At the start of the season the main talking point at West Ham United was the future of manager Sam Allardyce. The general consensus was that if the club had started the season poorly it would not be long until Big Sam was removed from his position.

Indeed, with so much speculation about Allardyce’s future last summer, the club issued a statement which stated that a top-ten finish was mandatory. It was a strange thing to say considering the club had just survived relegation in the previous campaign.

However, what the club’s owners were trying to achieve in releasing said statement was a win-win situation which would please everybody. If West Ham failed to reach the top ten in the Premier League there would be justification for sacking Allardyce and at the same time, if a top-ten finish was attained then nobody could really complain either.

But the owners could not in their wildest dreams have imagined the team would start the season so well. Even I could not have foreseen the way things went in those first few months.

I believed that even those who are staunchly anti-Allardyce had been pacified by the much-improved form of the side and by the new attacking approach the team had taken. Even though West Ham have fallen off the pace in recent months the form and performances are still a lot better than last season.

But after the FA Cup defeat away at West Bromwich Albion those who have remained opposed to Allardyce or harboured any opposition to him were heard loud and clear once more.

The question which remains on everyone’s mind is whether or not Allardyce will be the West Ham manager next season.

Personally I doubt he will and the reason I doubt this is because I can’t imagine the club’s owners wanting to continue with a manager who divides opinion as widely as Allardyce. On top of this, his demeanour and style will always create an increased sense of negativity when the team loses a game.

Whether you are in the pro or anti-Allardyce camp we all share the same desire, which is to see West Ham move forward with a team which we can be proud watching.

But is Allardyce the only manager who can provide this?

There are many out there who argue he is the only manager who can keep West Ham in the Premier League.

Many cite the cases of previous employers who have removed Allardyce and not fared as well since, but when you appoint the likes of Joe Kinnear or Steve Kean then you get what you deserve.

The point I am making is that it is the next appointment which is key, not the removal of the previous manager. This was the case when West Ham sacked Gianfranco Zola (who has just left another club this week as his managerial career continues to flop) because his sacking was correct – Avram Grant’s appointment, however, was not.

A sweeping statement I often hear is “be careful what you wish for”. What I actually wish is for us to have a manager that we can all get behind, because rightly or wrongly, the majority of West Ham fans cannot seem to get behind Allardyce no matter what happens.

Maybe West Ham fans are fickle; maybe we are being hard on a manager who from the outset has delivered the goals that were set out. Yet there is a craving for something more and I believe looking at the examples set by clubs such as Southampton and Swansea City, it can be found.

If Allardyce is to stay at the club then he will need to be fully backed in the summer with as much money as we can afford because if he is not then excuses will always be available for him to make and he may well have a point this time.