Former Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan has heaped praise on an "integral" West Ham United figure for taking them out a "nose dive".
West Ham under David Moyes
While the east Londoners were battling relegation at one stage last season, there transformation over David Moyes' second stint in charge has been nothing short of remarkable overall. West Ham were facing a very real danger of dropping to the Championship in 2020, but after Moyes steered them away from England's second tier, he built upon it with Europa League qualification the year after.
They even managed an unprecedented run to the semi-finals of the competition before being knocked out by Eintracht Frankfurt, but what followed the season after was historic. Indeed, West Ham lifted the 2023 Europa Conference League, their first European trophy since 1965 and first piece of silverware overall since the 1980s.
These achievements have cemented Moyes as West Ham's most successful manager of the modern era, not to mention the most popular. Their start to this Premier League season has been solid as well, maintaining their unbeaten European run of 17 games while winning four out of their opening eight league matches.
Only Man City and Liverpool have managed to claim victories against West Ham this early in the season, with the Hammers sealing impressive wins over high-flying Brighton, Newcastle United and big-spenders Chelsea. Moyes' brilliant job at the club has been praised as a result, with talkSPORT pundit Jordan now calling him an "integral" figurehead who stopped a West Ham "nosedive".
Speaking on talkSport’s White & Jordan on Tuesday (17 October, 11:43), the ex-Palace chief said (via West Ham Zone).:
"You look at the three or four seasons that he’s been back he took them out of a nose dive, then he puts them six, then he puts them seventh, then he wins a European competition after being in a European Cup semi-final the previous year.
"They’ve learned their lessons with David in terms of players that they’ve bought, the clubs making money. There’s a lot about West Ham now that you have to look at and say that’s a pretty decent football club now, it’s punching quite hard.
“I think all things lead to the stability and solidity and achievements of West Ham, not on his own but David has been integral to that so why would you want to change that? There will be certain sections of the West Ham fanbase that don’t like his style of football and think there’s another manager in the offing, but look at what he’s done in the last three and a half years.”
After the international break, West Ham gear up for crunch clashes against Aston Villa, Everton and Brentford in the league, while cup face-offs against Olympiacos in the Europa League and Arsenal in the EFL Cup linger on the horizon as well. Given their solid start under Moyes, you would fancy them building upon their brilliant beginning to 2023/2024 with more positive results.