Livestream on 4 November – In Thursday night's Europa League group stage against Genk, West Ham boss Moyes will host his 1,000th game as a coach. Sky Sports interviewed the Scot and asked him to review his coaching journey.
From taking over the Preston North Division in January 1998, when he was in danger of being relegated to the amateur league in the old League Two, to moving to Everton, Manchester United, Real Sociedad, Sunderland, and now coaching West Ham for the second time to lead the team to the top 4 of the Premier League and enter the Europa League, for more than 20 years, Moyes's coaching environment has been turned upside down. Looking back at the registration when he first took office, he was still a "Preston player" and survived eight games to win the first victory in charge, Moyes still remembers it vividly.
He said: "That [victory] was against Bournemouth. I remember I almost cried after the game because I was so happy to finally win the first game! <b>I was in a situation where if I lost two more games, I might go to the club myself and say, 'Hey, maybe this position isn't for me.'</b>" I remember that the manager that Preston fans wanted at that time was Joe Royle or Ian Rush. But I thought, from the bottom of my heart, I wanted to be a coach. In fact, <b>I basically believe that if I am a coach, I can do better than as a player. </b>”
A few years later, Moyes led Preston to the Championship and was only 90 minutes away from the Premier League – in the 2001 promotion play-off final, they lost 3-0 to Bolton Wanderers. Halfway through the following season, Moyes moved to Goodison Park to replace compatriot Walter Smith. He took Everton for 11 seasons, ending his season with a top-8 finish in the Premier League nine times, including a 4th place in the Premier League in 2005, when he beat Liverpool. In 2014, he became Manchester United manager as Sir Alex Ferguson's hand-picked successor. However, the job that had been his dream ended up being a nightmare: He was fired in just 10 months.
Moyes explained: "I was of course disappointed after [receiving] Manchester United because <b>I was not invited by Glazer or Woodward, but by Sir Alex Ferguson</b>. In many ways, Sir Alex Ferguson is the highest peak in football in this country. This is an opportunity that I feel I must seize. ”
"But when I went from Manchester United to Spain again, I was promoted at Real Sociedad. I have to say that working in a country that produces the best footballers, that feeling makes you unbelievable! The journey from there was amazing! It was really a wonderful time. Sometimes you have to go through something bad to get some good times and opportunities. I don't know how many coaches have been through this, if it's been a smooth sailing experience – maybe Sir Alex Ferguson is one of them, but even he's been through some bumps. ”
After a mediocre year at Real Sociedad, he coached Sunderland for a year that turned out to be a disaster – the team was relegated from the Premier League in 2017. Moyes said: "It was really disappointing, but I don't think any coach at the time would have made Sunderland successful. ”
Subsequently, when West Ham was also in danger of relegation, their bosses David Sullivan and David Gold did not consider Moyes's reputation damaged. But after he managed to save the team, he was replaced by Pellegrini. Moyes said, "That's really uncomfortable. We think we're doing a good job – in fact, we've made plans. I circled a couple of players and thought they were going to be the backbone of the team going into next season because I thought we were going to stay, but all of a sudden, everything changed. We didn't think we could have done more: on the final day of the season, we beat Everton and previously won in Leicester to keep the lead. We did very well at the end of the season, so it was a blow. ”
Two years ago, when Sullivan and Gold called again, Moyes chose to return to the London Bowl. Before the 1,000-game milestone in charge, his "Hammers" won five consecutive games in all competitions and rushed to 4th in the Premier League, 3rd step away from the league led by legendary coach John Lyle in 1986. Moyes concluded: "I think West Ham is a good fit for me, I really think so. I'm really thankful to the club owners for letting me come back, because sometimes when you can't 'punch' in your position, it's the club owner who gives me a chance to 'punch' – then I'm going to give them a good set of 'combo punches'. ”
(Felix Cat)