A story in today's Daily Mirror claims that vice chairman Karren Brady sent texts to players, effectively asking them to request the removal of manager Avram Grant.
The article, by Martin Lipton says that Brady - who, it has been suggested on a number of occasions, is far from Grant's biggest fan - sent messages to the playing staff ahead of last weekend's Arsenal game which ended in a 3-0 defeat.An unnamed 'dressing room source' is reported to have told the Mirror: "When the texts came in, asking some of us what we thought of Avram and whether we felt he should go, none of us could believe what was happening.
“As far as I know, no one replied to the texts, which seemed to be asking us to go to the owners and ask for a change of manager. But the players who received them showed the texts to the coaching staff and pretty soon everybody knew what had gone on. It simply wasn’t right."
Another 'dressing-room insider' insisted that the speculation surrounding Grant was a major factor in the Arsenal defeat, with the players completely unaware of the manager's situation.
“Nobody had a clue what was going on and the fact we were all left out of the loop made it worse," they said. "It was still going on when we were arriving before the game and it was no way for any of us to prepare for playing Arsenal.
"After the game a few of us told Avram he shouldn’t go and face the press and that he should let the board take the flak but he said it was his job and went and spoke."
However the club have hit back at Lipton's claims in a brief statement posted on whufc.com this morning. "West Ham United categorically deny the allegations made in today's Daily Mirror with regard to Karren Brady," it said.
"Karren has worked tirelessly to improve all aspects of the club's operation and is extremely disappointed by the nature of these unfounded allegations. West Ham fully intend to identify the source of these unhelpful and untrue comments and remove them from the club.
"West Ham have placed the matter immediately in the hands of their lawyers."
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