West Ham boss happy with the man upstairs

9:46am Wednesday 30th January 2008

WEST Ham boss Alan Curbishley believes his remote relationship with new chairman Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson works a treat.

Icelandic banker Gudmundsson - known as BG - set up a consortium to buy the club some 14 months ago.

But, while predecessor Eggert Magnusson fronted the company and played a hands-on role, BG has taken a stand-off approach and left Curbishley to get on with running the team.

And the Irons chief revealed it is a match that suits them both.

"I think BG has just left it with me to get on with it, which is a similar situation to the one I had with Richard Murray at Charlton, and I'm quite happy with that," Curbishley said.

"When Eggert was here we had constant dialogue - most days we would talk about things.

"Since (the chairman) has changed, I've not had the constant dialogue but we speak often and he obviously comes to the games.

"In his own world there is a bit of turmoil going on with the banks, so he's a busy man at the moment.

"But I think he's quite happy with the way things are going and we're looking forward to trying to climb up the table."

While Curbishley was quick to praise his own chairman, he warned the Premier League's other foreign owners to be aware of their clubs' "tradition and history".

Ten top flight clubs are now owned by non-British investors, and Curbishley said: "Football is not like any other business.

"You're getting people coming into the game and it's all new to them and I think the owners have got to realise the tradition and history.

"We've managed to do that here and just got on with it."

The Hammers chief pointed to Liverpool's high-profile American co-owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks, who have both hit the media spotlight in recent weeks for the wrong reasons.

Speculation of a takeover and reports that they are undermining boss Rafa Benitez are off the field problems that Curbishley believes has hindered the Reds' chances of silverware this season (the club are currently 14 points behind Premier League leaders Manchester United).

The situation is a far cry from Liverpool's glory years of the 70s and 80s, where the club never used to hang its dirty washing out in public.

Curbishley (pictured) said: "They are undoubtedly a top-four side but he only thing that's happening at Liverpool that probably never happened before is that there is lots of stuff coming out.

"It was always a club that got on with things in-house but what's happening now is stories about this and that and it's distracting for the manager and players."

He added: "When I was playing, the players were the ones that got written about, then it changed and became some of the managers who got written about more than the players.

"Now it's the chairman that are getting written about more than everyone else."