West Ham are set to appoint David Moyes on an initial six-month contract and hand him the responsibility of hauling them away from relegation danger after finally losing faith in Slaven Bilic’s ability to reverse the team’s decline. Bilic, whose contract was due to run out next summer, was sacked on Monday morning after a dismal start to the season that has left West Ham in 18th place and with two wins from their first 11 Premier League games.
While the club’s owners, David Gold and David Sullivan, had hoped that giving the manager time would eventually pay off, Saturday evening’s wretched 4-1 defeat to Liverpool at the London Stadium was the final straw and the club has already identified Moyes as Bilic’s replacement. The Croat’s assistants, Nikola Jurcevic, Edin Terzic, Julian Dicks and Miljenko Rak, have also left the club.
Gold and Sullivan released a statement explaining that they felt compelled to act in the club’s best interests after seeing few indications that Bilic was capable of reviving West Ham and added that they plan to appoint “a quality manager to the position to inject fresh ideas, organisation and enthusiasm into a very talented squad.”
That manager is Moyes, with negotiations expected to be concluded in the next 48 hours, even though news of the 54-year-old’s arrival on an interim basis has been met with opposition from supporters. The Scot has struggled since leaving Everton for Manchester United in 2013 – his last three jobs have ended in failure – and has been out of work since quitting Sunderland after their relegation from the Premier League last season.
Yet West Ham were desperate to move quickly after sacking Bilic and, with a lack of alternatives, Moyes’s immediate availability has counted strongly in his favour. They were not prepared to countenance a long wait to prise Sean Dyche away from Burnley. Instead they will reassess the situation at the end of the season.
Moyes will have time over the international break to prepare for his first game, away to Watford on 19 November, and he will be given a chance to earn a lengthier stay at West Ham by leading them to safety. The former Everton, Manchester United and Real Sociedad manager must prove that he is still capable of succeeding in the top flight of English football after finishing bottom with Sunderland last season.
West Ham believe that Moyes was placed in an impossible position at Sunderland, who are bottom of the Championship after sacking Simon Grayson last week. They regard him as a safe pair of hands and trust that Moyes has not lost the abilities that allowed him to enjoy 11 productive years at Everton before he jumped at the chance to replace Sir Alex Ferguson at United. He will link up with Tony Henry, West Ham’s chief scout, with whom he worked at Everton. Moyes will find a side crying out for greater organisation. West Ham have the worst defensive record in the division, having conceded 23 goals, and the evidence had mounted against Bilic long before the Liverpool game.
The wheels were already in motion after West Ham threw away a 2-0 lead against Crystal Palace on 28 October, conceding a 97th-minute equaliser to the Premier League’s bottom side, and the hierarchy made contact with Moyes before the visit from Liverpool. Bilic was a popular figure at West Ham, who appointed him as Sam Allardyce’s replacement in the summer of 2015, and the 49-year-old enjoyed an impressive debut season, leading them to seventh place in their final year at Upton Park.
West Ham toiled after moving to the London Stadium last season and although they finished 11th, they were dogged by relegation fears for most of a troubled campaign. West Ham sounded out Huddersfield Town’s David Wagner in March and also looked at Marco Silva, who would leave Hull City for Watford in the summer, but they eventually decided to press on with Bilic despite concerns over his tactical acumen and training methods.
West Ham believed that Bilic had enough talent at his disposal after a summer that saw them spend £40m on Marko Arnautovic and Javier Hernández, sign Pablo Zabaleta on a free and bring in Joe Hart on loan. Yet Bilic’s relationship with the board became increasingly strained, especially after the failure to sign William Carvalho from Sporting Lisbon at the end of the transfer window.
Source: The guardian UK
