Trevor: One Last Push

Trevor Brooking says he hopes the final home game of the season can provide a good platform for one final push to preserve Premiership status at Birmingham on Sunday.

"It was a good mood to end on, because it was a difficult day - you only have to look at the programme with the season ticket options for the Nationwide and Premiership," he says.

"Hopefully, whatever happens, we have shown we have got fantastically loyal support and equally hopefully we won't have to ask them help us bounce straight back.

"We will see what emerges on Monday but at the moment we still believe there will be that little final twist."

Trevor says that the ground improvements over recent years have been the right way forward for the club, adding: "You develop the ground and obviously the Dr Martens Stand is fantastic. Even with the season we have had it has been near to capacity, so it was the right decision and there is a development loan to pay off that stand.

"If we go down and try to bounce straight back we are going to need that to try and generate the funds."

Trevor adds that West Ham will not be alone in looking to cut costs this summer, irrespective of next season's status, and explains: "With wages, most clubs are trying to get a bit more realistic, and also, generally speaking, everyone is looking to keep a tight rein on their budgets.

"But if we go down there are implications. We have 20,000 season ticket holders waiting to see what division we are going to be in.

"If we stay up we would like them all to come back and give them a better season next year, and if we don't then we are hoping a lot of those will stay with us and help us to try and bounce back."

Losing Premiership status would have ramifications though, and Trevor adds: "Whatever happens, and I am not going to kid anyone, there will need to be some players that will go.

"But we want to try and keep as good a nucleus as we can to give us the best chance of getting back up in a season, if the worst was to happen, like Leicester have done this year.

"The fact is on issues like this - and we could all give a list of the players we would like to keep - the harsh world is we have got a squad where we have players who we would get offers for, but it is a case of what is needed so that you go into the season on a stable financial footing.

"It is a situation of being patient. There is no pressure to get rid of players straight away, and that is important in terms of them realising their true value.

"We have got to bide our time, but in the end some players would have to go and the wage bill would have to be reduced.

"But you would certainly like to be able to keep the players that people would like to stay at the club - and if that is possible, we will.

"But we can't give guarantees and we have to try and make sure that that doesn't become an issue."Trevor was to have been the chief guest of the Football Association for the FA Vase final at Upton Park on Saturday between Brigg Town clash and AFC Sudbury.

But, of course, he has more pressing matters to attend to and will, reluctantly, miss the match.