West Ham boss David Moyes was involved in a frosty exchange with a reporter as he was asked about his future at the club following their Europa League exit.
Moyes’ contract is set to expire at the end of the season and there has been no clarity on whether he will sign an extension.
West Ham went out of the competition to Bayer Leverkusen 3-1 on aggregate after drawing the second leg of their quarter-final 1-1 at London Stadium.
After the match, Moyes and the media officer who accompanied him took exception to a question asked at a news conference.
Here is how the exchange unfolded…
Reporter: “If this is the end of your tenure at the end of the season, how do you reflect on…”
Moyes: “Sorry, I didn’t get that question.”
Media officer: “We are not focusing on the end of tenures.”
Moyes: “We have just played in a third quarter-final there.”
Reporter: “I was reflecting on the three years you have had in Europe and the moments you have given these fans…”
Moyes: “Better question. We have been in three quarter-finals, won two and were narrowly close tonight. The supporters have been treated to big nights against Alkmaar and Sevilla. Leverkusen are a Champions League team and play that way. We have three fabulous years and we are hoping we can make it four.”
Moyes has been in the game too long not to realise questions will keep being asked about his future until a decision is made.
He is also aware some West Ham fans would prefer he left the club, largely because of what they perceive to be negative tactics, even though he has delivered the best series of sustained results for over a generation.
Moyes’ side are eighth in the Premier League, and will almost certainly need to climb to seventh to secure European football for a fourth successive season.
That will not be easy considering they have played more matches than all the teams around them and their final five opponents include Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City.
On a night when new German champions Bayer Leverkusen needed a late goal to prevent West Ham inflicting their first defeat of the entire season, coach Xabi Alonso said the only positive from an awful first half for them was that their two-goal first-leg lead had not been wiped out completely.
Moyes, who felt his side should have been further ahead at half-time, was vexed by the performance of the Spanish referee Jose Maria Sanchez Martinez.
The West Ham manager, though, was uncomfortable being asked to articulate a view he felt many of the media present would agree with.
“I will turn the question round and ask you what you thought about the officiating,” he said. When the questioner changed the subject, Moyes replied: “I am asking you.” Upon being told “the fans” weren’t impressed, Moyes asked: “Are you a fan or just reporting?”
He later remarked: “He knows it was [a] very poor [question] but he wanted me to say it.”
However, Moyes did concede: “I have managed in Spain and have watched a lot of Spanish football. If that is how it is, I wouldn’t be watching too many Spanish games.”
