Grant: Hammers have not learned

Peter Grant renews acquaintances with West Ham believing history is repeating itself with the latest 'fire sale' at Upton Park.

Albion's first-team coach watched with interest, as Alan Curbishley quit over the £12.5m sales of Anton Ferdinand and George McCartney.

Grant, who helped the Hammers to a top-10 finish and an FA Cup final, fears events of the last few weeks show they have not learned from errors of the past.

He helped former boss Alan Pardew pick up the pieces after the last downturn in the Hammers' fortunes but he fears new boss Gianfranco Zola faces another rebuilding job.

Grant recalled: "West Ham were taught a lesson when they were relegated and were having to sell players for £6-7million. It was a travesty. We were replacing them with players who cost us £250,000.

"They've gone back to that higher level again and I thought they would have learned. Perhaps that's why they're selling players quicker than they were.

"Alan Curbishley is right – he could only make one decision. It's a shame, because West Ham is a fantastic club with great fans who are passionate and like to see their sides play with a certain swagger.

"They'd rather win 5-4 than 1-0. They want to be entertained. They are a working man's club because they're still a club where the fanbase is full of people who work incredibly hard for a living.

"It's a traditional club and it's a shame what's happened. There is more power with owners than managers.

"It's a complete turnaround. When I was there, Terence Brown was chairman and he was fantastic. It was a great learning experience for me during my three years there.

"After every game he'd be the same with you and try and help you. He was a supporter who wanted the club to do well. I look at it now and it's turned into a business very quickly."

Grant believes the board taking team matters out of the manager's hands is a dangerous route for any club to follow.

He said: "We're not used to it, but abroad you have a head coach. You don't manage – someone else brings the players in and you can turn up to the training ground and there will be a player you don't even know.

"That's the way we're moving and that's what's happened at West Ham. I remember when Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascerano came in, they were world-class players but the move was too soon for where we were at the time.

"The biggest thing a manager asks for is that he picks the team. If the best players are being brought into the club, then that's fantastic.

"But if they aren't playing well and don't deserve to be in the team, then surely the manager must have the power to not put him in."