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David Moyes has often given off the vibe of the old school football manager struggling to come to terms with the modern world. When he was sacked by Real Sociedad in 2015, his difficulties in learning the language – he once infamously gave a car crash interview in which he mangled the pronunciation of Real Madrid midfielder Asier Illarramendi's name – and assimilating with the local population were given as significant reasons as to why he failed in San Sebastian. Two years later, as Sunderland manager, he found himself facing a disrepute charge in front of the Football Association for comments he made to BBC sports reporter Vicky Sparks during a press conference in which he said: "You were just getting a wee bit naughty at the end there, so just watch yourself. You still might get a slap even though you're a woman. Careful the next time you come in."
It's reductive to pick two examples from a man's past and present them as compelling evidence of his character. Indeed, it says everything about Moyes as a man that he immediately recognised his mistake and apologised to Ms Sparks. Moyes, like plenty of football men of his vintage, is not easily pigeon-holed.
At Everton, he would arrive before sunrise, laying out his training drills for the morning sessions ahead. He was an early adopter of sports science. He is a humble, engaging character who delivered fruit and veg to the elderly during lockdown. He is one also shaped by Glasgow and unsurprisingly by football, having been raised in a household where his father David Sr was the manager of Drumchapel Amateurs.
The game has brought him to his lowest ebb – the brickbats have landed wounds at the various clubs where he has failed. Having enjoyed a continuous upward trajectory at Preston North End and then later Everton, his woes at Manchester United ended in humiliation when he was sacked after just 10 months. Yet, there were no recriminations from Moyes, just regrets. "I look back with unbelievable fondness, but great disappointment I didn't do well enough to get longer than 10 months . . . overall it was a great experience, just one, unfortunately, for me was a bit too short,” he said a few years ago.
There have been highs since, however. His work at West Ham during two seasons in which he guided the club to sixth (2020-21) and seventh (2021-22) place finishes are made all the more remarkable by the fact that he was doing so as a returning outcast, a manager who had seen the vitriol from the club's supporters during a previous spell at the club from 2017-18 in which he steered the Londoners clear of relegation. This season has been less productive in league and particularly disappointing following a summer transfer splurge that suggested they would trouble the top four rather than the bottom four they occupied for much of the campaign. Moyes admitted that calls for him to go in March stung him and yet he might still oversee West Ham's best season since they won the FA Cup in 1980. He could still have the last laugh.
Later this evening in Prague, he may just do the unthinkable by winning a trophy for West Ham – a club whose trophy drought extends longer than even that of Tottenham Hotspur. Should they prevail against Fiorentina in the Conference League final (kick-off 8pm), it will end a 43-year wait for silverware and will position Moyes among club legends such as Ron Greenwood and John Lyall, the only other West Ham managers to secure a trophy for the club. The fate that awaits him, however, is one of uncertainty. A hardened traveller in modern football's unforgiving surroundings, the 60-year-old Moyes knows exactly what will happen should his side lose tonight's final and even if West Ham win, there may be no guarantees. Yet while others might feel the need to trumpet their own contribution, Moyes has been firm in his claims that winning tonight is all about how the club can further its aims of becoming sustained challengers. He deserves far better.
