Sometimes everything you touch turns to gold.
And despite covid 19 – indeed maybe because of it – that is definitely the case with David Moyes as he builds the West Ham he has obviously envisaged during two tricky reigns at the club.
But something has happened off it which once again demonstrates that he is a manager who, in leaving little to chance or compromise, is getting exactly the right result.
It didn’t suit us in the media much when he made it clear to everybody from the top down that the leaking of information had to stop. IT DID.
The Hammers had been the leakiest club in the world and it came as a blow when we were all summarily told by certain people that it was over.
Mind you, in some respects it became more fun as in making life more difficult it can in fact become more enjoyable to use other areas for our information.
But Sunday was a good example of how effective the manager is becoming in keeping things under wraps and getting the right result as a consequence. I’m talking of Michail Antonio of course.
All week long it had been difficult to read the team selection situation situation as far as Sheffield United was concerned.
But in the end the opposition, probably having half planned for his involvement, were beaten by a Seb Haller goal and a system which saw us playing more through the middle to suit his game.
Mikey is obviously more likely to play apart against Villa but there are no givens in this manager’s world and his fury knows no bounds if team selection and injury and transfer news escapes into the public domain.
West Ham – as I wrote in a piece on Sunday is a club that’s growing up and not only on the pitch. The new Moyes regime knows what it wants and it is getting it.
Results such as the one at Sheffield United make that totally acceptable regardless of the fact that we may need to work a little harder at this end!
We are fans first, media people second and first and foremost it’s the results that matter!