West Ham United manager David Moyes sat down with the assembled media on Monday afternoon following his return to the Hammers.
The boss talked enthusiastically about his comeback to life in Claret and Blue, putting together his backroom staff, his positive relationship with the owners and getting the best out of his players...
I’ve got unfinished business with West Ham
I certainly do feel I have unfinished business with West Ham United.
I really, really enjoyed my time here last time, back in the 2017/18 season. I felt that, by the end of my time, we had turned things around and had gone in a positive direction with the players and I think the players would say that as well. They really enjoyed the end of the time here.
Obviously, I would have liked to have developed that and worked from there but it didn't quite happen. But, overall, I'm smiling. It was great to come through the doors and see some familiar faces, it made it very easy today.
I don't feel I was treated badly by the owners when they let me leave in the summer of 2018, because things were done correctly in as much that I wasn't taken on and I was told that.
I was disappointed, which I have said before, but this is why I have another chance to go again and I think that says a lot about the owners and they have thought the job I did do with my staff was good enough to give me another opportunity.
This time I am going to make sure there is no choice that they will always want to renew in the future.
I’ll put together my backroom team soon
I'm getting around to appointing my backroom staff. It's all been incredibly whirlwind from Saturday night, getting down to London from my home in Lancashire on Sunday afternoon.
I can confirm Alan Irvine will join me, as he did during my first spell at West Ham, and I am working on one or two other things at the moment, but there is nothing that I can completely confirm at this time.
Stuart Pearce was also with me last time around and he is certainly one of the people who is under consideration but, unfortunately, he has other commitments and other jobs, so there are other things we need to look in to.
It might take a few days to get everything sorted, though.
The owners and I are focused on the future
What I would say about my return is that it showed quite a lot of class from the owners. I think at times they can be misconceived. I've got to say David Gold and David Sullivan, who I've just had a bit of lunch with, were excellent.
It was very simple when he called me, asked me if I wanted to come back. I said ‘I can't wait’. When that happened, it was very quick.
We didn't talk about the past. We just talked about the team now and what we are going to have to do, the position we're in, and it all went very well.
I think there is money there to spend in January if we need it.
From my point of view, I am more interested in the players at the Club at the moment. Because we have to see what we have got here and see how we can mould them into the best-possible team and the best possible formation.
We have to get results. It is a bit like the situation when we arrived before. We have to look to pick up points and move away from the position we are in.
We have a strong squad and I have to get the best out of them
I believe we have a stronger squad than the one I inherited in 2018.
We have got a lot of good players and the owners have spent well on good players. If we are being truthful, we need those players to stand up and show exactly what they can do.
I think the players’ performance has a massive impact on the support and they are going to have to do that in the coming weeks, when we will need to demand all the things we did before.
When I came in a year and a half ago, in the six months we had to try and quickly get a turnaround and get something out of the players to get results. We have to try and do that again.
But I do know know I have got a little bit of a longer project to know what it is going to look like a little bit after that. But before that it is getting away from the position we are in.
I have an initial 18-month contract, but we can extend it; there is a clause in there to do that.
I am thrilled to go again and make it impossible that the clause will not be implemented, that's for sure. Now it's for the players to carry it out.
