Richard Keys has admitted he is taking pleasure in watching West Ham struggle under Julen Lopetegui during an explosive rant.
Never mind this season, it’s been a year to forget for West Ham United.
The Hammers have fallen off a cliff since the turn of the year.
David Moyes had West Ham in the top six and one win off the top four after beating Man United and Arsenal in consecutive games last December.
But there have been just nine wins from 38 games in all competitions in 2024, either side of Moyes being replaced by Julen Lopetegui in the summer.
That is an entire Premier League season’s worth of games. And that is very much relegation form.
Despite that dismal record, there was much media criticism when David Sullivan and co parted company with Moyes in the summer.
His successor Lopetegui has struggled to win over fans who were underwhelmed by his appointment.
Many have been quick to say ‘I told you so’ to West Ham fans over Moyes this season.
But as Hammers supporters rightly point out, just because it was time for the Scot to go, doesn’t mean they wanted Lopetegui as his replacement.
Results, performances and his man-management has left West Ham’s fans and owners unimpressed.
West Ham were well beaten 3-0 by Forest on Saturday.
And save for a very fortuitous win over Man United last weekend, West Ham would be going into the Everton game off the back of three heavy defeats.
Keys takes pleasure in West Ham pain in explosive rant
West Ham’s owners exclusively told Hammers News they are “100 per cent behind the manager but results must improve.”
There is little confidence among supporters that Lopetegui can turn things around.
Not if the result of a fan poll posted by a top Hammers board source is anything to go by.
West Ham’s struggles are not lost on those who were critical of their decision not to renew Moyes’ contract.
For most West Ham fans hearing the words ‘careful what you wish for’ has been like nails on a chalkboard.
It became the stock phrase trotted out by journalists, pundits and some fans – inside and outside the club – as the Scot’s time in east London drew to a close.
Richard Keys was very much among them.
Keys is big pals with the former boss. And that is evident again in a new Hammers diatribe.
Keys takes pleasure in West Ham’s pain as he ends an explosive rant with a cutting Frank Lampard claim.
The former Sky Sports turned beIN Sports host said he feels ‘not an ounce of sympathy’ for West Ham’s predicament.
And he says West Ham deserve to end up with managerial flop and the man their fans love to hate as manager.
Hammers deserve to end up with Lampard says Keys
“There’s clearly trouble at West Ham,” Keys said on his own website.
“West Ham’s problems are all of their own making and I don’t have an ounce of sympathy for them.
“It’ll get worse there before it gets better.
“They’re certainly going in another direction since forcing David Moyes out.
“It’s just not the one they wanted to go in. Frank Lampard?”
That really is the definition of schadenfreude from Keys.
West Ham being chastised for daring to want something more entertaining than Moyes is laughable.
Teams like Spurs, Villa, Brighton and even Bournemouth can want a more exciting brand of football, and get it, yet when it’s the Hammers, there’s outrage.
The fact is West Ham are perfectly entitled to expect better and more.
Just because it isn’t working out with Lopetegui, doesn’t mean it was the wrong decision for Moyes to leave.
The Scot even admitted himself by the end it was the right decision for all concerned.
So if he can accept it, why can’t Keys and co?
To suggest we deserve to end up with Lampard as manager – knowing full well the history between West Ham and their academy graduate – is a withering dig.
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