West Ham must not sell Craig Bellamy and other stars warns Gianfranco Zola

Gianfranco Zola (Getty)

Gianfranco Zola has warned West Ham's bean-counters to keep their hands off the club's crown jewels and that he will not tolerate them being sold over his head.

Zola came out fighting last night with a categorical assurance that he will not sanction any firesale of key players Robert Green, Matthew Upson, Scott Parker, Valeron Behrami and Craig Bellamy in next month's transfer window.

And in his most transparent threat to take on the Hammers' beleaguered Icelandic owners if any of the untouchables were shipped out to ease the club's financial position, Zola admitted: "I would be very annoyed if they did that."

With only three wins in 15 games - and only four goals in the last 12 - Zola's managerial baptism has turned into a nightmare.

Last weekend's unlucky home defeat by Aston Villa left the Hammers only one point above the relegation zone, and Zola desperately needs a change of fortune in the Christmas double-header with Portsmouth and Stoke.

But with a possible £50 million invoice on the way from Sheffield United over the Carlos Tevez affair, and chairman Bjorgulfor Gudmundsson battling financial meltdown in his native Iceland, 2009 promises only uncertainty at Upton Park.

Aston Villa and Manchester City are leading the chase for £10 million-rated Bellamy, Juventus are lining up a £6.5 million move for Swiss midfielder Behrami and Arsenal have been monitoring ex-Gooner Upson mature into an England defender.

But Zola insisted: "They are very good players and I'm not surprised that big teams want them, but as far as I'm concerned they are not for sale.

"I'm not interested in selling my best players because I want to try and improve the team if I can - that's our target for the January window.

"Have I been told I have to sell them? Absolutely not. The club have told me they are not going to sell them, so of course I would be very annoyed if they were sold, and they would have to give me a very good reason.

"But the club have been very good to me and I don't believe they are interested in making the team weaker. Everyone wants to progress with this project.

"I don't want to talk about what may happen because in football you never know what is around the corner. I will not be pleased (by player sales) because I wnat to improve the team, but I have faith and the club remains positive.

"For me it's been a great experience - yes, it's been a strong challenge and it's pushing me a lot. I've had a lot of problems to look after, but I love competing. No matter how it goes, I've accepted this job and I'm happy."

Zola's leading scorer Carlton Cole has managed just four goals in all competitions this season, but Zola is anxious to take the pressure off his strikers against Pompey on Boxing Day.

Cole's finishing has been woeful of late, but Zola insisted: "The pressure is on everybody, not just the strikers. Obviously they feel like they want to do more, but they have to carry on working and keep believing in themselves.

"If they lose that self-belief, then it becomes very difficult. But for now I am just focusing on what we have here - if we can't get the team to progress over the next couple of games, we might consider bringing in someone else."

Zola's cheery demeanour as a player with Chelsea has been steadily eroded by the stark reality of management and the precarious nature of West Ham's financial predicament.

He admitted his mood was dark for 24 hours after James Milner's freakish late winner for Villa last Saturday, but he added: "It's already over.

"I was very frustrated the day after we've been unlucky and we didn't deserve that - but the boys had a couple of days off and now we can start focusing on trying to beat Portsmouth.

"We need to improve certain things to make us sharper, but the most important thing is that it's down to us. We did well away at Liverpool and Chelsea away, but we did it because of us.

"And I showed the boys our stats from the last game, and from them you would never have known that Villa were 3rd and we were fourth from bottom.".

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