After West Ham owners David Gold and David Sullivan went public with their desire to have players and staff take a 25% pay cut, head coach Gianfranco Zola might have just put his own job on the line after stepping up in the defense of his team.

Via Guardian

“I don’t like to leave situations unfinished but I am a person with principles and I won’t allow anybody to walk over my principles or my person,” said Zola.

Despite claiming that he “speaks and communicates a lot” with Gold and Sullivan, the West Ham manager knew ­nothing of their plans to cut wages during the summer, whether the club – currently third from bottom in the league – avoid relegation or not. The first he saw of Sullivan’s plans was in the newspapers, immediately before training.

For Zola – preparing his under-performing team for the visit of Birmingham, who have lost only once in 18 matches – it was the timing rather than the substance of Sullivan’s statement that rankled. “I think that article should have been done maybe at another time,” he said. “Before a match like this it would have been better to say that at another time, and maybe to talk to us first before talking to a newspaper.”

“This year, obviously, so far the job has not come out the way it should, but the season is not finished,” said Zola, who compared West Ham’s problems to ­opening a Russian doll. “To be honest we have been dealing with so many problems it is like a Matryoshka, no? You open up a box and there’s another box then another box and another box. For me it has been the same with problems; you sort one and then another one comes out.”

“I came here because I had a plan and a project,” said Zola. “Then, after a while, the club called me in and proposed me a new contract. It’s not about money, it’s about working for something positive.”

Image via Inofftheghost