Julien Faubert has taken aim at former manager Avram Grant, laying the blame for West Ham's relegation to the Championship in 2011 at his door and stating that the Israeli's “motivation was sh*t” and that he “didn't learn anything from him”.
Following a turbulent season under Gianfranco Zola, Grant was brought in by the Hammers on a four-year contract, with the club's hierarchy stating that they had taken time over the appointment and that they were confident they had made the right hire.
The club performed even worse than the previous campaign, however, with a 3-2 loss to Wigan in May 2011 sealing the club's fate in the English second tier for the following season.
And Faubert, who spent five years with the Hammers, is adamant that Grant was the main cause behind their relegation, with the manager's hands-off approach, poor communication and planning all playing a part in the drop.
“That guy was so antisocial,” the 36-year-old told The Athletic. “He never spoke to us, he barely took charge of the training sessions because he was always in his office, his motivation was sh*t and I didn’t learn anything from him.
“Time after time and after every game we kept seeing the same problems with very little progress. We tried to be positive and motivate each other but everything was so bad, from the training and preparation for games. It’s such a shame, because the fans were on our side until the very end.”
It is not the first time Grant's credentials have been questioned over the years, with reports suggesting that several of Chelsea's players were unhappy with the allegedly archaic nature of the head coach's approach during his time at Stamford Bridge.
He did, however, lead the Blues to the Champions League final in 2008, ultimately losing out to Manchester United on penalties. For Faubert, though, Grant should not be given plaudits for reaching that stage, with the players more deserving of praise for getting as far as they did.
“People say he is the reason why Chelsea reached the Champions League final but it wasn’t, it was down to the players,” he said.
“With us, it was his assistant (Zeljko Petrovic) who would do the training sessions and he tried to make it fun. He really tried his best but if Avram Grant can be a manager then I can too. That season, he made so many poor decisions.
“It’s going to sound bad but the season we got relegated it was inevitable. I didn’t have a good relationship with him and we got relegated because of him.”