Zola One Year On

Today is the first anniversary of Gianfranco Zola as West Ham manager. I have to admit I was initially a little wary of the appointment of such an inexperienced manager. However the appointment of Steve Clarke as his assistant and the improvements made on the pitch soon won me around.

Although Zola didn't have an immediate impact in terms of results, from his first game in charge he stamped his mark on the way he wanted West Ham to play. Under Zola West Ham have become a team that like to keep possession and play an attractive passing game. It is much more fun watching West Ham now than it was under Curbishley (who I still think is one of the best English managers).

Zola has had to cope with having very little money to buy the players he wants and has had to sell players in order to buy. If the club can get to the position where they can actually start funding the purchase of the players he wants I think Zola will really take the club forward.

Conversely, a couple of more seasons of not having any transfer funds and I can see Zola becoming frustrated and looking to move on. However, for now, it sounds like Zola is happy. Here's what he has had to say about being in charge at West Ham for one year,

"It's been very good and is an achievement, but I want to share it with the club.

"Gianluca Nani and Scott Duxbury have been brilliant. They believed in the project and never gave up on the idea of keeping the best players and actually trying to improve the team.

"That has been really good and I appreciate that. I was lucky because I had fantastic people on my side. Steve Clarke has been massive in this way, and also Kevin Keen and Antonio Pintus. They helped me a lot and we have built up a fantastic management team."