There is an annual debate at West Ham about David Moyes’ managerial skills.
Things are not so bad, or at least not so bad that any supporter would feel compelled to break onto the pitch of the London Stadium, rip out the corner flag and place it in the centre circle. But things are not perfect either, which in the modern age of football fandom is reason enough for unrest and minor rebellion.
During last weekend’s 2-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest at the City Ground, which extended West Ham’s winless streak to eight games in all competitions, the away fans unfurled a banner which contained the simple message: Moyes out.
“Maybe there will be managers who will impress them more. But the one sitting here wins more,” was the Scot’s reply, dropped on a microphone.
The discontent in the stands clearly did not carry over to the board. Moyes revealed on Friday that he had been offered a contract extension as his current deal is due to expire at the end of this season, but he will have to decide by then. Moyes’ discourse will continue for a good while, giving fans plenty of time to choose sides.
“I’m not for Moyes Outer, I’m for Moyes Out (In The Summer), if that makes sense,” says Don Perretta, co-founder of Fortune’s Always Hiding fanzine, i.
“Obviously he did very well last season and he’s earned the right to some freedom, but my patience was starting to wear a bit thin.
“I find him tactically unoriginal, his recent press conferences have been infuriating and one of the things that is always being said is that he makes West Ham difficult to beat… well, that’s not true at the moment either.
“I’m almost waiting for some divine intervention to show that he actually knows what he’s doing, because it doesn’t look like it at the moment.”
Perretta is convinced that the Moyes brigade is a “vocal minority”, but one that is “growing”. The movement has gained momentum following Arsenal’s 6-0 home defeat to West Ham earlier this month, the biggest home defeat West Ham have suffered in the history of the league.
“You can’t be serious as a football club and lose 6-0 at home to anyone, let alone a rival from London. That was a complete capitulation and it’s impossible to defend that.”
Implicit in the antipathy that some fans feel towards Moyes is the (often unfair) perception that he is yesterday’s man, a member of a circle of old-school British managers, backed by Richard Keys, whose cautious tactics and safety-oriented football are preventing West Ham from reaching their full potential.
“We are a club that has a stadium with a capacity of 66,000 spectators, we have 55,000 season ticket holders and a long wait for a season ticket, we make a lot of money from television,” says Perretta.
“So it’s an opportunity for someone with vision and ambition to do something spectacular. He might not make it to Leicester, but he will be a contender for a place in the top six every year. That’s not us.”
That is a moot point. The Hammers are ninth in the Premier League standings but only three points behind seventh-placed Brighton and a game clear, and they are competing in Europe for an unprecedented third successive campaign. In the last 16 of the Europa League, they take on SC Freiburg, a club they have already beaten home and away in the group stage this season (nice one, Uefa).
“It’s a common argument that it’s been this bad for four years. No, it hasn’t!” Phil Whelan, host of the podcast Stop! Hammer Time, says.
“I try to avoid all social media in relation to this because it’s crazy. It’s like a culture war, a MAGA type thing, trying to confirm pre-existing prejudices. They blame it on Brexit, on artificial intelligence and what not, and now they are somehow blaming David Moyes for the existence of Calvin Phillips.
“People see current events as frozen in amber. Sixth place [Premier League qualification], then seventh place, then a poor season in which we won a European trophy, before which he kept us at the top – that’s the last four years under Moyes.”
This is also the opinion of Benji Lanyado, West Ham fan and co-founder of the photography platform Picfair.
“What Moyes actually said the other day was spot on, even if he said it in a rather confrontational way,” says i. “We’ve had sexy managers before and the truth is he’s won more than anyone.”
Whelan is also sceptical of criticism of Moyes’ style of play and accusations that he doesn’t get enough out of the talented attacking triumvirate of Jarrod Bowen, Lucas Paqueta and Mohamed Kudus when everyone is healthy.
“Just before the last bad few months we beat Freiburg with some very entertaining football, I would argue some of the best football we have played since what in West Ham circles is called the Payet season.
“We also beat Man United and Wolves played really good football and I think that’s the counter argument to David Moyes’s football is so boring argument. Away at Arsenal we played a very different, more defensive game, the kind of game Moyes often attacks, and beat them 2-0 at the Emirates.”
The West Ham fans I spoke to generally agree that those who are vociferously opposed to Moyes remaining manager are in a vocal minority. The same is probably true of the group that wants Moyes to stay in the job in the long term.
Between these two extremes, the most popular view is that Moyes has done a great job, but he has probably taken the club as far as he can and should retire at the end of this season while his value is still high.
There is an argument that perhaps he should have done so last June after the historic night in Prague when fans unanimously remembered his leadership with burgundy glasses.
“I understand why the fans are disappointed, because the nature of football is often quite strenuous and probably the team should be playing better football with the players we have,” says Lanyado.
“However, I think these fans are a bit short-lived, because there are two very important things happening in our team right now. The first is that we are desperately missing Lucas Paqueta because he’s injured – take him out of the side and we look a bit meat and two veg.
“The other thing we’re missing at the moment is not so much Declan Rice as a player, because between [Edson] Alvarez and [James] Ward-Prowse we get a lot of what he does, but Declan Rice as a leader.”
The general assumption that Moyes would be heading off into the Stratford sunset in May is no longer so strong following Moyes’ contract reveal this week.
If he does go, fans are divided over who should replace him, although they are united in wanting the next boss to be progressive in approach and willing to oversee a long-term project.
Graham Potter and Thomas Frank are mentioned as managers West Ham could attract, while Lanyado suggests another, more high-profile option.
“They’ll laugh at me for suggesting it, but why not go all out for someone like Thomas Tuchel? Now, when maybe there is no flavour of the month for the absolute top of European football. Tim Steidten [Director of the Football Association] obviously knows him. Why not go all out and see if we can get someone like him?”
When Moyes finishes with the Hammers, he will rightly be celebrated for his various successes in east London: among others, he has seen Rice develop from a promising teenager to a top centre-forward, he has made Michail Antonio into a goal-scoring centre-forward, he has finished in the top six in the Big Six era and he has won his first major trophy in 43 years. Those who call for his head will surely wish him well too.
“I think he deserves a lot of credit, a lot of gratitude and a lot of respect from the West Ham fans, but all good things come to an end,” says Lanyado.
“What’s frustrating is the revisionism that accompanies it and that’s the part that I just reject. His time at West Ham may be over, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been hugely successful and memorable.”