Why West Ham must hang onto Avram like they hung on to Parker

By Darren Lewis

Published 08:28 08/09/10

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The worst thing West Ham's board can do right now is lose their nerve over Avram Grant.

He may not be the flavour of the month in the eyes of some and his dour demeanour probably is in stark contrast to the a dynamic Alan Pardew or a Mark Hughes.

But he can get things done if he is given the tools and the time. There is no doubting right now that the Hammers are stuck in the middle of a nightmare run courtesy of a tricky batch of opening fixtures.

But the suggestion that Grant should go be sacked now because he is unlikely to take points off Chelsea, Stoke and Spurs, is lunacy.

How can anyone calling for the Israeli's head criticise any other club for being too trigger-happy should they sack THEIR manager?

And any boss who would come into a club run by people willing to bale at the first sign of trouble, just three games into the season, is equally off his rocker.

David Gold and David Sullivan set their stall out at the end of last season and vowed to keep Scott Parker. It proved tough going throughout the summer but they've held on to him.

Now they have to stand by their claim on appointing Grant that he was/is the man for the long term.

As I pointed out in this column last month, just as nobody ever lifted the title at the end of the September, nobody has ever been relegated by that stage either.

Yes, you wouldn't fancy West Ham's chances against a free-scoring Chelsea side that are the only team in the country not to concede so far this season.

Or a Stoke side against whom even the biggest sides have slipped up over the past couple of seasons. Or a Spurs side boosted massively by the arrival of Rafael van der Vaart.

But there are worse sides in the Premier League than West Ham, who for me will be a different side once they get an injection of confidence.

That may well come from an upset in one of the games in which they are supposed to get whipped over the next two weeks.

I'll be delighted for Grant if it does.

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