Former Hammer Alan Devonshire says his old team will definitely stay in the Premier League following the Irons win over Southampton last Saturday.
Devo told the Newham Recorder “It was a brilliant result on Saturday and I was so pleased for everyone, especially the fans. Hopefully it is onwards and upwards for them now. It sounded like everyone come together and scoring the early goal helped, so I’m delighted for the club,”
He added: “They will stay up. They will definitely stay up now and do what they need to do in the summer.”
For our younger readers, Devonshire signed for West Ham United in 1976 for a bargain fee of £5,000 from Southall. Devonshire had played 448 competitive games over 14 years, scoring 32 goals for the Hammers. He is now the manager Maidenhead United, a post which he has held since May 2015.
Hopeful, up beat words and sentiments from an Irons Legend. I really want to believe him, to agree, and write! ‘ Yay Devo!’. Trouble is realism is a trickster of a taskmaster!
With games against Chelsea, Arsenal, Man City, Leicester and Stoke there’s plenty of footballing reasons for being pretty apprehensive. Not least because of the recurrent injuries to Michail Antonio, our primary flying machine. With Michail out of the running where will we have out and put pace for the counter attack, other than in the deceptive speed of Arnautovic.
Being mistaken isn’t a problem. Denying one’s mistakes might be the very source of ignorance. Credit to Mr Moyes in getting Arnautovic playing out of his skin. In this I have Ben mistaken as a critic of Mr Moyes’ management approach. Mistaken maybe, though I’m no hypocrite. While I am not a fan of Mr Moyes, in getting Arnautovic to play out of his skin consistently, he has out-delivered his predecessor. In terms of individual and collective fitness, discipline and shape or structure on the park, Mr Moyes has demonstrated stability with humility, with persistence. In giving Declan Rice his opportunity he has empowered youth at the Club, while empowering a young player to empower a team. What stature and composure for one so youthful.
Back to Devo’s confident assertion. Well, I wish I could agree with the Legend, simply don’t and can’t.
We may avoid relegation because of the poor form of fellow strugglers unable to pick up enough points. A reasonable inference based on recent results. Though picking up a minimum of seven points from our remaining fixtures is quite an ask. That is being realistic, not pessimistic. Realism does not mean throwing out hope. The situation is still grave, but the three points and clean sheet against Southampton has given us hope. If we can’t pick up a minimum of seven points in results then our future PL status rests on Stoke, Palace, Huddersfield, Bournemouth and Brighton dropping a lot of crucial points. Hopeful and realistic, both.