Moyes will leave club as ‘a West Ham great’
David Moyes can depart West Ham United with his head held high tonight as one of the club’s greatest ever managers.
And that is high praise indeed coming from a club legend like Tony Cottee.
M oyes will lead his team for one last time this afternoon as they face champions-elect M anchester City at the Etihad.
It will bring to a close M oyes’ four-and-a-half-year second spell in East London which has seen them enjoy three successive seasons of European football for the first time in the club’s history.
And, of course, there was the high point of glory in the Europa Conference League last June, a first managerial success for the Scot, and West Ham’s first piece of silverware for 43 years.
“We’ll look back and have David M oyes as number three on the list of West Ham’s best ever managers,” Cottee said.
“We have the great Ron Greenwood and the great John Lyall as numbers one and two, but we’ve never had anyone queuing up to get near those two. So David is rightly number three. He gave us our best night for 43 years. I was at Wembley as a lad back in 1980 when we won the FA Cup and then I was in Prague.”
Yet, 11 months after that European triumph, M oyes is departing the London Stadium with his contract about to expire.
With his future up in the air for the last few months, a season of promise has drifted away since Christmas as they are set to finish ninth.
And Cottee blames the club’s ownership for allowing this to fester.
“I’ve always been in the proDavid M oyes camp,” he said. “I’m disappointed he’s leaving.
“I don’t understand why he wasn’t given a new contract last summer after winning a trophy. He either signs a new four-year deal or he moves on.
“That has led to problems during the season. It has fizzled out, but I don’t blame David for that, I blame the owners of the club.
“We were expecting it. It was the same when ‘Big’ Sam Allardyce went into the final year of his contract in 2015.
“We were doing well at Christmas that year but everyone knew Sam was leaving and it fizzled out.
“In any workplace, everyone is working towards the boss’
contract. If he has a four-year contract, then it’s a four-year plan.
“But then when you know the boss is leaving, it affects performance. Those who are not happy know they can wait until there is a new one in place.”
M oyes has had a sticky relationship at times with the West Ham fans over his tenure, which has come to a head this season.
Cottee admits that he can see both sides.
“There has always been somewhat of a split view towards David and I do get it,” he said.
“I appreciate what’s he done, but there are the West Ham purists who have grown up with the idea of the ‘West Ham way’, of wanting to play good
football and be more like M an City. Normally the fan base is very united. We either love the manager or hate the manager. This season it’s been very divided and that’s not like us.
“But next year if we’re struggling under the new manager, fans may be considering what they were thinking to be so anti-David.”
It is expected that Julen Lopetegui will be brought in to replace M oyes, with the Spaniard having been out of work since leaving Wolves just before the start of the season.
However, Cottee does not expect this to be the end of M oyes’ 27-year managerial career, which has taken in Preston, Everton, M anchester United, Real Sociedad and
Sunderland. He said: “West Ham are getting rid of someone at the peak of their career, it’s not like he’s 85. Roy Hodgson was managing this season at 76, whereas David’s only 61.
“I think he’ll take a break, enjoy the summer, go to the Euros, take in some football and we’ll see where he gets involved next. He may come in for a firefighting job somewhere in the Premier League.
“One day I can see him managing Scotland while if Brendan Rodgers ever decides to move on from Celtic, I could see David there.
“I just want to wish him all the best. He’s always been very nice to me and I’ve always been made to feel welcome at the training ground.”