Redknapp v Moyes…only one winner

By Cand’s top blogger Allen Cummings

2020-21 was, as we all know, a magnificent record-breaking season for West Ham United.

It was a season most of us are unlikely to forget for quite some time. Most ever wins in a single Premier League campaign, most away wins ever and most points ever recorded in a Premier League season.

It was modern-day history in the making for our club – and we loved every minute of it, even though we had to watch virtually all of it from afar!

But one accolade to elude David Moyes and his team was achieving the club’s highest ever Premier League finish.

While we ended the campaign just three points (or one win) short of that much coveted fourth place and Champions League qualification – our eventual sixth place finish wasn’t quite enough to equal or eclipse the feat of West Ham’s 1998-99 team, who ended the season in fifth spot.

So just how good was that side under Harry Redknapp in comparison?

Redknapp certainly had some excellent players at his disposal. Shaka Hislop in goal, Rio Ferdinand in defence, Frank Lampard Jnr and Eyal Berkovic in midfield, Trevor Sinclair up front and of course the irrepressible Paolo Di Canio who arrived midway through the campaign.

But was that enough to make them a better ‘team’ than the one David Moyes has crafted? Not in my book!

Ian Wright finished Hammers’ top scorer that season with nine goals, Sinclair next in line on seven – the team’s overall ‘goals for’ a meagre 46 for the season.

This season Michail Antonio, and Tomas Soucek notched 10 each, with Jesse Lingard on nine and Jarrod Bowen on eight – helping to post a very healthy overall 65 goals for the season – 19 more than the boys of ’99.

The ‘goals against’ column reflects a similar picture – 47 conceded in the season just ended, five better than Redknapp’s side who conceded 53 times in the league.

West Ham’s fifth spot in 1999 was achieved with 57 points – a full 10 points behind Everton who finished in fourth place – and that’s eight points fewer than this season’s record 65 point haul which saw us finish just one point behind fifth place Leicester and two points behind fourth placed Chelsea.

The evidence is surely irrefutable! Forget the final position – the squad that finished the 2020-21 campaign is without doubt the best and most successful we’ve ever had in the Premier League.