With West Ham United fans knowing for a while now that our Europa Conference
League winning manager, David Moyes, would be moving on at the end of the domestic
2023/24 campaign, it had long been speculated that former Wolverhampton Wanderers
manager, Julen Lopetegui, was the hot favourite on the rumour mill to be installed as his
replacement.
Many regular attendees at the London Stadium will have found the 57 year old former
Basque Country international goalkeeper to be an interesting prospect. With a
reasonable professional playing career behind him, he really made his name (to varying
success) in management with the likes of Porto, Spain, Real Madrid and Sevilla.
Despite his better spells in the dug out, he does only boast a Europe League win back in
2019/20 with Sevilla to his name as gaffer, but he had previously led the Spanish Under
19 and Under 21s to European Championship success in 2012 and 2013, and whilst
domestic football is not quite parked right now, the Euros again take centre stage this
summer as we prepare for the 2024 edition of the tournament which will be held across
ten host cities in Germany and kicks off on Friday June 14 as the hosts take on Scotland
in the opening Group A clash.
For fans who like a flutter, they can brace themselves for a summer of entertaining
football frenzy as the matches will come thick and fast at the group stage and there will
be plenty of opportunities to bet on Euro 2024 matches at Lottoland if that is something
that interests you alongside watching the clashes live on television, or even in person if
you have been lucky enough to secure a ticket or two.
Returning to Lopetegui though, one thing fans will not be judging him on is his short and
seemingly acrimonious spell at Molinuex, where he claimed he was not made truly
aware of their financial constraints despite expressing his view that the first team squad
needed significant investment. On the pitch though, he joined when they were in bottom
spot of the top flight table, and he left them safe in 13th place.
Having had that experience under his belt recently, with official confirmation through now
that he has signed a two year deal, with an additional 12 month option, it sounds like he
has no concerns on that front, and it appears our board may have made him certain
assurances as he takes his second attempt to really make his name in the English
Premier League.
We will see how good a fit he is for us, but he did reference that he basically felt wanted
as the club made it clear he was their man, and despite him having other options on the
table, it became a natural choice for him to pick us as well.
Lopetegui will officially take up his duties on July 1 in readiness for the start of our pre-season campaign and set of friendly warm up matches, which will already know will
include a two week trip to the United States which will feature 90 minute run outs against
both Crystal Palace, and somewhat ironically, his former club Wolves.
With three top ten finishes under Moyes, three European campaigns and a trophy, whilst
Moyes had his critics (and rightly so at points), it is a high standard for the new man to
follow, but we are the most stable we have been for a number of years now – many fans
may well go back as far as Harry Redknapp back in 2001 – so the foundations are there
for our new gaffer to have a real stab at quickly pushing us on further, but he will need a
couple of months at least to get his feet under the table and truly assess the squad he
now has at his disposal.
