Rob's Big Ambition

Rob Lee says that his one last footballing ambition is to play for the team he supports, West Ham.

Rob, who started in the friendly at Bournemouth on Tuesday evening - and with Michael Carrick and Steve Lomas missing, his presence in midfield was certainly needed - says:
"It is really out of my hands and I don't know what will happen - but I would love it to.

"West Ham have just been relegated, they have got a lot of financial problems - and I know a lot about them having been at Derby last year - so I am sure they have to put their house in order before they sort out anybody else.

"It is no secret that I would love to play a year at West Ham; it would be fantastic for me.

"Hopefully it will be resolved one way or the other but whatever happens I will still support West Ham; it would be nice to play for them.

"It is one of those things that has always eluded me throughout my career; I have done most things and I probably have one ambition left which is to play for my hometown club.

"It has taken longer than I thought to get here but I know my way top Chadwell Heath and it doesn't take me long to get there!

"It is good, a pleasure to come in in the mornings and train with the players; it is a great bunch and nice people as well.

"I don't want to get over-optimistic; I have come in and Glenn has been gracious enough to let me train so we will just have to see what happens but it will be more down to West Ham's finances than anything else."

Rob recognises the label of his beloved Hammers this season is the 'best team to go down' and he adds:

"It is a terrible, awful tag and I was absolutely amazed when West Ham went down.

"Just training with them for two or three weeks shows that they are a Premiership team with Premiership players; it doesn't help them now because they are in the first division but with the quality of the squad and the young players coming through, if they can keep hold of them they have got a fantastic chance of coming back.

"They are a Premiership club and they should be in the Premiership; hopefully next season they will prove that."

But he has a warning about life in below stairs as it were, and he adds:

"I played in the first division last year and it is a very tough league; Derby was a big scalp and West Ham will be even bigger.

"Teams will come to Upton Park, see a lovely pitch and a big crowd and they will want to play; the players have got to stand up and be counted and some games will be horrible and scrappy but you have got to be strong enough to play in those games and win a scrappy 1-0 now and then to get back where you want to be, which is in the Premiership.

"West Ham will be the team to beat; everyone will look forward to coming to Upton Park and they will look forward to West Ham coming back to their place.

"They will hope the players here won't fancy it but with the attitude I have seen here the players will."