As his West Ham United tenure drew to a close with a hard-fought 1-3 defeat at Premier League champions Manchester City, David Moyes reflected on his four-and-a-half years in charge.
When Moyes returned to the Club on 29 December 2019, some 1,603 days and 261 matches ago, the Hammers sat 17th in the Premier League table, with 19 points from as many games played, and with relegation a very real and dangerous prospect.
The Scotsman steadied the Claret and Blue ship, steered it to safety, then set it sail towards three top-nine Premier League finishes, three runs to the knockout stages of European competitions, and an unforgettable UEFA Europa Conference League triumph in Prague in June 2023.
During Moyes’ tenure, West Ham beat all English football’s top sides, won 25 European ties, and he leaves the Club in an undeniably better position than when he arrived for his second spell exactly four-and-a-half seasons ago.
On Sunday, his reign came to an end with a typically hard-working display against one of those top sides, with goalkeeper Alphonse Areola and his teammates throwing themselves in front of shots all afternoon, but ultimately two superb Phil Foden goals and Rodri’s low shot meant the Irons came up short at Etihad Stadium.
There was still a moment to savour, though, as Mohammed Kudus gave the visitors hope of pulling off an unlikely comeback when he netted with a sensational overhead kick shortly before half-time to pull his team back to within a goal.
As it was, City were too good on the day and lifted their fourth Premier League trophy in succession, and sixth in seven seasons, but Moyes leaves with his head held high, and West Ham with solid foundations in place to build on in the future.
We gave everything.
Look, I’ve had some really big and disappointing results away from home recently at Crystal Palace and Chelsea, so today was never going to be easy, but I thought the players did a better job and we were competitive.
We started the game really poorly, but I have to say Foden’s first goal was a brilliant goal, it really was, and it took the wind out of us right away, but the players stuck at it.
We conceded again and then Mo scored a wondergoal as well, so we were right back in the game and quite confident at half-time that we could stick at it, but obviously you’re not the champions for nothing.
I remember seeing them play Real Madrid and Arsenal recently and they’re such a good side.
I think we went in at half-time and came out after half-time feeling pretty confident.
We just couldn’t quite get the ball off them enough and I think they had about 40 passes before they scored their third goal and we could probably have done a bit better.
But it’s not for me to say now what we should have done and shouldn’t have done, but as a manager you are always going to say we might have blocked the shot or saved it, but overall we did so many good things.
I think we’ve scored more goals this season than we have done in a few seasons and we’re up there with that, and we played without Jarrod today.
We’ve tried really hard to give the supporters something a bit more than what we’ve had in recent seasons.
You’ve got to remember that a couple of seasons ago we were finishing sixth and seventh and this year we’ve come ninth, which I kind of think are pretty good positions.
I know we’ve had a 14th which sticks a bit, but we got over that one, but generally in the time I’ve been here, we’ve given West Ham a pretty good position.
Not just me, the players and the staff, we’ve really been at it, really worked hard and committed to try and make things go better, and I think people around the Club would generally think we have done. We’ve generally been in a really good place, lots of games, lots of trips, the Club is employing more people than it’s ever done and we’re getting bigger crowds than it’s ever done, so if you add all those things together, it would probably sound like progress.
What I want to do is apologise to the supporters because we couldn’t get back on the pitch.
The support was great today and we couldn’t go on because of the crowd coming on, but I’d love to have gone over and said my goodbyes.
I said to the players, I really wish that it could have been last week at Luton that we finished it as it would have been at home and all in a good manner and the support was great, but I just want to pass on my apologies for us not getting on to thank them for their support.
Let me tell you, coming into the Football Club, I wanted to make everyone feel included.
I think there are a lot of things for the Club to take forward and a lot of things we’ve made better here and I hope it continues, I really do.
I’ve said to the players in the dressing room, they have to keep it going. They’ve set some standards in the Premier League now and let’s see if we can maintain it.
I’m really pleased it was a successful time at West Ham and I think that most people would probably agree with that.
The people I’ve worked with have been successful and all the people I’ve enjoyed, and I hope that everybody else can continue it.
We’ve had some dark days here, but let’s be fair, we’re seeing a lot more of the light now than we are of the darkness.
