West Ham will resist the urge to sneak David Moyes into their dressing room in a laundry basket as the club kickstart their new European campaign on Thursday.
Moyes is banned for the Europa Conference League play-off first leg with Danish side Viborg, and assistant Billy McKinlay joked they could hide him in a ‘wheelie bin’, as Chelsea famously did with Jose Mourinho in 2005.
Moyes is suspended after kicking the ball at a ball-boy during West Ham’s Europa League semi-final defeat by Eintracht Frankfurt last season, and captain Declan Rice and vice-captain Aaron Cresswell are also serving bans.
David Moyes will not be on the touchline for West Ham’s Europa Conference League match
Moyes is serving a one-game suspension for unsporting conduct following last season’s Europa League loss to eventual winners Frankfurt
Gianluca Scamacca is set to start his first match for the Hammers and may be joined by fellow new arrival Maxwel Cornet.
Thilo Kehrer — signed yesterday from Paris Saint-Germain — will be in the squad.
‘We’ve lost our captain, vice-captain and manager,’ McKinlay said. ‘It’s up to us to deal with that loss.’
Declan Rice is serving a two-match European ban following the fallout from the Frankfurt game
New West Ham signing Gianluca Scamacca is expected to make his first start for the club