Graham Potter looks like a man who has lost a tenner.
Usually, that sentence is completed by the words ‘and found a fiver.’
But West Ham’s boss just looks like a man who has lost a tenner - full stop.
The phrase ‘under pressure’ doesn’t do it justice.
‘Dead man walking’ is more like it after another weekend of chaos at the Olympic Stadium.
You’ve got to laugh.
I spoke to a mate this morning who is claret and blue to the core and he told me the following.
There were two protests which took place before the weekend’s latest calamity against Crystal Palace.
The first, the larger of the two, was organised by Hammers Utd - and marched to the stadium from Pudding Mill Lane station.
The other one was run by ‘Crossed Hammers’ - and stopped at a pub called the ‘Carpenter’s Arms’, en route.
That’s the kind of demonstration I can get behind - although whether they actually gained any protestors - or lost a few - who knows?
It appears like a metaphor for the manner in which West Ham is being run at the moment - one step forward, two back.
And it’s hard to see a way out for the likeable - but increasingly hapless - Potter who made his name leading a club from a backwater into the mainstream over in Sweden with Ostersunds.
And he could very well end up back there when he applies for his next job.
If the narrative is to be believed - and it will have been driven by owner David Sullivan - Potter has to win a minimum of four points from fixtures at Everton and Arsenal.
This with a side that is currently leaking goals from corners at the rate of more than one per game, that looks a tall order.
I mean, they haven’t won a home game in the Premier League since February, either.
The indexes reflect the collapse in confidence - not just inside the Olympic Stadium - but throughout the country.
Prior to the campaign getting underway the Hammers were 7/1 to be relegated. That price has fallen to 11/8.
Finishing in the bottom spot was 25/1 before a ball had been kicked. That’s now raced in to 8/1 - with Burnley at 7/4 and Wolves at 15/8 to do likewise.
Interestingly, that has given rise to a new market regarding the number of clubs promoted from the Championship last season, being able to protect their newly-won status.
Given the form of Sunderland and Leeds in particular, and the fact that Burnley are making a fist of it, the price for none of last season’s trio to be relegated has come in from 20s to 7/1.
Obviously, those who fancy a bit of that will be banking on three of the current crop being worse.
And, at the moment, the Hammers are bound to be in anyone’s thinking.
At the root cause of it is the failure to recruit properly once the £105m from the sale of Declan Rice to Arsenal had gone through.
There are few who appeared capable of taking the Hammers forward.
One of them was Mohammed Kudus, whose best position was the one occupied by skipper Jarrod Bowen.
And, as far as the managers are concerned - barring the sensible, reliable and safe pair of hands belonging to David Moyes - none of the rest have passed muster.
Neither, for that matter, were any of them so good that they were in a job at the time when they were handed the keys to the club.
Who are the West Ham manager contenders?
You have to go back to 2015, when Slaven Bilic was headhunted from Besiktas, to find a manager who was actually employed by another club when Sullivan came calling.
Since then, everyone has been out of work. Unwanted by anyone else.
Funnily, that is likely be reflected in any up-coming manager’s market with the leading West Ham manager contenders all out of work.
Nuno Espirito Santo, Slaven Bilic and Gary O’Neil are currently unemployed.
Michael Carrick, another name in the frame, likewise.
Coventry City’s Frank Lampard is an interesting one - whether Hammers would take him from a place where the skies are blue to one where there are permanently overcast conditions is unclear - given their past relationship.
As for the moment, Potter's removal appears just a matter of time.
After all, Sullivan predicted some time ago that West Ham would be a ‘top-six club.’
And it's coming true - but unfortunately for Hammers’ fans, he just didn’t specify which division.
Any odds displayed were correct at the time of writing and are subject to fluctuation.
