Truth about major fallout between Tim Steidten and Julen Lopetegui at West Ham

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A major falling out with Tim Steidten looks to have been the straw that broke the camel’s back for Julen Lopetegui at West Ham.

• Hammers News exclusive with football correspondent Graeme Bailey

The first sign of trouble between Julen Lopetegui and technical director Tim Steidten at West Ham can be charted back to October 19th.

After a dismal 4-1 defeat at bitter rivals Spurs, word emerged that Lopetegui was under pressure for the first time.

West Ham were suddenly linked with their former assistant coach Edin Terzic.

That claim was made by German journalist Florian Plettenberg about his out of work compatriot.

Plettenberg is known to count Steidten as a close contact.

And Hammers insider Sean Whetstone took to social media to suggest Steidten had been briefing Plettenberg on his desire to replace Lopetegui with Terzic.

Fast forward three weeks and a growing fissure in the relationship between manager and technical director was becoming clear.

It was reported West Ham’s game against Everton ahead of the November international break was a “must win” for Lopetegui.

But the Hammers were fortunate to play out a drab 0-0 draw in a game dubbed the worst the Premier League has seen this season.

Truth about major fallout between Steidten and Lopetegui

Lopetegui headed straight back to Spain after the game to spend time with, what we now know, was his dying father.

Before he did, though, he gave a very revealing interview standing up for himself and clearly criticising Steidten.

Lopetegui rather astonishingly said he cannot implement “his style” at West Ham because of the players he had been given by Steidten.

It was a huge surprise the 58-year-old survived that two-week break in light of those comments coupled with performances and results.

After all, he signed up to work under Steidten and the club spent over £155m on nine new players.

Many of them – including Guido Rodriguez, Max Kilman, Carlos Soler and Aaron Wan-Bissaka were also Lopetegui choices.

Criticism has also turned on Steidten and the owners since that interview.

It’s been clear all is not well behind the scenes with Steidten no longer a presence around the first team on matchdays.

The Times and The Telegraph made conflicting claims yesterday over the situation between Steidten and Lopetegui.

One stated Steidten has been banned from the first team training ground, as he was at the end of David Moyes’ tenure.

The other said Steidten was simply basing himself at the London Stadium while he works on transfers in the January window.

What seems clear is the relationship between the pair is broken and close to being over. But neither claim is entirely accurate.

Misunderstanding over player complaints led to Rush Green ban

It emerged yesterday that West Ham have now decided to sack Lopetegui.

An image has been leaked of Steidten holding talks with Graham Potter – the man now being lined up as Lopetegui’s replacement.

Now Hammers News can reveal the truth about the major fallout between Steidten and Lopetegui at West Ham.

The relationship was damaged beyond repair three weeks ago, Hammers News can reveal.

Senior players went to Steidten complaining about Lopetegui.

Steidten spoke to a source at the club who he trusts and asked him whether he should tell David Sullivan about the players’ complaints.

The source advised Steidten not to and told him to keep it to himself for the time being.

Hammers News understands Steidten said nothing.

But that Lopetegui then got wind of the conversation between the players and the technical director and told Sullivan and Karren Brady that Steidten was going behind his back and winding players up against him.

Lopetegui is said to have demanded Steidten be banned from West Ham’s training ground, where he has his main office, when he’d actually done nothing wrong.

The source revealed Steidten cannot even get to his locker at the moment.

When the new manager was unveiled alongside Steidten at a press conference in July, Lopetegui stated he wanted to ‘make a big noise’ with West Ham.

There has barely been a whimper on the pitch, but it’s certainly ending with a big noise off it.