Source: Daily_Mail
West Ham look for new manager after giving up on Avram Grant
West Ham are urgently drawing up a short list of replacements for Avram Grant, whose time is up as manager of the Barclays Premier League's bottom club.[LNB] Sportsmail believes former Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill, Steve McClaren of Wolfsburg, QPR boss Neil Warnock and Sam Allardyce, recently sacked by Blackburn, are being considered.[LNB] Time's up: West Ham have lost patience with Avram Grant (right)[LNB] West Ham would prefer to appoint a manager who requires no compensation, but O'Neill appears an ambitious target, especially with Liverpool searching for an alternative to Roy Hodgson. O'Neill would be a popular appointment for the Kop.[LNB] Grant has been told he will still be in charge of West Ham for tomorrow's third-round FA Cup clash with Barnsley, but the club have run out of patience and could even remove him today.[LNB] Ominously, his regular Friday press conference has been cancelled, due to the 'busy schedule'.[LNB] Grant, 55, is on borrowed time after losing the support of vice-chairman Karren Brady and, more recently, co-chairman David Sullivan. West Ham's other co-chairman, David Gold, remains reluctant to sack the Israeli, who is six months into a four-year contract. The trio earned a reputation for careful boardroom decisions during their stint at Birmingham.[LNB] Go-betweens yesterday made them aware that former England coach McClaren could be available, but he doesn't have great support among West Ham's board.[LNB] McClaren, who won the Dutch title with FC Twente last year, is in Marbella, Spain, working with his Wolfsburg squad during the Bundesliga mid-season break, but he is on borrowed time after a run of poor results. Grant yesterday apologised by email to West Ham fans for Wednesday night's 5-0 defeat at Newcastle.[LNB] Contender: Former England manager Steve McClaren[LNB] He said: 'I make no excuses - everything went wrong, but we must remember the form shown in four previous matches.[LNB] 'Of course we are not happy with the performance and not happy with the result, but we did well before now and we will get back to that.[LNB] 'It is difficult to explain what happened. It was a bad day at the office. We are disappointed to be back at the bottom but all that matters is where we are at the end of the season. I am certain we will see a positive reaction.[LNB] 'I am sorry for those of you who came a long way. I am disappointed for you to see that performance after what we had given you in the previous two games. We will return to that form this week - I am certain.'[LNB] West Ham captain Matthew Upson also said sorry for his team's disastrous display in the North East.[LNB] Three and easy: Leon Best netted a hat-trick in Newcastle's 5-0 win over West Ham [LNB] The England centre back said: 'It was a fantastic effort from the supporters who came to watch and we didn't do them justice and that's a shame.[LNB] 'We're obviously very disappointed and need to re-group and get ourselves together after a good run. We have put a lot of our efforts into our last four games and had good results, so perhaps this was one step too far for us because we were really poor.[LNB] 'It was just a poor performance - a poor individual performance and a poor collective performance and just a poor performance from everybody associated with the team. We just have to move on.'[LNB] The 5-0 thrashing at St James' Park left West Ham a point adrift at the bottom of the Premier League, having played at least a game more than all their rivals.[LNB] Tomorrow's FA Cup clash with Championship club Barnsley is followed by the first leg of the Carling Cup semi-final against Birmingham on Tuesday night. West Ham return to Premier League action on January 15 when they host Arsenal in the evening kick-off. Defensive coach Wally Downes was brought in at the end of November to support Grant, but the Israeli now stands on the brink. [LNB] The Firing Line: Grant's time is up as axe looms over Hodgson and AncelottiBa humbug! Angry Hoffenheim striker slams German club for scuppering 'dream' move to West Ham[LNB] [LNB] Explore more:People: Martin O'Neill, Matthew Upson, Karren Brady, Neil Warnock, David Gold, Sam Allardyce, Roy Hodgson, Steve McClaren, David Sullivan Places: Newcastle, Birmingham, Liverpool, Spain, United Kingdom
