Too little, too late

By Kevin Darling
West Ham fan on Glenn Roeder's dismissal

I was desperate to see Glenn Roeder sacked as manager of West Ham.

Roeder has caused pain for the fans

Our form last season was horrendous and this season there has been little sign of improvement.

But am I happy he's gone? Not in the slightest.

Roeder's dismissal has come 10 months too late. And the damage done to the club in that time will take a lot longer to fix.

The fact that he wasn't right for the job has been clear to everyone for months - except the Hammers' dithering board.

After an appalling start to last season, fans and the media were calling for Roeder's head.

A home defeat to Birmingham on 5 October 2002 was the day Glenn should have gone.

The West Ham board considered their options: stick or twist.

Have Your Say Do you agree with Kevin's views?

Several managers (notably David O'Leary and Micky Adams) might have jumped at the chance to revive the fortunes of a talented squad.

But chairman Terry Brown decided to keep faith.

Our form didn't improve after that, but Roeder's job was safe. The board had made their minds up. They would stick.

An abject defeat to Rotherham proved the last straw - but that was merely the last in a long line of sackable offences.

In our first season under Roeder we finished a creditable seventh, but there is no chance he will be remembered for that.

He will be remembered by West Ham fans as the man who managed to destroy, and eventually deprive us of, the most talented young squad in our history.

After another bad start to the season, the board were left in an identical position to last year: stick or twist.

And even they would not make the same mistake twice.