Hitchmoe 5:14 Fri May 29
The Roeder Years

Cast your mind back to the summer of 2001. West Ham were seeking a new manager after Harry Redknapp had been given the boot by Uncle Terrence and were linked with the likes of Steve McClaren (an exciting prospect back then) Alan Curbishley and George Graham. In the end, everyone remembers where they were when they found out Glenn Roeder had been given the job.

Roeder initially boosted the squad by signing David James, Tomas Repka, Lauren Courtois, Don Hutchison and Vladimir Labant, whilst maintaining several key players. After a shaky start (including back-to-back away defeats of 5-0 & 7-1 to Everton and Blackburn respectfully) we finished a very respectable 7th. That season also saw league victories over Chelsea and away at Old Trafford. The players said they all enjoyed playing for Glenn, Joe Cole in particular he was the best coach he’d ever worked with.

So at what point in the summer of 2002 did it all go wrong? In came Gary Breen (who was linked with Inter Milan if I remember rightly) and Edouard Cisse and apart from a few fringe players, nobody of real significant stature left. We got spanked up on Tyneside the opening game on a Monday night, then threw away a 2-0 lead at home to Arsenal. Some say after Kanoute missed a penalty to put us 3-0 up we never recovered (from both that game and our season) and it was all downhill from there. We didn’t win at home until late January, for fuck sake.

That season still lives long in the memory. I remember being 4-0 down to Leeds at home by half time and hundreds of fans walking out. The place was toxic and it was all aimed at Roeder (with the ‘Brown Out’ protests happening after the games). By the time we played Middlesbrough in April (after which he collapsed) he was being booed every time he stood up from dug out.

Allardyce never got that much collective abuse, nor did Grant. So what was it about Glenn Roeder that the fans despised so much? For me, it was the fact that he repeatedly said the phrase “I can take the pressure, I’ve got broad shoulders”, when clearly he fucking couldn’t. His failure to play Di Canio for personal reason was to the detriment of the team and effectively killed our chances of survival. Oh, and that fucking jacket…

El Scorchio 5:19 Fri May 29
Re: The Roeder Years

Allardyce never got so much abuse at games (probably because his teams were never as pathetic), but way more on here than Roeder ever did.

Good question about Roeder though. In many ways it was harsh to give him such treatment as he didn't give himself a job he was woefully out of depth in. I think he in part was a scapegoat for anger aimed at the board for picking him at a time when the right manager and some investment in the playing staff would really have seen us kick on. Instead we got relegated with a side which really was far too good for that fate.

It got way out of hand with Roeder toward the end, though. Cheering because of the brain tumour and chucking a brick through his kid's bedroom window were both really low actions which make me slightly ashamed that a West Ham fan would do things like that.

Eggbert Nobacon 5:20 Fri May 29
Re: The Roeder Years

that was it. lack of investment and bad luck with injuries especially up front where Di Canio and kanoute were out for long periods injured (Kanoute) injured and sulking 9Di Canio)

leaving us with Ian Pearce up front with Defoe

Swiss. 5:24 Fri May 29
Re: The Roeder Years

Had an excellent midfield/attack in Cole, Carrick,Sinclair, Di Canio, Kanoute. Defence was dire.

whufcroe 5:24 Fri May 29
Re: The Roeder Years

Eggbert Nobacon 5:20 Fri May 29

Spot on

Swiss. 5:26 Fri May 29
Re: The Roeder Years

Actually I seem to remember in some games Les Ferdinand being one of our better defenders.

Eggbert Nobacon 5:27 Fri May 29
Re: The Roeder Years

another factor that should not be underestimated here is that this was the first season of the transfer window

meaning when we picked up the injuries to Di Canio and kanoute we had to wait till january to get Ferdinand in

The previous year we would have been able to sign someone anytie we liked

Eerie Descent 5:28 Fri May 29
Re: The Roeder Years

The biggest problem was spending £15mil, at the time a fantastic amount of money, especially for us who had never spent that kind of dough in one go, and bought David James, Repka & Hutchison with it. Disgraceful waste of money, James was ok but we didn't need him, Hislop was still a quality keeper. Repka was an embarrassment as a PL centre back, and the less said about Deadly Don, the better.

Fucked us, as we got nothing back from what was a massive outlay for West Ham at the time.

Well, that, and the fact he was the worst manager in the history of the game.

Eric Hitchmoe 5:28 Fri May 29
Re: The Roeder Years

"Actually I seem to remember in some games Les Ferdinand being one of our better defenders."

Not hard when you're playing alongside Gary Breen.

Eric Hitchmoe 5:29 Fri May 29
Re: The Roeder Years

Eggbert Nobacon 5:27 Fri May 29

Very good point.

Eggbert Nobacon 5:29 Fri May 29
Re: The Roeder Years

that was the year before eerie and we came 7th

it was the outlay of exactly not one fucking penny this summer that did us

23ad 5:32 Fri May 29
Re: The Roeder Years

Everyone ( including the players) knew that Roeder was out of his depth
Kanoute continually feigned injury cause he wanted a move
PDC told Roeder to his face that he wasn't up to it and got left out the team
Cole publicly praised Roeder cause Uncle Terry promised him a move at the end of the season whether we stayed up or not

But you couldn't really blame Roeder;

Redknapp took him off the dole
got sacked
and Uncle terry offered him the managers job cause all the while he was planning to sell West Ham and Roeder was the cheap option.

Eggbert Nobacon 5:34 Fri May 29
Re: The Roeder Years

Just looked, but I think the sats back up what I said earlier,

Di canio started 16 games scoring 9 goals
Kanoute start 12 games scoring 5 goals


had those two been fit longer we would almost certainly have been ok

MrCrowmanSir 5:36 Fri May 29
Re: The Roeder Years

Redknapp had already wasted some of the Rio money on Song, Camara, Daily. Then Roeder signed a few more players for a relative large amount of money. In his first season we had a brilliant home record, 2nd best in the league.

It all went wrong after that Arsenal game and we got stuck down there, injuries were also a factor. By the time we signed Brevett, Ferdinand and Bowyer it was too late although we finished the season strongly under Brooking.

stewie griffin 5:36 Fri May 29
Re: The Roeder Years

Di Canio didn't miss all those games through injury tbf, Jim son.

Eerie Descent 5:37 Fri May 29
Re: The Roeder Years

Eggbert Nobacon 5:29 Fri May 29

I know mate, but that's my point, we at the time didn't spend great money, and he blew his budget the season before on utter, utter tripe. If we spent that money of better quality, we'd have gone into the next season with that better quality, so the lack of spending wouldn't have hurt us as much.

Board obviously to blame more than anyone, for employing him, and not spending more dough after that. But he still had more dough in one go than Redknapp could dream of, and the transfer business we did was disgraceful, far outweighed any bad business Redknapp done, because at least he'd find a gem.

Eggbert Nobacon 5:38 Fri May 29
Re: The Roeder Years

no that's why I had him down as injured and sulking earlier stewie

paolo 5:41 Fri May 29
Re: The Roeder Years

The players worked out Ratboy could not manage and was simply just a coaches and the ran the show in his second season and we paid the price. Super coach shit manager.

cygnet 5:47 Fri May 29
Re: The Roeder Years

A friend if the family worked at the train ground (he's retired now) told me late October of that season that the board was already budgeting for relegation out of the Premier League.

whufcroe 5:51 Fri May 29
Re: The Roeder Years

"still had more dough in one go than Redknapp could dream of, and the transfer business we did was disgraceful, "

So who were these disgraceful signings he made?

Eggbert Nobacon 5:53 Fri May 29
Re: The Roeder Years

he got that money through selling Lampard
elts not act like the board backed him

in his 2 years at theclub we spent under 4m net

nice one Brown you cunt

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