It’s a few days before the end of another Premier League season and David Moyes is contemplating his 231st and final game of his second spell as West Ham manager, away to probable champions Manchester City.
The one certainty at the Etihad Stadium this Sunday is that Moyes’ team won’t see too much of the ball, something which worries him much less than a section of the club’s fans.
The coaching emphasis in 2024 is much about style but Moyes is more a man of substance, both in his approach to football as well as life in general.
After last weekend’s final home game of the season, 50,000 West Ham fans remained at the London Stadium to applaud his achievements in four-and-a-half years at their club, a gesture which touched him deeply.
Earlier, he resisted the temptation to acknowledge those fans who chanted his name during the game, out of respect to Rob Edwards, whose Luton team were all but consigned to relegation that day.
“I’ve been in that position,” he said, “and I know what it feels like. It’s horrible.”
That’s substance. Moyes didn’t want a big send-off and this weekend he will be grateful in the knowledge that the focus will be firmly on City.
Sometime later though, when he has the time and the inclination, he admits he will feel a mixture of pride and sadness that his East End adventure has come to an end.
Pride that he guided West Ham clear of relegation, then to sixth and seventh in the Premier League, through to three years of European football, topped off with winning last season’s Europa Conference League title, their first trophy in 43 years.
“Both parties were ready to make the change... I just thought it was time to move aside”
“I think my biggest success was keeping West Ham in the Premier League,” says Moyes. “I had a little more time in my first spell at the club but the second spell was definitely tougher.”
The outstanding moment of his long managerial career though, was undoubtedly the Europa Conference League final win in Prague last June.
“I’m quite proud of my managerial career really because you don’t survive in the Premier League unless you have a level of success,” he says.
“If I had never won a trophy during that time I would have still felt proud but lifting that cup meant something more visible, more tangible and it was the first time a British manager had won a European club title since Sir Alex Ferguson in 2008.”
The criticism of his team’s style though, some of which he accepts but much he does not, soon found a strident voice afterwards.
“One of the most disappointing things was after our game at Crystal Palace recently,” he admits. “We had lost heavily but afterwards I decided to go out and sign a few autographs – just thought it was the right thing to do.
“I was standing there and a West Ham supporter came up and said to me, ‘That trophy meant nothing. We only beat two teams, Alkmaar and Fiorentina’.
“I told him he was entitled to his opinion but that really bugged me. Aston Villa would have done anything to have reached this season’s final but they went out to Olympiacos who we had topped in our Europa League group.
“We’ve had three years in Europe in two competitions and won our group on all three occasions, playing Thursday-Sunday which, believe me, is a real challenge.
“That fan who thought it was ‘nothing’ has his opinion but I can tell him that I have had supporters from many other clubs telling me they think West Ham have done amazing.
“I had so many messages afterwards, including one from Sir Alex and a lovely one from Jurgen Klopp. Just as important though were some from people I played football with when we were 14.”
A Premier League mid-table finish and a Europa League quarter-final spot this season is far from unsatisfactory and it is perhaps unusual that a club with that sort of progress should decide on a change.
West Ham’s board, though, want a different model going forward as is their right and Moyes is sanguine about that.
“I think both parties were probably ready to make the change,” he says. “I just thought it was time to move aside. Look, there had been a fair bit of criticism, some of it correct after some our results but a lot more praise for what we have achieved.
“I do see where the fans are coming from when they question the style of play. I’ve come in for criticism but I’ve always wanted to play good football. I just don’t see it’s a good idea to keep giving the ball away in your box.
“I love good football but I’m not a huge risk-taker and I don’t think I ever will be. There’s no shame in trying to make your teams strong defensively.
“I was at Everton for 11 years and for the first five it was one good year followed by an indifferent one and so on. Then came the stability and we felt we could finish in the top 10 every year so how high can we go? At West Ham, we’ve not quite got that level yet.
“There were times at Everton when I thought about going, but it was always the wrong thought because the following year it was better.
“It’s a bit different now. I think West Ham wanted the change as well as me. There has been a lot of outside noise and maybe they’ve found some of it difficult to ignore.
“I think when I walk away after Sunday, I will feel some pride. I think West Ham are back on the map. I will be sad though because I feel we’d done part of the building work. The foundations are in but there’s still much to be done.
“Now though, I’m ready for a good break although I’ll be watching plenty of football.
“I’m working at the Euros, I want to take in some of the Copa America and I’d love to do something I’ve never done before and watch some matches in Argentina and Brazil.
“Whether the pull of management here will be too strong is possible but I want to be useful somewhere.
“Life goes on and I will move on, as will West Ham. It was great to see young George Earthy come in and do so well for us against Luton last weekend.
“I was so pleased for him. After the final in Prague, Thomas Soucek took us out. We were walking down the street and suddenly, coming the other way, was George, in his West Ham shirt.
“It was great to see him, a player for the club but on that night, a supporter like the many thousands of others. That was maybe the highlight of an unforgettable night for me.”
Julen Lopetegui is expected to become the new West Ham manager in the coming days while Moyes, who was asked by the League Managers Association (LMA) to welcome and offer support to the Spanish manager when he first came to England, seeks pastures anew.
The offers, from club and countries, have already started to arrive in Moyes’ inbox.
But just in case he feels like something completely different, after seeing him dancing to The Proclaimers in the post-match celebrations in Prague, there’s always Strictly.
