• Striker hit out at West Ham co-owner over criticisms of team
• The club claim Portuguese winger ‘misunderstood the facts’

Luís Boa Morte has held clear-the-air talks with the West Ham United co-owner, David Sullivan, and apologised for comments he made after the 1-1 draw with Manchester City.

The out-of-contract Portugal international aimed a verbal attack at Sullivan, who has been critical of the West Ham squad at times during the season.

Boa Morte told Match of the Day: “Mr Sullivan should have a bit more composure when he talks and when he goes to the press to hammer the players. He should be a bit more steady. The fact you have the money, it doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want.”

However, the 32-year-old phoned Sullivan today to apologise for his outburst and the conversation, according to West Ham, was “cordial”. The club also reported that Boa Morte accepted his comments had been based on a “misunderstanding of the facts” and in a moment of high emotion.

Boa Morte had scored on his comeback to the West Ham side after a year spent recovering from knee ligament damage. Sullivan insisted the matter is now closed.

“I greatly admire Luís as a player and he takes the passion he shows on the pitch into his personal life,” said Sullivan. “Like me, occasionally it boils over – so I know exactly where he is coming from.”

Sullivan has not been shy in criticising the West Ham players since he and David Gold bought the club in January and injected £20m that saved the Hammers from administration.

In March, Sullivan wrote an open letter to supporters after West Ham’s defeat to Wolves, blasting the performance as “pathetic” and “shambolic”, which did not go down well with the manager, Gianfranco Zola, or the players.

In yesterday’s match programme, Sullivan wrote that “the current team and management know that what they have delivered was below the expectations at the start of the season”.

Zola’s relationship with Sullivan and Gold has been frosty and it recently emerged the owners had been conducting transfer business behind the manager’s back.

The Italian is contracted at West Ham until 2013 but he will meet Gold and Sullivan tomorrow to discuss his future at the club.

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• Anger over Sullivan interview ahead of important game
• ‘It would have been better to say that at another time’

Gianfranco Zola has taken a swipe at West Ham’s new owners after David Sullivan announced that the entire staff would have to take a pay cut in the summer.

It is thought the manager and players, along with other club staff, will be asked by the co-owners, Sullivan and David Gold, to take a 25% cut to slash the club’s £60m wage bill.

An angry Zola, however, criticised the timing of the revelation, coming just 24 hours before West Ham take on Birmingham in a vital Premier League match at St Andrew’s.

Zola said: “I think the [national newspaper] article should have been done at another time, not just before a match like tomorrow. It would have been better to say that at another time and maybe talk to us before talking to a newspaper. That is my feeling.”

Zola, who earns £1.9m a year, revealed he had not spoken to the owners, nor had he been consulted about the issue. But after preparing his players for a match against the club so recently run by Sullivan and Gold, Zola added: “Personally, I can say 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 and I liked what I was going to do. I didn’t know what I was going to earn and then after a while the club called me in about a new contract.

“It’s not about money. It is about working for something positive. I aways enjoy working for this club. The money was something that came after.”

Zola was clearly irritated by the potentially destabilising effect of the pay issue and wants to concentrate on getting West Ham out of relegation trouble.

When asked if the owners speak to the press too much, Zola added: “It doesn’t interest me. They can talk to the press as much as they want. When an article comes like that before a big match like tomorrow I’m not happy about that because I don’t think it is any good for the whole team.

“I just read the article this morning and that’s it. The match is all that matters to me and the players.”

West Ham have taken two points from a possible nine since Sullivan and Gold took over. They are rooted in the relegation zone while Sullivan and Gold’s former team, Birmingham, are the season’s surprise package, having risen to eighth and the fringes of a European place.

Sullivan, who saw the Hammers slump to a 2-1 defeat at Burnley on Saturday, says it would be “armageddon” if West Ham were relegated.

Zola, however, insisted: “I’m not thinking about relegation at all. I’m thinking about getting the points that we should have had on the table That is my only focus. That is why I am here.

“Since I have been here it has been a repetition of speculation and problems. To be honest, I’m fed up with that. I just want to carry on with football.

“The players are committed to what we are doing. They believe in it and are determined. The defeat against Burnley was unexpected and a big blow. But the fighting spirit is there and we will never give up.”

One of West Ham’s new strikers, Benni McCarthy, is out of the Birmingham game with a knee injury picked up against Burnley.

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