West Ham's season ends with a twist

West Ham’s season experienced more twists last night when Steve McClaren’s decision to rule himself out of contention for the manager’s role was followed by police being called to their end-of-season dinner.

The club, who were relegated from the Barclays Premier League after they lost to Wigan on Sunday, threw the party at the Grosvenor House Hotel.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: “We were called at 9.15pm to reports of a disturbance at the Grosvenor House Hotel in Park Lane.

“Officers attended. There were no offences alleged and no arrests.”

According to reports, the trouble started when striker Demba Ba allegedly refused to sign an autograph for a fan.

The player reportedly said he was “too tired”, and his comments sparked a brawl.

The club are currently without a manager after Avram Grant was sacked and now McClaren, an early favourite for the role, has ruled himself out.

The former England and Middlesbrough manager had been strongly tipped to replace Grant at Upton Park but he moved to clarify his position last night.

McClaren was sacked by Wolfsburg in February but does not see the West Ham job as the ideal way back into the game, as the relegated London club prepare for life in the npower Championship.

“It is very flattering to be linked with a club of West Ham’s size and historic stature, also one that has tremendous fans,” McClaren told Sky Sports News.

“However, at this moment in time I do not wish to be considered for the position. But I wish everybody at West Ham all the very best for the future.”

Co-owner David Gold is adamant the next manager should have the appropriate credentials to lead the team back into the Premier League, aware of how costly the wrong appointment could prove.

Considering how soon the hunt for a new boss might end, Gold said: “The sooner the better because we have a lot of work to do – an enormous amount of work - but we mustn’t be rushed.

“This will be a very, very important appointment.”

Gold regrets more money was not spent on players during the January transfer window.

At the end of January he was content with the look of Grant’s squad, but now wishes he and Sullivan had been more extravagant.

“It’s very difficult to say what you’d do looking back. What we did do clearly didn’t work, so with hindsight you’d change things,” Gold said.

“We’d have brought in players that were less injury prone and possibly spent more money on players in January.

“But after you’ve done your business (transfers) that’s it.

“The window closes and you have to live with what you’ve got and I honestly though it was enough.

“At Christmas we brought in a number of players, internationals, and real top-class, very high-quality players.

“I remember speaking to Scott Parker and he said we’d climb the table.

“Everyone was confident we would do that and for a while just after Christmas we had some fantastic performances.

“We were having a good run in the cup and it looked like we’d be looking at Europe rather than looking at relegation.”

Gold recognises the pain relegation has brought, but insists the club must shake that off to prepare for the challenge of securing an immediate return to the Premier League.

“Our fans are all hurting and feeling sorry for ourselves now and so am I,” Gold said.

“We’re entitled to grieve and that can go on for a couple of days or maybe a couple of weeks, but sooner or later we have to stop feeling sorry for ourselves and start talking about promotion.”