Glenn: There Will Be Changes

Glenn Roeder admits there will be a "shift of personnel" over the summer - but is reluctant to put an exact number on the ins and outs just yet.

His priority is understandably getting as many points on the board between now and the end of the season before making his decisions, and he reveals: "I don't think we can be absolutely accurate at the moment in our assessment of how it will shape up, I just think that it is important that the key players in our squad, the players that we have got on long contracts, we manage to keep.

"There is going to be a shift of personnel, but how many is difficult to say. We haven't discussed anyone's future yet and we won't be doing that until much closer to the end of the season, but every club has changes and we won't be any different.

"There are seven or eight players that you would like to build a squad around and those players are key to our development over the next few years and it is very important we do everything to keep them."

But the players most coveted by other clubs - with Fredi Kanoute being a recent case in point - have reiterated time and time again that they are content with the new regime at Upton Park.

"They certainly say that and that's good. We try and make it a happy working environment and we are strong on team spirit and togetherness," says Glenn.

"And when you think there are quite a few nationalities in our squad they really get on well. Anyone who comes to Chadwell Heath will see that they work hard and enjoy their work.

"They integrate well and we keep the emphasis on keeping a tight ship and working for each other. These are players who are prepared to give something back in putting the team before themselves, which is very important.

"No individual is going to win games on his own. It is going to be through the efforts of the team coming together and working hard."

It is clear, though, that both the players potentially coming to Upton Park, and indeed those leaving, possibly to play in the Nationwide League, will have to be realistic in their financial demands in future.

Glenn sees a new mood of realism across the country, and explains: "With ITV Digital going into receivership and the problems that is going to cause the Nationwide teams there is going to be some reshaping and a restructure of how football is going to be.

"In my opinion it is a sign of the times and I think football is going to have a bit of a shakedown in the next year - or it may be two.

"There is no doubt about it, a lot of clubs have spent TV money that they assumed they were going to get, and if they don't get it there will be a big hole in the budget.

"I think it is not so much a case that players won't find clubs, but they will have to be realistic in their demands.

"If the demands are unrealistic and too high, and there is not the money to pay out, what can you do?

"Football has to be seen like any other business but at times it is not, and that is the trouble - they are not run like other businesses that have to stand on their own two feet, and now might be the time it has to change.

"People who are in a better position than me and who have got more knowledge than me are now saying that a major problem has been the spiralling of players' wages at all levels, and there will have to be some readjustment."