West Ham United announced the news that manager Sam Allardyce would not have his contract renewed less than a minute after their 2-0 defeat at Newcastle United on the final day of the Premier League season.

As the final whistle went, a statement was released from the club's official Twitter account announcing Allardyce's departure.

It read: "The Club have begun the search for a new manager after deciding not to renew Sam Allardyce’s contract."

Some were suggesting Allardyce as a future England manager and potential candidate for Manager of the Season as the Hammers pressed the top four all the way to Christmas.

But their form since the turn of the year has nose-dived, leaving them in twelfth position after they finished the season with three successive defeats in which they scored only a solitary goal.

After the 60-year-old's four-year reign at the Boleyn Ground comes to an end, speculation will surely begin as to his possible replacement.

The West Ham board have announced that they have a list of potential candidates for the job, and will make "significant transfer funds" available to Allardyce's successor.

Joint-chairmen David Gold and David Sullivan thanked Allardyce for his service which included promotion from the Championship in 2012, with the official statement continuing to say that the new manager will lead the club "into one of the most exciting eras in its history".

“We would like to start by thanking Sam Allardyce for his valuable work since arriving at the Boleyn Ground four years ago,” Gold and Sullivan said.

“He leaves the Club in a considerably better state then when he arrived and, for that, the Board are truly grateful.

“However, we have made the decision not to renew his contract, so we now have the chance to appoint a new manager with a new philosophy to lead us into two of the most exciting years in our great Club’s history.

“Our target is to recruit a manager that will build a team capable of saying a fitting farewell to the Boleyn Ground next year and do justice to the outstanding surrounds [the Olympic Stadium] we will call home from August 2016.

“We have already been impressed with the quality of candidates that have expressed an interest in the role and fully expect to appoint a manager with the credentials to take this Club on to new heights.

“From our point of view there isn’t a more exciting job in the Premier League at present.”