Moyes can nail spot in history with Hammers

DAVID MOYES discovered that he will be in exalted company if West Ham make it into their third European quarter-final in as many seasons.

Only five other clubs – Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Roma and Benfica – can boast such an impressive record in the last three years.

And Moyes, fiercely proud of his reign as Irons boss, was further boosted by a stat which reveals he has taken charge of 40 percent of the club’s European ties in their history.

Even a train strike in Germany today won’t derail Moyes’ optimism at the prospect of going deep into the Europa League’s knockout phase.

He said: “I thought it was only in the UK we had problems with the trains. It doesn’t sound like the Germany I know, I hope our fans get here safely.

“I want us to have another great run in Europe and I would like us to finish the season strongly at home and qualify for Europe again.

“We had a month or so which wasn’t so good, but we are back on form at the moment.”

Moyes lifted his first trophy (above) aged 60 in the Europa Conference League last season, but the critics were out in force after West Ham’s defeat at Nottingham Forest last month. The glow of hanging his winner’s medal around his father’s neck in

Prague last summer probably sustained him when a ‘Moyes Out’ banner was unfurled at the City Ground.

And he said: “We won our Europa League group and it wasn’t so long ago that (Prague) happened, but everyone wants success now.

“We showed people we are resilient and we will keep trying to push on in this competition.

“I think we’ve played more than 30 games in Europe in the last three years, which gives you a fair idea of how far we’ve come.” James Wardprowse hopes to break his duck for the Irons after going more than a year without scoring from a free-kick.

But he said: “It doesn’t play on my mind. It’s down to me to work even harder to get back on the goalscoring trail, but these games are the reason I joined West Ham.

“I’ve gained a lot of experience in certain situations over the years, but I’m definitely ready for this sort of test.”

The Hammers beat Freiburg home and away in the group stage, but Ward-prowse warned: “It’s probably going to be tougher than when we’ve played them before, because they know a bit more about us now.”