Allardyce set to be named Hammers manager

SAM ALLARDYCE is expected to be confirmed as the new manager of West Ham United today.

Allardyce, who will sign a two-year deal, will be paid a £1.25m-a-year salary, plus a bonus of at least £1m by co-owners David Gold and David Sullivan if he can secure an immediate return to the Premier League for the Irons.

Allardyce will replace Avram Grant, who was sacked in the aftermath of West Ham’s 3-2 defeat to Wigan last month, a result

The West Ham job will be his first job since he was dismissed by Blackburn in December and it will be the first time he has managed outside the top flight in a decade.

Having cut his teeth with Blackpool and Notts County, he made his name as a manager with Bolton and took them to the Premier League through the play-offs in 2001.

He then established them as a Premier League club and even took them into Europe in 2005.

His work on a relatively low budget did not go unnoticed and he moved to Newcastle in 2007, only for Mike Ashley to take over the club two weeks later and sack Allardyce after just six months.

After an 11-month absence he returned to management with Blackburn in December 2008 and was thought by many to be doing a reasonable job, again on a low budget, when he was sacked six months ago.

Again his dismissal was authorised by an owner that did not employ him, but, if Gold and Sullivan make the decision to appoint him, Allardyce can hope to get the time he needs to reshape the east London club.

Once Allardyce is appointed the future of key players Scott Parker, Robert Green, Matthew Upson, Carlton Cole and Thomas Hitzlsperger should become clearer.

While Parker, Green, Upson and Cole are almost certain to leave, Sullivan has told Hitzlsperger that he would be made club captain and the team’s focal point should the German midfielder choose to stay on and help win instant promotion.

The future of Demba Ba, the Senegalese who scored seven league goals in 12 appearances since joining on a pay-as-you-play deal in January from Hoffenheim, is also undecided.

Allardyce was quoted as saying at the weekend: “Everything has been agreed in principle and I look forward to taking charge after I have had a family holiday. It’s always difficult dealing with the aftermath of relegation but I want to get West Ham back into the Premier League as quickly as possible.”