The season when midtable security was change enough - 2012/13 review

On the road: Fans at St James's Park await a rare awayday victory

In a recent interview with the Guardian, BT Retail boss Gavin Patterson had this to say about Sky Sports’s Premier League coverage: “It's very professionally put together. But it leaves me cold.” Such grudging respect isn’t too dissimilar a sentiment to that felt by many West Ham fans during the 2012/13 season: Full marks for achievement, but the edges of our seats remained largely untroubled.

Sam Allardyce isn’t here to defend himself, so let me do it for him in a language he would appreciate: Statistics. The average Premier League finish for a promoted side over the last ten years is fifteenth, so to finish in the top half is a massive achievement. Of the 30 promoted sides during that period, there have only been five instances of first-season top-half finishes – and two of them have been West Ham. In fact, excluding West Ham’s achievements in 2005/06 and 2012/13, six of the last eight play-off winners were relegated in their first season.

Black-and-white stats aside, Upton Park was the scene of several memorable matches: Fulham were stuffed 3-0; an incorrectly disallowed goal was all that stood between victory over defending champions Manchester City; today's 4-2 win against Reading was high on entertainment; and, best of all, Chelsea were defeated at the Boleyn Ground for the first time in ten years after an inspired second-half comeback.

On the road it was a different story. This supporter had the pleasure of watching Big Sam get the better of ex-Hammer Alan Pardew in a 1-0 win at St James’s Park. That was in November, and only one further awayday success followed. For fans treated to a club record number of away wins in the previous season, following West Ham around the country this time provided few loyalty points. Resounding defeats at Swansea, Wigan and Sunderland – not to mention humiliating losses at Tottenham and Arsenal – were those of a team that should have been fighting for its top-tier life.

The reason West Ham never came close to being dragged into a relegation scrap was an unwavering discipline and a strong defence. Against lesser opposition in the Championship, such qualities were found wanting. Remember being 2-0 down within 30 minutes against Birmingham City? Reduced to ten men after 18 minutes against Southampton? That’s not to say that Upton Park suddenly turned into a fortress: leads were squandered on five different occasions (albeit each time against top-seven opposition). But the triumvirate of Jussi Jääskeläinen, Winston Reid and James Collins ensured that only four teams left east London with three points. At the other end of the pitch, Andy Carroll took the best part of the season and a couple of injuries to get going, but when he did he was prolific.

And yet for all of that, nagging question marks remained. The Academy continues to do a roaring trade for the lower leagues but little for West Ham’s first team. No new faces emerged, while even established graduates James Tomkins and Jack Collison were given scant opportunity to impress. The club’s striker recruitment policy continued to baffle: Modibo Maiga and Wellington Paulista were the latest recruits left to rot in the development team. Kevin Nolan notched an impressive tally of goals but otherwise the skipper’s contribution amounted to the square root of fuck all. Meanwhile, any success that should have been credited to Allardyce was undermined by a refusal to grant him a new contract until it was just weeks away from expiring.

The season had two main off-the-pitch talking points. Firstly, the vile chanting by a minority of fans at White Hart Lane, though nothing new, finally got the public condemnation it deserved. Secondly, the Olympic Stadium saga came to a head with the club finally being given the keys to a redeveloped 55,000-seater stadium just up the road.

When we return to Upton Park in August, the Premier League will seem like a slightly different place: Fergie will be gone, Everton will be Moyes-less, 10% of teams will be Welsh and a new BT channel will be televising matches. A little change at Upton Park wouldn’t hurt. But not too much. I’m thinking more of a cup run, than a new manager.

It may be boring to hope for consolidation, but those pesky stats suggest it’s a worthwhile aspiration. Of the 12 teams promoted between 2003 and 2010 who survived for a second season, one in three were relegated, while only one improved on the previous season’s finish by more than one place (Newcastle in 2012 – and we all know what happened to them the season after that). So a season of consolidation it is, then. That fancy new Adidas sportswear is surely change enough.