David Moyes says he would be ‘kidding’ himself if he expected West Ham to be challenging at the top consistently
David Moyes says he would be “kidding” himself if he believed West Ham were capable enough of challenging at the top of the Premier League for the next six or seven years.
Despite an impressive top-seven finish last season, and a run to the Europa League semi-final, the Hammers have failed to live up to their lofty standards, currently sitting dangerously close to the relegation places after 22 games.
West Ham have won just five of their 22 games so far and are just two points above the drop zone in what’s been a disappointing campaign, but Moyes has argued expectations will have had to be tempered after last season’s success.
Speaking on Mike Calvin’s upcoming Football People podcast episode [as transcribed by Daily Mail, 16 February], he said: ‘I think to myself, West Ham have had three brilliant seasons.
“We avoided relegation, we took them into Europe the next year, we get to the semi-final of a European competition, we finish seventh the second year.
“So the perspective has made me say yeah, you know if you’re gonna come to West Ham and expect to do six, seven years where you’re competing at the top, I think you’re probably kidding yourself on and I think anyone with any real football intelligence will probably go along with that.
“Because you just look at the sides at the moment, look at the form of Newcastle and other teams, Brighton have had an incredible run in what they’ve done. Brentford and Fulham are doing so well this year.
“So you’ve got no entitlement to be there all the time, and when you are a club which have probably never been there, well there’s a good chance you could probably drop out of it.
“So we’ve had a couple of incredible years which has meant I’m more relaxed and you know if it didn’t work here at West Ham then fine, you know, you take it and that would be it.
“The biggest thing for me at West Ham is I see it having that much potential to improve, get better and be a real major club. It is a major club, but become a real challenging club and I think for the past couple of years we’ve proved that.”
Still disappointing
Considering the club’s exceptional success last season or even the last two seasons, languishing near the relegation places will have been an almost impossible prediction for the Hammers faithful at the start of the season.
Many fans and neutrals expected the club to build on last season’s seventh-placed finish and be fighting for an unprecedented top-four spot alongside Newcastle United.
It’s incredibly vital to point out that West Ham spent significant sums during the summer, on players expected to come in instantly and improve what Moyes initially had at his disposal, but it hasn’t worked out as planned which means this season has still been a disappointing one for everyone involved.
West Ham have an incredibly talented bunch at their disposal, arguably better than Newcastle so many fans will be questioning what has led to the club’s dramatic fall.
Moyes’ position has been under much scrutiny over the past couple of months, and rightly so. If the club’s position doesn’t improve from here until the end of the campaign, the Hammers board may be seeking pastures new. The former Everton boss is under mounting pressure to transform the club’s fortunes once again.