By Simon Leyland
The latest piece of news on the never ending “who is going to replace David Moyes” merry-go-round is that the board are said to NOW be very keen on bringing in Michael Carrick.
Carrick has hit the ground running since taking over at Middlesbrough in mid-October. The club were then languishing in the relegation zone in the Championship when he arrived and now they are in 4th place in the table, only eight points off the automatic promotion spots.
His arrival on Teesside seems to have bought the best out of striker Chuba Akpom who with 26 goals is the league’s leading scorer, eight clear of the second best.
It is now no surprise to anybody, that West Ham are expected to part ways with Moyes in the summer regardless of whether or not the club remain in the Premier League, which could pave the way for Carrick to replace him.
A lot has been said about the fact that Carrick was an ex-West Ham player and that he understands the club.
But so much is made of this so- called DNA, of “understanding the football club”. And such is the irrationality of fans that we love to cling to this unidentifiable nostalgia and history. Broadly speaking, football clubs are the same. A very rich man, a ground, a training ground, a gym, some cones- actually a lot of cones. A kit, an away kit, a really dreadful third kit, and a really, really old kit man who’s seen it all.
Anyway, I digress . Would it be a move too soon for Carrick or does he have what it takes to take over at a prestigious club like West Ham? Perhaps it is wiser to seen what he does with Middlesbrough between now and the end of the season.
Claret and Hugh says: It seems that regardless of everything the board remains where it always has been – behind Moyes despite results and position.
The Carrick speculation is probably as without foundation as the rest of the speculation and personally any new manager would surely need to be somebody used to dealing with very rich players and one who has serious Premier League experience.
Brendan Rodgers are you listening?