Former West Ham striker Tony Cottee says it was inevitable Manuel Pellegrini was dismissed and believes former boss David Moyes would be the ideal candidate to succeed the Chilean.
Pellegrini was sacked on Saturday after West Ham were defeated at home by Leicester City.
The club in a statement posted on its website said;
“It is with great disappointment that we’ve had to make this decision. Manuel is a gentleman and it has been a real pleasure to work with someone of his calibre.
“However, it has become clear that a change is required to get the Club back on track in line with our ambitions this season. We felt it was necessary to act now in order to give the new manager as much time as possible to try and achieve that goal.
Reacting to his sack, Cottee in an interview with Sky Sports News said he was not surprised by his disengagement.
"I'm not surprised, West Ham were really poor against Leicester and it's been coming for the last three or four weeks or so. He had a stay of execution with the victories over Chelsea and Southampton but overall it's been a really poor run of form. The board have obviously looked at it with a big game coming up on New Year's Day against Bournemouth and made a decision.
"They've tried a so-called top foreign manager, personally I think they need to go back to someone with a bit of passion, who understands the Premier League but more importantly the football club.
"I've already mentioned David Moyes, I think he could come in and do that job - there's also Chris Hughton who understands the football club and grew up supporting them.
"Whoever it is I think it needs to be someone available, come into the club and hit the ground running, sort out the defence and starting getting points on the board and move towards safety."
