By George Overhill

6th Mar, 2023 | 5:10pm

West Ham United fans angry with David Moyes but Rafael Benitez cares more about himself, won't keep club up - Henry Winter

David Moyes will keep West Ham in the Premier League this season but potential replacement Rafael Benitez won’t, according to Henry Winter.

After the abject 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Brighton on Saturday (4 March) the Hammers boss is facing calls to go with the club just two points above the relegation zone.

Former Everton boss Benitez is being linked as one of the available options to come in if the Irons sack Moyes but renowned journalist Winter has dismissed the idea because the Spaniard is more bothered about himself.

In his column for The Times on Monday (6 March) Winter said: “If the choice that West Ham’s owners are presently weighing up is whether to keep David Moyes or replace him with Rafa Benítez, that is an easy one.

“Benitez is not my idea of what you need in a relegation scrap — he has always struck me as someone more concerned about his own reputation than anything else, and everything he says seems to come with an agenda.

“I understand why fans are angry with Moyes but he’ll keep them up, so my advice would be make the decision in the summer.”

Stick or twist

David Sullivan has been minded to stick with Moyes so far, despite every club below West Ham in the Premier League table now having changed managers at least once this year.

They have had varying levels of success in that, as well as acquiring a couple of the more eligible options to come in and fight a relegation scrap.

So it feels at this point that as long as the Hammers, somehow, stay within reach of safety the situation will remain as is, but it is a measure of how far the club has declined this season that top flight survival is all that can be hoped for.

It is hard to pinpoint any element of the campaign that has been a definite success, and as manager Moyes has to take responsibility for that.

But it would be the worst of all worlds to sack the Scot, bring in an option who has no history with the club and no credit in the bank who then takes West Ham into the Championship anyway.

Moyes is arguably at the point of reaching his credit limit after the debacle at the Amex, but as long as all the sides around the Irons don’t suddenly explode into life he probably will have just about enough know-how to keep them in the top flight.

It is a gamble either way at this point to decide for or against a change, but Sullivan looks like he views it as a marginally safer one to stick with the devil he knows.