David Moyes met the media ahead of West Ham United’s derby with a difference with Tottenham Hotspur in Western Australia.
Television, radio and print journalists from Perth, across Australia and the UK quizzed the manager during a Monday morning press conference at Macedonia Park, the home of National Premier Leagues WA club Stirling Macedonia.
Among the talking points were the Hammers’ two-match tour, which saw them defeat A-League side Perth Glory 6-2 on Saturday evening and now preparing to face Premier League rivals Tottenham at Optus Stadium on Tuesday 18 July at 6pm AWST), and Moyes’ experience of playing golf on a kangaroo-filled Joondalup Country Club course on Sunday morning!
The manager also discussed his meeting with Spurs’ new Australian manager Ange Postecoglou at a reception held by Chris Dawson, the Governor of Western Australia, at Government House in Perth on Sunday afternoon.
Here is what the Scot had to say…
Pressure on Postecoglou?
Ange will never get more pressure than he did when managing Celtic Football Club.
Celtic are probably the third or fourth-best supported club in the world, and if you’ve managed Celtic you’re used to pressure, so he’ll have no problem [managing Tottenham in the Premier League].
I was talking about how much did he enjoy Glasgow because I'm from Glasgow and he had to live there as an Aussie, and him moving to London and had he settled or found a home yet etcetera.
I was fortunate enough to manage against him in Melbourne with Manchester United a long time ago and we played Celtic a couple of years ago in a pre-season friendly, so it was good to catch up with him.
He had great things to say about Glasgow – you should all think about going!
Appointing a new captain
We're not that much further forward [in choosing a new captain following Declan Rice’s departure] as it's only just happened a day or so ago, so we’ve got time to think about about it. That'll be decided from myself.
Players come and go from all clubs, not just our club, and I’ve had it before, so you find a new way of preparing and getting things done and we will do, but it only got done on Saturday so it's very quick that’s happened, really.
I think a captain is hugely important. I've had some great boys who have captained my teams over the years. Mark Noble was exceptional here at West Ham and Phil Neville was exceptional for me at Everton. Declan was great in the short period he was my captain here at West Ham.
So, we'll look closely to see what’s the right choice and we’ve got a bit of time before the season starts before we have to make a decision on that.
Love for the game
Longevity is a really important thing and sometimes it goes a wee bit underestimated, because I think we're so concerned with winning all the time. I'm proud of having so many games in the Premier League.
I always say, if you love the game, and love it with incredible passion and embrace it and try and keep moving on, we’ve got so many good coaches who have come to the Premier League down the years.
We've had some incredibly big coaches come to this league and enhance it, but don’t have the longevity, and also a have a bunch of new coaches coming in, so you have to keep moving on if you want to have longevity.
I am pleased I am still going, as I love the game, I love coaching, I love playing and all things to do with it, so they are the reasons I think longevity is with me and I’ve been fortunate enough to stay with it.
Time for Timmy
Tim came to see me during the season last season at West Ham and stayed with me for a couple of days.
As you well know, he's a great lad and was great for us at Everton, when we signed him from Millwall at the time [in 2004], and he went on to be a really top player for us, as he was for Australia.
"He played so long for Australia, was hugely important for them and was just a great lad to have and still is, and he has had an incredible career. Talking about longevity, he's been in America, Doha, China and England.
He's had an incredible footballing career and continues to have it.
Tim and Lucas Neill come to mind when I was thinking about the era when I was watching it a lot more and concerned with the leagues, when they were both at Millwall.
I think Australian football has developed and the country is ready to host a big tournament because the facilities are excellent. The distances are big between Perth and Sydney or Melbourne, but it wouldn't surprise me in the future if Australia hosts the Men's World Cup in years to come. I think a lot depends on how the Women's World Cup goes and how it's seen by FIFA.
Australian players are not perhaps talked about but that's partly because the level of the Premier League is so high and players are coming in from all the best European leagues and we can now sign players from South America more easily than in the past.
It starts to squeeze the smaller countries like it does with Scotland, and we’ve seen less Scottish players coming to the Premier League mainly because of the players coming in from so many different countries. Now, you have to be right at the top to play in the Premier League, but I still think for a of Australian players being in the Italian, Spanish or French league would be good for them, without taking away from the Australian league itself. Let’s be fair, most of the better teams and top players are playing in Europe at the moment.
Perth is a happy place to be
It's great to be here. We're thrilled to be here. We are so lucky as players as managers. I’ve been in Australia three times as a manager and I might never had the chance to be here if it wasn’t for football. A lot of the players were out on Sunday, too.
The Premier League is so popular in this part of the world, and everyone wants to see it everywhere you go, and the chance to get up close to the players for the supporters here is part of your role as a Premier League club, to show yourself around, where it be here, Asia or America.
It's important because the Premier League is watched everywhere now, it’s so big.
I’m really enjoying it. I was lucky enough to play golf and see a few kangaroos bouncing around! I was just worried about what I might find when I chased my ball into the rough!
Overall, we've really enjoyed it. We’re in a really nice hotel and the people have been incredibly friendly.
The biggest thing is that nobody wants to leave. Everybody is happy here, which is telling me something that they’re enjoying it!
I've have an opportunity to meet some players who I played with at Bristol City while I've been out here, so it’s been great to meet people and that the West Ham supporters in this part of the world see that we’re the same as everybody else.
We've really enjoyed Perth, but Perth in Scotland is a nice place to go, too! I certainly enjoy my golf courses in that part of the world, St Andrews and Gleneagles, but as I said earlier it's a great experience and to come and see a new city with lots of good things about it, I have to say.
