I’ll prove I’m the right man for the job this time
MOYES’ VOW 19 MONTHS AFTER BEING DITCHED BY HAMMERS’ BOARD...
DAVID MOYES is back, and you suspect West Ham United are about to become a case study for Albert Einstein’s theory on the definition of insanity.
Same manager inheriting the same mess as in November 2017. Same words of warning, too, as he promised to work his players hard and take no prisoners.
Of course, West Ham’s board would not mind the same outcome. Survival will do them just fine and the Scot is more than capable of delivering that.
Yet, this time, Moyes’ determination is different. Now he wants to prove his new employers wrong, having been told first time round he was not ‘high-calibre’ enough to stay on.
He wants to take David Sullivan’s words and shove them down his throat, along with that humble pie the co-owner must have scoffed to call him on Saturday night.
Moyes resisted saying that yesterday, but you sensed it inside as he spoke about why he was wrong for West Ham then but the right man now.
The 56-year-old was driving from Glasgow to London at the weekend when his phone rang. It was Sullivan asking if he was interested. ‘Unfinished business,’ they joked.
He and Sullivan did not discuss comments made by the co-owner in May 2018 when Moyes’ contract wasn’t extended in May 2018 that West Ham were looking to appoint a ‘high-calibre’ head coach.
The meeting, instead, was short and sharp. Moyes said yes, and negotiations were finalised on Sunday.
To his credit, Moyes embraced every question yesterday, from what he makes of fans being underwhelmed to why he thinks West Ham did not fancy him a year ago.
It was a defiant display, which included him explaining why he is no dinosaur, after spending his time out of management working for UEFA and educating himself on modern football.
‘The Red Bull model, which I went to go and see, excited me,’ said Moyes, who is among the more down-to-earth and personable managers you will meet.
‘If you look at how RB Salzburg, RB Leipzig have done. The way they’ve used younger players, tried to develop it.
‘There is money there to spend, if we need it. Of course, we all want the sugar on the top of the cake. We want exciting players; nice names who sound really good.
‘We also want something we know gives us a level of consistency most Saturdays. You need four or five players at least who are giving you seven, eight out of ten most Saturdays.
‘You can’t have two out of ten. Nine out of ten once every so often.’
Captain Mark Noble is among those who will deliver those performances and act as a lieutenant.
Moyes continued: ‘The biggest thing is that the owners have been big enough to come back and say: “David, will you come back and do a similar job, or better?”
‘And that is what I am going to do. I have always considered myself in a group of top managers, and I have got to come back and prove that again. ‘Football continuously makes you stand up to prove yourself, whether you are a player or a manager. I have to do it again.’ Moyes’ first unveiling was held at the London Stadium, whereas yesterday was at the training ground. He staged a session in the morning, and had work to do afterwards. A crowd of autograph-hunters were gathered at the gates at Rush Green and, despite not using social media, Moyes knows he has plenty of naysayers out there. Some supporters have even started planning protests for Bournemouth at the London Stadium on New Year’s Day.
January 2020 marks ten years of Sullivan and David Gold at West Ham. In that time, they have fought five relegation battles.
Moyes wants to take them away from that sort of losing culture.
That was why signing a longer-term contract was so important to him. He wants to feel like he is building towards something. Not merely a stopgap.
Asked if he felt he was badly treated last time, considering how he was shown the exit, Moyes explained: ‘No. I was disappointed, but I have another chance to go again.
‘That says a lot about the owners and they have thought the job I did do with my staff was good enough to give me another opportunity.
‘This time I am going to make sure there is no doubt that they will always want to renew in the future.’
Moyes had lunch with Sullivan and Gold yesterday to discuss their arrangement for the future. They agreed to speak every Monday, and he is willing to work with a director of football.
There was a bit of David Brent to yesterday’s unveiling — ‘that’s what I do, I win’ — but overall, Moyes put on a bullishly impressive performance as West Ham manager.
It is too late to give him a month in the 2020 club calendar. But he plans on being here for the 2021 edition and beyond. First things first: survival.