David Moyes deserves a hero’s send-off from West Ham fans at his final home game on Saturday.
Only three Hammers managers in the club’s 129-year history have ever won a trophy: Ron Greenwood, John Lyall and Moyes. So when history judges his achievements at the London Stadium, Moyes will be remembered for that magic night in Prague at the Europa Conference League final last June, not five-goal defeats at Crystal Palace and Chelsea.
In a ruthless business, watching him hang his winner’s medal round his elderly father’s neck on the pitch in Prague was one of the warmest father-and-son moments you’ll ever see.
To deliver three consecutive European quarter-finals, leading to two semi-finals and a trophy, is a magnificent accomplishment. And finishing sixth and seventh in successive Premier League seasons – in a division of frightening spending power – is not bad, either.
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There has been some vicious criticism of the way West Ham have handled his exit, with “classless” being one of the favoured adjectives on social media. But Moyes knows how football works. He has taken charge of almost 1,150 games as a manager and you don’t pull the wool over his eyes easily.
I know, as a director of football lower down the pyramid, that you always need an oven-ready Plan B and Plan C in case Plan A doesn’t follow the road map. So when he is out of contract, he will not be surprised the Hammers had an alternative up their sleeve, and it looks as if former Wolves and Real Madrid coach Julen Lopetegui will be taking over this summer.
If Lopetegui is the man, I wish him well. But if swashbuckling football is what West Ham fans demand, I don’t remember Lopetegui being hugely celebrated for his style at Molineux.
In fairness, he was only at Wolves for 27 games and led them to the relative comfort of 13th place after taking over with the club in the bottom three. And he only walked on the eve of this season because of the club’s financial constraints, not results on the pitch.
But Lopetegui will have to pull up some trees to match Moyes’ accomplishment of putting a trophy on the table. Or maybe Hammers fans will be content to play entertaining, progressive football and finish 14th? On BBC 606, West Ham always seemed to have the most split fan base – one defeat and it was Moyes out, reach a European semi-final and he was a legend.
When I think of West Ham United under David Moyes, I believe Prague will always be his defining moment. And it would be churlish to devalue his finest hour as a manager.
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