Newbie alert: I don't know if this belongs here (spare me the barbs if it doesn't
), but I am surprised by the bile I see in a lot of posts when Moyes is mentioned. He may not be a world beater, but he is a damn good manager.
Personally, I came across Football, Everton and Moyes back in 2004, when Rooney left for ManU. Down here in India, football is not a thing, but Rooney saga made newspapers, and I was intrigued. I looked up the names mentioned in the article and I was hooked. Have been following Everton since (And endure barbs of all other glory hunters). During early days, there was no way I could watch Everton play, as none of the channels carried it. I read everything about Everton that I could lay my hands on. Everton and Moyes made me fall in love with football, so much so that I abandoned following cricket, which is kinda religion here.
I understand, when people complain we did not win anything while he was here. He did give us stability and solidity though. It's my personal opinion, that Martinez's amazing run was largely down to his systems and instilled discipline in the defensive side. Once that was gone, we know what followed. Moyes had a system and it worked, we did not have to worry about beating teams around or below us. Big 6, yes he is too defensive, afraid even.
Would I want him back at Everton? no. I think his time has passed (at least with us), but that does not make him my enemy. Yes, he might have tried to do shady things when he left, but then I can look beyond that and see the excellent job that he did with us and applaud him for it.
So, I am really happy to see him do well at West Ham. Whenever we are not playing, I do peek over at what's happening down there. I followed his career down at Sociedad and the pits of Sunderland as well. I do admire the sheer down-to-earth feel I get from him (I wouldn't know the ground realities, but that's what my impression of the guy is).
I guess, enough for first post.