Brooking: West Ham owners must back off

Sir Trevor Brooking feels any new West Ham manager will want assurances that co-owners David Sullivan and David Gold will take more of a back seat.

Gianfranco Zola was axed from the job on Tuesday after 18 months in charge, following a turbulent season which saw the club narrowly avoid relegation and the Italian repeatedly at odds with the owners.

Zola claimed he was in the dark over a bid for West Brom's Graham Dorrans and was unhappy at Sullivan branding one performance "shambolic" and "pathetic" and telling a newspaper every player was up for sale except for Scott Parker.

Some big names have been linked with the vacancy but the likes of Avram Grant, Mark Hughes and Martin Jol are unlikely to take kindly to such a perceived lack of support from above.

"Every club is different and every owner is different," Brooking said.

"We'll have to see what happens over the summer. I'm sure there will be discussions about how it's going to operate. That's for the new person to try to get some clarity before they come in."