Julien Faubert certainly experienced a wide spectrum of managers during his five year spell in the Premier League and the Championship with West Ham United.
Alan Curbishley was sitting in the Upton Park dugout when West Ham snapped Faubert from under Rangers’ nose in the summer of 2007.
The £6 million signing from Bordeaux would then help the affable Gianfranco Zola lead the Hammers to a top-half Premier League finish, before things went south fast under Avram Grant.
If Zola was charisma personified, then the dour, sour-faced Grant was, well, let’s say hardly a laugh a minute. His dismal spell in charge of West Ham United easily ranks as the club’s worst in the modern era. The Hammers board tend to be loyal almost to a fault when it comes to their managers, but Tony Cottee is right when he says keeping faith in Avram Grant was a massive mistake.
A costly one, too.
Somehow, the former Chelsea and Portsmouth boss avoided the sack despite winning only one of his first 14 league games in charge, much to Julien Faubert’s chagrin.
Julien Faubert opens up on Avram Grant dispute at West Ham United
Speaking on the latest edition of Ironcast, Faubert painstakingly describes how he was oddly sidelined under a coach whose man-management skills were about as impressive as his results in East London.
“I didn’t have a great relationship with him, to be honest,” Faubert sighs. “We had a conversation in his office [which] I didn’t really like, to be honest.
“At this time, he put a centre-back in my place at right-back, Tal Ben Haim.”
While admittedly a versatile operator, the sight of former Man City, Chelsea and Bolton Wanderers stopper Ben Haim starting in Faubert’s right-sided role under Grant was another slap in the face for the Frenchman.
“I felt, without ego or anything, that I was better than [Ben Haim as a right-back],” Faubert adds. “[Grant] said to me straight away, at the beginning of pre-season, ‘Oh, you’re not going to play.
“You don’t understand, really. I said, ‘Ok’. I felt so good at the club. Then, when I left his office, I shook his hand and said, ‘You’re gonna leave and I am going to stay’.”
In the end, without getting all Partridge about it, needless to say Faubert had the last laugh.
Faubert loved that play-off winning season under Sam Allardyce
Grant would finally get the boot, albeit after West Ham’s relegation was confirmed in May. The subsequent arrival of Sam Allardyce heralded Faubert’s immediate return to the team, as well as the Hammers’ immediate return to the Premier League at the first time of asking.
“I knew I killed myself to be honest [speaking to Grant like that]. He put me out, on the bench, but I said, ‘You know, it’s OK’. At the end, unfortunately, we went down and it was a really bad season. To be honest, it was my first time in five years at West Ham I didn’t feel a group of mates wanting to play together
“I didn’t want to give excuses to [Grant], so I was the first in training. On time, all the time. I ran like a dog on the pitch, and I didn’t want to leave West Ham. I still had a few years contract but I said, ‘If he stays, he stays, but I will fight until a new manager comes and maybe this time I will be treated with respect’.
“[And Allardyce] knew how to take the best of the players. I am a fighter, and he’s a guy who likes winning. He knows how to talk to you, how to make you feel like you’re the best player. He knew the league totally. It was a great experience with him.
“He was tough on the pitch but so cool on the outside.”
Faubert was on the Wembley turf when Ricardo Vaz Te rifled a dramatic 87th minute winner into the Blackpool net in 2012, securing a top-flight return and cementing Allardyce’s legacy in the process.
“The relationship I had with the fans was crazy. I never felt a connection like that before or after. As a player, I always felt like I was ready to die on the pitch, and I think that’s the mentality of the Club and the fans, so I’m still a big fan, for sure,” Faubert smiles.
“When Ricardo scored against Blackpool, I think that was one of the best experiences I ever had on the pitch. The atmosphere and noise was incredible, and after knowing how the fans felt when we went down, we knew what it meant to them to go back up.
“That was an incredible day.”
Receive a digest of our best West Ham content each week direct to your mailbox
