Tonight West Ham United will play in their first European final since 1999 and have the chance to win their first major silverware this millennium. Attempting to guide his side to success from the sidelines is David Moyes, a manager whose own trophy cabinet could do with a new addition.
So far, he has the Second Division title won with Preston North End in 2000, and a Community Shield with Manchester United in 2013 to his name, along with an FA Cup runners-up medal. He’s won four LMA Manager of the Year awards but there’s no doubt that success in Prague would rank as the biggest trophy he has won in his career.
European success has never really been on the cards for Moyes. The closest he has come was the Champions League quarter-final against Bayern Munich during his short stint in Manchester, but aside from that, it’s been something he’s never truly indulged in. But if he can take his West Ham side to glory on Wednesday night, it will mean he joins a select group of Scottish managers to have succeeded in Europe.
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The first Scot to triumph in Europe was the legendary Jock Stein in 1967. As his Lisbon Lions became kings of Europe with a 2-1 win over Inter Milan, Stein wrote his name permanently into the folklore of Celtic Football Club. This was arguably the pinnacle of 13-year tenure in Glasgow as he also delivered ten league titles and eight Scottish Cups.
“It is up to us, to everyone at Celtic Park, to build our own legends,” he said. “We don’t want to live with history, to be compared with legends from the past. We must make new legends.” It was a remarkable period of dominance for Stein, whose life came to a tragic end in 1985.
While in charge of Scotland, playing Wales at Ninian Park, he suffered from a heart attack as a result of his declining health. It was a tragic end for one of the greatest managers of all time, but he paved the way for more Scottish success.
A year after the Lisbon Lions came the Busby Babes and once again a Scottish manager held the European Cup aloft. This time it was Sir Matt Busby who helped rebuild Manchester United after the Munich Air Disaster. He spent a whopping 24 years at the club following the Second World War and after the tragedy of 1958, took them to the top of European football ten years later. With Nobby Stiles, Bobby Charlton and George Best, United unforgettably won their first European Cup but another Scottish icon would follow in his footsteps.
Scottish managers to win a European competition:
Jock Stein - 1967 - Celtic
Matt Busby - 1968 - Manchester United
Bill Shankly - 1973 - Liverpool
Sir Alex Ferguson - 1999 and 2008 - Manchester United
Bill Shankly was another great Scot who spent over a decade at one football club and Liverpool were the beneficiaries of his longevity and loyalty. Although he never won the European Cup at Anfield, he won the First Division on three occasions, the FA Cup twice and led Liverpool to success in the UEFA Cup in 1973.
Kevin Keegan scored twice in the first leg of the final against Borussia Monchengladbach to give Liverpool a 3-0 lead, before Jupp Heyneckes (yep that one) scored twice for the Germans in a nervy second leg. But Shankly’s boys won out on aggregate to deliver yet more silverware to the red side of Merseyside.
Then we return to Manchester. After 31 years, the Red Devils were desperate for more European glory and having become the dominant force in England under Sir Alex Ferguson, it felt like just a matter of time before their iconic manager delivered. He did it in the most spectacular way, completing the final part of a - as yet unmatched - treble in remarkable fashion.
Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer combined in injury time to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 victory and steal the title away from Bayern Munich at the Nou Camp. It was sensational. Scarcely believable. But it happened. The win he followed it up with in 2008, a penalty shootout win over Chelsea in Moscow wasn’t quite as spectacular, but it meant Fergie became the first Scottish manager to lift the Champions League on two occasions. It could have potentially been more too, had they not come up against Barcelona in two finals in 2009 and 2011.
And so to David Moyes. Sure, the Europa Conference League doesn’t carry the same weight as the Champions League, and West Ham aren’t quite as mighty as Manchester United, but it will still be the crowning moment of his remarkable career. If he can win West Ham’s first major trophy of the millennium, he can be considered a true Scottish great.
*18+ | BeGambleAware
