Alan Pardew wants the dawn of a new era at West Ham
United to get off to the best possible start - with three points on
Saturday against Sheffield United.
The Hammers boss is expecting a tough game against the
newly-promoted Blades but is hoping that, with the future of the
Club now settled following Eggert Magnusson's takeover this
week, the focus can return solely to working towards getting
results on the pitch.
"The message from Eggert has been loud and clear about
building a positive future for the club and we need to match that
in terms of getting points on board now and moving up the league
table," says Pards.
"It's not going to be easy, as we have a tricky game in
front of us against Neil Warnock and his Sheffield United side, who
have been buoyed lately with some good results of their own.
"We've had a tricky start to the season but we have a big
run of games coming up over the next month and we want to be right
on the ball in terms of picking up points to get us away from the
bottom half of the table."
One thing that Pards is more than certain of is that the new owner
will receive a fantastic welcome from the Upton Park crowd on
Saturday.
"I think he will get what I would call a right East end
welcome," he says. "I don't know if he will try some
pie and mash afterwards, but I've no doubts the fans will
welcome him!
"West Ham fans will be particularly overjoyed to hear that
Eggert is a football person, with the traditions that we have. He
is very enthusiast about the game, plays football three times a
week himself and is a great character.
"His plans fall into what I am about and what we have started
to build here. The way he would like to take the club further will
extend very much on what we have been trying to do - buying good
young players and targeting the quality to take us to another
level.
"It will be all about careful planning, a strategy that
doesn't put us at risk and there is no time scale on anything.
We have to simply start on what is here now and go from there.
"In the first year in the Premiership you hear about looking
to safety, but we never did that. We have always wanted to reach
for the stars and nearly got that in the FA Cup final.
"The situation we are in now is that we are in a battle to get
away from the bottom half of the table, that's the first
priority. Once we overcome that, we can look forward to bigger
challenges."
The Hammers boss has no new injury worries ahead of Saturday's
game and will select his team from the squad that travelled to
Chelsea last weekend. James Collins is back in training after a
slight groin injury, while Dean Ashton is progressing well on his
road back to fitness.
Winning matches is the key for Pards and while much of the talk has
been about the future, he wants the focus to be on what is
important now.
He said: "A new chapter has started for the club and, with the
backing that Eggert is bringing with him, there is the potential to
become a big club and challenge the teams at the top.
"But for me, the immediate focus is on the players we have got
now and making sure we get the best out of them. I think people who
have watched our last four games will have seen that we have been
back to near what is our competitive best and now we need the
results to reflect that.
"I just want to win games - that's all I've wanted to
do for West Ham. By our standards, we haven't won enough
matches this season and that's hurt me, so we want to put that
right and hopefully we can do that in our next game."
by Laura Burkin