West Ham boss Grant keeps focus as beating the Blues his only concern

DEFIANT West Ham manager Avram Grant insists his only concern is guiding the Hammers into the Carling Cup final.

A recent upturn in fortunes on the pitch was marred by the 5-0 defeat at Newcastle, while Grant continues to find his own position making the headlines.

And while he was unimpressed that director Karren Brady revealed in her newspaper column why the club had pulled the plug on signing Steve Sidwell, the Israeli is not about to be distracted by reports of off-field issues at Upton Park.

“I have answered this a thousand times,” Grant said when the subject was again the first question at yesterday’s press conference ahead of tonight’s semi-final first-leg against Birmingham.

“We are here because of the semi-final, it has been 30 years since West Ham were at Wembley and this is a big game for us. That is what is important for me now.

“I am dealing with the problems on the pitch, and we have done that well. We still have some, so I am trying to deal only with this.

“The results in the last few weeks show we are doing well, they can always be better, but we have been doing well. That is what we are concerned about.

“My position is very clear. I am the manager and need to do the best for the club.”

Grant also rebuffed suggestions his future was set to be decided at a board meeting later this week.

“I have nothing to say about this because nobody has said anything to me about this,” he added. “I don’t need to answer about things which are in the paper.

“We have a game tomorrow and that is what is important to me. If there is any personal issue, I speak to the person. I don’t deal with it in the media.”

However, Grant is well aware the semi-final has extra significance for West Ham owners David Gold and David Sullivan, who used to own Birmingham.

“It is very important to them,” he said. “When you leave a club, you have some emotions, but you want a good result against them.

“It is important for everybody here, and also for Birmingham.

“We want to be at Wembley, but it will be difficult. The squad are all excited. I don’t know any footballer who would not want to be in a semi-final.’’

For his part, Blues manager Alex McLeish wants to put a smile on the faces of the club’s long-suffering fans.

Birmingham have often lived in the shadows of local rivals Aston Villa, their opponents in Sunday’s derby clash at St Andrew’s, but McLeish will do all he can against West Ham to ensure Blues are victorious by the time the return leg is played in two weeks’ time.

The former Scotland boss said: “It is a big challenge. The fans are craving a bit of success. We will do our very best to put a smile on their faces.

“We will be facing our former owners and football throws up these quirky challenges. We will hopefully put one over on our old bosses.

“For me it would be nice to be the manager of a club in a major English final. I’ve had a lot of success in Scotland in cup finals, both as a player and as a manager, and it would be nice to get to an English cup final.”

McLeish is adamant City will not be overly cautious in the first leg.

He said: “We have the capability to win tomorrow, but we will try and be tactically right for the game and, if that means we come back with a draw or a narrow win, then so be it.

“But we certainly won’t be parking the bus in front of our goal.”