The Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim and Chilean Manuel Pellegrini are two names very familiar to West Ham United.

Pellegrini was a vanity appointment by Hammers majority owner David Sullivan back in 2018.

Amorim flew to London this time last year for talks with Sullivan about replacing David Moyes as West Ham boss, a move which excited fans.

West Ham spent big under Pellegrini but he could not mount a challenge for European football and finished 10th.

The next season he struggled badly and was sacked after Christmas as West Ham flirted with relegation.

That saw the return of Moyes who, after four-and-a-half memorable years, saw Amorim interviewed for his job while he was still in situ.

The high-profile talks with the now Manchester United manager resulted in Moyes banning technical director Tim Steidten from being around the first team for the final month of his Hammers tenure.

After Julen Lopetegui flopped, in similar fashion to Pellegrini after a £100m plus splurge, West Ham continue to struggle under Graham Potter.

The Englishman has won just three of his 15 games so far, taking the Hammers from 13th to 17th in the Premier League table ahead of Sunday’s big match with Tottenham Hotspur.

Serious doubts have already started to emerge about Potter with the jury firmly out.

The only saving grace for Potter is that the three relegated clubs were so far adrift.

Now Amorim and Pellegrini are the only men who can save West Ham from their nightmare.

In the most bitter of ironies for Sullivan, Amorim – the man who could have been Hammers boss only to end up at Man United six months later – and Pellegrini, who recently criticised the way Sullivan runs West Ham, are now the only hope for the Irons in avoiding an unimaginably painful end to a miserable season.

The Hammers’ dreadful campaign could be about to get even more insufferable thanks to bitter rivals Spurs and Chelsea.

Tottenham have actually been worse than West Ham in the Premier League in terms of defeats, losing 19 games – three more than the Hammers.

West Ham will be hoping to make that 20 for Spurs this Sunday and leapfrog them in the table in the process.

But that will be little consolation if Spurs do the unthinkable after putting one foot in the Europa League final.

After succeeding where West Ham failed in the same competition three years ago and beating Eintracht Frankfurt over two legs, Spurs beat Bodo-Glimt 3-1 in the semi-final first leg overnight.

There is now a very real prospect Tottenham could end their long trophy drought while simultaneously qualifying for the Champions League.

Being a more prestigious competition than the Conference League West Ham won nearly two years ago, it would also take away the Hammers’ bragging rights over Spurs.

Now the only man who can save West Ham from that fate is Amorim.

Man United won 3-0 away at Athletic Bilbao to put one foot in a final that looks likely to be against Spurs.

Perhaps it was meant to be that Amorim to West Ham didn’t work out so that his destiny was to stop Tottenham winning this trophy as manager of Manchester United.

Chelsea, historically West Ham’s biggest rivals after Millwall and Tottenham, are also on course to put their name on the Hammers’ Europa Conference League trophy.

And they could be set to do so after fielding their reserve team in the competition all season.

Like Spurs, Chelsea looked a shoo-in to make the final as they faced Djurgården.

And so it proved as they swept them aside 4-1 away from home in the semi-final first leg.

Now former West Ham boss Pellegrini and fan favourite Pablo Fornals look set to be standing in Chelsea’s way of rubbing more salt in Hammers wounds.

Pellegrini’s Real Betis side beat Fiorentina, the team West Ham vanquished in the final in Prague, 2-1 in the other semi-final.

They had led 2-0 but the Italians got a goal back to make the second leg interesting.

Betis look the stronger side, though, and Chelsea’s most likely opponents.

West Ham can only sit back and hope one manager who didn’t work out and another who wasn’t meant to be can stop a dismal season becoming a disastrous one.