Julen Lopetegui left West Ham in an absolute mess and now Graham Potter is trying to clean it up with some key changes.
There is every chance Julen Lopetegui, Tim Steidten and ultimately West Ham’s owners have set the club back years.
For all the brilliant work he did in east London, David Moyes has blood on his hands too in that respect.
Just when West Ham had built a solid platform around teamwork, team spirit and bringing talents who were untapped at the top level, they lost their way.
Instead of adding piece by piece in a coherent, methodical fashion and evolving in each window and season, the Hammers made the same old mistakes that have held the club back throughout most of its history.
The squad was allowed to grow old and complacent.
Key positions such as the full-backs and striker went completely ignored for years.
Recruitment then shifted from evolution to revolution through necessity.
That meant too many players arriving at West Ham at the same time, too many of them from overseas, too many bigger names who had seen better days.
Not enough young, hungry players were brought in and after spending £155m on nine players as part of a 21-player turnaround in the summer, West Ham face yet another overhaul under another manager.
Thankfully, thus far Graham Potter seems to be the right man for the job.
Not only in the way the Hammers are approaching matches but the way he seems to get the club from top to bottom from the off.
Now Potter is erasing all trace of Lopetegui with big West Ham changes.
The first big changes came within 24 hours of Potter’s arrival in east London.
Potter erases all trace of Lopetegui with big West Ham changes
The team played with a high intensity, high press and a clarity that had not been seen for the best part of a year when Potter took charge for the first time in an unfortunate FA Cup defeat at Aston Villa.
And the club’s cherished Academy was put right back at the forefront by Potter.
The Academy had gone completely ignored by Lopetegui until he was exposed in the press for giving zero minutes to club-trained players. In truth it was too often by Moyes and many of those before him too.
In came the likes of Ollie Scarles and Lewis Orford, getting game time ahead of players who clearly have no long-term future at the club. Exactly the way it should be and – more importantly – the way fans want it to be.
But the biggest changes were happening on the training ground and in the dressing room.
Lopetegui had taken a hard-line, taskmaster approach with his squad.
It was very much a blame culture under the Spaniard.
He embarrassed Mohammed Kudus in front of the entire team at Brentford.
Prior to that game, Newcastle’s Bruno Guimaraes was the only player in the Premier League who had won the ball back more times than Kudus for their team in the 14 months before.
So when Lopetegui accused Kudus of not being a team player at half-time of that game, the Ghanaian was furious.
Kudus reacted angrily and he was subbed off at half-time as Lopetegui looked to make an example of the team’s most talented individual.
All he did was set the wheels in motion on being the shortest-serving permanent manager in West Ham’s 130-year history.
Taskmaster disaster has set Hammers back years
Further bust-ups would follow with Edson Alvarez, Guido Rodriguez and Jean-Clair Todibo – with whom things became physical as Lopetegui created a culture of blame.
Players were showing public dissent towards the manager when substituted and fans became just as disengaged with the 58-year-old off the back off woeful performances and even worse press conferences.
One of the first things Lopetegui did on arriving at West Ham was to scrap individual travel to games or away matches by plane.
Lopetegui insisted the team meet and travel together by coach to away games.
He also limited days off for players to an extreme.
Former Hammer Don Hutchison has contacts at his old club’s training complex.
Hutchison recently revealed to Tony Cottee that Rush Green was dead under Lopetegui. He also claimed the ex Wolves boss had been labelled ‘Manuel Pellegrini mark two’ by some.
One of the first things Potter did on his first day was address the entire squad.
He told them in no uncertain terms the blame culture was gone.
Potter made it clear he wanted players to see one another as family.
And just as importantly he wanted players to also spend more time with their own actual family as days off returned.
When he wasn’t calling them out in front of their teammates, Lopetegui reportedly refused to have direct one-to-one dialogue with players. It was even claimed West Ham stars had to speak to him through one of his assistants.
Once Mark Noble got wind of that, he raised concerns with the West Ham ownership. It was not long until Lopetegui was out of the door.
Potter puts an end to Lopetegui’s culture of blame and fear
Instantly atmosphere was visibly lifted in training. That was abundantly clear in videos released by West Ham’s media team.
Players were reenergised and smiling again.
Performances on matchday – bar a poor display against Crystal Palace – have been chalk and cheese under Potter compared to under Lopetegui.
There has been an immediate and refreshing shift in recruitment philosophy.
Potter and new head of recruitment Kyle Macauley are targeting young, hungry players as they look to bring the average age of the Premier League’s oldest squad right down.
Their first signing – 20-year-old striker Evan Ferguson.
Family key for Potter’s West Ham, inside and outside the club
The new West Ham is perhaps best summed up what has taken place this weekend.
Word is Lopetegui was pushing to take the players away for a mid-season training camp abroad if and when they had a free weekend – as they did this due to being out of the FA Cup.
That would take players away from their families for another extended period with the true benefits of such a trip questionable given how little West Ham have to play for.
Instead Potter gave his players the weekend off to enjoy some downtime however best they choose with their loved ones.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka has been seen enjoying a trip to Paris for example.
At the same time Potter used his “weekend off” to sit down and give a lengthy and fascinating interview to West Ham’s Iron Cast where he talked at length about getting rid of a culture of fear and blame.
And showing, beyond any doubt, that he really gets West Ham United Football Club.
Potter is banishing the ghost of Lopetegui and it feels like the club, its players and fans have a new lease of life again.
Lopetegui and Steidten may have set the Hammers back years. But Potter looks like he is definitely the right man to get things back on track.
