to take over at Watford. Watford After Steve Perryman left to join Tottenham Hotspur, Roeder was hired as the new manager of his former club Watford at the start of the 1993–94 season. However, Watford were fined £10,000 for an illegal approach, and ordered to pay Gillingham a further £30,000 in compensation. In his second season with Watford he almost took the side to the play-offs, eventually finishing just two places outside them. However, he was sacked in February 1996 as the side were struggling at the bottom of the First Division. His replacement, Graham Taylor, was unable to prevent the side from being relegated. During his time at Vicarage Road he signed Kevin Phillips from local Hertfordshire team, Baldock Town for only £10,000. Burnley Roeder followed his tenure at Watford by taking a season away from the limelight, assuming a back seat role as Chris Waddle's assistant manager at Burnley. The partnership did not prove to be successful and the pair narrowly avoided steering Burnley into the bottom tier of English football. Only a home victory over Plymouth Argyle on the last day staved off relegation. Roeder proved to be both an unpopular and controversial figure to the Burnley fans, hitting a low point when he was reported to have said that star player Glen Little was "not fit to lace the boots" of manager Chris Waddle. Roeder left his role at Burnley alongside Waddle when the pair departed the club after only a single season in charge. England Roeder then worked as a coach under Glenn Hoddle for the England national team, before West Ham manager Harry Redknapp offered him an opportunity in club football again in 1999. West Ham United Initially appointed a coach by then manager Harry Redknapp, in the summer of 2001, Roeder was handed a chance to manage in the Premier League at West Ham United after the Hammers' failed attempts to attract Steve McClaren and then Alan Curbishley following Redknapp's departure. Roeder's appointment was opposed by some supporters, who had expected a bigger name to replace Redknapp. Roeder received a £15 million transfer kitty, and guided West Ham to seventh in his first season in charge. He signed David James from Aston Villa, Tomáš Řepka from ACF Fiorentina for £5.5 million, and Don Hutchison from Sunderland for £5 million, a club record fee at the time. In the 2002–03 season, West Ham struggled.