Welcome back to the Premier League...do you feel you have unfinished business here?
I certainly do.
I really, really enjoyed my time here last time. 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.
Do you feel you were badly treated by the club last time around?
No, I don't 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.
How is your backroom staff looking?
I'm getting around to it.
It's all been incredibly whirlwind from Saturday night, getting here yesterday. I can confirm
Alan Irvine will join me and I am working on one or two other things at the moment.
Nothing that I can completely confirm.
Stuart Pearce going to be one of them?
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 things sorted.
On your contract, it's 18 months, any clauses?
I can extend it, there is a clause in there which can extend it.
Look, 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.
Lots of noise, quite a few not thrilled with your appointment, your response?
What anybody is getting with me is an experienced Premier League manager, arguably there is
only two or three who have got more than me. I've got the biggest win-rate out of a certain
number of managers as well.
Put it that way, that's what I do. I win.
I am coming here initially to get us away from the wrong end of the table but the bigger
picture is to get a strong team, a winning team, attacking team and all those things
I have to bring to the table and I hope to do so.
You've developed in the last 19 months, so has football - looking forward to working with VAR?
What I'd say about myself is I have tried to make sure I have educated myself in my time off.
I have worked with UEFA and the Champions League, at all the games watching them, keeping
up to date with what's new. Speaking at conferences, so for me, it was about staying in touch with football.
For anyone watching and looking at VAR, it's got mixed reactions. When it came in, my first
feeling was to think it was very good but in truth, most people would say it has been disappointing.
But it's here, we have to embrace it and I have no doubt where there will be games in
the future where I am complaining about it or saying it's not very good.
But I think that's football.
Changes to the offside rule with VAR?
I think what they've tried to do is have real clarity, black and white, and you can't argue
with that really. But I understand we're all getting a bit disappointed at seeing good
goals and somebody's finger or toe is offside.
It is something that maybe they'll look at but to be honest it's one of those things
they are very clear on. I think some other decisions are maybe more sort of dubious but
the offside are black and white really.
What has struck you about football in time you've been away?
Strangely enough there's a lot of modern things i football and how the game's played but recently
there's been signs of things going back, because for example I think we do want to keep possession,
but I think you might say now possession is not seen as the key to winning games.
I think we're seeing, we want to see more attacking football, action and excitement.
The biggest thing I want to see is supporters being excited by the team and how we play.
I would love that to be the case, the West Ham supporters coming away thinking that at
the end of games. From what I'm seeing goals are being scored differently than maybe in
times gone past.
But yet there's still things coming back which I've seen, long passes, running in behind,
rather than lots of passes before you score. The basics will always be there but I think
there's a lot of new modern techniques coming in and I'm looking forward to giving them a go.
How easy is that to adapt?
I think because I've been really fortunate to be working for UEFA in the background,
that's kept me up to date on what's new, what's trending, in modern football.
I watched a lot of football, I'm at games most weekends, I'm a football man, a supporter,
and your always looking to pick up ideas and see what's out there.
Any teams in particular?
The Red Bull model, which I went to go and see, excited me. If you look at how RB Salzburg,
RB Leipzig have done, you would probably say yeah I can see that.
The way they've used younger players, tried to develop it. There's a lot to look at. You
have to have admiration for the way the top of the Premier League are playing at the moment.
Liverpool have some really talented players and they're playing a really good brand of football.
Owners eating humble pie after calling you back?
No but what I would say is 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.
How much money have you got to spend in January?
I think there is money there to spend 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.
You've been calling West Ham "home"
Well it does remind me of Glasgow a lot
The supporters reminded me of being back home. The West Ham supporters have got a lot in
common with the supporters in Glasgow. They are fierce, competitive about their team.
Its sunny down here, it's like the in Glasgow as well you've got to remember.
How did it all transpire from Saturday onwards?
Saturday after the game. That is why it has been incredibly rushed.
The game finished and I got a call after and it just all kicked into gear from then. I
had been in Glasgow and I was driving back on Saturday afternoon.
It made it pretty quick to turn around and get down here yesterday and get things in
place to train today.
You think this squad is better than the last one you had here?
I believe so.
I believe they have got a lot of good players, 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.
Any truth in the Olivier Giroud links?
I am only in the door and nobody has mentioned it to me.
Have you watched West Ham and did you sense something was going wrong?
A lot of talented players, how can you mould them into a team that gives you a level of consistency.
I think there were twice this season when West Ham had a chance to go third in the Premier
League. Because of that, it tells me there is a capability to be in a really good position.
They never did so and it slipped away at different times. I want to get back into a position
when I can get West Ham, one Saturday, can we go third in the Premier League? It does
not look like that is going to happen this season but that is not to say it will not
happen in the future.
How much influence can you have on how the team will set up against Bournemouth with only a couple of days training?
It is not easy. I took training this morning. I hope I will be able to get some of my staff
with me by then.
But really, I cannot have a massive influence on what I have got. For me, it was abut trying
to pick up as much as I can from the people around.
Mark Noble has been incredibly helpful and the staff have filled me in with one or two
details. Ultimately, we will do everything we can to get the bets result against Bournemouth.