Classy Moyes to QUIT in the summer as grubby West Ham find their kindred spirit
David Moyes is leaving West Ham in the summer, which is neither shocking nor controversial but he is very British indeed and therefore there are double standards to maintain.
Quit itch
Mediawatch grows more and more rattled every day, howling ever more futilely into the void that words have meanings and that this is quite a useful feature of words that it would be in all our interests to protect.
The tabloids have never seen it this way. There are countless words that have a clear meaning in the real world and a different one in tabloidese. ‘Admit’, that’s one. ‘Exclusive’ is another. ‘Ace’, of course.
One that seems to be coming up a lot at the moment is QUIT. (Always in full caps, naturally.)
We’ve had Bruno Fernandes dropping QUIT HINTS that were not about quitting and barely qualified as hints. And now there’s this from The Sun.
West Ham confirm David Moyes will QUIT in the summer as they ‘agree terms with former Wolves boss Julen Lopetegui’
That’s just… wrong, isn’t it? And not just because of the caps. Moyes isn’t quitting. This isn’t his decision. We know that, because it’s very clearly and helpfully stated in, er, The Sun.
Moyes has insisted all year long that he would wait until the summer to make a decision on his future on his own terms – but that option has been taken away from him.
Leave is literally one letter longer than quit, lads.
Class war
Over at Mail Plus, Oliver Holt is very unhappy indeed about the whole Moyes situation and how badly Julen Lopetegui and West Ham have behaved through it all, and how shabbily classy Moyes has been treated despite being all class and that.
Julen Lopetegui, it appears, is not a signatory to the quaint football convention that you do not discuss taking a job while another manager is in that job. He is not the first to trample over that behavioural nicety. And he won’t be the last.
But he is very foreign and replacing a manager who is very British, which means he is the worst.
Lopetegui, though, has managed to take things a step further: his friends in the media reported he had agreed to become West Ham’s new manager on Monday morning long before the club made a hasty announcement in the evening that David Moyes, the club’s most successful manager for decades, would leave at the end of the season.
We do have to concede that a relentless cheerleader for the downtrodden British boss complaining about foreign managers having ‘friends in the media’ is very, very, very funny.
But this is just all very strange. West Ham have made a balls of this, but the idea they shouldn’t or wouldn’t be making any plans for the future until the very second Moyes’ contract expired is absurd. It would be negligent for West Ham to have made absolutely no preparation for this entirely foreseeable scenario.
Class is not the first word that springs to mind with either Sullivan or Lopetegui, sadly, but maybe the former porn baron has found the boss he has always yearned for. Perhaps this will be a beautiful union of kindred spirits.
Mediawatch finds its thoughts drifting back to 2017, when West Ham sacked Slaven Bilic on November 6 and appointed his widely-reported replacement the very next day. Holt was very cross about it at the time and has, one must concede, been consistent in his view on the Hammers’ ownership group.
The mismanagement of the club by Karren Brady, David Gold and David Sullivan is finally facing some scrutiny too.
The triumvirate of Brady and the men recently labelled the Dildo Brothers by Sporting Lisbon executives have ripped the heart out of the club by moving it from Upton Park to the dead zone of the London Stadium in the name of ambition and profit. Now, as always in football, it is the fans who are paying the price.
But what was Holt’s take then on the manager who had trampled over a behavioural nicety by not being a signatory to the quaint football convention that you do not discuss taking a job while another manager is in that job?
They may not be overjoyed by the recruitment of Moyes but he is a good manager who is their best chance of salvation.
Not a union of classless kindred spirits on that occasion, then? Mediawatch is shocked.
Shame on Lopetegui for leaning on his ‘friends in the media’ anyway, eh?
David Moyes reaction when questioned on replacing Bilic..
Hammers fans, is he the man to save your season?#PL #WHUFC #COYI pic.twitter.com/st1zWDs0CL— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS_EN) November 6, 2017
Peace off
Headline in The Sun:
Erling Haaland posts one-word statement after Roy Keane reignited furious row by calling Man City star a ‘spoilt brat’
Intro in The Sun:
Manchester City superstar Erling Haaland has taken to social media following Roy Keane’s latest barrage.
Several – and we do mean several – paragraphs later in The Sun:
Haaland posted on Instagram for the first time after Keane’s latest rant as he issued a story showing him enjoying some peace and quiet at a beach.
The Norwegian accompanied his post with the following caption: “Peace.”
There is no indication that this was a response to Keane’s recent comments.
Not exactly Drake and Kendrick, is it?
Thunderbastard
Worrying news from Manchester United, meanwhile, where the Mirror have picked up on a subtle clue that all may not be well at Old Trafford.
Erik ten Hag’s face like thunder sums up Man Utd misery as sack fears grow
Call Mediawatch a pedantic little prick if you must, but we reckon ‘losing 4-0 at Crystal Palace and being eighth in the table’ sums up Man Utd misery rather more neatly and efficiently than Erik ten Hag’s face at even its most violently thunderous.
Fair play to John Cross for actually using the phrase ‘This is Manchester United we are talking about’ in his copy as well; it’s either irredeemable hackery or a lovely little reference and Mediawatch genuinely can’t decide which.