David Moyes was very balanced during his appearance on a podcast when speaking about his time at West Ham United.
Despite the Scot’s success at the London Stadium, he has received huge criticism over the past six months, with Tim Steidten one of those who broke ranks to fire shots at the former West Ham boss.
Whatever your thoughts on David Moyes, it has to be remembered that he guided us to our first major trophy in 43 years in the summer of 2023.
Sure, the football was dire on the most part, but the fact that the 61-year-old helped end our 43-year wait for a trophy ensures that he will go down in the history books at the London Stadium.
His ultra-defensive approach to games and his negative pre-match rhetoric became too much to bare for the Hammers fans in the end.
David Moyes highlighted that mindset during punditry work at Euro 2024, and fans of other clubs began to see what we were all saying for quite some time.
However, the criticism of the Scot has undoubtedly gone too far at times. Hopefully his latest podcast appearance has shown the Hammers fans that he actually does think very highly of us.
David Moyes notices big improvement at West Ham
It was sad how the relationship between Moyes and the Hammers fans soured during his final 12 months in charge at the London Stadium.
There has been the odd barb from the Scot aimed at the fans since he left, including when he bizarrely questioned, what is the West Ham way?
However, he actually had a lot of nice things to say about us during his latest podcast appearance.
The former West Ham manager was a guest on the No Tippy Tappy Podcast, alongside another ex-Hammers boss Sam Allardyce.
He discussed all things West Ham, and lifted the lid on a big change the club made which has made them more ‘attractive’.
Moyes said, “I never managed (West Ham) at Upton Park, but going there I always thought, ‘Wow, what a stadium’. The crowd were on your back, with the chicken run in the far side. The crowd were right on you and passionate.“
The Scot continued, “But you know what I see now, I see 65,000 supporters going to games with a load of young fans in the East End of London where there’s not a great deal of money. We’d all love the stadium to be in a bit, closer, we’ve not got that, but I think for the future, they’ve moved it on, and I think it’s made West Ham more attractive, the new Stadium.“
David Moyes nails it about London Stadium
I actually agree with Moyes there. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Upton Park with all my heart, and it was head and shoulders above the London Stadium as far as atmoshpere is concerned.
However, our new Stratford home should give the club far greater spending power.
The key will be for the powers that be at the club to make the arena geared more towards football, by getting the fans closer to the pitch.
That said, there’s not much the club can do until the owners take full control of the London Stadium.
David Moyes certainly wasn’t a hugely popular manager during his time at West Ham – incredible really considering what he actually achieved.
Perhaps his appearance on the podcast will ease certain fans’ views on him. He certainly went up in my estimations after some of the things he said about us.
And hopefully one day, he will get the credit he deserves.
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