It may have been the worst trip down under for a British side since the England cricket team’s disastrous visit last winter. West Ham were beaten by Wellington Phoenix and Sydney FC and lost striker Andy Carroll. Divisions at the club were exposed, debate about manager Sam Allardyce’s position reopened.
Long before the season starts, a favourite has been installed in the sack race: Allardyce. To many, it was a surprise he survived the last campaign. When he did, it was a statement from the board talking about the club’s ethos and passing principles. Or, as it was predictably called, the “West Ham Way”.
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Then there is the Allardyce Way. The diet of direct and defensive football, the emphasis on set-pieces, the willingness to subjugate more talented players according to the needs of his on-field lieutenant, the cumbersome Kevin Nolan. When philosophies collide, there are few winners. Certainly not West Ham, who scored twice – one an own goal – and conceded five in their New Zealand misadventure.
Allardyce blamed the 3-1 defeat to Sydney on an enforced change of approach.
“We’re just working on our new style as we’ve got to get a bit more open and expansive as it seems to be what’s demanded in the game now,” he said. “We’re working on that side but have lost the defensive resilience that saw us get 14 clean sheets last season.”
That has long been his argument, that there is a trade-off in the quest for attacking football.
Allardyce has often insisted his teams have entertained. He has tended to lose the argument. The Big Sam predicament has been a constant. He is a one-man guarantee of survival. His methods upset fans.
Both Newcastle and Blackburn were relegated 18 months after sacking him. West Ham, who are preparing to move into the Olympic Stadium in 2016, cannot afford to go down. Allardyce has twice steered them to safety, once without alarms and after a visit to the bottom three last season.
The board held their nerve when they were under pressure to sack him, then. They backed him again in May but there are increasing signs they are not enjoying his regime.
Allardyce was hounded out of Newcastle. West Ham have similar expectations of a style of play. And, it seems, stylish players. The gifted, unpredictable Ravel Morrison is becoming a cause celebre. A crowd-pleaser could be exiled. “Sam has said Ravel is not part of his plans but we, as a board, see him as part of our plans,” co-owner David Sullivan told Talksport.
It raises the question of who picks the players or, indeed, who signs and sells them. The summer recruitment drive has encompassed some uncharacteristic arrivals for an Allardyce side. Diego Poyet is a passing midfielder, Mauro Zarate a No 10 for a team who prefer to field the uncreative Nolan behind the sole striker to feed off the flick-ons. One offers more elegance, the other an efficiency proved over the best part of a decade in the manager’s teams.
While the Ecuadorian target man Enner Valencia is more of a typical Allardyce arrival and while it should give West Ham a better deputy for Carroll as, for the second successive campaign, he misses the opening months, another expensive batch of signings – amounting to some £30 million (Dh187.1m) – serves to confuse matters.
With West Ham seeming split in different directions, between the physical and the technical, the manager and the power brokers, it suggests a parting of the ways would have been more logical so they could have proceeded with one vision.
Instead, the seeds of a civil war seem sown. Allardyce is the ultimate Roundhead: stern, joyless, efficient. West Ham want to be Cavalier: fun-loving, pleasure-seeking, heedless of the future.
Big Sam’s mathematical formula invariably ensures a minimum of 40 points and the probability of 50. Owners and supporters hope to reach their destination in a more entertaining manner. But disharmony can lead to disappointment. As the England cricket team can testify, flaws exposed in Australasia do not always disappear on a return to British soil.
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World Cricket League Division 2
In Windhoek, Namibia - Top two teams qualify for the World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe, which starts on March 4.
UAE fixtures
Thursday February 8, v Kenya; Friday February 9, v Canada; Sunday February 11, v Nepal; Monday February 12, v Oman; Wednesday February 14, v Namibia; Thursday February 15, final
Huddersfield Town permanent signings:
- Steve Mounie (striker): signed from Montpellier for £11 million
- Tom Ince (winger): signed from Derby County for £7.7m
- Aaron Mooy (midfielder): signed from Manchester City for £7.7m
- Laurent Depoitre (striker): signed from Porto for £3.4m
- Scott Malone (defender): signed from Fulham for £3.3m
- Zanka (defender): signed from Copenhagen for £2.3m
- Elias Kachunga (winger): signed for Ingolstadt for £1.1m
- Danny WIlliams (midfielder): signed from Reading on a free transfer
Know before you go
- Jebel Akhdar is a two-hour drive from Muscat airport or a six-hour drive from Dubai. It’s impossible to visit by car unless you have a 4x4. Phone ahead to the hotel to arrange a transfer.
- If you’re driving, make sure your insurance covers Oman.
- By air: Budget airlines Air Arabia, Flydubai and SalamAir offer direct routes to Muscat from the UAE.
- Tourists from the Emirates (UAE nationals not included) must apply for an Omani visa online before arrival at evisa.rop.gov.om. The process typically takes several days.
- Flash floods are probable due to the terrain and a lack of drainage. Always check the weather before venturing into any canyons or other remote areas and identify a plan of escape that includes high ground, shelter and parking where your car won’t be overtaken by sudden downpours.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
UJDA CHAMAN
Produced: Panorama Studios International
Directed: Abhishek Pathak
Cast: Sunny Singh, Maanvi Gagroo, Grusha Kapoor, Saurabh Shukla
Rating: 3.5 /5 stars
Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode
Directors: Raj & DK
Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon
Rating: 4/5
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FIXTURES
All kick-off times 10.45pm UAE ( 4 GMT) unless stated
Tuesday
Sevilla v Maribor
Spartak Moscow v Liverpool
Manchester City v Shakhtar Donetsk
Napoli v Feyenoord
Besiktas v RB Leipzig
Monaco v Porto
Apoel Nicosia v Tottenham Hotspur
Borussia Dortmund v Real Madrid
Wednesday
Basel v Benfica
CSKA Moscow Manchester United
Paris Saint-Germain v Bayern Munich
Anderlecht v Celtic
Qarabag v Roma (8pm)
Atletico Madrid v Chelsea
Juventus v Olympiakos
Sporting Lisbon v Barcelona
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Revibe%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202022%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Hamza%20Iraqui%20and%20Abdessamad%20Ben%20Zakour%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20UAE%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Refurbished%20electronics%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunds%20raised%20so%20far%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2410m%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFlat6Labs%2C%20Resonance%20and%20various%20others%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The squad traveling to Brazil:
Faisal Al Ketbi, Ibrahim Al Hosani, Khalfan Humaid Balhol, Khalifa Saeed Al Suwaidi, Mubarak Basharhil, Obaid Salem Al Nuaimi, Saeed Juma Al Mazrouei, Saoud Abdulla Al Hammadi, Taleb Al Kirbi, Yahia Mansour Al Hammadi, Zayed Al Kaabi, Zayed Saif Al Mansoori, Saaid Haj Hamdou, Hamad Saeed Al Nuaimi. Coaches Roberto Lima and Alex Paz.
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
