David Moyes interview: West Ham manager on ‘one of the toughest tests’ of his 22 years in management

When you have been in management for 22 years, there are bound to have been some bumps along the way.

For David Moyes, though, the past few months at West Ham have been — in his words — “one of the toughest periods” in his managerial career.

At Preston and then Everton, Moyes had a reputation as a builder of clubs, but he switched to firefighting mode twice at West Ham, arriving both times midway through a troubled season and with the club in relegation trouble before ultimately staying up with a bit to spare.

At the end of a short contract in 2018, West Ham said thanks but no thanks as they appointed Manuel Pellegrini. When that move did not work out and they found themselves one place above the bottom three at the turn of the year, West Ham ignored advice about ‘not going back’ and turned again to Moyes.

This time, the 57-year-old has one more season on his contract to begin the building process of a club with huge potential but which hasn’t been reached in recent times.

Moyes said: “This one has been one of the toughest periods I’ve had in management. It said a lot about the club’s owners that they were big enough to come back for me, knowing that I had done a good job the first time. My history is one of building clubs, picking young players. I have ideas of how things should look and West Ham are a prime club for that. It has incredible potential which is a bit untapped. There are a lot of things going for this club. Do I think we can go from the position we’re in to right at the top? No — let’s be more realistic.”

In his first spell at West Ham, Moyes converted Marko Arnautovic from an erratic wide player to an explosive central striker. In the past few months he did something similar with Michail Antonio, whose scoring run post-lockdown was a vital component in the team’s survival.

West Ham, in fact, were the third highest scorers in the Premier League following the restart and the sixth highest since January, when Moyes took over.

“Let’s continue to make progress,” said Moyes. “Let’s see something which excites the supporters but let’s also continue to build this team. Ultimately, though, that’s not my decision. That’s the way we should be going but the owners need to agree that yes, this is right direction for this club.”

West Ham’s recruitment in recent seasons has been, at the very least, erratic and Moyes revealed the club are looking for a head of recruitment. “I also want to make sure coaches Paul Nevin and Kevin Nolan are here for next season, plus one or two other small changes I want to make around the club,” he said.

“We would like to strengthen in a lot of areas. We’re lacking in defensive cover. We’re also looking to see who could move on, because that could change the direction we take during the transfer window.

“The owners have spent a lot of money in the last few years and I’m not sure a similar amount will be available this time. Whatever there is, though, we will spend it wisely.

“We’re trying to bring in a younger group but we will also need a couple of experienced players. Central defenders are usually better when they’re more experienced.”

Regarding prime asset Declan Rice, who has been linked with a big-money move to a number of clubs, but particularly Chelsea, Moyes said: “At the moment there have been no offers for Declan and we don’t want any. There’s always interest but we don’t want to encourage it.”

Pride, relief and emotion are not words liberally sprinkled by Moyes but he has felt them all during the last few months.

“I had less time than on the first occasion I was here,” he said. “I also felt there was a bigger expectation, partly because of the players that had been brought in and also because it is a big club, it has big support and people want it to be doing well. The hope was that we would have enough time and, although it’s been a really tough time for everyone, the lockdown did give us a bit of breathing space.”

West Ham did lose their first two games after the restart but were then beaten in just one of their subsequent seven to ensure safety.

“I was really emotional when we beat Norwich, because I knew that probably that result was the one to keep us up,” said Moyes. “The over-riding emotion was relief. The players have shown a great sense of togetherness and team spirit and I thought we did it with a bit of style as well.

“Pride is not a word I use very often but this was a big achievement. I want to be at the top, I want to be challenging for Europe, but I can’t promise that. At the same time I want to give them[the fans] hope. I want to get back to that level — I’ve been there before.

“It can’t happen overnight. You can have a good year and then a bad one, but if you’re continually going to chop and change, that will always happen. Anyone who knows anything about football would surely say, ‘This is a club that could do with a period of stability.’”