West Ham Imploding - Cracks widening by the day!

I blogged yesterday about the danger of Diddy David shouting his mouth off and now Zola has expressed concern at Sullivan's latest remarks. Not content with announcing that relegation would see financial Armageddon at the club, the dynamic dwarf has well and truly put his dildo in his mouth with a public announcement that EVERYBODY at the club is overpaid and will need to take a pay cut in the summer.

Now leaving aside the stupidity of this comment because of the little matter of contracts of employment, there is the question of how this will effect morale at the club. We play Birmingham tomorrow evening and I wonder how much time was taken out of training today with players moaning about pay cuts being announced through the press. I'm not sure who the players' spokesman is at the moment - Upson presumably - but you can bet your life that he had severe ear-ache within five minutes of arriving at the training ground.

How does Collison feel today? He is a full international and is apparently fancied by Arsenal - and he is rumoured to be on just £4k per week. He could quadruple that salary if he were to join the Wenger Boys! Then there is Green. He is looking for a huge pay RISE but now knows he will have to go elsewhere to get it. He can buy out his contract in the summer for just £1.5m. What would you do in his boots given Sullivan's ill advised ejaculation today? Parker has been sweating blood for the team all season. Will he feel like taking a shot full in the face for a peddler of porn who thinks he is earning too much? And what about Carlton Cole? He is in the England squad and has been linked with Juve, Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool over the last 12 months. Overpaid? Well, he might just decide to test that theory out by requesting a transfer and seeing what he can negotiate elsewhere!

The comments were so stupid that even Zola has broken ranks. Mr Nice Guy has made a stand and described Sullivan's comments as "unhelpful". Remember Zola remained silent when Bellamy was sold - and that was certainly unhelpful! Zola kept his counsel when Collins was allowed to leave - and that was unhelpful! Zola kept mum when his captain Neill departed - and that was unhelpful! Zola did not raise objections when we failed to sign another striker before the August window slammed shut - and that was unhelpful! Zola maintained the charade over Ashton - and that was unhelpful! It takes a lot to make Gianfranco speak out against his employers - but Diddy David has managed to so overstep the mark that even Zola has had to protest. I suspect that he would have lost the players completely had he not done so!

These are dangerous times for Zola and by Thursday he could be out of work. By speaking out against Sullivan, he has stepped well and truly into the firing line. West Ham fans are talking about Birmingham as if they are easy opponents but one glance at the Premiership table tells a different story. They have lost just 5 games on their travels all season and have conceded a modest 16 goals in 11 games away from home. Their recent victory in the Cup at Everton shows that they are very far from push overs. Looked at objectively, the game has 0-0, 1-1 or 0-1 written all over it! Should we fail to win, and our rivals capitalise on winnable games, we could find ourselves sinking closer to Pompey and further adrift of safety. Zola would then be on very thin ice and Sullivan may well be wielding an ice pick!

Cue The Stranglers' classic, "Whatever happened to / Gianfranco Zola?"