West Ham’s remarkable rise from near relegation to European quarter-final

West Ham have gone from relegation contenders to a Europa League quarter-final within three seasons under David Moyes.

The best place to begin the story of this remarkable rise is when football restarted after the pandemic. The then heavily questioned David Moyes was given the task of keeping West Ham in the Premier League in his second spell at the club. The Hammers were struggling in 16th, just two points off 19th place.

The East Londoners managed to pull a few big results together, such as wins over Chelsea and Watford to stay up by just five points.

West Ham have enjoyed a remarkable rise under David Moyes from close to relegation to Europa League quarter-final. How far can the Hammers go?

The following season, some tipped West Ham for relegation but instead they finished 6th with nearly all of the season played behind closed doors, qualifying for Europe.

Tomas Soucek was immense, Jesse Lingard was inspired, Declan Rice was quality and Craig Dawson was a surprisingly solid addition to name just a few of the outstanding team.

But again people doubted this group, saying ‘they can’t keep it up’ or ‘they’re just one season wonders’ but no those people were wrong. West Ham are still in the fight for a top six finish in the league and have now reached the last eight in Europe after coming from behind to beat one of the continent’s best teams in Sevilla, 2-1 on aggregate.

The London Stadium atmosphere has previously been criticised since the move there but versus Sevilla it was incredible and the fans should be proud of their support and their team’s performance.

Every player was excellent, from Alphonse Areola‘s world class save to Michail Antonio running riot up front. Soucek climbed to high to head home and give the fightback life. Then, who else but Ukranian Andriy Yarmolenko to tap home the winner. Emotion again overcame Yarmolenko with everything going on in his homeland. Only football can write these fairy tale scripts.

This match will go down in history as surely the best ever at London Stadium and it epitomised the new West Ham that David Moyes has built. A togetherness, passion, comeback, drama, hard-work and giant killings.

The current West Ham players are a set of heroes; few big money signings – most were brought from Championship clubs or were under the radar stars in lesser known leagues besides a couple.

Even David Moyes himself was deemed a failure when at Man United, Sunderland and didn’t impress in first spell with the Irons. Look at his personal turnaround – this coaching achievement is spectacular.

Now, West Ham go on to face Lyon in the last eight of the Europa League and are actually favourites to progress from that match-up and set up a semi-final clash with Eintracht Frankfurt or more likely a glamour tie with Barcelona.

There is a genuine belief from fans, players and coaches that West Ham could go all the way and lift the trophy in May. The Hammers are third favourites to win the competition, there’s still a long way to go but the players and David Moyes fear nobody and who knows how far long they can continue this remarkable rise for but to all supporters, enjoy these moments.