Probably Moyes' success in turning a club adrift in mediocrity into one fighting at the top end of the spectrum is what is working against him.
He got us playing pragmatic football, we stopped worrying about falling down the ladder, and that made some of us greedy and day dreaming where no basis for expecting anything existed. They wanted him to take the next step without considering the constraints under which he was working. Did we start getting money for better players, did we get more revenue from a larger stadium?
And yet, he was expected to cut loose and go attacking against the teams built with billions. It would have been ok for some to have been tonked 6-0 against all the teams all the times, so long as he was fearless, rather than try to get the 0-0, or 1-0, 2-0 losses to limit the disadvantage. That is simply not done according to some. We would rather win/lose spectacularly rather than be pragmatic.
Would I want him back? maybe not. Would I be disappointed if he somehow made it back here? Hell no. I always thought, his timidity (if it can be called that) was more a result of necessity than natural thought process. Someone pointed out in some other thread about his Preston teams being pretty attacking, we are seeing some of that in the West Ham now that he has got some funds to control.
So I don't really get why "some" hate him so viscerally?