• Co-owner says: ‘We are not sackers. We support managers’
• ‘I am confident we will claw our way up the table’
The West Ham United joint chairman David Sullivan has said that the club have no intention of sacking their manager, Gianfranco Zola.
Zola was furious after Sullivan said salaries at the club would have to be cut, in order to get the Hammers’ £60m wage bill down to manageable levels. Sullivan’s remarks came on the eve of tonight’s match against Birmingham City the club Sullivan and his West Ham co-owner, David Gold, sold last October.
“He [Zola] is entitled to his opinion and I respect that,” Sullivan told Sky Sports News. “I hope it galvanises the team and the manager to produce a wonderful performance. If we win tonight I have made my point, if we lose he has made his point. All I can say is that in 17 years we sacked two managers at Birmingham. We are not sackers.
“We support managers and he is 100% secure. We will bring in players to improve the team in the summer.
“Birmingham are a very good side. I don’t see it as a grudge match or anything like that. I see this as just another game and one where we really do need to get three points.
“If you said at this moment in time who is the better team then statistically you would have to say Birmingham are the better team. But if you say who is the bigger club then all the statistics support that West Ham are the bigger club. I am very confident that over the next 14 games, the team will improve and we will claw our way up the table.”
Zola, who signed a £1.9m-a-year contract when he joined the club 17 months ago, said: “I am what I am and I believe in what I do and I think we can produce good results.
“I am too connected and tied up to the players. I have a relationship with them and the supporters. I do not like to leave a situation unfinished. The players are focused on the job.
“I am not here for the money. Last year when I signed a contract I didn’t even know how much I was going to earn. I had a plan and a project. It’s not about money. It is about working for something positive. I have always enjoyed working for this club. The money was something that came after.”
On Sullivan’s wage-cut plan being revealed in the media, Zola said: “It would have been better to talk to us before talking to a newspaper. That is my feeling. I think the article should have been done at another time, not just before a match.”
Zola did not rule out taking a cut and said he would discuss the matter with the owners, but he rejected Sullivan’s claim that he might be “too nice” to be successful.
“I am a person of principles and I am not going to allow anybody to walk on my principles,” he said.
West Ham UnitedDavid SullivanPremier Leagueguardian.co.uk
