Following a bitterly disappointing January transfer window, whereby West Ham failed to add any additions to the squad for the 2nd half in a vitally important season, manager David Moyes has spoken of what went wrong and provided support for the board in our dealings.

“West Ham supporters can be reassured that we were really ambitious in what we were trying to do. We were really ambitious in trying to get good players and players who could help us and make a difference, but it just became pretty difficult in the end and we missed out on one or two late on.

“I didn’t necessarily want to be in the situation where we were bringing players in just because we kept getting it said: ‘You need to buy a striker’. We’ve also got Jarrod Bowen and it would be very difficult to get a better back-up to Micky Antonio than Jarrod.

“We probably made three record transfer bids from the club in this January window and let’s be fair, January is never really a great time.

“I also believe it’s probably been tougher because we’re looking at a much different level of player now and trying to attract some of the top players throughout Europe.

“I want to make sure that the supporters at West Ham can trust that I’m trying to spend the money wisely and we’re trying to bring in good players but also, we don’t want to bring people in who I think are only here just to pad it up. The idea in this job is to try and sign good players.”

The West Ham board have received fierce criticism from the fanbase, however Moyes wanted to reassure the fans that they were not to blame in the failure to land any of the targets.

“I have to say there’s been some things said about the board, but the board in this transfer window have been brilliant. They have backed me and tried to support me in all the moves.

“They’ve all been really good in helping me over the window so it’s always good when your owners are helping you and trusting you as well. We know we’re growing, we’re going in the right direction and hopefully we can keep that going.

“I said last year, actually, that sometimes it is not quite so easy in your second season, to do it again. If anything, we’ve come back stronger and look better.

“The job now for me is to keep the players fresh and sharp in training, prepared, ready for every game.

“We’ve got some players who’ve been in stunning form, in sparkling form, scoring goals, playing well. And I think we’re on the right tracks to building a good team.”