NHIron:

What intrigued me was the Icelanders' statement that the reason they had decided to let Alan go was because they had attended the match v Bolton and had seen that the team had played without motivation.

Lets examine that last word: motivation.

What does it mean?

Motivation is having the desire and willingness to do something, or in this case, to play for West Ham United.

So over a period of just 7 months, our team has gone from being extremely motivated and finishing 9th in the table and reaching the FA Cup Final to lacking the motivation to play for the club.

Note, at no point did the Icelanders indicate they felt that the wrong team was out there on the pitch. Instead, they hinted on the psychology of the team and it is in this direction that the real clue lies as to why exactly we have been performing so badly. Pardew had lost the dressing-room, of that there can be no doubt, and so the players had simply refused to play well whilst he was in charge.

As a consequence of the above, Pardew had left himself with no other option but for the directors to sack him as team morale had been irretrievably damaged.

GazHammer:

This was without a doubt the correct decision.

Even based solely on performances this season (without team choice etc, taken into consideration), this was the ONLY choice available.

Even back in Roeders day the football we attempted to play could not be faulted, yet under Pardews regime the kind of lumpit football we have been playing throughout his term (some seasons more than others i admit), have shown he was not the man to take West Ham to the next step!.

The decision of others to take this out on the playing staff is comical, as Pardew had every opportunity to deal with the under performers (his under performers i might add), but at no stage did he do so!.

I believe with Pardew still at the helm this team would have capitulated and we would no doubt have been back to watching Championship football next season.

No regrets from me, i just hope that the new Manager of West Ham United takes into consideration the kind of football we expect to see played at Upton Park.

Whiskeyman:

My initial opinions of Pardew, even during our promotion year, were negative ones, but last season he had me convinced that he was moving the club in the right direction. Two of his pre-season signings, Benayoun and Gabbidon, were excellent pieces of business and also Mullins and Reo-Coker who he'd bought during the Championship era appeared to be developing into top class players.

Unfortunately this pre season he bought badly. In my view he didn't add quality to the squad, just quantity. The result was complacency and an apparent belief by some of the players that they had "arrived" and were untouchable. Unfortunately Pardew either couldn't see this or didn't act because of a misguided sense of loyalty.

It also appears to me that he has an inherent mistrust of foreign players. Tevez and Mascherano have been underused in my view and Benayoun, our most intelligent and creative player, seems to have fallen out of favour. Scaloni was allowed to leave and, again only my opinion, the three other right backs he has brought in are not as effective as he was. Success in modern day Premiership management requires an awareness of football beyond the white cliffs of Dover.

I felt before the Wigan game that he needed at least 4 points from the next 3 games to keep his job. We didn't get them and the rest, as they say, is history. It's not a question of right or wrong - it was simply inevitable.

DagenhamDave:

Unlike a lot of posters on here I have never been lover of Pardew from day one. I am probably a lot older than most on here and I was never happy the way he left Reading to join us, and I believe in what goes round comes round, and yesterday was his judgement day. I think in his early days he rode his luck and he seemed to get away with it, especially just scraping into the playoffs for the second time, but fair do's we won it, and had a fairly successful season by our standards last year with our Cup Final.

This year has been a different story, we have not progressed, we have not bought any quality players, in fact we only seem to have purchased about five Championship right backs, Robert Green being hopefully the exception, I agree the loss of Ashton was central. His tactics, team picking and substitutions this season have left me with the impression that he is now out of his experience and league, and was out of new ideas, I thought it was time to put the man out of his misery. If he was to go, then now was the right time, hopefully to allow someone else to come in and line up their choices for the January window. A million pounds payoff for Xmas should help him through.

SirJulianDicks

I felt a shiver down my spine when I read AP's parting statement. The sacking of a manager that has brought so much excitement and joy to a set of fans who are normally used to settling for second best, is in my opinion a travesty. I for one will stand on Sunday and sing Alan Pardews Claret and Blue Army as a mark of respect to our finest manager since the late great Jonny Lyall. For anyone who disagrees think back to how you felt when Zammo scored against Preston or when the konch 'crossed' in past Reina and tell me when in modern times you have felt that good. Alan Pardew took us from the brink of disaster to the edge of success and I believe we could have gone onto great things under his guidance.

However now it is time to get behind whoever the new manager is and remember that above all West Ham are special because of us ... the fans and not who is at the helm or who has pumped money into our club. Curbishley and Di Canio ... maybe a new era is on the horizon.

Floyds_Dad:

I wasn't surprised to be honest. In a cold business sense, if you had invested 107m in a club, with your eye on a new Olympic size Stadium and the development opportunities involved in both new and old sites, you are going to be looking for your Man Utd, Liverpool's, Chelsea etc to bring the TV money and crowds, not Coventry, Luton etc.

Pardew was good for us after the Rodent era and we had some good times especially the play off against Ipswich at Portman Road, what a blast, but he lost the dressing room, those players that he was loyal to, way beyond what he should have been, let him down badly but if these players think that their under performing and sulking is going to be tolerated by the next manager AND the Board because let's not forget, any Manager coming in is going to feel the cold Icelandic breath down his neck and Eggy isn't stupid, he knows which players are going to put his future investment in jeopardy, then there is going to be big changes.

I was watching ESPN Classic the other night Us against Liverpool in 1981 League cup final (wipes a tear away – Damn you Kennedy) and the passion, drive and the wonderful Dev is what we are about, it's what we need to be again.

At the moment we are turgid, slow and the only action is Ferdinand being led away in a meat wagon from Ilford or Carroll selling off his boots for the stake another hand of Texas hold ‘em and let's not forget that Pardew was doomed from the start if he was expecting NRC to help keep the team together. (My son has just purchased ‘Where's Nigel?' activity book where the pages have pictures of midfield action from our last 10 games and you have to try and find him, clue – look for Mullins, no can't find him either)
I don't believe that Pardew would have been the right person to be given a load of cash in January and to build a future West Ham and get us out of the mire we are in. The board couldn't take that risk.

It might have been cold to sack him, and I'm sure that he will be back with Palace or some other Championship side and good luck to him, BUT in the old Crazy World of Terrance Brown, Brown would have allowed us to go down, sell of Deano, Green and Yossi to line his pockets and let us stagnate.
This Magnusson and Gudmundsson board are here to stay, they are not lifelong fans, born to the sound of Bow Bells or that David Cross was God (as I do) they are businessmen and we are now a commodity, but if that's the way it is going to be, and it is, then let's enjoy a little revenge for AP when the new manager comes in and actually deals with those disloyal, lazy players that led to his demise.

I love West Ham, alway's have done, I follow them because of that gut wrenching feeling before every game not daring to ever be complacent or ever taking for granted that we will win, that's the passion, you learn never take our club for granted, but many of this current squad have. West Ham 'till I die.

Lakeyboy:

My view is what we had in Alan Pardew was that rare breed of good English manager's.

Pardew brought professionalism, heart and had a down to earth approach among the fans in which it took sometime but we had warmed to him! he had taken us under his wing! and gained our trust!!

The downfall of AP was to be a mixture of results and player power!
Firstly results were not going for him! now I don't care if you are manager of a Prem team or a cleaner for the local Church!
if you are not performing you will either get time to pull up your socks or which happened to AP get the foot!
so the results were just not good enough Pardew was man enough to say this on many occasions.

HOWEVER AP's BIG mistake and the one that cost him is job in the end was his loyalty to so called Premiership Quality players!
One has to mention the name and shame of our very own club
Captain Nigel Reo Coker!!

What NRC did was take, take, take BUT give nothing back! What I mean is Pardew gave him his chance in our team! Even made him Captain! Constantly praised him! I mean while NRC lapped this all up, got VERY big for his boots and then started to look elsewhere! for a so called bigger club! He turns up every week and puts in no more 50% max!
NOW i am the sort of person that would like to see players coming off after games NOT LOOKING like they could play another game straight after, but of a player to LOOK knackered like he has gave 110% which i have not seen ONCE this season!

Also what he has done is split our group! he has his little follower's you know who you are Anton Ferdinand, Marlon ect.....

For survival me MUST sell him otherwise we are relegated it's as BIG an issue as that!!

Pardew why you stuck with him is your Major downfall

Anyway Everyone lets hope the new owners know what they are doing!!
I mean they thought they could come in and get results straight away, in which if they would have asked ANY WHU Fan we all could have told them this would not be the case!
I have supported WHU all my life 27 years to be exact and I have also know us to go on a winning run, then come back down to earth with a few loses!!

That's what being a WH fan is all about! I hope i have explained my views in the best possible way!

Last note NRC OUT!!!!!!!!!!

LaurenceDL:

Last year I liked Alan Pardew's management style. He seemed to brook no-nonsense from the team. The side played as a side and got the results it deserved - FA Cup final, UEFA entry, etc. And as evidenced in the cup final, it also brought a new and entertaining blend of football to the premier league.

This year it fell apart. I can't blame Alan Pardew for all of it. Nigel Reo-Coker, the team captain has to shoulder some of the blame. He has been in a funk since he didn't get the transfer to a top three team that he obviously wanted. That's some thanks to the club that pulled him out of the doldrums. And Alan Pardew kept playing him. He should have been disciplined from the start. From the captain down, the team with so much potential and, with the arrival of the Argentineans, a so-called formidable attacking line, also seem to have difficulty finding the net.

This isn't the first time this has happened to the Hammers. In 2003, a supposedly good team went down. That team had also lost its compass.

As along-time and long-suffering fan, I am fed up with the constant underachieving of what by now should have been a football dynasty.

I hope that Mr Magnusson hires a tough hard-as-nails replacement. He should take no nonsense from a team of millionaires who on current performance aren't worthy of the handsome wages they get paid.


More to follow….