When I walk away I will feel some pride...West Ham are back on the map

IT IS A few days before the end of another Premier League season and David Moyes is contemplating his 231st and final game in his second spell as West Ham manager, away to probable champions Manchester City.

- Ken Dyer

The one certainty in the Etihad Stadium this Sunday is that Moyes's team will not see too much of the ball, something which worries him much less than a section of the club's fans.

The coaching emphasis in 2024 is much about style, but Moyes is more a man of substance, both in his approach to football as well as life in general.

After last weekend's final home game of the season, 50,000 West Ham fans remained in the London Stadium to applaud his achievements in four-anda-half years at their club, a gesture that touched him deeply.

Earlier, he resisted the temptation to acknowledge those fans who chanted his name during the game, out of respect to Rob Edwards, whose Luton team were all but consigned to relegation that day.

"I've been in that position," he said. "I know what it feels like. It's horrible." That is substance: Moyes did not want a big send-off, and this weekend he will be grateful in the knowledge that the focus will be firmly on City.

Later, though, when he has the time and the inclination, he admits he will feel a mixture of pride and sadness that his East End adventure has come to an end. Pride that he guided West Ham clear of relegation, then to sixth and seventh in the league, through to three years of European football, topped off with winning last season's Conference League, the club's first trophy in 43 years.

"I think my biggest success was keeping West Ham in the Premier League," says the Scot. "I had a little more time in my first spell at the club, but the second spell was definitely tougher." The outstanding moment of his managerial career, though, was undoubtedly the win in Prague against Fiorentina last June.