Brooking hopes to hang on to young stars

Trevor Brooking, West Ham’s knight in shining armour, has promised fans that the club will do everything in its power to keep its brightest young players should they be relegated this season.

The Hammers have three games in which to save their season – with caretaker manager Brooking believing the maximum nine points will be good enough to keep them up – but if they fail they face losing the likes of Joe Cole, Michael Carrick and Jermain Defoe.

Times have changed since the days when Brooking was relegated as a West Ham player and he accepts there will be high profile departures should the worst happen, but does not feel the damage has to be too severe.

“There is a difference in wage bills in terms of what you can sustain going from one division to another,” said Brooking.

“I am sure this club is in a position where there would have to be cuts and that means player movement, but fortunately we won’t have to do it by a certain date, as happened to the relegated clubs last year.

“It is something we’ll have to look at once we know the situation one way or another.

“We have got some talented individuals in our squad who will attract bids, but the club does not have to get rid of all those players – you have to see what offers come in.

“A few of those lads have a good feeling for the club and maybe you can buy a bit of time in your first season if you go down by trying to get into contention and sell that philosophy of one season to them.

“I don’t think anybody will be making any bids for our players in the next two-and-a-half weeks until we all know what is happening to us, and we’ll deal with it then.”

Brooking, who has taken charge of the team until the end of the season following the minor stroke suffered by Glenn Roeder on Monday, is of course hoping it will not come to that, and is optimistic that maximum points from the final three games will see West Ham safe.

He said: “If everyone at the bottom keeps winning then whatever we do will not be enough, but I genuinely believe nine points would be enough.

“We must make sure those teams above us don’t get in the comfort zone too early, they must keep looking over their shoulder.

“We could get relegated on Sunday if the three teams above us win and we lose, but on the other hand Bolton could lose to Arsenal, Leeds could lose to Blackburn and Fulham could lose at Chelsea, in which case if we beat Manchester City we’d be a point behind Bolton and three behind the other two.

“We need to keep the pressure on and I’ll be much happier if we can keep talking about our chances of staying up rather than the other alternative.”

Roeder remains in a stable condition in hospital and Brooking believes the past week has proved how much respect there is in the game for the former England defender.

“The first question every day from the players here is ‘how’s Glenn?’ because everyone here is concerned about him,” said Brooking. “The reaction of everyone at the club is because of what Glenn is like as an individual.

“He is very popular and is as genuine an individual as you can get in what is a tough game. The reaction of football in general has shown that because so many people have sent their best wishes and want him to make as full a recovery as possible.”

Brooking looks like being without key midfielders Michael Carrick and Lee Bowyer for his first game in charge.

Carrick is ruled out with a stomach injury while Bowyer is still struggling to shake off an ankle knock. On a brighter note, Freddie Kanoute has recovered from an ankle injury and is in the squad.