West Ham United appointed Tim Steidten as our director of football back in the summer of 2023 while David Moyes was in charge.
Despite many claims to the contrary, Tim Steidten and David Moyes never were going to be a match made in heaven at West Ham were they!
Steidten has already taken somewhat of a back-handed dig at Moyes this summer after the Scot left the club.
Now there has been big change at the London Stadium, and I can see a very clear path towards a successful few years.
The 45-year-old played a key role in bringing Julen Lopetegui to the Hammers, and has set the Spaniard a target of finishing inside the top six.
West Ham have clearly gone down more of a continental route this summer, when it comes to player recruitment.
The new system is one where Lopetegui will talk regularly with Steidten about the player profiles he’s after and then the German will identify potential targets.
Lopetegui will then give them the yes or no, before David Sullivan has the final say on the cost of the deal.
Moyes wanted total control, and that made Steidten redundant
The former Hammers boss was old school in every sense.
He wanted total control over everything at the club from top to bottom, and that approach just doesn’t work in the modern game.
There were numerous things Moyes did that didn’t sit well with me.
Firstly, his penchant for a small squad ended up hurting us, especially after three consecutive seasons in Europe.
Secondly, the way that he jettisoned certain players from the lineup and stuck with his favourites, regardless of their form really irritated me. It held us back as a team as well, I’m sure of it.
Thirdly, Moyes’s negative attitude heading into matches ensured that nothing was ever expected from him by the media and pundits.
He played everything down before and after games, and that mentality eventually seeped into the squad.
West Ham became stagnant under the 61-year-old during his final season in charge, and if you’re not moving forward, you’re moving backwards.
A change was very much needed at the club, that goes without saying.
Tim Steidten launches extraordinary six-way dig at David Moyes
The 45-year-old worked closely with Moyes last season, but the Scot’s failure to improve his squad in January led to a complete collapse during the second half of the campaign.
It was no surprise to anyone when Moyes was moved on from his role as Hammers boss earlier this summer.
Lopetegui came in to the London Stadium to replace him, and the Spaniard has already made two summer signings.
So why was the former Wolves boss targeted by West Ham?
Steidten spoke with West Ham’s official website about the appointment of Lopetegui.
And in doing so, he took six big swipes at Moyes.
The German said, “We were looking for an ambitious coach who showed a hunger to achieve more.”
“It was also important to bring someone in who fitted our profile in terms of style of play, philosophy, communication and integrating young players. Julen fits that profile, and he also speaks four languages which is key,” Steidten continued.
“After the first meeting we had with Julen, I was 100 per cent convinced he was the right coach for us.”
Now, it’s quite clear to see from my perspective that Steidten has taken a swipe at Moyes in six separate ways there.
And that was all by praising Lopetegui’s hunger to achive more, his style of play, footballing philosophy, communication, the way that he likes to integrate young players and the fact that he can speak four languages!
Moyes was severely lacking when it came down to all six of those points mentioned above.
He was well-known for being a terrible communicator, especially with fringe players who he’d ostracised from the starting lineup.
And we all now how turgid the football became under the Scot. It was definitely time for a chance at West Ham, in spite of the good job the 61-year-old Scot did on the most part at the London Stadium.
Moyes clearly couldn’t speak any languages aside from English and I strongly believe that his didn’t have the real hunger needed to push West Ham on towards the top six or even the top four.
His dour pre-game interviews reeked of a lack of ambition, and I think that rubbed off on the players in the end.
Tim Steidten made it very clear what he thought of David Moyes, simply by praising Lopetegui’s strengths.
In my opinion, we don’t even need to ‘read between the lines’ to see what he really meant either.
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