West Ham- in trouble again.

 West Ham - in trouble again. 

At the end of their latest Premier League defeat to Leicester City at the King Power Stadium, West Ham fans roundly booed their Spanish manager Julen Lopetegui, airing their grievances in fairly boisterous fashion and making no secret of their raucous disapproval of a team sliding into a crisis. It began to sound like outright revolt and mutiny on perhaps the most monumental scale since the Sam Allardyce era. 

You remembered an evening match against Hull City when Allardyce's era, the former Hammers manager was surreally heckled and harangued by West Ham's disgusted supporters. On that night, West Ham emerged 2-1 winners in what proved yet another pivotal moment in their Premier League history. But the style of football that Allardyce had advocated for so long was totally at odds with their traditionally fluent and expressive approach to the game which went way back to both Ron Greenwood and John Lyall. 

For long periods of that game, West Ham were plain, mundane, one dimensional, awful at times, atrocious at others, a world away from the stylish and short passing, imaginative side who had brought such pride to English football in 1965 when, under the extraordinary leadership of Bobby Moore, West Ham had brought back the European Cup Winners Cup to England with a 2-0 victory at the old Wembley against German side TSV Munich 1860.

But on Tuesday night, West Ham were back in murky waters again. There was trouble at the mill again and not for the first time. When David Moyes left the club at the end of last season, having decorated their trophy cabinet with its first European trophy since that unforgettable night in 1965, it was widely felt that Moyes had taken the team as far as he could. The UEFA Conference Final victory over Fiorentina two years ago still feels like ancient history but after finishing ninth in the Premier League last season, a shuddering anti climax set in at the London Stadium. 

It was a time for a refreshing change of direction. Former Sevilla, Real Madrid and Wolves manager Julen Lopetegui could call on a modicum of experience in management circles. But a now well publicised goalkeeping howler in Spanish football years ago has now been seen by a modern audience. West Ham began this Premier League season with a distressing sequence of three home defeats by Aston Villa on the opening day followed by a now struggling Manchester City and then Chelsea who must have thought all their birthdays had come at once. The first wounds had been exposed and then things got progressively worse. 

Another crushing 4-1 defeat to London rivals Spurs at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium left even more painful psychological scars which have never really healed. And then, last week, Spurs long suffering neighbours Arsenal, arrived at the London Stadium and inflicted yet more capital damage on West Ham. After a commendable Champions League victory in Portugal and excellent form back in the Premier League, Arsenal carried out their customary execution over the Hammers with an incredible 5-2 win at the London Stadium, all seven goals coming in a bizarre first half. 

And now Lopetegui finds himself in a nightmarish downward spiral. Patience may be a virtue but the Spaniard finds himself like a matador facing a stubborn bull. The toreador in Lopetegui looked totally drained and washed out after the Leicester game, a haunted, drawn and haggard looking man who looked as if he'd committed the most unforgivable criminal offence of all time. How long has this friendly if slightly confused man got? The world of management is unforgiving, unrepentant and totally without remorse. Nobody feels sorry for the man with the biggest responsibility of them all. 

Your mind also went back to those other temporary occupants of the managerial hot seat at West Ham. Lou Macari and Billy Bonds, the club's courageous hero and captain, lasted as long as their probationary period allowed. It was almost over before it had even started. Macari, regrettably but clearly, was never management material and now does a wonderful job with a local shelter for the homeless. Bonds was adored and revered by the club but although he had Harry Redknapp as assistant boss, the chemical formula never seemed right. 

Today though Julen Lopetegui has been given the benefit of the doubt, a man still facing the gallows but yet to be the condemned man the West Ham faithful think he should be. Lying in 14th place in the Premier League, West Ham are once again standing on the trapdoor to another relegation ordeal. For much of the game at Leicester, West Ham had a lion's share of the possession and almost dominated it for long periods. But Leicester were ruthless and demonstrated the goal scoring art to perfection. Three goals were like a punch to the ribs of Lopetegui. His solar plexus had never been more severely struck.

Next Monday evening, West Ham entertain fellow toilers Wolves whose manager Gary O'Neill once played in the claret and blue of West Ham. It should be considered as a make or break, critical game for the East London side since nothing less than a convincing victory will be enough to save Lopetegui his job. Oh for the agonies and ecstasies of football management, the trials and tribulations of the man in the firing line. It was never easy and for West Ham the next batch of Premier League conflicts, could represent a long, hard and demanding winter for the team once known as Thames Ironworks. Some of us will be closing our eyes and ears before hiding behind the sofa. Football was meant to be stressful. Come on you Irons.