Avram Grant to remain in charge until end of seasonO’Neill unimpressed with way negotiations were handled
Martin O’Neill is to turn down the chance to return to club management with West Ham United, leaving Avram Grant, whose position appeared critically undermined over recent weeks, expected to be asked to continue in the role at Upton Park until the end of the season.
So concerned were the West Ham board at the club’s desperate predicament at the foot of the Premier League that they were apparently prepared to offer O’Neill a £3m bonus payable if he kept the club in the top flight. However, despite protracted discussions with the former Leicester City, Celtic and Aston Villa manager’s representatives, the club’s owners are now resigned to missing out on their principal target.
Farcically that will leave Grant charged with salvaging a spluttering campaign. His position had appeared untenable at the weekend when rumours surfaced that he was to be replaced immediately after the derby against Arsenal regardless of the result – allegations that were denied by the club at the time.
The Israeli, who still has three-and-a-half years to run on his contract at Upton Park, never intended resigning despite the suggestions that he had lost the backing of senior club officials.
But he now finds himself in the remarkable position of being asked to stave off relegation in the knowledge that faith in his ability has long since been eroded in the boardroom.
An emotional Grant threw his scarf into the crowd at the end of Saturday’s 3-0 reverse to Arsenal, a defeat that left West Ham bottom with 20 points, if only two points from safety in a congested division, as if signalling his belief that his brief spell at the club was to be terminated.
By then it had become clear that West Ham’s board had sounded out O’Neill and Sam Allardyce as potential replacements, with the Northern Irishman their preferred candidate.
The 58-year-old, who had left Villa Park on the eve of the current season, had apparently been keen to end his five-month spell out of football and was attracted by the challenge of keeping West Ham in the top flight. His employment would initially have been on a short-term deal, taking him through to the end of the campaign, with his situation to be reviewed in the summer. He was to be accompanied by Steve Walford, who lives locally, though another of his regular coaching team, John Robertson, had indicated he was unwilling to join the backroom team and is enjoying his break from football. The recently appointed West Ham defensive coach, Wally Downes, was to stay on at the club.
However, West Ham’s attempts to secure O’Neill appear to have been jeopardised after the Irishman was deeply unimpressed with the way reports emerged on Saturday claiming he would be named as Grant’s successor after the Arsenal game. The Irishman was disappointedwith the way the story was leaked and the implication that he had effectively accepted a position before the current incumbent had been dismissed. While clubs will nearly always make soundings before sacking the man in charge, those discussions are generally kept private, with West Ham’s failure to do so making the whole episode look undignified.
That has served to wreck any chance of sealing the deal and dash any hopes the board retained that talks might re-open later this week. Now, with interest in Allardyce as a replacement having apparently cooled, the West Ham owners, David Sullivan and David Gold, will have to place their faith in Grant, the man they appointed last summer as Gianfranco Zola’s successor, with the financial implications of relegation to the second tier unthinkable.
Grant’s side travel to Everton on Saturday – their next three games, including the second leg of the Carling Cup semi-final with Birmingham City, are away from home – with the manager now hoping he will be given significant funds to strengthen his squad in the remainder of the transfer window. Valon Behrami is expected to return to Italy with Fiorentina and negotiations are ongoing between the clubs for the 25-year-old Switzerland international. Interest is likely to be rekindled in Tottenham Hotspur’s Robbie Keane after his proposed transfer to Birmingham broke down today.
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