By Dipo Olowookere
English Premier League club, West Ham United, have sacked their Italian manager, Mr Manuel Pellegrini, after just 18 months in charge of the London football outfit.
The former Manchester City title-winning coach was fired from his position at West Ham on Saturday shortly after his side lost 2-1 to Leicester City in a league game at the London Stadium.
Manuel Pellegrini has managed to win only one game in five, leaving the Hammers just one point clear of the relegation zone at 17th on the Premier League table after 19 games.
A statement issued by the club said Manuel Pellegrini has left West Ham “with immediate effect” after joining in May 2018 with high hopes of keeping the football outfit maintaining its position at the top half of the log.
In the statement, the joint-Chairmen of West Ham, Mr David Sullivan and Mr David Gold, along with the board and everyone at the club, said they “would like to place on record their thanks to Manuel for his service over the past 18 months.”
“It is with great disappointment that we’ve had to make this decision. Manuel is a gentleman and it has been a real pleasure to work with someone of his calibre.
“However, it has become clear that a change is required to get the Club back on track in line with our ambitions this season. We felt it was necessary to act now in order to give the new manager as much time as possible to try and achieve that goal,” Mr Sullivan was quoted as saying in the statement.
Meanwhile, former Everton and Manchester United manager, Mr David Moyes, has been tipped to take over as coach of West Ham. He is being speculated to be contacted on the possibility of keeping the club in the Premier League this season. West Ham’s next game is a league match against Bournemouth. The second game after the exit of Manuel Pellegrini would be a FA Cup against Gillingham.
Modupe Gbadeyanka