McClaren snub paves the way for Hughton
Chris Hughton has emerged as the new favourite to lead West Ham in the Championship after another chaotic night for the relegated east London team.
The evening started with Steve McClaren politely withdrawing from the race to succeed Avram Grant as the Irons' 14th permanent manager and ended with reports of players and supporters fighting at the disastrously timed end of season gala dinner and awards ceremony.
The former England boss has flown out to [36.0] having denied interest in the job and consequently Chris Hughton has emerged as the new frontrunner at [2.7]. His candidacy is boosted by the fact that he used to play for the club in addition to his success in taking Newcastle up at the first attempt.
The other interesting development late on Monday was that co-owner David Sullivan confirmed the suspicion of many that the board intend to appoint a British manager, news which comes as a blow to those that backed Paolo Di Canio ([11.0]), Slaven Bilic ([14.0]) and Roberto Di Matteo ([12.0]).
Judging by the alleged antagonism between club employees and fans at the Grosvenor House Hotel shindig, it appears that relations between the two groups and morale in the camp is incredibly low right now, so a small turnout and poisonous atmosphere is a possibility for Sunday's clash with Sunderland.
Given that and West Ham's inability to climb off the bottom of the table even if they win that game, odds of [3.9] on the Black Cats signing off for the campaign on a high at the Boleyn Ground look rather appetising.
Who is the right man to turn West Ham's fortunes around? Have your say below...
Published: 17 May 2011
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