Written by Kevin Slade @KevinSladeSDCC

David Moyes; A man who was once hand-picked by undoubtably the most successful manager the game has ever seen, to take over one of the most successful football clubs in world football. Since then, his career has plunged into a downward spiral leaving him with a severely damaged reputation. I had to empathise with David during his miserable eight month tenure with the 20x league champions, as any manager was destined to fail in the first season after Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement. But his failure to attract and sign playing staff of the highest quality for one of the world’s super clubs is a testament to his ability, or lack of, as a football manager. After Manchester United’s worst ever campaign in the Premier League, he was sacked after just eight months into his six year contract.

It was no coincidence that he was also handed the P45 after just twelve months in charge at Real Sociedad for a dismal start to the 2015/2016 season with his defensive style of play which led to a string of unflattering results. We all know what happened at Sunderland – signing over-the-hill dross and packing the squad to the rafters with loanee’s that wouldn’t make the cut on a Sunday morning on the Hackney Marshes. Relegation soon loomed, and after pledging to stay with Sunderland the day they were mathematically relegated, he jumped ship the day after the season ended. Classy!

Surely after four disastrous years with three different clubs, & still out of a job, nobody would touch David Moyes with a barge pole, right? Enter David Sullivan, David Gold, and Karren Brady of West Ham United. The Board’s choice ahead of Slaven Bilic to succeed Sam Allardyce (Yes, you read that correctly), has now ironically replaced Slaven Bilic to rescue us from the grasp of the relegation trap door. I still stand by my word that I believe we would have gone down under Slav. He had to go. Purely because he had more than enough time to turn it around, and couldn’t. Whilst I’m beginning to sound like a spoilt brat, just bare with me for second and think about this – Slaven Bilic is a man with class that had a fairy tale relationship with the supporters, but as a manager, he completely lost it and we were heading for the championship without a shadow of a doubt. David Moyes instilled fitness, structure, and discipline to a fragile squad of players that were vast becoming the Premier League whipping boys. But that’s all he’s done. Apart from beating Chelsea, nothing has convinced me that moyes deserves a contract. The Huddersfield, Stoke away, and Southampton results aren’t convincing enough either – we should be dispatching of those teams with the team we have anyway.

So, six months to save us from the clutches of the championship David was given, which seemed like a good deal for all parties last November. A change of manager & backroom staff for the lads, a chance for Moyes to restore his reputation by saving West Ham United from relegation, and a bit of a lift for the fans in the hope we will actually see a few decent results. If David can achieve what he was brought in to do by finishing 17th or above, happy days for all parties. However, having heard David Gold on our radio show state that he in fact interviewed David Moyes originally and wants to see him “Manage West Ham for many years to come” has left me completely & utterly deflated for many years to come! His record with the Toffees isn’t impressive enough to warrant him A full time job at West Ham, as Mr Gold continually reminded us of this particular passage of time that he plucked from his managerial career. His biggest achievement was getting Everton into the Champions League in 2005, which to his credit, was of course a fantastic achievement. Well if that’s a reason to employ him full time for an achievement thirteen years ago, then we might as well offer David O’leary a job for doing the same with Leeds!

He was brought in to do a job – keep us up by any means necessary, and we can start again in the summer. That, I can live with. I can live with watching defensive, negative, ugly, long hoof ball football for six months if it ensures safety. What I can’t live with is mediocrity and flirting with relegation for another few years playing the same style of football, if not worse, than the man the board had to relieve of his duties on the request of the fan base back in 2015. We’ve moved to Stratford totally against our will for what we believed in on the absolute basis we would progress as a football club. Challenge for European football, challenge for the domestic cups, challenge our rivals, just to give us something to be excited about for once. Not to be given David Moyes and his negative/defensive style of play and inability to attract top players. For as long as I can remember we’ve been searching for an out & out goal scorer, and we finally have our hands on one in Chicharito. He will be the first player demanding to leave in the summer if Moyes is kept on, and if he does leave the board need to pack their bags & go too for their lack of ambition and plethora of below average managerial appointments. Avram Grant, Sam Allardyce, Slaven Bilic, David Moyes (Potentially). Excuse me for the lack of enthusiasm but I didn’t give up my life & soul for this!

Lanzini is another player i can see following Chicharito if David Moyes is appointed full time, which is my biggest fear. Manu will flourish under the right manager and really fulfil his potential to become a top, top player. With our strongest starting eleven we could compete for the top 7-8 with the exception of a few additions in some areas, which will leave the task to maintain equilibrium and consistency, to put a stamp on the club with a brand of football that we can actually be identified with and lay the foundations to build from the bottom upwards and really turn West Ham United into competitors… The man to carry out such a job is Rafa Benitez. He’s been at the helm of the top clubs and has the medals to prove it. He dragged Newcastle up from the second tier on a shoe-string budget and has stabilised the club in the premier league with a championship squad. He is concrete proof that a good manager doesn’t have to spend £200m in a transfer window, which will be music to the board’s ears. He will get our players playing and will attract the players to progress and compete. I didn’t choose to give up so much history at the Boleyn Ground to continually watch our board take cheap gambles and walk the tight rope of relegation. I gave up everything that meant so much to me, my family, and my friends to watch little old West Ham finally become a club that we could only ever dream of becoming…