Gianfranco Zola's future is on the line at West Ham
following the shock home defeat to Bolton and the return of a
genuine threat of relegation.
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Gianfranco Zola:
Strained relations with new regime at Upton Park
If Zola does go in the summer, there would be a massive overhaul
of the playing staff should a new manager move in, with Mark Hughes
and Slaven Bilic the favourites to succeed him. And it is not just
Zola's future that is on the line - it could be that half of the current squad might
follow him out of the Upton Park door.
There are already murmurings within Upton Park that Zola is
under enormous pressure and that he is feeling the strain of the
club's demanding new owners David Gold and David Sullivan, and the
indications are that few would be surprised to see Zola simply walk
away at the end of the season.
Zola is wealthy in his own right after an illustrious career in
Italy and England, as a legend with Chelsea and Napoli, where he
played with Diego Maradona, though he has steadfastly insisted
that he has a mission to complete at the club and wishes to see it
through.
But much depends on the next few games, and whether West Ham can
escape relegation and ideally avoid spending the rest of the season
looking over their shoulder in fear of the drop.
While there is uncertainty about
Zola's future, the players, some of them Zola's choices, will
discover that several will follow the manager out of the door if
the Italian does leave in the summer. The arrival of Hughes
or Croatia coach and Hammers icon Bilic would result in the
break-up of the current team, meaning many Hammers players may now
be playing for their futures.
Zola has made no secret of his unease at the way Gold and
Sullivan have taken over the club with a demanding attitude. In the
past Zola has had a free rein while the banks have been trying to
sort out the financial mess but he is now answerable to Karren
Brady, the troubleshooter brought in by Gold and Sullivan due to
her vast experience at Birmingham City. With the team's form
dipping ahead of the match with Birmingham recently, Sullivan said
that the players at Upton Park are vastly over paid - and so too is
the manager.
Zola hit back in a public manner, criticising Sullivan for
making openly provocative remarks on the eve of such a big game,
but it worked, and seemed to motivate the players, who wanted to
win for their manager and pulled off the desired result.
Those players will need to remind themselves of what is at
stake, and what the future may hold, if they let down their manager
again, as they did against Bolton on Saturday.