Ally McCoist and Alan Brazil disagree over West Ham manager David Moyes
Ally McCoist is convinced that West Ham boss David Moyes “must” be manager of the year if he finishes in the top four, but Alan Brazil had other ideas.
The Hammers manager has done an excellent job this season in leading the side into the Champions League places for many weeks, and despite a drop off during the early months of 2022 still has his side fighting among the European spots.
Brazil is more impressed by Eddie Howe since he took over at Newcastle, but McCoist was having none of it, even going to suggest that the Scottish manager was the best Manchester United boss since Sir Alex Ferguson.
Speaking on talkSPORT this morning, in a clip posted to the station’s Twitter account, the former Rangers star said: “I’ll tell you right now, manager of the year, if West Ham finish fourth, I don’t care who wins it…”
Host Brazil interjected: “I think Eddie Howe, the job he’s done has been magnificent.”
McCoist dismissed that idea and went on: “It has been, but you can’t give him manager of the year for less than half a season, I’ve just made that up, you can’t do it.
“You’d have to give it to Moyes. I tell you, if West Ham finish fourth Moyes must get the award.”
Ex-Old Trafford player Brazil countered: “Is it a surprise though? When David was at Man United he wasn’t doing a bad job was he?”
And McCoist added: “No, you could argue Moyesey’s maybe been the best manager that Manchester United have had since Fergie.”
Some points better than others
Subsequent fortunes have shown that Rangers’ record scorer is probably right that the Irons boss was sacked too early in Manchester, but it might be going overboard to suggest he was their best since their legendary boss retired.
The ill-fated reign was the start of a dramatic slide in reputation for the former Everton manager, with spells at Real Sociedad and Sunderland contributing to a feeling the game had moved on.
But after being hired twice at the London Stadium he has more than rehabilitated his image.
The big European clash with Sevilla tonight (Thursday 17 March) is proof in itself of the scale of the job he has done at West Ham.
Newcastle manager Howe getting a cash injection of close to £100million has given him a major helping hand, although he has done well with it.
By comparison, it appears to be straight-forward coaching that Moyes has used to get so much from his players.
The money spent before the season on Nikola Vlasic has not proved key to the performances, and the club bought no-one in January.
They probably should have done, and it may be that which keeps them out of the top four, but the Hammers boss has got to be in with a shout for the award either way at the end of the year.
In other West Ham news, Fabrizio Romano had positive news for Irons fans regarding a major transfer.
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