• ‘We must wait for 10-15 games to see our direction’
• Grant says West Ham are trying to sign new players

Avram Grant, the West Ham United manager, said there is no need for fans to panic about their start to the season unless they fail to improve after “10-15 games”. West Ham are bottom of the Premier League going into the international break following defeats in their opening three matches.

West Ham have never lost their first four league games but the leaders Chelsea, who have made a perfect start to the new campaign, are their next opponents in just under a fortnight. However, Grant said defeat to the champions would not spell disaster for his side.

“It’s only the beginning of the season so we cannot make any conclusions after three weeks,” he told the club’s official website. “We must wait for 10-15 games to see our direction. Chelsea is a tough fixture and I can’t ever remember a team at our level having such tough fixtures at the beginning of the season. But these are fixtures we have been given and, in football, anything can happen. We have two weeks to think about things. We can become stronger.”

Grant said it has been a real challenge to instil confidence in his side since taking charge this summer after they narrowly avoided relegation last term. But he said it is an easier job than the one he left at Portsmouth, who were mired in financial turmoil.

He said: “It’s not easy to keep the morale up – especially after last season – but I don’t like talking about last year because we do not need to be reminded about it. It’s not easy but I’ve told the players from the beginning that I want to see their character, both when they win and when they lose. It’s only the beginning of the season, and if we win two games, we will be as good as any other team.

“Last season, things were decided for me off the pitch but, this year, they will be decided on the pitch. It’s a big, big difference.”

Grant is still trying to sign players before tomorrow’s closure of the transfer window. But having already admitted he may need to sell before he can buy, speculation is rife over the Upton Park futures of Scott Parker, Carlton Cole and Valon Behrami. “We are trying to bring in new faces,” Grant said, adding: “we didn’t have players in the positions we needed them” following Saturday’s 3-0 defeat at Manchester United.

Avram GrantWest Ham Unitedguardian.co.uk

• David Sullivan hints he will have his say on the club’s transfers
• Avram Grant wants Manchester City’s Felipe Caicedo on loan

Scott Parker is close to signing an improved deal at West Ham so ending speculation that he could move away from Upton Park, and potentially move across London to Tottenham Hotspur.

David Sullivan, West Ham’s joint owner, has hinted he may veto the manager Avram Grant’s choice of new players in extreme circumstances, describing himself as “no mug” when it comes to recruitment.

With regard to Parker’s new contract, Sullivan told the Evening Standard: “I have promised the fans I will not let Scott Parker go and I will not waver from that. If Scott came to me, said he wanted to move and was prepared to put in a transfer request, I would say, ‘I’m terribly sorry, Scott, but I’ve made a promise to the fans’. I would remind him that it is too late to find a replacement now and ask him for one more year’s commitment.

“Then I would let him go next summer if he still felt the same way. Scott has said nothing of the sort, though. Even if a club offered £10m I wouldn’t sell him. If it was £30m though, I would have to think hard.”

The club captain is expected to sign a new five-year deal within the next week. The club will offer the 29-year-old improved terms that will reportedly be worth up to £20m.

The 21-year-old Manchester City striker Felipe Caicedo is heading to West Ham on a season-long loan, having fallen out of favour under Roberto Mancini.Caicedo, an Ecuadorian, signed when Sven-Goran Eriksson was in charge in 2008.

Despite Sullivan’s public criticism of Grant’s predecessor, Gianfranco Zola, which led to the Italian’s departure, the co-chairman did not completely rule out having a say in football matters.

He added: “We won’t be interfering with Avram. Of the next 20 players we sign, 18 will be his choice. Maybe the 19th will be a player I like. I’ve been in football for almost 20 years now and I’m not a complete mug when it comes to picking a player. I think that’s reasonable.

“The 20th will perhaps be a player Avram wants but I will veto. But having said all that, if Avram was still set on a player, he would probably veto my veto.”

West Ham UnitedTransfer windowJamie Jacksonguardian.co.uk