He smiles:
"I have until the summer but the main priority is promotion and then from there I will be on the dole!
"If West Ham come to me I will sort something out, and if not I can't do anything about it - it is not in my hands, I am just focusing on playing.
"There is more to life than football at the end of the day and I can do other things.
"My mum has always said to me 'Stephen, it is about playing' - it is not about the money, it is just about going out there and showing your ability.
"The lads look after me and the more games I play the better it is for me; you take different things from each game.
Steve is motivated by the memory of his former mentor, the late Les Sealey, who coached him in his formative years, and he says:
"I want to prove to people that I am as good as Les said I was; he'd be proud of me now.
"He put a lot of faith into me and now I have got the chance to play every week I just have to show the club they were right in buying me from Rochdale."
Looking at the win over Cardiff, and his first league clean sheet for the Hammers, he says:
"They are a good team but I think we outplayed them; we had a lot more chances than them and defensively we were sound - we deserved to win by more than one.
"We just have to focus on Tuesday night now; it is an important game for us and we have to forget about Saturday - that is done and dusted and the three points are on the table.
"This is the game in hand so it is crucial to win; eight points off West Brom is still a lot but it is good that we won and we have to just focus on ourselves rather than the teams around us, because that is a distraction.
"The lads look at the league table, obviously, but football is simple - just win your games and you will do well."