West Ham should not appoint David Moyes

West Ham should not approach David Moyes if they want to stay in the Premiership, as his last three jobs and demeanour suggest a man who has not changed from his ways.

Slaven Bilic has been sacked as West Ham manager, his wonderful first season in charge as manager where West Ham looked like they could compete and crack into the top six after finishing seventh looks like nothing but a mere distinct memory at this point. Star player Dimitri Payet left, the club has moved into a new, lifeless stadium that they’ve found hard to settle into and now they find themselves in a relegation battle that they weren’t supposed to be involved in. A remarkable 3-2 win against Tottenham Hotspur in the Carabao Cup looked like West Ham’s fortunes might have changed for the good, the kind of result that would kick-start their season but yet it only appears to be nothing but a small ray of sunshine in otherwise miserable year and a half.

The final image of a chaotic game against Crystal Palace essentially sums up West Ham’s entire season when Palace managed, almost unthinkably, in the dying seconds of the game to dramatically score and comeback from being 2-0 down to draw 2-2. An elated Roy Hodgson celebrated while Bilic could only have his head in his hands, dismayed at how his team dropped points to a fellow relegation candidate.

It was only a matter of time before Bilic left West Ham that much was obvious to everybody as the question became whether the West Ham board would give into pressure and sack him, or wait until his contract expires in the summer to avoid paying any kind of compensation package. Sacking Bilic is not the worst move that West Ham could make, it was clear that he could not get the best out of this team and he’s been tactically short throughout his time in charge. That being said, hiring David Moyes for a relegation battle is the worst move that West Ham could make and one that would end in nothing but tears for the club.

Man management, player motivation and being able to squeeze points out of games that you likely shouldn’t be getting points out of is key to a relegation battle and none are qualities of David Moyes. They might have been qualities that he had when he was at Everton years ago but he isn’t at Everton anymore, and Everton was a long time ago. Moyes can’t keep living off what he achieved with Everton and at some point, his failures in his last three jobs with Manchester United, Real Sociedad and what should be very important for West Ham in Sunderland need to be considered.

Should Moyes be blamed entirely for Sunderland being relegated? No. Sunderland’s problems run much deeper than Moyes but he didn’t help, he didn’t build on the work of Sam Allardyce and outright admitted at the start of the season when he was at Sunderland that they ‘were in a relegation battle’, not the most inspiring thing to say is it? Moyes isn’t capable of motivating his teams and he hasn’t been able to get the best out of his players since he left Everton.

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Hiring Moyes is a very risky move; he’s a negative manager in every aspect and not a way that is effective like Allardyce or even Tony Pulis. Moyes at Sunderland resorted to tactics that featured only lumping the ball up to Jermain Defoe and relying entirely on a young Jordan Pickford to bail the team out defensively while buying ex-Manchester United and Everton players, all who used to play under him, as they were the safe option for him. Moyes, who was meant to build a long-term plan at Sunderland and give them some kind of stability, wouldn’t even follow them down the league to the Championship to try to rebuild them, where the real challenge was.

His ego wouldn’t allow him to drop down a league, quite unlike Rafa Benitez at Sunderland’s neighbours and rivals Newcastle United where he stayed at the club despite relegation to rebuild the team and get them back into the Premiership. This is the problem with Moyes, he hasn’t learned from any of his mistakes in his last three clubs and why he got sacked from them. He’ll continue to make the same mistakes he’s always made.

What really does Moyes offer? West Ham moved into the Olympic Stadium with the ambition of playing in Europe, it’s a club that’s fans bemoaned the style of play Allardyce gave them because it was not ‘The West Ham Way’. Moyes won’t be any better. Even if he does keep West Ham up –and they will surely be one of the favourites to go down now- what is the long-term plan for the club? Is Moyes really who they believe will lead them to Europe? It’s a baffling move that looks like it’ll end in nothing but disaster, just like his last three jobs have all ended in disaster.

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