"The situation with Don is simple," explains Alan. "I have said to him that I can't gurantee him a starting place in the first-team and, with the large salary that he is on, it warrants Don playing first-team football."
"It would perhaps be better for both parties if Don joined another Club where he could play more first-team football.
"But to be fair to Don, he has worked very hard after some injury problems, is an excellent professional and will be treated with the respect his career deserves.
"There is no animosity between Don and I."
Alan hopes to complete a deal for Manchester United winger Luke Chadwick, who played for the Hammers boss at Reading, and he adds:
"The deal has not been finalised yet but I am hopeful and I am looking to bring in one more player after that, while I will also be looking to replace any player that leaves the squad.
"But we have a settled squad for the start of the season and we are not going to have too many changes.
"I hope the sacrifice of David Connolly going to Leicester City to bring Serge and Teddy in serves us well because I felt if we went into the season with the same squad we'd have felt sorry for ourselves after the play-off disappointment and we wouldn't have given our fans a lift."