David Moyes is unlikely to extend his stay at West Ham United past the end of the season – whether or not the club stay in the Premier League.

West Ham’s 3-1 defeat to Brighton put them back in relegation danger and meant the club have not won any of their last three Premier League games. During their poor run, the Hammers were also dumped out of the FA Cup by League One Wigan Athletic.

Despite the fact Moyes dragged West Ham away from the bottom three after succeeding Slaven Bilic on a six-month contract, the club are already expected to be searching for a new permanent manager in the summer.

Rafa Benitez remains a possible target with his Newcastle United future seemingly dependent on whether or not Amanda Staveley’s takeover bid is successful, while Huddersfield Town’s David Wagner is well liked.

The fact Marco Silva is now out of work and would not cost anything in compensation to appoint would be interesting to the Hammers.

West Ham sacked director of player recruitment Tony Henry last week following accusations of racial discrimination, although his departure will have no bearing on the future of Moyes.

Marco Silva has been mooted as a replacement for Moyes credit: Dan Istitene/Getty Images

There have been tensions behind the scenes regarding West Ham’s transfer policy with Moyes failing to land a number of targets in January. Although West Ham signed Jordan Hugill from Preston North End, they missed out of Islam Slimani and Ibrahim Amadou at the end of the transfer window and Moyes now looks short of players after being hit by injuries.

West Ham also made a failed bid for Anderlecht’s Leander Dendoncker and could move again for him in the summer, even though Belgian sources claim Moyes is not particularly keen on the player.

Moyes has already made it clear that he will assess his options at the end of the season and is not planning talks about his or the club’s long-term plans before then.

Should he keep West Ham in the Premier League, then Moyes may well have options elsewhere and if he does not then he is fully aware there is little chance of West Ham keeping him on.

West Ham fans have turned on the club's owners credit: Rob Newell/CameraSport

Other than having to face questions over Henry’s departure last week, Moyes has also seen co-owner David Sullivan give an interview in which he revealed his son had told him not to sign Jose Fonte and Karren Brady criticise the signing of Robert Snodgrass in her Sun column.

It later transpired that Moyes had been interested in recalling Snodgrass from his Aston Villa loan. West Ham fans have turned their anger on Sullivan, co-owner David Gold and vice-chairman Brady, singing ‘sack the board’ and unveiling banners calling for them to leave.

A number of supporters’ groups are planning to march together, under the banner of West Ham Groups United, before the home game against Burnley on March 10th and have discussed hiring 20 hearses to signify the ‘death’ of the club and its tradition.

Sullivan, though, has claimed any protests against him will achieve “nothing” and insisted the Hammers need unity.

“I ask the supporters, every one of them: get behind the team,” Sullivan told TalkSport. “Through unity we can turn it all around. We don't want to find that a disappointing season has turned into a disastrous one.”