Sam Allardyce: proof "new manager syndrome" is not the only option for club owners

West Ham moved to 10th in the Premier League, seven points clear of the drop after their fourth straight victory in the league. Sam Allardyce finds himself in a position of stark contrast to that of two months ago. Some people are calling for him to win a Manager of the Month award for February for which he has instantly and quite comically dismissed. A lot of credit must go to the West Ham hierarchy, David Gold and David Sullivan, who stuck by Allardyce when it mattered. They insisted he was the right man to keep the Hammers' up and their faith has been well and truly repaid; a prime example of why club owners are naive to expect a 'new manager syndrome' will always get instant results and revitalise a season.

That is not to say there is some substance to the 'new manager syndrome' invigorating the squad and improving the team in the short term, but in the long term no club, with the exception of Crystal Palace and possibly Sunderland, which has sacked a manager in the Premier League this season are in a indisputable better position. Additionally it is only Palace who have appointed a manager, proven in the Premier League. Tottenham are a slight red herring as their aims do not involve survival and are completely different to the other sides, as are Sunderland who are definitely better off with Gus Poyet at the helm, but their rash sacking of Steve Bruce, currently flourishing at Hull, was the catalyst to their early season capitulation under Di Canio. Although Sunderland are still in danger of going down, and Spurs are still struggling to capitalise on Manchester United's shortcomings this season and look set to miss out on Champions League again. Palace, after their appointment of Tony Pulis, have been the only clear beneficiaries of the manager merry-go-round.

Graphic: How teams who have sacked managers have fared?

West Brom, Swansea, Fulham and Cardiff all hoped their managerial changes would be as successful as Crystal Palace's or even Sunderland's but this has not been the case. Fulham have had a nightmare season, on and off the pitch with both aspects effecting one another to highly detrimental levels; Rene Meulensteen who replaced Martin Jol has since been replaced himself just 14 weeks later by Felix Magath - it remains to be seen if he can keep Fulham up. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has replaced Malky Mackay and in two months in charge Cardiff's relegation prospects have increased dramatically. Both Pepe Mel of West Brom and Gary Monk of Swansea have taken over from managers who were sacked unexpectedly with their team in not an awful lot of immediate danger and very much expected to survive the drop but are currently just one and three points above the drop respectively and will be eagerly looking over their shoulders at the teams below them.

Despite Crystal Palace, Sunderland and Tottenham Hotspur's positional improvements of three, two and two places respectively it is West Ham who, after deciding to keep Sam Allardyce, will feel most content with their managerial decisions boasting a great improvement in results jumping from 19th to 10th since the board publicly backed him on January 6th. Ironically a public backing is often known as a dreaded 'vote of confidence' which ultimately result in a managers sacking just days later. It seems, with safety in sight West Ham are an example for many other struggling clubs to follow.