David Moyes will be relying on his enduring Premier League experience to keep West Ham in the top flight and retain his job at the London Stadium in 2023.
With managerial upheaval a near-constant presence in the majority of clubs in the Premier League’s bottom half this season, Moyes has survived a storm of pressure at the start of 2023, but his position remains uncertain.
Jesse Marsch joined the list of Premier League managerial casualties in February following Frank Lampard’s January exit from Everton, with both clubs flirting with relegation. Wolves, Aston Villa, Southampton and Bournemouth have also changed manager this season.
Moyes brought in £161m/$195m worth of new faces at the start of the campaign, followed by a move for Danny Ings in the winter transfer window, and the veteran coach will need to use all of his nous to keep his team away from the drop zone.
However, their heavy defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion on March 4 was greeted by deep unhappiness from the travelling fans.
MORE: Watch every Premier League match live with fuboTV in Canada
Will West Ham sack David Moyes?
With the majority of teams in danger of Premier League relegation choosing to sack their managers either side of the World Cup break, it was natural that Moyes would eventually come into focus.
Nathan Jones, Marsch, Lampard, Ralph Hasenhuttl, Steven Gerrard, Bruno Lage and Scott Parker have all departed their roles, with Moyes grateful for the distraction of Qatar 2022 to allow for a reset at West Ham. Things have not gone well in recent weeks, though, and a 4-0 defeat at Brighton on March 4 led to great unrest among the Hammers fans.
However, one thing on Moyes’ side is his history in the top flight: he boasts more Premier League experience than the aforementioned six coaches combined, with only Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger managing more Premier League matches than the Scotsman.
🎙️ “I’m not in a hurry to go away at the moment”
David Moyes reacts to becoming the manager with the third most premier league games 6️⃣4️⃣2️⃣ pic.twitter.com/1n6HVGCJio
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) February 4, 2023
His strong relationship with club owners David Sullivan and David Gold — with the latter sadly passing away at the start of 2023 — has also been also crucial, as the club favour stability over risk.
At present he is now the favourite to be the next Premier League manager to be sacked.
Next Premier League manager to leave
Odds as of March 5, 2023
| Manager | Club | Odds (Sky Bet — UK) |
|---|---|---|
| David Moyes | West Ham | 5/6 |
| Graham Potter | Chelsea | 2/1 |
| Brendan Rodgers | Leicester | 11/2 |
| Gary O’Neil | Bournemouth | 10/1 |
| Steve Cooper | Nottingham Forest | 16/1 |
| Antonio Conte | Tottenham | 20/1 |
| No manager to leave | – | 20/1 |
| Patrick Vieira | Crystal Palace | 20/1 |
| Ruben Selles | Southampton | 33/1 |
| Jurgen Klopp | Liverpool | 33/1 |
Next West Ham manager odds
Should West Ham decide to fire Moyes, the favourite to take over as their next permanent manager is former Liverpool, Real Madrid and Everton boss Rafael Benitez.
Also on the list of candidates are former Wolves and Tottenham coach Nuno Espirito Santo, Celtic manager Ange Postecoglu, and ex-PSG head coach Mauricio Pochettino.
| Manager | Club | Odds (Sky Bet — UK) |
|---|---|---|
| Rafael Benitez | None | 7/4 |
| Nuno Espirito Santo | Al-Ittihad | 8/1 |
| Ange Postecoglu | Celtic | 9/1 |
| Mauricio Pochettino | None | 10/1 |
| Marcelo Bielsa | None | 12/1 |
| Steven Gerrard | None | 12/1 |
| Graham Potter | Chelsea | 14/1 |
| Mark Noble | West Ham* | 16/1 |
| Michael Carrick | Middlesbrough | 16/1 |
| Mark Warburton | West Ham** | 20/1 |
*Noble is West Ham’s sporting director
**Warburton is a first-team coach at West Ham
Has David Moyes ever been relegated from the Premier League?
A Premier League relegation battle is nothing new for Moyes, after spending years fighting for survival with Everton before turning the Toffees into challengers for Europe.
Despite his struggles at Manchester United, things never quite reached the ignominy of relegation fears at Old Trafford, and his 2016/17 move to Sunderland saw his first drop out of the Premier League.
After taking charge of West Ham for the first time in 2017, he guided the Hammers to 13th at the end of 2017/18 but left when his contract expired at the end of the campaign.
Since his return to the club in December 2019, Moyes has kept West Ham away from relegation danger, and guided them to the UEFA Europa League semifinals in 2022.
Moyes’ West Ham record and transfers
Despite West Ham’s status as a mid-table side, Moyes has enjoyed a strong record in recent seasons in comparison to their rivals, with a higher win percentage than his Everton tenure.
Here is Moyes’ record in charge of the Hammers since he replaced Manuel Pellegrini in December 2019.
| Games | Wins | Draws | Losses | Win Percentage |
| 158 | 70 | 30 | 58 | 44.3% |
In terms of the transfer market, the 2022/23 season has been the biggest spending of Moyes’ time at West Ham — across both stints in charge — as he looked to build on their European adventure last season.
However, their status as a team competing in Europe has resulted in a mixed return in the transfer market with shrewd signings balanced against striker flops.
Homegrown star Declan Rice remains the key player in West Ham’s midfield with low-key deals including Jarrod Bowen and Tomas Soucek proving to be value for money. However, the huge fee spent on striker Gianluca Scamacca has not paid off — the Italy international has scored only one league goal since October.
| Player | Position | Fee | Transfer Date |
| Jordan Hugill | FW | £9m | January 2018 |
| Jarrod Bowen | MF | £18.9m | January 2020 |
| Darren Randolph | GK | £4.1m | January 2020 |
| Tomas Soucek | MF | £14.3m | July 2020 |
| Vladimir Coufal | DF | £5.3m | October 2020 |
| Said Benrahma | MF | £20.5m | January 2021 |
| Craig Dawson | DF | £2m | June 2021 |
| Kurt Zouma | DF | £26.4m | August 2021 |
| Nikola Vlasic | MF | £26.6m | August 2021 |
| Nayef Aguerd | DF | £31m | June 2022 |
| Alphonse Areola | GK | £8.25m | June 2022 |
| Gianluca Scamacca | FW | £31.9m | July 2022 |
| Flynn Downes | MF | £9.4m | July 2022 |
| Lucas Paqueta | MF | £38.1m | August 2022 |
| Maxwell Cornet | MF | £18.3m | August 2022 |
| Emerson Palmieri | DF | £13.6m | August 2022 |
| Thilo Kehrer | DF | £10.6m | August 2022 |
| Danny Ings | FW | £10.6m | January 2023 |
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