Cottee's Future Hopes

Tony Cottee has urged the club to think beyond Harry Redknapp's successor - and start grooming the next but one manager!

TC, who of course has never hidden his ambition to take over as Upton Park boss one day, strongly believes that the job warrants having ingrained West Ham connections.

But he also recognises that, beyond Alan Curbishley, the ex Hammers with current managerial CVs in the upper echelons don't exist.

Tony himself has managed at Barnet this season, while Alvin Martin tried his luck at Southend a couple of years ago. Steve Whitton and Tommy Taylor manage Colchester and Leyton Orient in division three, while Ray Stewart in Scotland and Alan Devonshire in non league occupy hot seats at Stirling Albion, and Maidenhead United respectively.

"It's become very difficult for the club because I am sure the board are aware that most of the supporters would have wanted to see a West Ham man at the helm bit with the ideal man being Alan Curbishley," he says.

"But I think if he had wanted it it would have happened by now so with him not seeming to be in the frame any more it makes it very difficult for the club.

"Steve McClaren going to Middlesbrough hasn't helped things, the Alex McLeish thing seems to have gone quiet as well so where the club goes from here I don't know - but it looks as if it won't be someone with a West Ham connection."

TC hopes such a situation will not arise again - hence his idea to look beyond the current appointment.

"I've said all along I would like it to be a West Ham connected man," he stresses, "but the England national team is a good example because apart from Venables, who I felt should have got it, there was no outstanding candidate to do the England job.

"The FA looked abroad, and at the moment it appears to be working. They are also laying the foundations for the next manager by putting Peter Taylor, Sammy Lee, McClaren and people like that in to work under Eriksson.

"So when he moves on, whenever that may be, there should be an Englishman ready to take over.

"What I'm trying to say is that if West Ham do have to go the continental approach, whoever that might be, then why not get some ex-West Ham players to work under him, people like like Alvin Martin or Alan Devonshire off the top of my head.

"They could be learning and looking and listening so that when that man does move on you have got your West Ham man in there to fill his boots.

"I would like to see that but it is easier said than done; but I think the last thing the supporters or the club would want is the Chelsea situation where you have someone like Ranieri who can't even speak English.

"But if it was a foreigner then why not get a few ex-West Ham players in with him so they can tell him what the club is all about and get the team t play football in the right way.

"The only time the club has strayed away was the Lou Macari situation, and although there were other things going on I don't think that Lou got the players to play the right kind of football.

"Even though he bought some good players I don't think the fans were going to take to his long ball approach: the last thing you want now is someone coming in and trying to get the team to play direct football.

"The West Ham fans are vey knowledgeable and they have grown up supporting the team playing a certain way of football, and that is not going to change.

"The fans want entertainment and they want to see the players expressing themselves.

"So it is very important whoever the manager might be that he gets the team to play the right way.

"Someone like George Graham springs to mind, and I have a lot of admiration and time for him - I think he is a very very good manager.

"But I think he proved at Tottenham trying to get them to play a different style that the fans weren't happy.

"I think George would do the same; of course West Ham would probably start the season really well and get seven 1-0 wins on the trot but the football wouldn't be the flowing football the fans are used to.

"When you grow up supporting West Ham you are used to the team playing a certain way, and I just hope that whoever comes in gets them playing properly.

"There are only three domestic trophies to win every year, but all I know is West Ham haven't won anything since 1980 and for a club as big as it is 21 years is an awful long time not to win a trophy.

"Hopefully the new man can blend the good football with the results and give the supporters what they want - a trophy.

"I'm only looking from the outside, but there is everything there - the chance to work with young players like Joe Cole and Michael Carrick, and if  you can get the right blend of players which I know Harry was struggling  with then the foundations are there to play excellent football and win a trophy."

He is a firm believer that a manager with a West Ham connection would be given longer to grow into the job and adds: "I think it would do to start with because I think fans appreciate what players do for a club; if you were an ex-player I'm sure you would get a bit more breathing space.

"I don't think the club are being indecisive, I just think it is more difficult for them because there is not that West Ham man to choose from.

"There are people around with that sort of connection but whether they are the people they want I don't know - I have certainly not had an approach."

His experience at Barnet has not dented his ambition to boss the Hammers, and he explains: "I'd love to get there one day but it's just a bit unfortunate from my point of view because if I had done fantastic at Barnet and they had got promoted it would have worked in my favour and I might have been in the frame.

"But I obviously left 10 games from the end of the season and with them having gone down as well it doesn't reflect particularly well on myself.

"But I still have confidence in my self as a manager in the long term.

"With more time I think I could have turned it round but I was put in a position that was untenable as manager, and I had to get out - and I still feel that was the right decision.

"A lot of it is timing and a little bit of luck with most situations.

"But no-one expected Harry to leave, least of all Harry himself. If that's what the club wanted, letting Harry go, then most people would say fair enough, but the problem is, who do you replace him with, because undoubtedly he was a first class manager.

"The longer it goes the more worrying it becomes and the more frustrated the fans will get."

TC will be seen on a documentary on Monday night about Frank McAvennie, and he says: "I'm looking forward to the documentary because it will let me find out exactly what Frank was getting up to in the  mid 80s - because I never knew!

"We were filmed over six hours having a lager in the Boleyn - they'll probably show about six seconds!"

So how about those two as joint managers? "It might keep the fans happy for a week or so but if we were to start losing games they'd soon lose their patience!"