Sam Allardyce promises to learn from this season in effort to produce a more entertaining West Ham and improve on last season's disappointment

Allardyce held on to his job after meeting with the Hammers board but must show an improvement next season after a difficult campaign

Jim van Wijk
Thursday 22 May 2014 10:48 EDT
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West Ham manager Sam Allardyce
West Ham manager Sam Allardyce (Getty Images)

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West Ham manager Sam Allardyce has vowed to learn the lessons of last season and move the club forward.

The Upton Park side announced on Tuesday Allardyce would remain as manager, but that he must accept a handful of "improvements", including a commitment to a more positive style of play with an agreement to hire a new attacking coach.

Chairmen David Gold and David Sullivan are aiming for "at least a top-10 finish" in 2014/15, having for long spells battled too close to the drop zone for comfort before eventually pulling clear to end up 13th on 40 points.

While some Irons supporters remain sceptical Allardyce can implement the needed changes, the former Bolton, Blackburn and Newcastle boss is in no doubt he can lead the club forward as they look towards taking up residency in the Olympic Stadium from 2016.

"The past is the past, you can't change anything - the crucial thing is to learn from it," Allardyce said on the club's official website, http://www.whufc.com.

"I am happy and proud to continue for another season as West Ham manager.

"I have had good, fruitful meetings with my employers and we are all in agreement that we want to move this great club forward in a united way.

"To that end we - the board, the staff, the players - are unified in wanting to create an exciting team for next season, one that is going to be better than last season.

"I sat down with the owners and Karren Brady to discuss many things and the outcome of that meeting is that we are all moving forward in a very positive manner.

"Things have been resolved satisfactorily on both sides and we now look forward to a productive summer and hopefully a very successful season.

"We want to try and achieve at least what we did in the first year back in the Barclays Premier League, which was a top-10 finish."

Allardyce maintains he will embrace the changes to the backroom staff at the Boleyn Ground.

"I am enthusiastic about that idea. We all agreed that whoever comes in has to be qualified and of the right type to supplement our already highly qualified backroom staff, in whom I have complete confidence," he said.

"The appointment is absolutely down to me and the challenge is to find the right person to help us score more goals next season, because that is what we need to do."

Allardyce continued: "Style of play is crucial, but it is also important that players realise their capabilities and play to them on a consistent basis.

"What we are striving for is the players playing well, as they did in the final home game of the season against Tottenham - a club who had spent many more millions of pounds than us - but not for one game, but consistently.

"We will all be striving hard to achieve that consistency when we resume training and if we can regularly find that standard, then I am sure the supporters will be as happy as I will.

"Entertainment value, contrary to what some people say and think, is high on my list and always has been because this is an entertainment business.

"It is also a results business, though, and we need to win matches. If we can win games the right way next season then that has to be our ultimate aim and number one priority, particularly at home."

Allardyce, who took West Ham up at the first time of asking via the Championship play-off final three seasons ago, is busy looking to bring in new recruits for the challenges ahead.

He said: "I am not going to make any predictions at this early stage - certainly not before looking to see what everyone else does during the transfer window - but by the time we begin the new campaign we should have a clearer picture of how far we feel we can go.

"We are all aiming for a top-10 finish."

PA

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