Ally McCoist drops West Ham United and Arsenal verdict live on talkSPORT, Alan Brazil disagrees
Ally McCoist believes West Ham United have had a more successful season than Arsenal after winning the Europa Conference League on Wednesday night (7 June).
The Hammers capped off their impeccable European campaign with a dramatic victory against Fiorentina at the Eden Arena, with Jarrod Bowen netting in the 90th minute to seal the club’s first piece of silverware since 1980.
Speaking live on talkSPORT Breakfast on Thursday morning (8 June), McCoist and Alan Brazil debated whether winning the European trophy meant David Moyes’ side had recorded a more successful campaign than the Gunners, who led large portions of the Premier League season but ended up finishing second to Manchester City.
“West Ham have had a better season,” McCoist said.
Brazil replied: “They’ve had a better finish to the season have West Ham.”
“Think about it. Just think about it,” McCoist added.
“Arsenal have had a brilliant season, they got themselves back into the Champions League, a place they have been regularly. Nobody’s taking that away from them.
“But West Ham did something they haven’t done since 1965.”
Hard to disagree
Looking around Eden Arena on Wednesday evening after the full-time whistle of the Europa Conference League final, not a single fan would have disagreed with McCoist’s verdict.
Although there were tough periods of the Premier League season, winning the club’s first silverware since in decades trumps anything that Arsenal did this season.
Yes, the Gunners enjoyed a fabulous start to the campaign and were well in with a fight for clinching the title for the majority of the year, but what did they actually come away with apart from Champions League football?
This was also the reward that Moyes deserved after three years of success at the London Stadium. This will now be the third season in a row in which West Ham United will be playing European football, and for all his critics, this was mainly down to the managerial nous of Moyes.
The imminent departure of Declan Rice will rock the club, but hopefully, the Hammers can use the transfer funds generated from his sale to invest cleverly this summer.