Liverpool and Man United favourites head contenders to replace David Moyes at West Ham
He’s delivered silverware after a wait of more than 40 years and a couple of hugely respectable league placings but David Moyes and West Ham has always felt like a little bit of a marriage of inconvenience. He’s not a manager whose football aligns with the way West Ham think of themselves, his tactics will never be entirely embraced by many and it is increasingly doubtful whether they now get the best out of a squad increasingly unsuited to his methods.
The Hammers have gone along all right for much of this season, at one time taking up residence in the top six to go with serene progress in Europe. That this never prompted any significant talk of a new contract for Moyes feels quite significant.
And now things have taken a marked turn for the sh*t as well as the dreary, with a 6-0 home defeat to Arsenal surely the nadir. You can’t imagine it gets any worse from there.
But does it get meaningfully better? Is it really now at a point where it might be best for everyone to call it a day? If not now, then surely the summer when Moyes’ contract is up.
West Ham’s timing might be out, though. Going to be some pretty handy jobs up for grabs this summer, and a great many names on this list of the current top 10 contenders for the West Ham job on oddschecker is headed by the favourite to be next Manchester United manager and the favourite to be next Liverpool manager. Hmm.
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10) Jose Mourinho
You have to admit it would be nothing if not funny to bin off Moyes in large part due to grumblings about his tactics and then bring in Mourinho. On the plus side, should at least be able to quickly form a bond with the fans over a mutual loathing of Tottenham.
9) Mark Noble
Certainly ticks the ‘DNA’ and ‘Knows The Club’ boxes on any West Ham job spec. He is currently sporting director at the Hammers and it’s not hard to envisage a scenario in which he takes temporary charge like some kind of modern-day Trevor Brooking, but anything more than that would seem one heck of a leap.
8) Marcelo Bielsa
We’d be up for this one. An endlessly fascinating and fascinated coach, there is definitely crossover here with West Ham’s self-styled ‘academy of football’ aesthetic and it would just fundamentally be good fun to have him back squatting on buckets in the Barclays.
7) Gary O’Neil
Spent two-and-a-half years at the club as a player and currently impressing everyone while making his way up the Premier League managerial food chain. It’s not an entirely ridiculous idea but hard to see West Ham fans who yearn for more being entirely happy with a manager whose reputation is growing but being built on firefighting rather than glass-ceiling-smashing qualities.
6) Paulo Fonseca
Was Tottenham’s top choice for a while in the doomed summer that ended with Nuno and certainly plays a type of football West Ham fans could more readily get behind than Moyesball no matter how effective it may have on occasion been for them. Newcastle and Aston Villa also considered Fonseca before landing on Eddie Howe and Unai Emery respectively, and the Lille manager does feel like he sits somewhere close to the very top of untainted managers the Hammers could theoretically lure.
5) Steve Cooper
Would probably do absolutely fine at a club whose transfer policy is very slightly less madcap than Nottingham Forest’s, but is he an enticing enough name to make the leap from the safety of Moyes worth the gamble? Not sure.
4) Michael Carrick
Another former Hammer making his way in management, and he’s impressed plenty with his Middlesbrough team. No surprise based on the sort of player he was to see he has an aptitude for the job, but West Ham as a first (permanent) top-flight gig would be a big punt from all concerned.
3) Will Still
The 31-year-old Football Manager prodigy is a West Ham fan and at some point some team is clearly going to unleash an avalanche of content about just who is this Belgian-born, English-parented oddity by giving him a Barclays gig. We would still be quite surprised at this point if it were West Ham, but let’s see.
2) Xabi Alonso
Ah, that’s adorable, it really is. Second favourite? How on earth is he second favourite for the West Ham job? There are genuine and significant doubts about whether he’d even want to walk away from the good thing he’s got going at Leverkusen to be the next Liverpool manager. With the very greatest of respect, he’s not going to West Ham, is he? ‘Stranger things have happened,’ you might say. Yeah? Name one. Exactly.
1) Graham Potter
Now that seems like a much better fit. Could be scuppered by Manchester United, sure, but if they either stick with Erik Ten Hag or look elsewhere then this is an option that would appear to make a lot of sense for everyone. West Ham are a big enough club that it certainly wouldn’t be a demeaningly large backward step for a manager who nevertheless really should have to make one after what went down at Chelsea. And West Ham, for all their qualities, are not going to attract an elite coach with no baggage. But they absolutely could rehabilitate one whose Brighton work saw him firmly on the watchlists for every member of the Big Six.
Man Utd decision that was ‘forced’ upon Ten Hag has been a ‘big help’ to their season
Hojlund was signed from Atalanta for £72million in the summer, landing him a place in the top 10 of United’s most expensive signings ever. Despite having been plucked out of Serie A with nine goals in 32 games and having a tough start in the Premier League, it would have been hard not to play him.
Indeed, Hojund went 14 games without scoring a Premier League goal before he finally broke his duck in the 15th, but in that time, United had to keep faith, according to Keane.
“The manager has been forced to play him week in and week out – it’s been a big help,” Keane said on Sky Sports.
The Red Devils couldn’t exactly push Hojlund to the side while he was struggling to adjust, as they’d just thrown £72million at his signing. The Dane not only remained in the side amid those struggles, but was given consistent minutes, and that’s now paid off.
He’s scored in each of his last five league games, while also assisting during two of those, and Keane feels the striker is showing a desire to have an impact for his side every time he walks out.
“He’s on fire, it took him a few months. It’s more settled and he’s got confidence. I believe every time he’s on the pitch, he thinks ‘I’m going to score a goal for Man United’ – he’s showing good form,” Keane said.Related video
Gary Neville is in agreement that the United frontline, of which Hojlund is now a key member, look better than they did at the start of the season, but feels there are still improvements to be made, as you “don’t see any patterns or combinations.”
In any case, right now, the attack is the main reason for United’s form. Ten Hag’s side have won their last three games in the league, scoring nine goals within those.
If they keep up their good form in front of goal, wins will no doubt keep coming, and they’ll hope they’re able to break into the top four come the end of the season.
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Man Utd: Ratcliffe receives Premier League approval over sale as new timeline is revealed
It was announced on Christmas Eve that the Ineos chairman had agreed to buy a 25 per cent stake in the Premier League club in a deal that included investing $300million US dollars (€331million) into their infrastructure.
As well as buying Class B shares held by the Glazer family, the announcement confirmed that Ratcliffe would offer to acquire up to 25 per cent of all Class A shares at a price of 33 US dollars (£26) per share.
Ratcliffe has conducted a series of meetings with club staff and associates in recent days.
He has met leaders of the independent Manchester United Supporters’ Trust and spoken with local leaders, including senior representatives of Trafford Council, and Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham.
He was also among those in attendance at the Munich Air Disaster memorial last week.
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Ratcliffe is reportedly already planning to lead an overhaul of United’s playing squad, starting with four new players to aid Erik ten Hag’s bid to get Man Utd back to challenging for Premier League titles.
And now Tom Morgan in the Daily Telegraph has claimed that Ratcliffe ‘has received Premier League directors and owners’ test approval’ for his minority stake in Man Utd.
Morgan adds:
‘A deal will be completed within days as the Football Association signs off a final agreement after Ratcliffe extended his purchase offer until the end of this week.
‘United’s Class A shares rose more than six per cent to $21 (£16.57) in post-market trading after the tender offer deadline was extended to Friday from Tuesday.
‘Club filings to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) overnight confirm the league has privately approved the deal. A Premier League statement confirming the decision is only expected once Ratcliffe completes, however, which is likely next week.
‘The Ratcliffe deal is now all-but-done after an extraordinary saga which saw the Glazers first start exploring a sale in Nov 2022.’
Former Man Utd right-back Gary Neville thinks Ratcliffe can get a few “pretty easy wins” early on at Old Trafford as he looks to help transform the club’s fortunes.
“It’s a big job to be CEO of Man Utd, when you think of all the things he has to go at,” he said on The Gary Neville Podcast. “But there are also some pretty easy wins straight away.
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“Communication I think is really important, to have that voice that the club haven’t had for the last 10 years. He can form part of a new management structure that can build trust with the fans, us and everybody that watches the club.
“They’ve not had someone who has operated in football for a long time, and that’s really important, but it’s a big task and all eyes are going to be on him.
“He’s obviously had a brilliant, amazing grounding at Man City and Barcelona, two of the most successful clubs of the last 15 years.
“It looks like Man Utd are making more sound decisions and are on the right track and that can only be a positive. Sir Jim Ratcliffe was not going to come in and not disrupt things. The disruption has started pretty quickly.”
PSG to trigger Man City star’s release clause in quest to break UCL duck; personal terms unlikely to be an issue
PSG have reigned supreme as France’s dominant club in recent times. Indeed, the Paris outfit have lifted nine of the last 11 Ligue 1 titles, with only Monaco (2016/17) and Lille (2020/21) preventing a clean sweep.
But while PSG are unquestionably the kings of France, they’re yet to bring that domination into Europe.
The Champions League has continued to elude the club despite their array of expensively-assembled squads. Even a front three of Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi wasn’t enough to end their UCL hoodoo.
Since the 2012/13 season PSG have fallen at the Round of 16 stage five times, in the quarter-finals four times and the semi-finals once. PSG did advance to the final in the 2019/20 season, though were beaten by Bayern Munich.
The European failure is a constant point of contention in Paris and with Kylian Mbappe potentially heading to Real Madrid as a free agent, the unwanted streak looks set to continue.
However, according to a report from Spain (as cited by the BBC), PSG aren’t content to simply sit back and accept their fate.
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PSG to activate Bernardo Silva’s release clause
They state PSG have greenlit the activating of Bernardo Silva’s release clause. The Man City ace, 29, can be signed for £50m via a clause in his contract.
Silva penned fresh terms with Man City last summer on the back of being chased by Barcelona and PSG.
The Portuguese committed his future to the Etihad until 2026, though his camp insisted a modest release clause be included in the agreement.
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Silva remains a key performer for Pep Guardiola at Man City and is a two-time selection in the PFA Team of the Year.
However, the report states that not only are PSG prepared to pay up, but Silva isn’t expected to derail the move when it comes time to agreeing personal terms.
Silva is regularly linked with leaving City each and every summer. But with the release clause taking the power out of City’s hands, the long-awaited transfer could finally come to fruition in five months’ time.
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