David Moyes would like to emulate his long-term Everton stay at West Ham but believes football has moved on.
Moyes makes his latest return to former employers Everton on Wednesday with the Merseyside club, much like West Ham, badly in need of points at the wrong end of the Premier League table.
The 54-year-old Scot made his name in management over the course of a respected 11-year spell at Goodison Park, paving the way for his appointment as Manchester United manager in 2013.
Moyes was sacked inside the first season of a six-year contract at Old Trafford and has since gone on to fruitless spells at Real Sociedad and Sunderland.
He is now faced with a job to restore his reputation at a club seemingly operating below its potential, although Moyes played down parallels between West Ham today and the Everton he inherited from Walter Smith in 2002.
I hope that is that case [that he can emulate his Everton achievements] and I would love to say that was what it is, Moyes told reporters.
But when I came in I talked a bit about [how] I don t think managers tend to get the time or that period.
You move your managers on a lot quicker than you did. I remember at Everton the first year went quite well, the second year was a bit of a dip and it’s at those times where it was probably the only time I thought [about getting sacked].
We had to get rid of that at Everton, that feeling that being safe was good enough.
COME ON YOU IRONS!!
— West Ham United (@WestHamUtd)
Asked how long he would like to stay at West Ham, Moyes painted a best-case scenario.
I d love… if I can get good stability and strength then I hope that it could easily be 11 years, he added.
West Ham have unbelievable potential, unbelievable potential to be up there. They ve got the infrastructure now.
