(Reuters) – West Ham United’s Europa Conference League final against Fiorentina is the pinnacle of David Moyes’s career, the manager said on Tuesday as he called on his players to end the Premier League club’s 43-year wait for silverware.
West Ham have not reached a European final since the 1976 European Cup Winners’ Cup. Wednesday’s final against Fiorentina in Prague will give the London side a chance to win their first major trophy since the FA Cup in 1980.
Moyes has never lifted a major trophy as a manager.
“This is the biggest moment of my career. To be a football coach for as long as I have been must mean I’m doing something right.
“… what does it mean to West Ham to be in a European final? I think if we said this at the start of the season, people wouldn’t have believed it.
“It’s a big achievement to get through to a European final. It’s not easy to get all the way through and we’ve been competitive. It’s a great achievement for all the players and the next part is to see if we can go on and win it.”
West Ham were last in action on May 28, when they were beaten by Leicester City on the last day of the Premier League season. Fiorentina’s league campaign, on the other hand, only ended last weekend.
Asked how his West Ham side had struck a balance between rest and work during the last week, Moyes said: “We went to Portugal for two or three days, trained and enjoyed it.
“I think we’ve played 56 games this season across all competitions, and last year was over 60. We’ve been building up to get ready for the game. Hopefully the 10-day gap isn’t a problem because of the games we’ve played…
“The most important thing is being prepared and doing the things that got you to this place in the first place. We’re unbeaten this season and we got to the semi-final last season so our record in Europe is very good. Hopefully we can continue that.”
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Nashik, India; Editing by Toby Davis)
