End of an era: David Moyes prepares to bid farewell to stadium he soothed

David Moyes is the man who made West Ham fans fall in love with their club again. It should not be forgotten that the mood was poisonous when he was brought back on a rescue mission in December 2019. Anger over the move to the London Stadium had not gone away, an underperforming, uncommitted side had slid into another relegation battle and supporters were staging angry protests against the club’s unpopular ownership before home games.

Four and a half years on, the mood is different. European football has come to Stratford and West Ham, as the chant ironically goes, are massive.

It has, of course, turned sour, last week’s 5-0 thrashing by Chelsea the cue for West Ham to confirm that the Scot is leaving at the end of the season. Yet this is not the moment to focus on the negatives. Clarity on the situation has made space for people to remember the good times. The complaints over the quality of the football, and the grumbling over a run of four wins in all competitions in 2024, can be put to one side when Moyes takes charge of his final West Ham home game on Saturday afternoon.

There will be an acknowledgement that Julen Lopetegui, who takes over this summer, will do well to get anywhere near his predecessor’s achievements. There is nothing hyperbolic about saying that Lopetegui is replacing a club legend. Ron Greenwood and John Lyall finally have company. Moyes made sure of that when he led West Ham to their first piece of major silverware in 43 years last season.

Preston North End 1998-2002

Moyes guided the club to the Division Two title in 1999/2000 and the Division One playoff final. After he left, Preston muddled about in midtable until another Scotsman, Billy Davies, revived them as playoff contenders, coming close to promotion in 2005 and 2006.

Everton 2002-2013

He took the club close to the Champions League throughout his time at Goodison Park. Everton finished fifth under Roberto Martínez in the season following Moyes’ departure to Manchester United. The Toffees have struggled to come close to the premier European competition since.

Manchester United 2013-2014

Replacing Sir Alex Ferguson was always going to be a tough gig, the champions dropping to seventh with Moyes being dismissed in April when the chance of Champions league qualification had dissipated. Questions over style of play and signings aside, Louis Van Gaal’s trust in youth led United to fourth in the following season.

Real Sociedad 2014-2015

He took over a Sociedad side who had moved out of the relegation zone a day earlier with a 2-1 home win over champions Atletico Madrid, eventually finishing 12th in La Liga that season. The Scotsman was sacked in November 2015 after a poor start to the next season. The Basque side have since become perennial contenders for Europe in the last decade, with Moyes’ successors, Eusebio Sacristán and now Imanol Alguacil establishing them as one of the best of the rest.

Sunderland 2016-2017

After forging a well-earned reputation as a steady hand through his career, Moyes suffered the ignominy of the first relegation on his CV at the Wearside club. Perhaps the starkest example of the "grass isn’t always greener": after he resigned in May 2017, Sunderland finished rock bottom of the Championship the following season and then struggled with various off-the-field issues as they bounced between the third and second tier.

West Ham United 2017-2018

Took over with the club in the relegation zone after Slaven Bilic’s dismissal in November 2017 leading them to safety and 13th. His replacement, Manuel Pellegrini led West Ham to 10th the following season but had a much more difficult task handling expectations thereafter having been trusted with significant funds. He was sacked in December 2019 with West Ham fourth from bottom, a point clear of the drop zone. Morgan Ofori

His place in the club’s history is not just about that triumph in the Europa Conference League final, though. Beating Fiorentina was great, Moyes’s charge down the touchline after Jarrod Bowen’s last-minute winner an iconic image, but so was the journey. “My goodness, for us to go from a team that was fighting at the bottom of the league to sixth was unbelievable,” Moyes said on Friday as he prepared to face Luton. “The players in the last few years have done a brilliant job.”

The 61-year-old was in a relaxed mood. There were no complaints about the manner of his departure. He said it was the right decision for both parties. He talked about spending a long time away from his family, who still live in the north, and explained that his batteries were drained after three years of European football. “I’m pretty beaten up,” Moyes said.

Could he have kept going? This is a natural ending. The disappointment is that West Ham have not maintained their push for another top-six finish. Moyes is “annoyed” that his team have folded on a few occasions this season.

But the overriding emotion is pride. Pride at finishing sixth and seventh. Pride at reaching the semi-finals of the Europa League in 2022. Pride at the trophy. Pride at wounding all the big teams in the Premier League. Pride, above all, at leading a group that could usually be trusted to give their all. “You don’t run, you don’t play,” was the familiar Moyes refrain. Fans want entertainment; they also want to watch a team playing for the shirt.

“I think I’m actually quite shy behind all this,” he said when asked whether he was planning to deliver a big speech to the crowd after the Luton game. Suddenly, in what looked suspiciously like a Jürgen Klopp impression, he did some mock fist-pumping. “It’s not my style, to be honest,” Moyes said. “I’m not that type of manager. Sometimes I wish I was. It might be a bit more sexy. Maybe I need to get my teeth bigger.”

Moyes will leave it to others to sum up his work. He is not perfect but he is undoubtedly West Ham’s best manager of the Premier League era. When it comes to moments, it is hard to know where to begin. He has often cited Andriy Yarmolenko’s last-minute winner against Chelsea during Project Restart as a turning point for West Ham, who were fighting relegation. But he also picks out Michail Antonio scoring four against Norwich as a fond memory. He spoke about securing sixth by beating Southampton when crowds returned in 2021.

West Ham embraced Europe under Moyes, who has seen Aston Villa fail to emulate his feat of winning the Conference League. The London Stadium was deafening when West Ham beat Lopetegui’s Sevilla in the last 16 of the Europa League in 2022. They kept defying the odds, winning 3-0 in Lyon in the next round.

Craig Dawson scored the opener that night. The centre-back was one of many unfashionable players lifted by Moyes. He took Bowen out of the Championship and turned him into an England international. He made Declan Rice a £100m player and found value in the Czech Republic internationals Tomas Soucek and Vladimir Coufal. He briefly reignited Jesse Lingard’s spark and helped Pablo Fornals settle in England.

There was the emotion of Yarmolenko, who was granted compassionate leave after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, returning to score the winner against Villa. There was the improbability of almost qualifying for the Champions League with a squad that contained one striker and Fabián Balbuena, Issa Diop, Ryan Fredericks and Arthur Masuaku.

Under Moyes, though, West Ham won the games they weren’t supposed to win. They fought, scrapped and made the fans feel again. It was a blessing for the board, who no longer hear people complaining about the stadium. Moyes brought stability to a previously dysfunctional club, lifting a disillusioned fanbase. “You have to raise expectations as a manager,” he said. “That’s part of your job: to come in and give supporters something which maybe they haven’t achieved before.”