So this is how it ends for David Moyes at West Ham, the jig that followed the silverware now but a long-forgotten spectre just one year on.
It would prove to be his last dance, those dad moves in Prague after their Europa Conference League triumph, for the season that has played out since has produced little joy.
They may be ninth in the Premier League table, but the mood has soured at London Stadium. The football was rarely pretty, and so results were always going to keep Moyes in the dugout until they wouldn’t.
Change is afoot, therefore, and gathering pace, with the 5-0 loss to Chelsea on Sunday swiftly followed by widespread reports on Monday that Julen Lopetegui has agreed terms to replace Moyes this summer.
Moyes had said he would discuss his future with the board at the end of the season, but he knows the outcome now, and it is not as though the club have kept their intentions secret, having flown Ruben Amorim over for talks last month and sounded out Paulo Fonseca before that.
Irons by name, iron-hearted by nature. This is the coward’s way of ending a relationship. Swiping right while still having a partner accounts to cheating, a move that has all the decorum of a date spent Christmas shopping at Westfield Stratford City. Something no one should have to endure, and certainly not befitting of a manager that delivered the Hammers their first major trophy for 43 years.
As club legend Tony Cottee says, it is “classless”, with the former striker calling the board an “absolute joke” for hanging Moyes out to dry and courting other managers.
“The circus is fully back in town and 14 years is far too long, a change is needed at the top! I’ve had enough……!!!” Cottee added on X/Twitter, calling for owner David Sullivan to leave. “Our loyal fans deserve so much better.”
The replies speak of a divided fanbase. Quelle surprise, say some, while others point out Moyes is not entirely blameless. A handful are calling Lopetegui the “Spanish Moyes”, others are urging to trust the process.
This could also be called just another day on social media, of a toxicity where only the most polarising of opinions bubble to the surface, but while many West Ham fans may be apathetic to the point of despondent, it appears only change will bring fresh promise – albeit, there are better ways to go about it.
“The way it has been handled is very typical from a club run by David Sullivan, but also disgraceful and disrespectful when you consider what we have achieved over the last four years,” James Jones, from the We Are West Ham podcast, tells i.
“Fair enough it’s ending on a sour note, but you can’t forget what he’s done for the club, where he’s taken us from, and where he’s taken us to. He’s been treated very, very badly, but I’m not surprised given this is West Ham. It’s a bit of a circus at times.”
Moyes is well aware of the circus, in this his second stint, with Jones adding: “Moyes is probably not surprised with the way he has been treated, having kept us up that first time, been keen to stay on and then told no we’re going to go in a different direction.
“And then what? 18 months later, we were knocking on his door again saying, please come back. That was very disrespectful the way we did that as well. There’s just ways of dealing with things like this, and it hasn’t helped the way that some of the fans are treating him as well, which adds another layer of disrespect being aimed towards him. It’s quite sad the way it’s ending.”
Fellow West Ham fan Liam Spencer adds: “The evident lack of respect from David Sullivan underscores the deeper issues within the club’s ownership, issues that Moyes’ achievements have somewhat masked in recent years.
“And then there’s Julen Lopetegui, who may not be the sexy name some fans anticipated, like Ruben Amorim or Thomas Tuchel, but I think he will prove to be a smart choice for West Ham. The Spaniard brings European pedigree and Premier League experience, along with motivation to succeed following an abruptly ended stint at Wolves.
“Above all, West Ham supporters want a manager who can build a squad for future success, employ an attacking, expansive against lesser teams, and implement a system not solely dependent on standout individual performances. Given Tim Steidten’s solid record with appointments and signings, West Ham fans have every reason to trust his judgment on Lopetegui.”
There are however those who point the finger at technical director Steidten, who has been asked to stay away from the first-team squad by Moyes until the end of the season.
Any board member wanting that level of control is unlikely to be popular with any manager, while Lopetegui has previous for leaving after disputes, departing Wolverhampton Wanderers last year after the club acknowledged “differences of opinions on certain issues”.
But those are issues for next season. Now, Cottee’s desire for the club to announce Moyes is leaving has been answered, with those still appreciative of his efforts able to toast his impending departure on Saturday against Luton Town, which will be his final home game in charge.
That comes before an away trip to Manchester City on the final day, hence the benefit of announcing his exit before Luton – a golden chance that could seal a top-10 finish before they likely succumb to the title chasers at the Etihad.
“Once the dust has settled, Moyes should be remembered as the man who brought major silverware back to West Ham for the first time in 43 years,” Spencer adds.
“Ask any Hammer and they’ll tell you that night in Prague is one the greatest in the club’s history, and there’s no single man more responsible for it than Moyes.
“Beyond the trophy, he’s brought stability to West Ham when we needed it most and deserves to go down as a legend in every sense of the word. With an old squad and aging ideas, his tenure is coming to a natural end, but that shouldn’t lessen the tremendous job he’s done overall.”
Moyes’ stint was only truly prolonged because of the Europa Conference League, which came in spite of a miserable league campaign, where they collected just 40 points and finished 14th.
This season they have comfortably avoided the relegation scrap while enjoying a Europa League run to the quarter-finals, but that exit to Bayer Leverkusen has contributed to their current six-game winless streak.
The Hammers have won just three Premier League games in 2024, having ended 2023 by beating Manchester United and then Arsenal, and recent heavy defeats to Crystal Palace and Chelsea have proved damaging.
Only the bottom four of Nottingham Forest, Luton Town, Burnley and Sheffield United boast a worse goal difference than West Ham, while only the bottom three have conceded more goals – a factor Moyes puts down to the man they lost in the summer.
“Declan Rice,” said Moyes, when asked for a reason behind their heavy away defeats. “When you’ve got the best midfield player in the country protecting, probably limiting 50 per cent of their attacks, it makes you much a better defensive team. We’ve lacked protection in front of the back four, lacked good enough defending, not been good enough at those things in many games.”
Moyes also said his team are lacking “toughness” and “leadership”, as near enough an admission that his time here is over, almost teeing up his departure by adding: “The manager will always take the responsibility because that’s what you do in this job, you have to prepare them and get them right, setting them up. Somewhere along the line the players have to take responsibility for doing their jobs, being hard to play against, being aggressive and competitive.”
Moyes, it would appear, knew that responsibility will soon hang heavy on someone else’s shoulders.
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