David Moyes has refused to comment on claims made by Patrice Evra that some of his former West Ham team-mates said they would refuse to shower with gay players.
Former Manchester United defender Evra, who had a brief spell with the Hammers in 2018, made the claims during an appearance on Gabby Logan’s Mid Point podcast when recalling an inclusivity talk given by an FA official to the West Ham squad.
“It’s like you can’t be a gay football player, people will go mad,” said Evra, who joined the Hammers as a free agent in 2018 following his departure from Marseille.
“I give the example, when I was playing for West Ham, someone from the English federation came and he said, ‘We need to accept everyone.’
“The amount of players that were like, ‘No, if some of my team-mates are gay they have to leave now, I won’t do any shower [with them].’
“I stand up and I say, ‘Shut up, shut up everyone, can you hear yourselves?’
“We still don’t accept everyone. In the football world, they are not open-minded enough and it’s a shame.”
Moyes, who was West Ham’s manager at the time, insisted he had no knowledge of the events Evra was referring to and said he could not comment.
“The first thing I’d say is that I know nothing about it, so I couldn’t comment on it at all,” he said at his press conference on Friday.
“But I think times have even moved on from four years ago, if that’s when you’re saying it was. I think lots of things have improved and everybody is much more aware of different situations.
“But I can’t comment on it because I don’t know anything about it.”
Moyes: Rice rant shows how much we care
Moyes was speaking a day after West Ham’s Europa League semi-final defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt and insisted Declan Rice’s foul-mouthed rant towards Europa League referee Jesus Gil Manzano shows how much West Ham’s players care.
Hammers captain Rice was filmed berating the Spanish official in the tunnel after his side suffered semi-final heartbreak at the hands of Eintracht Frankfurt on Thursday evening.
The Premier League club were denied a first European final in 46 years following a 1-0 loss in Germany, which resulted in a 3-1 aggregate defeat.
Rice’s post-match remarks to Manzano were captured by America TV company Fox Sports, with footage circulating on social media.
West Ham were beaten 3-1 on aggregate
West Ham do not intend to comment on the incident until receiving the referee’s report.
Manager Moyes – who was sent off during the match for kicking a ball at a ball boy – felt it demonstrated the passion within his squad and was also aggrieved at the standard of officiating.
“It just shows you how much all the players cared,” the Scotsman said on Friday afternoon.
“We all cared very much last night. We felt as if we had been treated quite badly overall and that is what happens.
“If you know about football, everybody is emotional so unless you’re in the heat of it sometimes people don’t understand how it feels.
“Last night, we had a group of players who were really connected, trying to win the game and felt it was very difficult under lots of different circumstances.”
West Ham had Aaron Cresswell sent off after just 19 minutes at Deutsche Bank Park and conceded the only goal of the evening to Rafael Borre just seven minutes later.
Defender Cresswell, who pulled down Jens Petter Hauge as he attempted to go through on goal, was initially shown a yellow card but it was upgraded to a red after a video assistant referee review.
Regarding Rice’s behaviour, a West Ham spokesperson said: “The club is aware of the video circulating on social media but will not be commenting further until the referee’s report from the UEFA Europa League semi-final second leg against Eintracht Frankfurt has been considered.”