Premier League: Manager Moyes urges struggling West Ham to ‘stand up and be counted’

The Scottish manager admitted his job was on the line after the midweek capitulation, which left the Hammers outside the drop zone on goal difference alone, but he retains the support of the club’s hierarchy for now.

West Ham United’s Scottish manager David Moyes reacts during the English Premier League football match between West Ham United and Newcastle. | Photo Credit: AFP

David Moyes has urged relegation-threatened West Ham United to “stand up and be counted” as he battles to save his job following a 5-1 mauling at home against Newcastle.

The Scottish manager admitted his job was on the line after the midweek capitulation, which left the Hammers outside the drop zone on goal difference alone, but he retains the support of the club’s hierarchy for now.

“I was just trying to make a point,” Moyes said Friday, on the eve of his team’s match at Fulham. “We’re in an industry where we can quite easily lose our jobs.

“That’s the way it happens and, if you’re not winning, it’s always possible.

“I’m no different from anybody else. We’ve just got to try and get on with the job and win the next game.”

He added, “People said Everton was ‘must not lose’ and we won that one. They said Nottingham Forest ‘must not lose’ and we won that one. Then it was Southampton, we had to win against Southampton.

“When you’ve put that title on us, we’ve stood up and been counted. If you’re giving me that title again, I hope we can stand up and be counted this time.”

A record 13 managerial changes have already taken place in the Premier League this season.

But Moyes has been given time after leading West Ham into Europe for the past two seasons.

Despite their Premier League struggles, the Hammers have won all 10 games to progress to the quarter-finals of the Europa Conference League.

Moyes, 59, said management was “like a drug” despite the stresses of the job.

“This is why you see Roy Hodgson coming back when he’s 75 (to Crystal Palace) and Neil Warnock coming back, and so many people who are in the game and the journey they are on.

“They continue to stay on it because they’ve got a great love for the game and they want to stay in it.”

The Hammers will take on a Fulham side without their star man Aleksandar Mitrovic.

The Serbia striker, who has scored 12 goals this season, is serving an eight-match ban for shoving referee Chris Kavanagh in last month’s FA Cup defeat by Manchester United at Old Trafford.