West Ham promise new manager will be handed significant transfer funds

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/may/25/west-ham-manager

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West Ham will demonstrate their ambition by promising significant transfer funds plus a lucrative contract as they seek to lure a successor to Sam Allardyce to oversee the club’s final season at Upton Park.

The club confirmed after Sunday’s defeat at Newcastle that Allardyce would not be retained when his £3m-a-year deal expires next month, ending a successful four-year spell. The co-owners, David Sullivan and David Gold, are prepared to offer an even bigger salary to his successor and have sounded out a number of candidates.

They have made clear there will be money to strengthen before the move to the Olympic Stadium in the 2016-17 season, with up to five arrivals anticipated, and are prepared to spend the next few weeks assessing who is available for the role.

Their chances of securing Carlo Ancelotti and Rafael Benítez, two of their most ambitious targets, appear to have receded already with the Italian, whose departure from Real Madrid was confirmed on Monday, to undergo back surgery and the Spaniard expected to replace him at the Bernabéu.

Jürgen Klopp intends to take a sabbatical for at least six months while Unai Emery, who claimed the Europa League with Sevilla last season and hopes to retain the trophy with the Spanish club against Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in Warsaw on Wednesday, is admired even though he has apparently been sounded out by Milan.

West Ham have not entirely given up hope of convincing David Moyes to return to the Premier League, despite the former Everton and Manchester United manager having consistently expressed a desire to remain at Real Sociedad. He is unlikely to change his mind unless his situation changes at Anoeta.

Both Slaven Bilic, a former West Ham player who is leaving Besiktas, and the former Swansea manager Michael Laudrup, who is out of contract at the Qatari club Lekhwiya next month, have expressed an interest and will be considered.

Yet West Ham will take their time to ensure they secure the best candidate. Should it be confirmed this week that the club have claimed a place in next season’s Europa League via Uefa’s Fair Play spot, they could go into the qualifiers in the first week of July under caretaker stewardship. The academy manager, Terry Westley, is most likely to take up that role if required.

The fact that they had even considered Ancelotti is at least a reflection of the calibre of candidates under consideration but the former Chelsea manager intends to take a lengthy break. “I’ve said it before and I can only repeat it: I’ll stop for a year [if I am sacked],” Ancelotti said. “I also have a very serious reason to stop. I need to have an operation for cervical stenosis.

“For some time I’ve been having tingling in my hands. If I wait any longer it may spread to my legs, so I’ve made an appointment for surgery. Frankly I don’t know how long I’ll have to physically stop, for the post-operative phase and rehabilitation.”