By Hughie Southon
David Moyes is aiming to make it three years of European football in a row as the Hammers look forward to a semi final place in the Conference.
And – assuming he remains in place – that will have a spin off which will credit the club in terms of player acquisitions.
He has been addressing both questions with reporters and made the position clear saying: “European football again … you get it three years in a row and you start to become a regular.
Hopefully at the end people will say: ‘They didn’t have a particularly good league season but they stuck at it got themselves through and found a way through in the Europa Conference League’.
Things may be seen differently then. Some people may see it as a success with a trophy, but others may see the league position as the most important and where you are judged on.
For the first time in years I feel this club has made true progress but our progression as a club cannot be compared to that of cash-rich clubs like Citeh, Chelsea, Manure or Liverpool (not forgetting those newbies Newcastle) whose finances and roadmap is completely different to ours.
We cannot realistically expect to compete with these clubs for the ready made players who come with high transfer fees and are on big wages. So therefore even the higher value players that we manage to recruit will need a little work or at worse may still not make the grade. This is the sea that we swim in and just a casual look around those cash rich clubs, will begin to reveal ALL of their skeletons in their cupboards (bigger fees and wages than ours) of players who have failed to make the grade.
I have never expected a magic wand makeover at this club and in my personal life I have had persevere and work hard to achieve, despite the occasional setback because this is what I understand.
So, for someone who has supported West Ham all my life, I feel that I can now see progress being made.
I had thought that sustained progression would follow in 1975…. then in 1980…. again in 1986…. and so on…
Sometimes in life we take two steps forward and then have to take one step back moments in the name of progress but IF Moyes does indeed stay, player recruitment will be needed and possibly just as important this season as was last, as a World Class player like Declan is worth TWO players.
What I do happen to know, is that this won’t be simple.
Since we haven’t won anything for 43 years I’ll take a trophy thanks. Nobody remembers your league position. Everyone remembers winning a cup.