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West Ham United's European Tour

What does winning the UECL mean for West Ham?

By Andy PymontPosted on Posted in UEFA Europa Conference League, West Ham

Last night, 7th June 2023, is a night that will live long in the history of West Ham United. Jarrod Bowen’s dramatic intervention just as stoppage time was beginning sealed a memorable 2-1 win. The victory saw them pick up the UEFA Europa Conference League trophy for 2022/23.

Let’s take a look at some of the implications of last night’s match.

West Ham won a Major Trophy

The UEFA Europa Conference League is still a new competition and football fans are still positioning it in their minds. However, I think there is growing consensus that this is a major trophy. It provides the same sense of European adventure for fans as its bigger brothers the Champions League and the Europa League. The lineup usually contains some strong European teams, many familiar with the Europa League in particular.

A lot is said and written about football that focuses on all the wrong things. Despite Arsène Wenger’s famous claim to the contrary, finishing 4th in the Premier League is not on par with winning a trophy. Yes, it brings financial rewards. Therefore it’s understandable that Wenger’s bosses told him it’s the main priority. But life isn’t all about money and when we look back on Wenger’s career, fans rightly celebrate his fantastic FA Cup record and the amazing unbeaten season in 2003/04. Nobody celebrates 4th place finishes years after the fact.

Last night writes this West Ham team, and especially match-winner Jarrod Bowen, indelibly into the history books. It is the sort of thing that will be remembered and sung about for years. In many respects it’s what football is all about.

Ending West Ham’s Trophy Drought

Last night’s trophy for West Ham means more than winning the same trophy would for a club like Manchester United. I think sometimes people take umbrage when you point this out, but it’s simply the truth. Some clubs in football win things regularly and others wait a long time even between Final appearances.

In English football over the past 30 years in particular, the top handful of teams have been dominating the trophies. Wins for other clubs are few and far between and should rightly be celebrated.

West Ham’s previous major trophy success was the FA Cup back in 1980. That means the club waited a long 43 years to finally collect more silverware. Winning last night moves them into a select group even amongst clubs currently in the Premier League:
Current Trophy Droughts amongst 2022/23 Premier League teams

West Ham qualify for Europe

After finishing 13th in the Premier League this season, West Ham’s win last night also qualifies for them for Europe. They will play in next season’s UEFA Europa League.

This is a nice little bonus, but I find it very tiring when this viewed as the main point in some media quarters, as I mentioned when discussing the Europa League last week. It was refreshing to see Carlton Cole on BT Sport say that the match wasn’t about that: it was about being in a European Final.

A Career Highlight for David Moyes

David Moyes is rightly regarded as a fine manager after good work at Preston North End, Everton, and West Ham. Even Manchester United fans have started to view Moyes more favourably.

Moyes endured a difficult period succeeding Sir Alex Ferguson but anyone would have done. His successors also had their challenges. Some of the club’s problems have remained unaddressed right up to the current tenure of Erik ten Hag.

Despite all that respect, Moyes was without a major trophy so far in his career. Last night changed that and will change his legacy. It’s a great highlight to add to a fine body of work.

Moyes got some big decisions right on the night, particularly his full-back selections. Emerson at left back was arguably West Ham’s best player through the first half and much of the second, before Bowen grabbed the headlines.

Some of West Ham’s play was disjointed. If they lost the game, they’d have regretted their ball retention problems and their lack of control of the game. However, that can happen in Finals and although not at their best, West Ham were big in the right moments to win the match.

One of my favourite moments of the night was seeing Moyes celebrating with his father after winning the trophy.

Vincenzo Italiano’s Stock Continues to Grow

Fiorentina played an eye-catching, controlling style in the game with their midfield particularly impressive. You can see why there is a buzz around Fiorentina manager Vincenzo Italiano. Although his side didn’t win, getting to two Cup Finals this season is impressive. This match was extremely close, to the extent that if Fiorentina had got a late winner instead it wouldn’t have felt undeserved.

Fiorentina face a battle to keep hold of their highly-rated head coach. He’s been linked with a move to Napoli, where Luciano Spaletti is about to take a sabbatical from football after an exhausting campaign to win Serie A.

The Premier League could be a Super League

There are growing voices on the continent that we already have a de-facto Super League on the continent: the English Premier League.

Fiorentina fans will be very frustrated today. Their side controlled the game superbly. They were the more eye-catching side, playing an attractive brand of football. But West Ham’s £36m man Lucas Paquetá threaded the superb pass to Bowen to break their hearts. West Ham’s squad wage bill is estimated at £84m, compared to Fiorentina’s £44m (both figures courtesy of salarysport.com). This made La Viola strong underdogs for the game, even if they didn’t play like it. They might feel if the wage bills were swapped, they’d have been comfortable winners given their approach and control of the game.

The counter-argument to this is that English teams haven’t been punching above their weight in European competitions. There are fears on the continent that the money in England is distorting European football. However, we haven’t yet seen this emerge into results. It’ll be interesting to see if English teams do continue to make an impression in the Europa Conference League in coming seasons.

West Ham and Moyes will play in the Europa League next season and try to find further success. It’s also worth keeping an eye on Aston Villa, managed by experienced European campaigner Unai Emery, in next year’s Europa Conference League.

Declan Rice’s Final Game for West Ham

There was a lot of talk before the game about this being Declan Rice’s final game for West Ham United.

Whether it was the immense pressure of trying to captain his boyhood club to a trophy in his final game, or just the tactical setup of the two teams, Rice struggled to impose himself on this match. He had a solid game but simply as a destroyer of Fiorentina’s attacks. He was unable to be the dominant force he’d been in some earlier rounds.

However, Rice does write himself into West Ham folklore as one of the three captains to have won a trophy with the club. He leaves the club having cemented his legacy and many fans will likely agree with this take:

It’s emerged this morning that West Ham have indeed promised Rice that he can leave this summer. There’s likely to be a long list of suitors.

Replacing Rice is going to be a huge challenge for West Ham. There is a huge demand for central midfielders amongst clubs in Europe this summer. We’ve already seen Alexis Mac Allister and Jude Bellingham make moves and the window hasn’t even officially opened. Many more are going to follow as plenty of big clubs need reinforcements in this area. It’ll be interesting to see where West Ham go, and how they manage the transition.

It’s a shame though that West Ham fans couldn’t even bask in their trophy success for 24 hours before talk turned to one of their biggest stars making a move elsewhere.

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