Premier League: 10 Managers Who Should Never Have Been Sacked

9. Gianfranco Zola - West Ham Gianfranco Zola was a somewhat surprising choice when he was named as West Ham manager in September 2008, because of his previous alliance with West Ham's London rivals. Nonetheless, he quickly won over any doubters as he introduced a more attacking style of play to the Hammers. Fans were particularly pleased with the integration of youth players into the first team. Zola led West Ham to a very respectable 9th place finish in his first season in charge. Things didn't go so smoothly for the Italian in his second season though. The Hammers failed to achieve the consistency they had in the previous season. They eventually finished 17th after which Zola was sacked. Avram Grant replaced him and the following season, West Ham were relegated to the Championship. Zola was popular with fans despite West Ham's poor performance in the 2009/10 season. He had introduced a number of key player such as Junior Stanislas, Zavon Hines and James Tomkins to the squad. Due to his rapport with the players and fans he was surely a more suitable choice to take the team forward than Avram Grant.