Glenn Wins Manager Of The Month

West Ham manager Glenn Roeder has won the Barclaycard Manager of the Month Award for March - but insists it is purely a team effort.

"As far as I am concerned it is an award that I only want to accept on the understanding that it is a shared award," he says.

"I am the head of the team but I am part of the team, and the team includes my backroom staff, and I include not only the coaches but the medical staff and obviously the playing squad as well.

"I will receive the award, as far as I am concerned, as head of the team - the past month has been a 100% team effort and no individual has stood out more than anyone else.

"We have all worked extremely hard, whether it be off the pitch or whether it be the players on the pitch.

"I get an awful lot of help from people around the club so as far as I am concerned it is an honour to be shared.

"We know what our one goal is, and that is to make our Premiership survival secure as soon as we possibly can make that happen.

"It is going to be tough for everyone that is in there but we feel mentally strong at the moment and we have got a lot of confidence and belief that we can get the points that we need in the next seven games.

"We only have one focus, one goal, and that is Premiership survival - and until we achieve that we won't rest easy.

"We will carry on working hard. Often players have the best part of a week off when there is a free weekend such as there has been but we haven't had that.

"We have worked as if there was a game last weekend, we have had one day off last week, and have worked hard all this week.

"No one is taking their foot off the accelerator at the club and we hope we get the rewards from that hard work by securing our Premiership status as soon as it is humanly possible.

"We are not going to look back now; we have done extremely well in March and now we want to do the same again in April and the two weeks in May.

"Our target will be to have the same sort of results that we had in the last seven games last year."

MD Paul Aldridge adds: "We are very pleased that Glenn has won this award and it obviously reflects well on him and the team.

"Hopefully we can keep the run going because, and I know Glenn shares this view, it will only be truly valuable if we secure our status at the end of the season."

The Hammers had an unbeaten month in March with wins over Tottenham Hotspur (2-0), Sunderland (2-0) and a draw at Everton (0-0).

The decision was made by the Barclaycard Awards Panel, which includes representatives from football's governing bodies, the media and fans.

Nic Gault of the Barclaycard Awards Panel says: "These awards are often given out to those at the top of the league, so it's especially nice to be able to recognise Glenn Roeder who has done a terrific job of turning around the fortunes of West Ham who have gone four games unbeaten and only conceded two goals in their last five.

"His coaching ability and determination have served him well this season, and there can be little doubt he will be doing all he can to guarantee the Hammers' Premiership survival."

Factfile:

· This is the first time Roeder has won this award. The last West Ham manager to receive the accolade was Harry Redknapp for performances in November 1998.

· Born in Essex in 1955, he is widely respected as a coach and has experience from a league career that spanned 574 games, earning 7 caps as an England 'B' international

· His playing career took him to Leyton Orient, Queens Park Rangers, Notts County, Newcastle United, Watford and Gillingham

· He joined Gillingham in 1992, playing 6 times before being appointed Gills' manager

· He left after just one season with Gillingham having been invited to take over as Watford manager following Steve Perryman's exit from Vicarage Road

· Roeder was in charge of the Hornets for nearly three years taking the team to within one place of the play-offs in 1994-1995

· Having worked for the FA as part of Glenn Hoddle's England coaching team Roeder was given the opportunity to coach at West Ham, the club he supported as a youngster

· Following Harry Redknapp's departure after seven years in charge at Upton Park in May 2001, Roeder assumed temporary charge of team affairs for the last game of the season

· After a tricky start in the manager's chair, Roeder managed to guide the Hammers to seventh place the following season

· In February 2002 he signed a new three-year contract which should keep him in charge at Upton Park until the end of the 2004-05 season