West Ham fans won’t believe the name who’s back on alleged manager shortlist

Remarkably, perhaps for the first time in Hammers history, the club’s supporters have left six of those matches in their thousands before the final whistle.

And it’s nothing to do worries over public transport.

West Ham could and should have gone into the game with Everton off the back of three heavy defeats.

Somehow the Hammers managed to pull off a fortuitous win over Man United which has proved a false dawn.

Going into the Everton game, Lopetegui was under intense pressure yet again.

Many sources close to the club’s owners claimed only a win would do over the terrible Toffees.

Indeed one top West Ham reporter stated earlier in the week ‘only a convincing win’ might save the Spaniard.

In the last week alone no fewer than six managers have been linked as potential replacements.

Seven if you include more tenuous links to a certain Jose Mourinho.

In order for that to happen it would take a complete change of heart from David Sullivan about the Portuguese.

Graham Potter, Edin Terzic, Roger Schmidt, Sebastian Hoeness, Sergio Conceicao and Kasper Hjulmand have all been sounded out according to reports.

Now West Ham fans won’t believe the name who’s back on the alleged manager shortlist.

West Ham fans won’t believe name back on manager shortlist

The desperately dull 0-0 draw with Everton has done nothing to enhance Lopetegui’s reputation.

It only served to further weaken his case because the Hammers were actually outplayed by one of the least cultured teams in the Premier League.

Lopetegui was supposed to improve West Ham’s style and approach.

But many feel they’ve gone backwards.

Well West Ham seem to be going backwards through their contact list too when lining up a replacement too.

A global transfer expert known for his work with a host of outlets including Caught Offside, BBC, ESPN, Goal and World Soccer Digest has reaffirmed Potter and Terzic are very much in West Ham’s sights.

But so too is Rafa Benitez.

Potter, Terzic and Benitez are seen as significant contenders for West Ham’s future plans according to the global transfer news expert.

Now that is a blast from the past.

Benitez was linked with West Ham last year – and not for the first time.

Sullivan is known to be a huge fan of the Spaniard.

Benitez, now 64, was last seen managing Celta Vigo – but was sacked back in March.

The former Liverpool manager came within hours of being named West Ham’s manager under Sullivan.

Sullivan favourite Benitez was hours from managing Hammers

But an 11th Real Madrid call and it is known to be one of Sullivan’s big regrets.

Back in 2015 West Ham were looking for a new manager to see in the final season at their beloved Boleyn Ground after the departure of Sam Allardyce.

The man Sullivan wanted was one Benitez.

And the former Inter, Chelsea and Real Madrid boss liked the idea of being West Ham’s manager too.

Speaking to The Guardian back in 2015, West Ham majority stakeholder Sullivan revealed Benitez had agreed to become the new Hammers manager and was just two hours from signing the contract before the Spaniard’s boyhood club Real Madrid picked up the phone.

West Ham went with Slaven Bilic instead and enjoyed an unforgettable farewell season at Upton Park before things started to turn sour.

“We were two hours from getting Benítez and then Real came in. We had agreed a contract and everything,” Sullivan said in the interview.

“He is a top manager whatever anybody says and I think he’d have done a wonderful job for us.

“We tried (Jürgen) Klopp as well but he wouldn’t come because he said he wanted a break. But I’m glad with the manager we have got.”

The name Benitez will not go down well with West Ham fans.

Many would argue we may as well stick with Lopetegui rather than trade him for another failed Madrid boss.

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