Stuart Pearce has confirmed he could have returned to West Ham as David Moyes’ assistant – only for the club’s owners to block the former England defender’s appointment.

Pearce worked at the London Stadium during Moyes’ previous tenure, joining as no.2 in November 2017 and leaving the following summer when the Scot’s contract was not renewed so West Ham could bring in Manuel Pellegrini as head coach.

The Chilean has since been sacked and replaced by Moyes, who told talkSPORT last week that Pearce had been considered for a return to his backroom staff.

AFP or licensors 1 It’s been a successful return to West Ham so far for Moyes – with two wins from two matches

In the wake of Moyes’ departure from the Hammers, Pearce openly questioned the decision to let him leave having done a fine job in keeping the east Londoners in the Premier League.

“Theyve decided not to go down the David [Moyes] route,” said Psycho in June 2018. “I was a little surprised by that as I saw first-hand what a good job he did in a situation that could have gone either way.”

And it appears Pearce’s outspoken criticism of the decision to get rid of Moyes played a key role in him not returning to West Ham this time around.

Joining the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast on Monday morning, Pearce claimed his comments about the club resulted in the owners, David Gold and David Sullivan, blocking a move back to the London Stadium to reunite with Moyes.

“The owners felt I was a little bit critical of the regime when we left last time and put the block on it and that was that,” said Pearce.

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“I am delighted for David – I spoke to him before he went in and he was keen for me to join him but it is not to be.

“They own the club, I respect that and I respect they are prepared to pick the phone up to David and were humble enough to ask him to come back in.

“I am just delighted to see Dave back in work and working in the Premier League which I think he deserves.”

You can watch a clip of Stuart Pearce on talkSPORT, above…