Given the poor and inconsistent form shown by the West Ham United first team squad during the 2022/23 Premier League campaign so far, the rumour mill headlines have been almost permanently full of speculation debating the potential future of manager David Moyes.
Moyes has worked wonders in recent seasons, and fans have enjoyed some very good domestic wins and some great European nights under the floodlights in former years, and in terms of European nights, they continued this season with straight victories in the Europa Conference League Group B battles, and we have a commanding 2-0 advantage at the Round of 16 stage and West Ham tickets will be at a premium for the second leg.
Unfortunately, as fans are keenly aware, that form and those performance levels have not transferred over into our domestic campaign and until last weekend, and our comeback draw with Unai Emery’s Aston Villa side, we were languishing in the relegation drop zone – but we are now out of that based purely on goal difference. West Ham’s worry has to be we could quickly be back in with the live sporting events that are left in the season.
Whatever this small amount of relief or breathing room gives Moyes and the side, it certainly has not stopped the speculation about Moyes’ future continuing and in one of the more bizarre stories doing the rounds, we are being linked with a potential move for former short term Chelsea gaffer, and current Lazio manager Maurizio Sarri.
The 64 year old, former centre back during his playing days, would certainly be a bold move from our owners and in fairness, his record at Stamford Bridge was pretty good in reality. 63 games, 39 wins and 13 draws is nothing to sniff at in the Premier League, but for so many other reasons this piece of speculation just feels like a complete non starter.
Sarri has taken on a project at the Serie A side, and he remains contracted up at the Stadio Olimpico until the summer of 2025 and even the original source of the speculation states that his current plan is to stay at the club for a ‘long time’ yet, so particularly given the position The Hammers currently find themselves in, it is almost illogical to suggest that there is a ‘sensational divorce’ on the cards.
Sarri may well fancy a second crack at the English top flight before he ultimately hangs up his managerial clipboard, but he would absolutely not be making any decisions before the summer at the very earliest, as even if he was tempted to make a move to the London Stadium, he would understandably wait on making any decision until we had at least mathematically secured PL riches for the coming 2023/24 campaign.
With the club keeping faith with the 59 year old so far, added to the fact we have now dug ourselves out of the drop zone (and the ongoing European adventure), it is also unlikely the board would make a definitive decision themselves unless survival mathematically turned against us, as this season is an aberration and it seems plausible that Moyes still has plenty of credit in the bank, particularly given the changes the first team has seen and how we could certainly expect better from some of them next season when they will be far better adjusted to the division.
Time will tell, but I cannot see this one happening.
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