Despite mounting “sack pressure,” David Moyes is expected to receive a new contract offer to remain at West Ham, according to sources.
After losing 1-0 to Championship team Bristol City in the FA Cup and drawing 2-2 with relegation-fighting Sheffield United, West Ham have now remained winless in their past eight games in all competitions.
At the match against Forest, a banner demanding Moyes’s resignation was flown by furious supporters as pressure mounted after goals by Taiwo Awoniyi and Callum Hudson-Odoi.
Hammers supporters are unlikely to get their wish anytime soon, though, as Football Insider reports that the club’s “primary priority” is to “end the club’s current slump in form before discussing David Moyes’ future.”
The report states: ‘If the London club can get back to winning ways, it is believed the club’s board will then sit down with the ex-Man United boss to discuss a new deal.
‘If Moyes, 60, is happy to stay on, the Irons will hand him renewed terms – and a well-placed source has told Football Insider that a renewal is still expected.’
The West Ham board has drawn up contingency plans and a shortlist of names being evaluated since Moyes is yet to give a definitive answer.
Moyes remained unwavering in his defense of his track record while at West Ham, where he helped the team win the Europa Conference League the previous season and consistently challenged for the top six the previous three.
“I am pretty long in the tooth, you can never please everybody, it would be hard to say there have been many better times at West Ham,” Moyes said.
“Maybe they want something different, but they would honestly have to say it has been the best times they have had at the club with regards winning a European trophy, the league positions.
“Maybe there would be managers who excite them more, possibly, but the one who is sitting here wins more.
“My response would be to say we are hurting really badly as a team and a manager because we have not had good results for five or six weeks now.
“But this year already we have beaten Tottenham, Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal, we must not forget there were good times not so long ago.
“We have not been playing well, but there are some mitigating circumstances since January 1, with boys going to the African Cup of Nations, Jarrod Bowen came back from England with an injury and has not been the same since, we have been without Lucas Paqueta as well for most of the time so there are things that have affected us.
“I have seen other teams have similar, Newcastle, Man Utd, Man City before the World Championship, Arsenal over Christmas.
“There is no divine right that West Ham don’t have a dicky period at some point in the season. We are hoping we can get back on it.”
Moyes is facing an uncertain future at the club. Even when his team was winning, the fans were against the style of play and believed it was too defensive.
It is still highly unlikely to see Moyes at the Hammers next season, with the club being linked with a move for Bayern Munich’s Thomas Tuchel in the last few days.
With the plethora of managers available currently in the market, West Ham are expected to appoint a new one and let Moyes go.
