Sunday 29 December 2019 21:39, UK
West Ham made "one of their biggest managerial mistakes" in letting David Moyes leave for Manuel Pellegrini, Daily Mirror chief football writer John Cross told the Sunday Supplement.
West Ham have confirmed the re-appointment of David Moyes as manager on an 18-month deal following the dismissal of Pellegrini on Saturday, and he will get straight to work against Bournemouth on New Year's Day.
Moyes took the reins midway through 2017/18 with West Ham in relegation trouble and led them to 13th, but departed the club soon after in favour of Pellegrini, a former Premier League title winner with Manchester City.
But with the Hammers again looking in danger of losing their top-flight status, they have returned to the man who kept them up two years ago - leaving Cross wondering why the ex-Everton manager was not kept on in the first place.
"They made I think one of their biggest managerial mistakes in getting rid of him," he told the Sunday Supplement. "If they go back to him, that's the correct decision. He'll lead them to safety, and onwards from there.
"I have no doubt about it, he will keep them up this season, to push them on. Then push them on to the top eight and the top six, that's what he did year in, year out at Everton.
"Some supporters deride Moyes, but he was so solid, reliable and consistent at Everton that becomes almost boring and we forget what a huge achievement and job he did at Goodison Park, that gets lost a little bit with recent times. But if he stays there for a long time, West Ham will be a solid, consistent, reliable Premier League club."
Oliver Holt, the Mail on Sunday's chief sports writer, added that West Ham co-owners David Gold and David Sullivan would have swallowed some pride if they brought back Moyes less than two years after deciding he was not the right man for the job.
"In some ways going back is a courageous decision," he said. "It's an admission of guilt. It's not a very good look, going back to a guy who you let go, didn't renew his contract, and go back to him having appointed someone in the interim who just didn't work."
On the back of a capitulation which has seen West Ham lose nine of their last 12 games and pick up fewer points (7) on home soil than any other team, Daily Mail chief sports writer and self-confessed West Ham supporter Martin Samuel said the brunt of the responsibility for the club's predicament should go beyond their now ex-manager, and onto the playing staff instead.
"The first people you go to are the players," he said. "Mark Noble looked like he was going to have a stand-up fight with one of his own team-mates in the week at Crystal Palace. If you had 11 guys running around like Mark Noble, at his age when you know his legs aren't the best, you wouldn't be near the bottom three.
"It's the old football club thing, you go for the complete opposite of what you've got, that's why Tony Pulis' name is in there too. They need someone to go in and crack the whip.
"Felipe Anderson doesn't protect his left-back, Arthur Masuaku, the left-back, I know David Moyes rates him but he's completely undisciplined. They want someone who's going to get them running about a bit."
Pellegrini's appointment, reportedly on one of the biggest contracts in the division, initially worked out well as the Hammers finished 10th, five points off a European spot while playing a largely attractive brand of football.
But the size of his deal, and the sum of more than £160m spent on player transfers in less than 18 months, has been born out of a desire to appease frustrations among the West Ham fanbase at leaving Upton Park in 2016, Samuel told the Supplement.
He said: "Because of the issue they have around the unpopularity around the move to the London Stadium, there is a lot of trying to keep the fans happy about West Ham. Moyes wasn't particularly popular, he was seen as being quite a dour manager, the results were okay but weren't the greatest.
"They were relatively steady, but because he was perceived as a dour manager, and the owners were desperate to give the fans someone with bells and whistles on - like a guy who's won the Premier League, and throw a load of money at it.
"They're trying to win the hearts and minds of the supporters all the time, you know how that's done, you spend a lot of money and get results."
