West Ham United manager David Moyes has accepted the recent criticism placed on him after years of praise for his achievements in the Premier League and Europe. Moyes says that he is having a taste of his own medicine at present, but appreciates that the criticism is just a part of being a football manager
David Moyes said: “Of course you would rather it be the other way. You would rather people be talking about you positively. That would always be good. And I have to be fair, you boys and everybody else has spoken incredibly positively about me over the last few years because of the success and improvement at West Ham. But I also have to take my medicine and know that when I’m not doing well, I’m expecting to be spoken less well about. I don’t take it personally. I take it as part of the job and because I’m a wee bit older and more experienced, I’m more comfortable in my own shoes with it and am able to handle it better and put it in perspective.”
Moyes has regularly been in contact with, and had the backing of, West Ham co-owner David Sullivan during the turbulent spells in the Premier League this season. Off the back West Ham’s 5-1 loss to Newcastle United at the London Stadium on Wednesday night, West Ham’s heaviest home league defeat since August 2019, Moyes spoke to Sullivan on Thursday morning. Speaking on that conversation, Moyes said that he is aware that if West Ham keep losing matches, then Sullivan and West Ham’s hierarchy would be well within their right to make him the 13th sacked manager out of the Premier League this season.
David Moyes added: “I spoke to him on Thursday morning. All good. David Sullivan. All fine. But I’m no different. You lose the games, you can lose your job and West Ham could do that, no problem. Because we’ve not got ourselves in a good enough position. But let’s be fair, where we are right now, if we finish the season and we stay up and we get to a European final, you might start saying, ‘hey, by the way, that’s been not a bad season for West Ham.’ So we’re really on the cusp. It can go either way now. It’s on the cusp. It could go one way or the other. It’s a really fine balancing act at the moment.”
