Forum | Non-Football Related

Ironically Sunday's game between West Ham and Everton might mark the departure of two 'icons' from their respective clubs but with accute affiliations to each team they have represented, Wayne Rooney is suposed to be unavailable due to injury from partaking in what would be his last ever game in the Premier League, however don't rule out a miraculous recovery!

Many Hammers fans will be glad to see the back of Rooney who has been a 'serial killer' against the club whichever colours he wore, he always had the ability to score a 'worldie' against West Ham. Likewise many Hammers fans, in fact an overwhelming majority, willl be glad to see the back of David Moyes whilst acknowleding his achievement in keeping the club in the top flight. It appears the opinion of the fans is felt by the Hammers' hierarchy with some quite blatant moves on their behalf which essentially boil down to either Manuel Pelligrini or Rafa Benitez.

Given the option of either, most fans would prefer Rafa 'The Gaffer', and so do the Board having previously tried to recruit him before eventually apppointing Slaven Billic, Benitez was a done and dusted eal before Real Madrid came a calling, and as everyone in the World of football knows when Real ask most people ask how high?

Alas it was not to be for Benitez at Real Madrid, but his stock has risen given the job that he has done at Newcastle on a very limited budget albeit with a fairly decent squad that he inherited, but Hammers might capitalise on the indecision regarding the take over of Newcastle United, with owner Mike Ashley playing fiscal hard ball with the consortium led by Amanda Stavely that has been courting the club's purchase for the last six months. Without the guarantee of funding for next seson Benitez would be loathe to continue at St James' Park, a move to The London Stadium might not seem as so much as a frying pan to the fire, rather poacher to vacuum bath.

Where to now? Moyes has done a good job, indeed some would say an excellent one, but let's be real, he is definitely 'Old School' much in the same vein as Big Sam, Old Woy and other pragmatic but unexciting managers who have recently made their reputations on 'number crunching options available' survival football, yes they use new technology, but in the wrong way. Far from using the information at their fingertips to embrace the beautiful game they have chosen to use it to the game's detriment by adopting pragmatic percentage football.

This leads us to the very reason why David Moyes should not be the man to take West Ham forward, he is not a bad manager, far from it, but he is not the man that will eventually fit the role. He still has a high opinion of his abilities and is probably unprepared to work with the current set up at West Ham, so it seems that the honey moon period is close to an end. rumour has it that a decision will be confirmed as to his departure as soo as the day after the season finale against Moyes' ex team Everton. - Ed

West Ham: Adrian, Zabaleta, Rice, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Kouyate, Noble, Joao Mario, Masuaku, Lanzini, Arnautovic. Subs: Hart, Carroll, Hugill, Obiang, Evra, Fernandes, Cullen.
Manchester: De Gea, Valencia, Lindelöf, Shaw, Jones, Smalling, Herrera, McTominay, Pogba, Lingard, Sanchez. Subs: Romero, Bailly, Mata, Martial, Blind, Young, Rashford.

We couldn't actually work out the correct plural of nemisis, but whatever it is, it is what is facing current Hammers' manager David Moyes in the next five days. Since his incredibly successful stint as Everton manager Moyes' stock has taken a brutal battering. His succession as the chosen one to take over the mantles at Manchester United from Sir Alex Fergusson went very badly, of course it was only to be expected, and one wonders why on earth a fellow 'canny' scot did not realise the Hearculian task he had taken on.

Having been dismissed (with a healthy pay out) by arguably one of the biggest clubs in the World Moyes' path was always going to be one of descendancy as opposed to ascendancy, and so it proved. An ill fated move to Spain and an even worse ill fated move back to the UK to manage relegation sureties Sunderland compounded Moyes' fall from grace, then along came the ailing and asthmatic entity that was and is West Ham disunited! The 'Barons' in charge saw a cheap and viable option to keep their beleaugered club afloat, by this time any illusion of 'going to another level' had already been buried deep in a pile of hierarchycal bullshit as usual.

This 'safe pair of hands' did deliver the club from the most evil, but seriously is this what the majority of fans want? Moyes did a good job under difficult circumstances for which he will be handsomley paid, more in six months than most of you reading will earn in your life time. But moving forward what do fans want and expect? Realistically the move from the Boleyn to the London Stadium has not proved to be the fiscal success that it was supposed to be, the loss of the Boleyn's atmosphere is a factor that seems to have been ignored by the number crunchers during their research, but it is a key factor in why the club is struggling both on and off the pitch.

For the next few years, unless Paul Allen takes a lot of drugs and decides to buy West Ham, the best fans can hope for is mid table security while beating their local rivals in derbies and a good cup run here and there. There is nothing to be ashamed in that desire, just ask Stoke City and Baggies fans soon to be joined by Swansea City fans what they would rather have! But if it is to be just a realistic midtable objective then why not try to make it an attractive proposition? One might argue that Stoke were safe under the guidance of 'safe but boring' Tony Pullis, but at least they stayed in the top flight year after year, but without wishing to be presumptuous West Ham are and always have been a far greater club than Stoke despite Stanley Matthews, Ralph Coates, Gordan Banks and many others who played for the Potters.

There are plenty of managers who are on West Ham fans' hit lists as a possible new manager, but pragmatically the potentially huge list can probably be narrowed down to just a few candidates especially bearing in mind the current structure of the club, it's finances and what plan if any is in place to move forward and to avoid a repeat of what has been a disasterous season.

David Moyes will face two clubs that he has never beaten as a manager in the next few days, if he gets a couple of wins his stock will rise, but even if he attains those results maybe it is better that he leaves the club at the end of the season with his reputation restored and moves on to a new club that needs his particular style of old school management.

Prospective managerial candidates that would be wiiling to come to the London Stadium are few and far between, but Hammers' might benefit from the uncertainty surrounding the proposed take over of Newcastle United by luring Rafa Benitez into there maelstrom, after all he was the preferred option to Slaven Billic but turned the club down to go and manage Real Madrid, an appointment that ended very badly in the end.

Some might say Benitez 'dissed' the club by reneging on a deal at the last minute to manage West Ham, but the option available to him was to go and manage one of the best teams, if not the best. team in the World!
What would any person with a brain do? Especially a Spanish speaking person.

If by some stroke of fortune Benitez ends up as the manager of West Ham next season, he will possibly have swapped the devil for the deep blue sea. - Ed