David can thrive — but it won’t be pretty early on

IT seems West Ham have chosen a manager who, judging by the reaction, is no longer fit for purpose in the Premier League. I’ve read and listened to the criticisms made of David Moyes in the past 48 hours but I don’t recognise the man they are talking about. The man I know is a top operator well capable of thriving at the London Stadium. We spent 11 years together at Everton and, looking back, I think he doesn’t get the credit he deserves. During the peak of his reign — 2005 to 2011 — we were always in the hunt for a top-four place. I still don’t know how our squad didn’t win something. How did he do it? First, he got us to buy into the belief that we were all in it together. He demands hard work and we all wanted to work hard for him and the team. Nobody wanted to be the one who let him down. Loyalty is a big thing for David and we had that in common. He knew I’d do the job exactly how he wanted it. We got on brilliantly and it felt as if he was as proud as I was when he told me I’d been given my first England call-up in 2012. His attention to detail is meticulous, obsessive almost. He would get us together on a Friday morning and in the final training session he would spend an hour walking us through our jobs at set pieces. It used to drive some older guys mad. You’d wonder how it would be beneficial, but, come Saturday, it paid off. It made us so difficult to break down. He also made us incredibly fit. His training sessions were no place for faint hearts and the mention of the words ‘horse shoe’ still make me wince. You had to go on this long run in a horse shoe shape, and by the end your legs would give way. Some runs he asked us to do were totally unrealistic — and he knew it — but there was a method. He wanted to see who had the heart to fight until the end, as they are the qualities he expects from his team. I’m delighted to see him at West Ham. People talk about his reputation being in tatters for what happened at Manchester United, Real Sociedad and Sunderland but the only thing I would criticise him for is the choice of jobs he took since leaving Everton in 2013. United was a poisoned chalice, going in after Sir Alex Ferguson; Real Sociedad was volatile and at Sunderland he effectively had a League One side competing in the Premier League without any money. How was he going to succeed in those circumstances? The first thing he will do is give West Ham’s team serious organisation and I don’t think it will be pretty early on. It will, though, be effective and he’ll be planning to make this a success. This is a great match-up. David will want to build a team again. Given enough time and the right backing, he certainly can.