The Moyes done good
Hammers boss knows his best team... but backing from the owners has been biggest plus, says hero McAvennie
IT’S 35 years since West Ham last finished in the top four at the highest level.
And Hammers legend Frank McAvennie reckons it’s old-fashioned values that have propelled them into Champions League contention this season.
West Ham finished third back in 1985/86, missing out on the title by just four points despite winning the same number of matches as eventual champions Liverpool.
McAvennie struck 26 league goals as John
Lyall’s side swept aside team after team in a season still remembered as one of the greatest in the club’s history.
West Ham’s current campaign is now threatening to assume similar status. And the Scot, now 61, believes that the owners’ faith in David Moyes’ eye for a player has played a huge role in a story that no one saw coming.
“People always used to joke that West Ham would be in contention for honours until Christmas – but when the lights came down, West Ham would go the same way,” he laughed.
“But this season has been the opposite. We were nowhere at Christmas and now look, the Champions League is well within reach.
“In the season we finished third I think we only used something like 15 players and I think that’s something David Moyes has got spot-on this season.
“He now knows his best XI and that’s the team he’s putting out pretty much every week.
“The biggest thing for me is that the owners have let David Moyes buy the players he wants. The guys he has brought in are David Moyes players – Tomas Soucek, Vladimir Coufal and Jesse Lingard.
“Craig Dawson is another one who has come in on loan and he has been an absolute rock.
“Someone asked me if
Lingard was a good signing and I said, ‘If it’s the Lingard of three years ago then yes but if it’s the Lingard of the last two years, then no’.
“To be fair to him, he has come in and been a breath of fresh air. He has been unbelievable.”
The same could be said of McAvennie and Tony Cottee, who terrorised defences throughout the 1985/86 season, scoring 54 goals between them in all competitions. It was Lyall, though, who the Scot believes was ahead of his time. And McAvennie sees similarities between Moyes and a man who spent 15 years as manager at Upton Park. “John was ahead of his time,” he said. “We were doing things back then that people talk about as being revolutionary now.
“John was different to anyone who ever managed me. The high press? I was the trigger, when I went everyone followed. We didn’t want the defender to have an easy pass out. We would be all over them.
“Tony would press the keeper and Dev (Alan Devonshire) would join in too. Whatever they call it now, we were doing it years ago! Now they’ve got names for it all but John was old-fashioned.
“He would tell us to just press as high up the pitch as we could. John was a wonderful coach and similar I would imagine to David Moyes. He had players who believed in him. And I think what this season has proved is that you have to believe in David Moyes.
“This team has been a joy to watch and whenever someone is injured then someone comes in and knows exactly what they’re supposed to be doing.”
Whether West Ham can continue to defy the odds remains to be seen.
But like Lyall all those years ago – in Moyes, West Ham trust.