David Moyes confirms new contract offer from West Ham
West Ham United boss David Moyes has confirmed that the club has tabled a new deal to extend his stay at the London stadium.
The 60-year-old partially cleared the air on the longstanding speculation regarding his future with the club, claiming that talks have already taken place with West Ham owner David Sullivan and CEO Karren Brady, and that he will bide his time until the end of the season to make the all-important decision. His present deal is set to expire in the summer.
“I’ve had really good conversations with the owners, with David Sullivan and Karren Brady. Look, there’s a contract there for me, I am the one who is at the moment deciding that I want to wait,” he announced.
Doubling down on his reasons, Moyes continued “I want to wait until the end of the season. I want to make sure that everything is correct, and that first and foremost, we’re concentrating on this season, doing the job. But no, I have really enjoyed my four years here and one way or the other, I’ll see my contract out.”
Moyes steered West Ham to their first trophy in 43 years less than nine months ago, clinching the second edition of the Europa Conference League. The Hammers have qualified for Europe in three consecutive seasons – a feat the club had never witnessed before in their otherwise rich history.
But despite bringing days of glory on the European level and navigating the club well clear of the bottom half of the table, Moyes and co. have been hard pressed to find victories since the calendar flipped to 2024.
A 2-0 win over title challengers Arsenal appears to have drained all the energy out of their attack, as they crashed out of the FA Cup and suffered a 6-0 defeat at the hands of the Gunners earlier this month.
The performances this calendar year haven’t nearly matched the expectations, and the Irons fans made their voices heard when a banner reading ‘Moyes Out’ was revealed during the 2-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest last week.
The loss in faith even after Moyes topped the Europa League group this season and made consecutive top seven finishes portrays the cruel nature of the sport, and how rapidly fanbases can turn.
On hearing the same, Moyes boldly claimed that the fans should choose their aspirations wisely. “Maybe they’ve had managers who excite them more. But the one who is sitting here wins more,” he quipped.
Luckily, a 4-2 victory over Brentford on Monday appears to have calmed the Hammers faithful for the time being, but the club will be looking to string together some victories now that they’ve gotten the proverbial monkey off their back.
West Ham have the likes of Michail Antonio and Lucas Paqueta returning to the fold, and if Moyes can inspire a few wins and start strong in the European qualifiers, the mood in East London could change quickly.
Whether he accepts the contract or not is a different proposition altogether.
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-Roy Akarshak
Twitter: @RoyAkarshak
Photo: Ardfern. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.