An Air Of Positivity Sweeps Through East London

When it comes to supporting West Ham, it can be considered a somewhat tumultuous task and with an uneasy relationship between fans and the board acting as an interesting sub-plot off the pitch, such friction has a habit of affecting what happens on the playing field.

To the point where last season protests within The London Stadium had spilled onto the pitch itself and with captain Mark Noble going as far as to say, that such an act was not welcomed by those connected to the club, it meant supporting this legendary outfit was becoming somewhat toxic.

With such a maelstrom brewing, there was the potential for the club to be severely hampered and if the fans worked against the players in pre-Covid times, there is every chance the East London outfit could have been operating in the Championship. However, one man seemed to understand the job in hand and that was David Moyes, who in his first stint made sure the Hammers kept their heads when it mattered and more importantly, kept their Premier League status.

Which is why it was something of a surprise to see the former Manchester United and Everton boss not handed a new contract at the end of the 2017/18 season, a decision that would see his own efforts unrewarded. With former Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini on the market and deemed as a sexier appointment, the club’s owners David Gold and David Sullivan, decided the Chilean would be the man to shoot West Ham up the table. A decision that was not universally accepted and although Pellegrini earned a 10th place finish in his first full season in charge, the 2018/19 season of the Premier League would be the only full campaign in which he would oversee West Ham.

Because with expectations then rising under the tutelage of the South American, the players failed to hit the same heights as the season before and with £155m spent in transfer fees, the large expenditure proved to be the manager’s eventual undoing. Pellegrini’s departure was announced back in December 2019 and who stepped back into the frame? None other than David Moyes, with the sole remit being to keep the club out of the choppy waters of the relegation zone once again.

A remit that was eventually met and with an 18-moth contract inked, Moyes will aim to make sure that the owners decide to extend his second stint, at what previously was the Olympic Stadium back in 2012. Something that was perhaps unlikely at the start of this current campaign and on the evidence of their first two outings of the season, they were viewed as a candidate for relegation when discussing early PL picks.

With such a tough set of fixtures being mapped out for West Ham, back-to-back defeats only suggested the worst and with the likes of Leicester, Tottenham, and Manchester City to follow after losses to Newcastle and Arsenal, it was difficult to know just where the points would be won. However, that difficult stretch saw Moyes’ men earn five points from the nine on offer and during this trio of league outings, there was definitely a sense that the West Ham squad had started to turn the corner after a difficult start. A start which now is nothing more than a distant memory and as we approach the end of the first half of the season, there is a question as to what West Ham can do at the end of it. Quite simply, do they now stick or twist?

Because, when you look at the calibre of talent that can be called upon, there is the makings of a highly impressive team and their current league standing, is not only just rewards for their efforts but also far too good to be sucked into a relegation scrap.
Which means with West Ham all but assured another stint in the top flight, do the board simply want to settle for that or do they want to try and land an extra pair of new faces when the January transfer window opens.

If the board do decide to show a little ambition, it could be the thrust that is needed and when you consider just how compact the top half of the Premier League table is at present, European qualification is certainly not outside the realm of possibility for David Moyes and West Ham. - Ed Jnr