Avram Grant defends his record ahead of West Ham's trip to Wigan

Posted Saturday, May 14, 2011 by theguardian.com

• Grant feels he exceeded expectations in past two jobs
• Manager refuses to be drawn on his plans for future

Avram Grant has said he does not want to discuss his future any more until the season is over.

Avram Grant has defended his managerial record ahead of West Ham United's vital trip to Wigan Athletic . While he accepted responsibility for the team's position, Grant also refused to be drawn on his future if the club is relegated.

It is understood that the Israeli will not resign if his side are relegated and, with three years left on his contract, it would cost West Ham's owners around £3.5m in compensation to pay him off. Grant said: "Nothing is over until it's over. Let's speak when we see what has happened."

West Ham have been in the bottom three for nearly all of the season and while the Israeli refused to answer further questions regarding his own future, he defended his managerial CV in England, saying he had exceeded expectations in his previous roles. "I don't like to speak about myself but I did something that nobody expected me to do before – not in Portsmouth and not in Chelsea," said Grant. "Here they expect me to stay in the league and I want to do it. I hope I never have to experience this again [fighting relegation]."

Grant took Chelsea to their first Champions League final in 2008 and in guiding Portsmouth to the FA Cup final last season he matched Harry Redknapp's feat from the same year. Unlike Redknapp, though, he failed to bring back the trophy.

Grant will know that a draw will not be enough to avoid relegation if Wolverhampton Wanderers gain a point or more at Sunderland on Saturday, and even a win may not be enough if results go against his team. But he is determined that West Ham do everything to win so that they are in a position to take advantage of favourable outcomes elsewhere.

Asked what he will say to his players ahead of kick-off, Grant said: "'Let's do our job. We need to do our job because everybody thinks about the other results. We play against a team [for] which [this game] is very, very important for them and they are good. So we need first to do our job in their home – we didn't do it yet – and [then] let's think about the other results.'"

David Gold, the co-owner, was at the club's Chadwell Heath training ground on Friday and he spoke with the manager. "David is always positive when he comes here, very positive about everything that's happening," said Grant, who added that if West Ham can escape it would provide him with the most content moment of his career.

"I think I would be happy more than at any time in my life – my professional life. I have a lot of happy days in football. If you remember the last games in Portsmouth [FA Cup final] and in Chelsea [Champions League final] most of the supporters came to these games, it was in Moscow, it was in Wembley, so many were so happy. I want the supporters from West Ham to feel the same at the end of the season."

Scott Parker trained on Friday following an achilles injury that has kept him our for the last four games and may start against Wigan. "I think there is a chance," Grant said. He added that he had not spoken to Robert Green about the goalkeeper's reported decision to consider his international future. "I spoke with him only about the game," he said.