A post all about the weekend’s action and events (Quickly summing it up, two wonder goals from Matthew Taylor and Essien. Zara Phillips winning BBC Sports Personality of the Year wrongly in my opinion) has gone out the window with the news of Alan Pardews departure from West Ham.

It was wrong to dispense of Pardew. This seasons struggle was more to do with underpeforming players rather then a lack of tactical nouse. You can argue it is the manager’s job to motivate players but that lack of motivation was not present when we played Arsenal or Blackburn or even at the start of the season away to Liverpool. Something had obviously gone badly wrong and for me that is mostly down to the players. A number of who have let their egos inflate and play at a level that is unacceptable. A comfort zone. Last season was an unknown for some and an F.A Cup final followed. Could the likes of Reo-Coker and Konchesky have believed the hype and played the season with a negative attitude? Hypothetical of course but I can only type about what I have seen and from what I have seen, the players have let Pardew down.

What now? Alan Curbishley has been touted as the front-runner but I am not too sure. Eggert Magnusson has said he is a footballing man and that he loves English football etc. However, how much does he really know about Curbishley? Unless he has an adviser or one of the board members pipe up about Curbishley, I do not think he will become manager. Obviously that means on the continent. However who is out there as well?
The names that have been touted:

Hoddle? Hell no
Graham? No!
Sven? He has already distanced himself from the job.
O’Leary? No.

Funny enough, on KUMB.com on Sunday night I posted that Pardew should be given the season to turn things round. That is still my opinion now but he is no longer in charge so I say good luck to him and thank you for his time managing West Ham. He carried himself with a lot of dignity, especially today in his press statement after losing his job. I have posted about this on the two forums I visit so can't be arsed to go into this much more.

Oh and Stuart Pearce has a lot more respect from me regarding his comments about one of his players diving in the Manchester derby.

BBC's report of Pardews sacking. Some good qoutes from Julian Dicks and Lampard Snr.