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West Ham United manager update: David Moyes could star new season amid bizarre verdict on Ange Postecoglou development
David Moyes’s West Ham job is by no means set to end in the summer and a Europa Conference League win could see him stay to start the new season, Matt Law reports in The Telegraph.
The Scot has almost been sacked multiple times this season but is enjoying a stronger finish to the campaign, so a job which he seemed odds-on to lose when it is over could remain his.
There are three names in the frame to replace him should he fail to lift the third-tier European trophy – the Hammers face AZ Alkmaar in the first leg of the semi-final on Thursday (11 May) – including Celtic’s Ange Postecoglou who was “bizarrely” showered with praise by Karren Brady in the Scottish Sun just days ago (5 May).
Law writes in his Telegraph report on Monday (8 May): “West Ham United have not yet ruled out starting next season with David Moyes as the club’s manager – and winning the Europa Conference League would give his case to stay on a huge boost…
“West Ham have considered their options should they decide to make a change with Lille manager Paulo Fonseca keen to position himself into contention and vice-chairman Karren Brady bizarrely making her admiration for Celtic’s Ange Postecoglou clear in her column for the Sun.
“West Ham are also among the clubs ready to make a check on Graham Potter, who was sacked by Chelsea, if they opt to replace Moyes.”
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Row-back
It would either be a brave or a lazy board which hands Moyes a reprieve and starts another new season with him in charge, after a campaign that has been a miserable slog for most involved throughout.
A few good results at the end of the season may have almost rescued relegation, but that in itself is no cause for celebration given how far West Ham have fallen in a short space of time and shouldn’t paper over the cracks.
Lifting the Conference League will definitely be worth shouting about, but whether it should be enough to mask a Premier League campaign filled with failings is another matter.
The board have also either been brave or lazy for months in sticking with Moyes while all around them were changing managers, sometimes on multiple occasions.
But his leeway would be vanishingly small to start a new season, even with a European trophy under his belt, after flirting with relegation for so long off the back of a hefty summer transfer haul this year.
Postecoglou just wrapped up his second straight title in Scotland on Sunday (7 May) and the Celtic boss is increasingly linked to Premier League jobs, so could be attractive for disillusioned fans.
But he is an unknown quantity in English football, as is Fonseca, while Potter is coming of a miserable spell at Chelsea, but sticking with Moyes is a risk in itself.
His good work at West Ham has been overshadowed by a regression to where he found the club, and if he were to last the summer and then be sacked a short time into the new season it would be terrible governance by the hierarchy.