Moyes has got his mojo back and it could earn him the golden ticket
STAN COLLYMORE
THE issue I had with David Moyes when he appeared on television after leaving Manchester United was the fact he sounded like a man who wasn’t in touch with the fashions and trends of the Premier League.
He came across a bit like, ‘Here I am, David Moyes, and I’m trading on the fact I was good at Everton and I was the guy Sir Alex Ferguson thought would be the next big thing, even though I wasn’t’.
Deserved
I thought he was a spent force after his spells with United, Real Sociedad and Sunderland, and didn’t feel he deserved to get jobs ahead of bright young managers who had more to offer. But somewhere along the line, presumably with the help of Alan
Irvine, Kevin Nolan and Stuart Pearce, he has been brought back to life.
They have got him back on the training ground with whistle in hand and brought back his sense of humour and the spring in his step.
West Ham isn’t an easy club to work at with David Sullivan and
Football’s ultimate maverick sounds off
David Gold in charge and a group of players who have at times been a bit volatile over the years.
But he has brought calm and consolidation, and they have played some lovely stuff to get themselves into the top six. West Ham’s squad deserves plenty of credit as well. When you’re in a dressing room, it’s easy to look at a manager who has had a couple of bad experiences at clubs and believe their time is done.
They could easily have said, ‘Nah, he’s yesterday’s man, let’s sit tight until the next appointment’, they could have switched off – but they didn’t.
Listening
And that’s when you think, ‘OK, there’s clearly something here that the players are listening to’.
A lot of the belief came from that spell at the start of the season when they faced Arsenal, Wolves, Everton, Leicester, Tottenham, Manchester City and Liverpool, a period in which Moyes missed a couple of games with Covid.
I said then that the owners had a perfect excuse to sack him if they wanted to be ruthless but I also countered that with I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t get a couple of results in that time. They got them by
Love Thierry Henry, but the fact he’s being lined up for record in management does not warrant a job like this
thumping Wolves and Leicester, and drawing with Spurs and City, and they used it as a platform for the season.
What we shouldn’t forget, though, is that those results could have been very different if the games had been played in full stadiums and who knows what Moyes’ fate would have been if that had been the case and they hadn’t picked up points.
It will be interesting to see how West Ham – and every other team, for that matter – perform when crowds return.
Today’s clash with Spurs will be fascinating given the London rivalry and the fact it pits two ex-manchester United managers against each other in Moyes and Jose Mourinho.
I always think both were bizarre choices for the Old Trafford hotseat given they are both pragmatists and United have a history of managers who like to play with a swagger. That said, we could well see a few goals today.
What we know for sure is that the way this season is going, if you are a West Ham, Aston Villa or Everton then you could get your hands on the golden ticket and squeeze into the Champions League.
And I’d be very pleased for Moyes, who I like as a man, if the Hammers could do it. The key will be to see where they are with six games to go.
But if they are still in the same sort of form then, that they are in now, the Scot’s experience will stand them in good stead.
Moyes has brought calm and consolidation, and his squad deserves plenty of credit for getting themselves into the top six the Bournemouth job is just further proof that clubs are going for clicks and profiles ahead of track records. Henry’s one, but the depressing reality is that his name and status in the game will keep the Cherries relevant.