Destination Day!

The long and winding road of what has been the most extraordinary of seasons comes to a conclusion this afternoon with several key destinations still to be decided. For West Ham fans so used to number crunching ahead of the final game to see if the club is going to survive another term in the Barclays Premier League, events have taken on an almost surreal turn as they wait to see if the club will qualify for a 'proper' European competition, albeit the Europa League, as opposed to the much sought after Champions league, that has been missed at the final hurdle.

Hammers go in to the final game against Southampton knowing that their European destiny IS in their hands, if the team draw or win, then Europa group stage qualification is in the bag. Mathematically, and depending on other results, David Moyes's team could actually lose, and STILL qualify.

However, having been in situations that depend on other's results on numerous occasions, the Irons are firmly in the driving seat, which does bring with it scrutiny regarding Hammers 'flakey' reputation of the past. David Moyes and his staff have instilled a discipline and ethos whereby the players believe they can succeed, sometimes against all odds.

That never say die attitude has seen the team achieve some unlikely results, only on rare occasions, such as the recent game against Everton, have the team let their high standard's down, "but for the want etc" the points dropped against David Moyes's former club would have all but guaranteed a Champions League slot, alas it was not to be.

Hammers co-owner, David Gold, was remorselessly mocked for boldy stating that West Ham would be competing in the Champions League within five years of moving from the beloved Boleyn Ground to the still unnamed London Stadium, and to be fair to him, he was just about right wasn't he?

The point is, IF, the board back David Moyes properly, the current potential of playingEuropean football is something that can, and should, be maintained on a regular basis, maybe not Champions League, but being a constant presence in the Europa League would go a long way to cementing West Ham as a top six club, and why not?

David Moyes has already begun his 'cull' of the squad, but that is only just the beginning. In addition to shipping out over priced duds like Sebastien Haller, Moyes has already cut the wage bill by 'outing' Jack 'Mr extremely ungrateful' Wilshere, he is also lining up the departure of Andriy Yarmolenko and Felipe Anderson.

Anderson and Yarmolenko are the third and fourth part of the Pellegrini Quartet, along with Sebastien Haller they represent a potentially enormous financial loss, ironically much of which could have been written off against tax liability in a normal non Covid pandemic year!

Moyes's 'cost cutting' will be saving the club around a staggering £500,000 per week in wages, money that can be put to much better use than it was in the Pellegrini era. While the jury may still be out on Issa Diop, Pablo Fornals remains the only player signed during the profligacy of Pellegrini who has been a real hit, both with fans and management, and has become a proper 'cockerney".

The need to strengthen the squad has become like a broken record, but despite the obvious financial restrictions that will be in place, David Moyes will at least be able to operate in the transfer market without being weighed down by having to continually finance other people's errors.

Anderson, Haller and Yarmolenko cost the club around £100 Million in transfer fees, at the end of the day their sales will end up returning less than £30 Million! Essentially David Moyes has had to write off £70 Million of 'talent' that he would never have signed in a month of Sundays, at least he will be able to start the new season 'unshackled' in his approach, and you never know, "Destiny Day' might just be the beginning of something special, as opposed to the end of something good. - Ed