Legend Hammers keeper Phil Parkes has hit out at the current West Ham setup and saved special attention for our captain and manager according to the Daily Mirror.

Parkes says the team only has themselves to blame for their current predicament with avoiding relegation now an almost impossible task. "They have the ability in the squad but if you don't show the passion for the fight you have no business in the team and no business wearing a West Ham shirt.

"One or two players would not have made the Hammers reserve team when I was at the club and that is not me looking back with claret and blue tinted glasses.

"West Ham fans will put up with a lot of things, but what they can't abide is players running about the pitch trying to avoid the ball and generally not up for the fight and I have seen that too often this season.

"I sympathise wholeheartedly with the fans who start chanting against the team. They pay an awful lot of money to watch West Ham and when they see some of the efforts put in by some of the players, you can understand their frustration."

"I've heard Curbs has had rows with a couple of players after games, then left them out of the team. If that is the case it is a very disappointing thing to happen - you need your best players in the team at all times," he continued.

"I can't help thinking that more strikers would have been a better bet during the January window. Up front was where they had real problems and they still will have even if Dean Ashton gets back in the team.

"I wouldn't have bought Lucas Neill or Matthew Upson on the contracts they were offered. It is crazy to sign players who will be able to leave at the end of the season if the team go down."

"Nigel Reo-Coker is not the right man to captain a side that is struggling. He can't even get himself playing to the best of his ability, let alone anyone else.

"The war may be nearly lost but there are battles to go and the West Ham players need to start showing real passion - at least even if they go down, they will have gone down fighting."