Silver lining on horizon as Grant survives storm

STABILITY is about as rare as silverware at Upton Park but Avram Grant heads into this week with genuine hope of some of both.

Just seven days ago it seemed only a matter of time before Grant was dumped by West Ham, who did all they could to persuade Martin O’Neill to head to the madness of east London.

After their public approach to his recruitment persuaded O’Neill he would rather remain unemployed, Grant looks likely to see West Ham through to the end of the season.

Two months after he was ridiculed by his own supporters during a 3-0 defeat at Liverpool, and having made a career out of perennially being on the verge of leaving his employers, Grant is still in charge.

What is more, if West Ham perform as they did against Everton for the rest of the campaign, they could succeed in becoming just the second team, after the West Brom side of 2005, to stay up after being bottom at Christmas.

They played with passion and intelligence, in sharp contrast to that miserable night at Anfield in November.

With Frederic Piquionne, shown a second yellow card for all but jumping into the crowd after scoring his team’s second, and Victor Obinna both suspended and Carlton Cole doubtful with a calf problem that kept him out at Goodison Park, Grant is likely to have Freddie Sears and Benni McCarthy in attack for the Carling Cup semi-final second leg at Birmingham as they look to defend a 2-1 advantage.

Public backing a few days after you were looking to sack someone is one thing but Grant is determined to bring in the signings that could keep West Ham up and keep him in a job.

Demba Ba, Jamie O’Hara and Robbie Keane are all potential targets and could make the difference for Grant, who seemingly spends his life trying to make the best of bad situations.

“I think that I will try for myself to create stability for the players as much as I can but yes you need stability, not just in this team, but in your job as well,” Grant said.

“It can never be comfortable in football, I don’t think so. In football, everything, including the position of the manager, is temporary. I don’t like this.

“I treat every game like it is my last game and my first game. So I need to do always my job for the short term and long term.

“My vision for West Ham is very clear. We put West Ham in a good position at the end of the day but we need to do something off the pitch.

“You know I decided to myself that I will not speak to myself about things off the pitch as there are things that I like and things I don’t like.

“If I speak only about myself it is not the right thing as for me football was never a normal business.

“It does not help the team if I speak about myself even if it is sometimes not so easy, I must admit.”

For all their problems, West Ham have only won one game fewer than Everton this season and deserved to equal that tally.

They took the lead when Mark Noble put Luis Boa Morte in behind and the winger pulled back for Jonathan Spector to thump in but they should have been out of sight by half time, with Piquionne hitting the post and Boa Morte having an effort ruled out for offside.

They looked stronger on the break but Everton pulled level when Diniyar Bilyaletdinov fired in with 13 minutes left.

Still West Ham kept pushing and Wayne Bridge clipped in a cross for Piquionne to head in from close range with five minutes left.

The Frenchman jumped the advertising hoardings and ran to the West Ham fans earning himself a second yellow card and perhaps underlining West Ham’s dislike for stadiums without running tracks.

But Everton hit back again when Jack Rodwell headed down for Marouane Fellaini to drive in their second and earn a point.

These are restless times at Goodison Park too, with manager David Moyes wrestling for a way to take the club forward. That he started with Jermaine Beckford and Victor Anichebe in attack once again only underlines his issues.

There are some that wonder whether Moyes would be better off selling a young talent like Jack Rodwell, who could raise as much as £20 million, without his first team taking too much of a hit in the short term, to bring in several signings.

But Moyes would rather stick than twist despite acknowledging his desperation to add a striker this month.

“Jack will figure and he will play more,” Moyes said. “He will get games and play a lot more. As I’ve said, I don’t want to sell my best players.

“I would like the money but not at the cost of selling our best players.”