What West Ham's European triumph means

A great win for the classic English club - and a word about the scintillating Lucas Paquetá

David Moyes has his vindication after West Ham won the UEFA European Conference League with a 2-1 win over Fiorentina. A manager deemed old school for some of his tactics (including playing a classic number 10, more on that in a little bit) and his personal style, Moyes ultimately was able to qualify a long-suffering club for Europe three successive years and win a trophy, the first for the club in 40 plus years.

Moyes has been critiqued and mocked, mostly because of his failure at Manchester United. But the reality remains his Everton sides generally were good, and he’s long been a manager that scouts harder than most and has a outstanding track record of integrating foreign players with unique styles into English football.

For me, he’s one of the best managers around for clubs not competing at the top of the league. Despite constant speculation that he would be sacked, he’s still in the job and after today, I can’t see West Ham making a managerial change this summer

Tonight both Geoff Hurst and Bobby Moore are enjoying themselves in football heaven. West Ham are after all the classic English club, and were the heart of England’s 1966 FIFA World Cup triumph.