Tony Cottee Column: Grant should be credited for West Ham revival
Grant has done well over the past month
I have been critical in the past but Avram Grant deserves credit.
He has always stuck to his beliefs about how the game should be played and the club will get out of trouble.
There is of course a long way still to go but we are in a much better position than we have been all season.
The two wins over Christmas have certainly secured his job in the short term, but only time will tell if he will be at Upton Park for the long haul.
He should be praised for bringing Freddie Sears into the side when most wouldn’t.
A lot of managers would have seen him go on loan at Scunthorpe and think the standard he has been playing isn’t good enough and therefore would not have played him.
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Sears looked particularly sharp against Wolves and he took his goal really well.
He didn’t thrash at the ball and his movement to make himself available for crosser Tal Ben Haim was also impressive.
It was a tremendous win and one of huge importance. You hear it described as a ‘six-pointer’ but I believe it is worth more then that. The clean sheet and two goals will bring a huge amount of confidence to players at both ends of the pitch.
Games against the sides around you dictate your season in all sorts of ways and to beat the likes of Wolves and Fulham is a major boost.
It will help attract players in the transfer window also and it is important we are active in January.
There has been a lot of talk linking Carlton Cole with Liverpool and Valon Behrami with a move back to Italy.
Valon is clearly unhappy and I would rather us get �5million for him than sell Carlton. I would rather keep a happy Cole then an unhappy Behrami.
On his day I still believe Carlton is our best striker and I don’t want him to go, but if the club are offered �7m or �8m, they may be forced to wheel and deal to do whatever is necessary to keep the club in the league.
Seb Coe has given his support to West Ham to move into the Olympic Stadium after the 2012 Games and although of course his opinion is important, he does not have a final say.
Seb will support West Ham because the Hammers are the only club offering to keep the running track, a factor which I know puts a lot of West Ham fans off moving there.
I’m one of them and it will be terrible having to watch football with a track in the way and if it is removed it will be a fantastic stadium.
I feel Spurs are playing a bit of cat and mouse with Haringey Council and I think the club and their fans would prefer to stay in Tottenham, but you have to face the economics and it could favour them financially to move to east London.
West Ham and Leyton Orient will have a lot to say if Spurs do move our way, because it is likely to have a negative effect on both sides.
Tony Cottee was talking to
Matt Diner
