By CandH’s top blogger Allen Cummings
By his own admission David Moyes is looking to reshape and redirect West Ham as he attempts to shrug off the trials and tribulations of the 2019-2020 season, and look forward to calmer waters for the 2020-2021 campaign.
The natur of events dictates he hasn’t exactly a lot of time to work within and clearly there isn’t going to be anything like the multi-million pound budget his predecessor Manuel Pellegrini had to spend – or squander – depending on your point of view!
But Moyes is adamant he has a plan for the future, an aim and a direction for the club – to be absolutely honest we haven’t appeared to have either in recent years.
Like him or loathe him, the last manager to have a clear direction of travel was Sam Allardyce. His aim was to return us to the Premier League. The method mattered far less than the prize.
Allardyce had a tried and trusted blueprint to get the job done. To his credit he did exactly that! But then, with shades of the old Pied Piper of Hamlyn fairy story, we quickly forgot what he’d done because we wanted to go onwards and upwards and we didn’t want to hang around.
So it was over to good old Slav, who used to be ‘one of us,’ a love affair made in heaven – or that’s the way it looked for one heady season.
But when the honeymoon period was over – it was divorce time again. Enter the big name we craved – Manuel Pellegrini. But not before David Moyes had been brought in to tidy up first, before we said: “thanks” but “no thanks”, and Pelle got the job.
£190m later and it was back to David Moyes to pick up the pieces for a second time.
Now Moyes has been charged with turning our fortunes around on a permanent basis. So where are we heading? What should we ‘realistically’ expect over the next nine months?
A more organised team is an essential. A younger, more energised team would be desirable. A less unpredictable team would be nice! Accusations Moyes is defensively minded don’t really stack up when the facts show we were the third highest scorers in the Premier League following the restart and the sixth highest goal scorers since January, when Moyes took over.
Traditionally West Ham fans enjoy seeing the goals flying in – that doesn’t have to change. What does is the fact they don’t fly so regularly into our own net. We’re told Moyes’ priority is to strengthen the defence, I have no problem with that. A solid foundation is essential.
Sean Dyche was a name regularly banded around when Pellegrini’s job was on the line. He’s done a fantastic job at Burnley – earning them a highly commendable 10th place last season.
Chris Wilder has been widely acclaimed for the similar job he’s done at Sheffield United, first getting them promoted, then guiding them to ninth place in their first season back in the top flight.
Both managers did it their way. Unspectacular to some eyes but highly effective. They have shown a successful season can be crafted without spending a fortune.
Likewise Ralph Hasenhuttl took a mediocre-looking Southampton side, after a few early season scares, to a very commendable 11th place. Three teams who all finished comfortably mid-table.
That surely has to be the aim for Moyes over the coming season,a mid-table model without the fear of always looking over our shoulder at relegation.
There will no doubt be those wanting more and will bemoaning lack of ambition and demanding the kind of investment they claim will propel us to that magical ‘next level’. We’ve seen and heard it all before.
But now, more than ever, it’s just not a reality. I’d wager the majority of us would take that mid-table slot quite happily over the next nine months.
Once again blaming the foreign managers for all of our problems. Becoming extremely boring, and honestly quite concerning how often foreign members of staff/players a blamed on this site! Time to drag your heels into the 21st century!
TIME TO DRAG YOURSELF INTO A REALITY CHECK. WHICH OF THOSE HE SO CLEVERLY BOUGHT WOULD YOU RETAIN. NO DOUBT IF WE GET NO NAMES THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN BOUGHT BY THE BOARD???
DIOP
The question was actually aimed at Valon B bit yes one would be about right from nearly £200m spent
No doubt, you love the way Burnley play.
Richard I make the point that Sean Dyche has done a brilliant job with the tools he has at Burnley. The financial restraints he has to deal with. That’s the reality at Turf Moor. He doesn’t moan and groan about it – he just gets on with the job. Does he play the kind of football I prefer? No! But as a Burnley supporter I’d be delighted with what he’s done with my club. They are down-to-earth people up their. No delusions of grandure.
Good article and agree I would take mid table any higher would be a bonus. Hopefully the plans and direction being put in place now are allowed to be seen through and the manager is backed and given the time to see them through. As it stands if we had no new additions or any more departures I believe we have a very talented squad that could/should do well next season. If Moysie gets in the players he wants, strengthens us defensively and gets us more organised then I’m even more optimistic. COYI
I Agree! (At least it’s MHO) the squad is deep and talented, a bit injury prone, but maybe benefit with addition by subtraction, etc.
2020/21 season is going to be the strangest and hardest to predict, Chelski spending like a drunken tar, but most other clubs unable to balance the books without (or even less) fans/ticket sales, so won’t be spending fortunes.
IF Moyes can maintain EPL status this season, he maybe be able to get some investment from the board next summer…?
Well written. We need a few stable seasons, and mid-table obscurity will suit me fine.
But the coming seasons fixture list hasn’t been kind to us, so I have feeling we will struggle to have a decent start to the season rather than continuing where we left off last season. Obviously I would like us to win more games than we lose this coming season. That would be a good step in the right direction.
My opinion is that MP was employed by our owners to try to appease the fans to demonstrate that they were trying to get the next level. Sadly backfired. I do believe that they want the best for the club and realised not offering DM a contract for keeping us in the Premier 1st time round was a mistake and at least had the bottle to approach him again. For me DM and the coaching staff are a good fit for us. We have a fantastic fan base but we are at best a top 6 to 10 club with hopefully the odd cup win . This fits DM’s CV and I am more than happy with that. Big clubs need Big bucks{ which we do not have ) so lets just enjoy the season and get behind the team, management and owners. COYI
On the mark. Realistic expectations, steady progress, academy development and promotion. Need to be just big enough to keep our best prospects. For now.
I agree Ossie. Let’s all get behind the club! A novel idea for some I know but wouldn’t it be nice?
I think the chairman Sullivan I mean is far more of a problem than the managers. I liked MP but in order to move forward with that style he needed more money than we had. In effect the chairman made promises the cheque book wouldn’t cash, most of the players he wanted to sign went elsewhere or he was told no way Joao Felix, Gomez, Bacca etc not saying they would have worked but it was a symptom of a poor recruitment policy that means all players need to go through selected agents, something smells off… as for Moyes I like him, he is better than Allardyce and should be given the funds Alkardyce and others were, instead they have not offered him a contract beyond this season and no funds so far for the summer window. What I am expecting is that they have tapped Rafa Benitez up and will get rid of Moyes no matter how well he does…
Valon B. Race has never been an issue on this site, why try to make it one? The fact is that we have had successes and failures as managers. The fact that some have been foreign is incidental. We have had failed British managers too. Do you expect the article to go back further and further so he can detail every manager and his failings? There was no correlation in the fact that they failed and they were foreign. The fact that you made a connection between the two says more about your attitude than Alans’ or this site.
I would settle for mid table and let DM have the chance to carry on re building the squad