Even though David Moyes is just one victory away from becoming a West Ham legend, he will not hold himself against the club’s two all-time great managers.
After John Lyall and Ron Greenwood, Moyes will be the only manager to lead the east London side to a major trophy if the Hammers defeat Fiorentina in the Europa Conference League final on Wednesday night.
West Ham’s only prior European trophy, the Cup Winners’ Cup, was won under the leadership of Greenwood, who later managed England. Their final trophy, the FA Cup, was won under Lyall in 1980.
Prague preparations 🇨🇿 pic.twitter.com/Ar2cY7ChfC
— West Ham United (@WestHam) June 6, 2023
Yet Moyes insisted: “I don’t think of myself as any different to anyone else in this room.
“I’m really fortunate and privileged and thankful to be given an opportunity to be a football manager and to have the opportunity to go this far in my career and be on a stage like this.
“I think it’s really special. I don’t ever really think of myself as being a legend or any words like that.
“I’d just like to be known as a football manager and one who’s serious about his job and tries to do the best he possibly can, week-in week-out, try to prepare my teams to be competitive.
“I’d like to be known as much for that as much as I would the word ‘legend’, really.”
The final will hold special memories for West Ham’s Czech duo Vladimir Coufal and Tomas Soucek, who both played for Slavia Prague at the Eden Arena.
Midfielder Soucek said: “When I realised one year ago that the final was in Prague and we were in this competition, I was like, ‘come on guys, we have to go there’.
“And now we are here in the Eden Arena in Prague, I can connect with the two teams I love.”