David Sullivan highly unimpressed with options to replace David Moyes as West Ham United boss
David Sullivan has decided to back David Moyes as West Ham boss because of a lack of acceptable alternatives, according to Graeme Bailey.
The Hammers boss has come under major pressure this season after a summer of heavy investment has resulted in the club languishing around the Premier League relegation zone.
Results are showing some improvement of late, but the manager has kept his job largely by dint of the fact that available options to replace him are so poor in the eyes of the owner.
Speaking on the 90min podcast Transfer Talk (14 February, 9min 9sec) Bailey said: “I don’t think there are many options. It’s why primarily West Ham are sticking with David Moyes.
“David Sullivan looked at the options out there and was not impressed at all, so he’s done the intelligent thing in sticking with Moyes.
“I don’t think there’s an awful lot of options out there.”
Lesser evil
Moyes hasn’t covered himself in glory this season but he at least does have a strong track record at the London Stadium, so is probably preferable to keep him rather than making a change just for the sake of it.
If the Scot can continue with the unbeaten run that he has generated, currently at four games in all competitions, then the pressure he was under should alleviate further, but he is going to need to turn a few draws into wins.
Fighting back for points against the likes of Newcastle and Chelsea is worthy of praise, but against weaker sides three points needs to be the objective.
With the likes of Everton, Leeds and Southampton all sacking their managers it remains to be seen whether the West Ham way of sticking with what they know pays off.
Since the Saints got the brink of appointing Jesse Marsch less than two weeks after he was fired from Elland Road, where they have been forced to leave Michael Skubala in caretaker charge after failing in the pursuit of multiple targets, shows the lack of available options.
So Sullivan appears to have made the right move on this, though the Irons are just two points outside the relegation zone so it is not exactly a roaring success yet, and Moyes needs to do more with the opportunity after keeping his job by default.
Everton landing Sean Dyche may have been the right move, given he overturned Arsenal in his first game, but he also came back down to earth in the Merseyside derby, and if it was a matter of first club to blink gets him and the rest are left feeding on scraps, perhaps faith in the man that took the Hammers to the Europa League semi final last year will pay off.