Sir Geoff Hurst Exclusive - Geoff on West Ham

21 November 2011 11:48
Football.co.uk caught up with Sir Geoff Hurst at The McDonald's Coaching Masterclass event at Wembley Stadium, he gave us his exclusive insight on the current situation at West Ham, their chances of promotion, the Olympic Stadium and the appointment of Sam Allardyce.

Football.co.uk: Being a club legend at West Ham, what do you make of the current situation and was Allardyce the correct appointment in your opinion?

Sir Geoff Hurst: Allardyce has been the right appointment for West Ham. He embraces the modern game through his training and monitoring of players.

His style of football isn't the greatest but it gets results and has West Ham on aim for promotion.

Grants appointment was the wrong one but also undermining him in January meant that the players lost their morale as they knew the manager was going to be leaving in the summer.

Previous to that Zola also was under qualified for the job, yet in his tenure he became more experienced and may go on to bigger and better things in the future.

Football.co.uk: What are your views on the Olympic Stadium?

Sir Geoff Hurst: West Ham need to move to the Olympic Stadium in order to move on with the modern game and provide top class facilities and transport access.

Upton Park holds many memories and has a great atmosphere which will need to be retained at the Olympic Stadium, which could prove difficult with the track in place.

Either way the club need to move although it remains to be seen if the Olympic Stadium is the correct decision.

Read Sir Geoff Hurst's views on Grassroots Football, Euro 2012 & 1966 and Bobby Moore

Sir Geoff Hurst was speaking at the McDonald’s Coaching Masterclass at Wembley, where a number of grassroots coaches and their teams were given the once in a lifetime opportunity to be coached by legends of the game after winning one of 500 x £100 vouchers encouraging parents to gain coaching qualifications. To date, McDonald’s has helped train over 20,000 qualified coaches and will create 10,000 more by 2014. For more information on the McDonald’s Football Programme and how you can help young footballers shine, visit www.thefa.com/yourgame.

Source: DSG