Tony: Think Hard

Tony Gale is urging West Ham's players to think long and hard about whether the grass is greener elsewhere - and hopes that the nucleus of the squad at Upton Park remains intact.

Predictably, a lot has been made about players who may be leaving the club - hardly rocket science, of course - but the almost instant transfer request put out by Jermain Defoe's advisors SFX following relegation from the Premiership has come as a shock nonetheless.

But Tony hopes others will be circumspect, like David James, who intends to go away with the England party and concentrate solely on that before coming to any conclusions.

"I would hope the boys that took the club down would try and get us back up and when the offers come in - that no doubt will - the club has to pick and choose which are the best," says Tony.

"You would think there is a moral obligation on the players' part - though that is a thing of the past in football now.

"But there are great reputations to be earned in the first division as well and great reputations to be earned being loyal, and being a man who has stuck by his word and his club.

"It is not all about money and it is not all about having played in the Premiership all your career.

"Sometimes it is a great learning curve to have dropped down and hopefully bounced back up again."

Tony is delighted that relegation has not stopped David James and Trevor Sinclair being picked for the latest England squad, and he adds: "Trevor has played very well in the last 11 games and been one of the best players, that is why he is back in the England side.

"David James has one of the worst defensive records in the Premiership by his own admission but everyone recognises he is a very good goalkeeper and the shots he has saved are more in Sven's mind than the goals that he couldn't do anything about going past him.

"David is looking now as if he has made himself England's number one and the fact that we have been near the bottom of the league nearly all season hasn't hurt him at all."

As for the transfer market in general, Tony says: "The club need time to think about the monies they have got to get in to survive next season, obviously, which players they need to sell, and indeed which players they are going to get offers for.

"Really, no one actually knows what the value of the transfer market is at the moment; no fees go through yet this summer and the club have to be very careful.

"If they are selling players they could be setting the tone for how the transfers are going to be in the next couple of years or so.

"People might be thinking it is easy pickings but I am sure Trevor is sitting down with the board saying 'let's do things in our own time'."

West Ham have turned down Jermain's transfer request, of course, and Tony adds: "Jermain has been badly advised and deservedly taken a bit of stick but who really deserves the stick are his advisers. Jermain is only a young boy, and the fans love him.

"He will score a sackful of goals if he is with us next season and I am sure that the fans will take him back to their hearts after all this grief that has been unnecessarily caused.

"It will develop and I think West Ham are very disappointed in the way the agency has run things in this situation. It is a big agency we are talking about, guys that know their business, and they have got a respectable name.

"To have advised Jermain to do this was very ill-advisable in my opinion. There was plenty of time to let things sink in about being in Division One and go about things in the right manner.

"This wasn't done in the right way - and it is sad.

"Jermain has worked hard. He is guilty of missing chances, such as the one up at Bolton and a couple at Villa, but I think players tend to forget that and tend to think about all the good things he did this season - of which there were very many.

"I remember him leading the line all on his own and I thought, although it was a very difficult job, it was probably the making of him this season that he had to do that.

"It wasn't easy for him but, when he got his recognised strikers with him like Fredi Kanoute and Les Ferdinand, he was a different player again."