Source: PA
Grant puts club's survival before his own
Avram Grant will not let dreams of leading West Ham out at Wembley or speculation over his own future distract from the job in hand of keeping the club in the Barclays Premier League.
West Ham remain deep in trouble, four points adrift of safety, after just one win in 11 league matches which has put Grant's future very much under the spotlight. Nevertheless, a thrilling 4-0 victory over Manchester United on November 30 has left the Hammers just 180 minutes from the Carling Cup final, with Birmingham awaiting in the last four.
Before those ties, however, Grant's men face what could well be a make-or-break run against sides around them in the table, with reports suggesting the board - who only appointed the Israeli during the summer - have demanded at least one victory from their hectic Festive schedule which starts at Blackburn on Saturday.
Rovers' new owners moved to axe Sam Allardyce earlier this week, keen to take the Lancashire club to a new level, with the former Bolton and Newcastle boss linked with a switch to West Ham should the same fate befall Grant, whose severance pay for a deal to 2014 would cost a reported £5million. The former Chelsea and Portsmouth manager, however, will not let anything deflect his 100% focus from delivering the points which he feels West Ham's positive displays have deserved.
"We now have a Carling Cup semi-final to look forward to in January, but we will not think about this again until the New Year. We have a job to do in the league and this is all that is occupying my attention," the Hammers boss said. "The cup is a fantastic distraction, but nothing will get in the way of the task in hand. We need points and I am positive we will get them.
"Everyone has ben putting in lots of effort on the training pitches and by that I include the coaching and backroom staff. No one is taking our position lightly and we are all upbeat for the future. We have an extremly positive atmosphere because of all the way we have been playing overall. We know the results will come soon enough."
