PIENAAR: LET MOYES RULE

STEVEN PIENAAR says David Moyes can build West Ham into a top-seven side if he is given control of player recruitment. The 35-year-old South African midfielder, who announced his retirement yesterday after finishing his career with Johannesburg club Bidvest Wits, played under Moyes at Everton and Sunderland. And he has backed his former boss to replicate the good work that earned him recognition at Everton, revealing that Sunderland’s relegation last season was down to a divisive dressing room and not the Scot’s management. Pienaar said: ‘This season has been all about surviving for David and I wouldn’t have backed West Ham to do that the way they started the season. But he has picked up good results and the signs are they can build for the future as long as the club allows him control to do things his way. ‘David has his moments as a man-manager, he can lose it, but he is a straight talker. He is honest with you and if you work for him, he’ll work for you. ‘The reason Sunderland went down was because of a divisive dressing room. It wasn’t nice. Every dressing room has bad eggs who moan if they are not playing, but Sunderland was one of the worst. ‘You can see the way they are now, it wasn’t down to the manager, it’s deeper than that. I was one of a number of ex-Everton players who went there and if maybe you ask Joleon Lescott or Darron Gibson the same question, we had a feeling of, “You’re not welcome here”, as if we were teacher’s pets. Certain people didn’t have the right attitude. We needed to pull together but some there just wanted to pull things apart.’ Moyes is still to convince some West Ham fans that he will play the attractive football they crave. Pienaar said: ‘David has a reputation for being too defensive-minded or cautious. He doesn’t want to concede but that’s a practical mind. He’d like to play attractive football but the budgets he has had haven’t always allowed him to buy the players Manchester City have. ‘We played good attacking football at Everton and I can see similarities with West Ham. It’s a good club but the owners have to let him build it his way. ‘Then they can challenge at the right end of the table.’