So I’ve sat on the fence until now regarding the question of who is going to be managing us next season. Now that David Moyes has moved on I want to throw my thoughts in to the mix regarding our next first team boss.
I’m all for progression. Looking forwards, not back, is the only way to go.
Please don’t get me wrong. I really appreciate what David Moyes, Stuart Pearce, Alan Irvine and the rest of the management team have done for the last few months. If that team had have stayed in place I would have got behind them and supported them one hundred percent. I think that there’s more to David Moyes than many have made out. I genuinely think he has learned and grown from his experiences with Manchester United, Real Sociedad and Sunderland and is a person who is open, and dedicated, to learning. This is the big difference between him and many of the other managers who were brought in to save clubs from relegation this season. In my view the likes of Mr Allardyce have a rigidly set way of doing things whereas David Moyes can, and will, adapt to, and incorporate, more modern approaches to the game. I’m of the genuine belief that, should he have stayed at West Ham, we’d have seen far more of this ‘modern’ thinking from Moyesey next season. He had a job to do, in the short space of time he had with us, which he got done under difficult circumstances. For that I’ll remember him with gratitude. On a personal level I quite liked the guy’s style too. He’s a deeply respectful football man with a great passion and belief in what he does. He’s also a terrific man manager who knows how to get the best out of the more temperamental and sensitive players.
On the subject of managers who are more modern in their approach to the game, and by this I mean playing styles, tactics and patterns on the pitch rather than scientific analysis of fitness, athleticism and areas to ‘hit’ with balls, it’s high time we had a manager in place who’s at the leading edge. No fence sitting now (although, to be fair, my refusal to vote or comment beforehand was a deliberate choice – not indecision) – that manager should be Marco Silva.
Should Everton’s bid for Silva be blocked then Mr Gold and Mr Sullivan need to do everything in their power to bring this man to our club. For me he is the one to take West Ham to the next level (regular top half finishes & knocking on the Europa League door every season). Everywhere Marco has gone he’s had a positive impact. Taking over a hopelessly woeful Hull team from Mike Phelan, who were bottom of the league, he got the Tigers playing a completely different style of football that gave them a shout of survival with a 36% win percentage. Speaking of winning he won the cup in Portugal with Sporting and the Greek title with Olympiacos. Away from the obvious appeal of a cup win, for all us success starved Hammers, it’s the way he sets his teams up and his tactical nous that appeals most. Everton fans and West Ham fans share the same desire for good, technical football. The Toffees faithful are desperate to bring Silva in because they know he’s ‘their’ kind of manager. He’s our kind of manager too.
Silva’s tumultuous final weeks at Watford were widely reported. Were Everton out of order for the manner of their approach to the Portuguese boss? Probably. They could certainly have handled the situation far better IMO. Either way we’ll soon know whether Everton will just have to pay compensation to Watford or will be blocked in their attempt to appoint “Mini-Mourinho.”
I genuinely don’t think Rafa Benitez will come to East London. Even if the owners promise to spend the kind of money, on the transfers and wages, that “Rafa the Gaffer” would demand I believe that their track record of non-delivery will put him off. Sorry to be negative but it’s an opinion. Similar with Manuel Pelligrini. No brainer in a multiple choice – he went to China to either..
A. Further his career?
or
B. The cash?
Serious selling job to do on the successful Chilean for my money.
Wouldn’t mind Eddie Howe being given a chance but I doubt he’d come either. It would be a risk on the parts of both the club and Eddie himself. He’s built a squad at Bournemouth that know and respect him. West Ham have more difficult characters to manage within the squad and it’s that aspect of the Bournemouth manager’s capabilities that I’m unsure of. I believe he has all the other attributes, including the modern approach to the game, that I’d want to see in a West Ham manager.
Whoever I’d like to see is, ultimately, irrelevant. I had a punt on Fonseca – shows how much I know.
Lastly I’d just like to go on record with my thanks to David Moyes for a job well done. The Scot’s definitely gone up in my estimation – especially when you consider that I commented that he’d ‘take us down’ if appointed. Very much like the “cut of his jib,” for those Blackadder fans out there, and wish him all the best for the future. Cheers Moyesey – mind how you go fella!
COYI!