(Photo by John Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images)Seven years on David Moyes has become the manager Sir Alex Ferguson always believed him to be when he recommended his fellow Scot to Manchester United as his successor.
It didn’t work out because Moysie is a man who is clearly more at home with a particular kind of family club.
Everton always strikes me as the Hammers of the south – a club with similar financial restraints and supporters who care more passionately than most.
His success at West Ham is nothing short of extraordinary and in part that’s because he has found a club which suits him down to the ground – as was the case with the Toffees.
It’s more than a bit ironic that on a day when Man United were being beaten 5-0 by their deadliest rivals, West Ham were beating theirs with a typically designed Moyes approach.
As a result the Irons are now sitting in fourth place, three points ahead of United in seventh after that humiliating defeat.
The big story in journalistic circles has always been that Moyes was sacked by United because he couldn’t make his mind up on transfers.
Seven years on the man has come of age and is looking as much like a new Alex Ferguson as we are likely to get.
What won’t happen though is that he will be poached by them or anyone else – he is an honorable man as shown when he signed a new three year deal at West Ham when being touted for Everton.
And quite apart from that, in days when glamour and charisma are the order of the day, David Moyes remains David Moyes and not the sort of character whom top clubs seek out.
The Old Trafford fans wouldn’t have it anyway – just as many of ours didn’t when he returned to the London Stadium.
So it’s good news all the way round for us Iron – Carry on Moysie – the new Sir Al at last – MAYBE!
Whilst Moyes was at Preston he was linked with becoming our manager at the time which led me to look a little closer at his record and methods, which is where I learnt all about his ethos and how he demanded a certain level of performance from his players. Not long after being linked with us, he became the new Everton manager and with a mate of mine being an Evertonian, I was able to pay a little more attention to him, listen to my mate and watch his progress at Everton. The rest is history as they say, because what he did at Everton was nothing short of amazing.
I believe he failed at Man U, because of the established structure that he encountered on his arrival. He was probably undermined at Man U being seen as an outsider with no past connections to the club (something which has happened to some of our past managers).
Roll on and here he is at West Ham doing just what I thought he could do if he was allowed to put his stamp on this club. This is the main reason I believe he swallowed his pride and came back to us (THANKFULLY) to carry out a job which he knew that he was capable of doing at this club (a blank canvas… which he has said as much). It is something that was never going to be allowed to happen at Man U.