Last chance for Moyes

LONDON. - West Ham yesterday announced David Moyes as their new manager on a six-month contract.

The 54-year-old, whose Sunderland side were relegated from the English Premier League last soccer season, succeeds Slaven Bilic, who was sacked on Monday with West Ham 18th in the table.

Moyes, who has also managed Preston, Everton, Manchester United and Real Sociedad, becomes the 16th manager in the Hammers’ history and is expected to immediately take training with the club’s players that are not on international duty.

And now can Moyes take his chance at West Ham? It might be the last one he gets at this level unless he can offer up a reminder of his qualities as a manager.

During his recent appearance on The Debate, Tim Sherwood brought up the example of Pepe Mel.

Why, he wondered, was the Spaniard able to get a chance to fail at Deportivo after previously losing his job at Real Betis and West Brom?

Would a British coach have been afforded yet another opportunity at the top level? Sherwood now has his answer. Moyes is the new manager of West Ham.

One of the bigger jobs in English football comes his way despite having overseen Sunderland’s relegation during his only season in charge there; despite having lasted only 12 months at Real Sociedad; and despite becoming a byword for the decline of an empire in his 10 months at Manchester United.

In a little over four years, a hardearned reputation was all but shredded. Moyes came to be seen as a beaten man whose very demeanour represented the antithesis of success.

This was the body language of defeat with his downbeat assessments now viewed as a hindrance rather than merely pragmatic.

The Scotland job seemed the only card left in the deck. - Sky Sports.