West Ham United manager, Gianfranco Zola, looks set to face the same problems this summer that marked the departure of former boss, Alan Curbishley. Zola has had a remarkable first season in top-flight management and will be looking to push on and improve the squad for next year, in order to break into the top six.

The problem is that he does not know if he will have any funding to improve the squad and he also does not know if he will be forced to sell any players in order to get this funding.

West Ham currently sit 7th in the table, just outside the UEFA Cup places for next season. Zola has used all of his skill and intelligence, which he showed in abundance as a player, to use gifted youngsters as well as limited experience to get West Ham to where they are today.

In theory opening up the transfer kitty could result in rapid success. If the Italian can pull strings on a budget and with just a few academy products to put into the side then if he is allowed to approach high calibre signings, West Ham could go on tour for a good few seasons to come.

Speaking today Zola said: “Football is like other things. It’s about knowledge. The more you see, the more you compete with different players, the better you get.”

“It happened to me and I believe it is going to be the same for my players. It is not necessary for big spending. I am sure the club will consider buying some players. Would I get the funding? That’s another question. I would love to answer that. But I’m sure the club is ready to face the challenge.”

The difference in terms of the situation that Curbishley faced is the fact that he did not have a successful season to back himself up and it seemed as though he was causing more problems in the board room than was necessary.

However, this does not paper over the fact that the former manager had limited control over his transfer capability and was forced to let key players leave that he wanted to keep in the squad.

If Zola is forced to do this as well then it is very much a case of West Ham taking one step forwards and two steps backwards. He has to be given free reign as much as is possible in order to take West Ham to that next level.

The Hammers could well finish in the Europa League at the end of this season but this is no good if the club cannot improve for next term. The recent news of new contracts for the manager and his assistant, Steve Clarke, suggest that West Ham are once again showing the face of ambition.

Zola needs to find out what he is allowed and not allowed to do very quickly, otherwise the progress the club has made will be seriously jeopradised. Adequate player acquisitions, accompanied with still the best academy in the country, mean West Ham could find themselves knocking on the top four door in the next two or three seasons.

West Ham United manager, Gianfranco Zola, and assistant manager, Steve Clarke, have both signed contract extensions to stay at Upton Park, which could result in a number of benefits for the club.

The pair have quietly helped West Ham reach 8th place in the Premier League table and the guarantee that they will both be in place at the start of next season is massive news for Hammers fans all over the country.

Both have signed four-year contracts and will be looking to develop the grains of success that they have sewn this season. Zola has shown all of the passion and energy that we loved him for in his time at Chelsea and Clarke arrived in East London hot off the Chelsea press and rated as one of the best coaches in the country.

Their new contracts are the clearest sign yet that the new men in charge are looking to propel West Ham to silverware next season and their innovative ideas and coaching could be just the methods needed to achieve this.

The pair have blooded some of the most talented youth players this season that the league has seen in recent times. James Tomkins and Freddy Sears are just two of the names on everyone’s lips but it proves that the management at West Ham must be doing something right to produce such gifted players.

Clarke spoke openly in the media after signing his contract saying: “I have had a great time since I came here. We have done OK. There is a lot more still to be done and the contract reflects that. It is a long-term contract and what Gianfranco and myself and the rest of the coaching staff look forward to is improving things and working hard every year to make things better and better at this football club.”

“The manager and his staff have to be close and they have to believe in the same things. That is what we do and we try and give that message to the players and so far it has been OK.”

The reason this is such significant news for West Ham is quite simple. It virtually eradicates the days of a power struggle between the club’s owner and then manager, Alan Curbishley that saw the latter leave of an argument about transfers.

When that squabble was going on the team were not performing because the focus of the management and staff was elsewhere. This will not breed success and Zola and Clarke can now funnel every single bit of enthusiasm they both have into making their side better than they currently are.

Centralisation is everything in a football club and it allows success to grow. If each member of the management knows their individual roles then there are no undisputed areas and the team can focus on performing to the best of their capabilities.

Keep an eye on West Ham, they could well break into the top 6 next season and I don’t think many open-minded football fans will be too surprised.

Manchester United proved again what can be achieved when you put your mind to it and go for goals. After trailing 2-0 to 10th place Tottenham at Old Trafford with 33 minutes to go, they banged in five goals to come out of it with a 5-2 win. It was eerily similar to a game a few years ago when Spurs had a 3-0 lead over United, only to have the red devils storm back in the second half and escape with a 5-3 win.

It was a huge three points for United in the English Premier League title race as Liverpool had beaten 17th place Hull 3-1 earlier and third-place Chelsea had taken care of eighth-spot West Ham 1-0 at Upton Park. Hull have only won one of their last 18 games and are dangerously close to the relegation zone now, just three points ahead of Middlesbrough (31 pts), who looked pretty bad in a 2-0 loss to fourth-place Arsenal in London on Sunday. Arsenal has now gone 20 games without a league defeat.

Meanwhile, bottom feeders West Brom managed to thump 15th place Sunderland 3-0 at home, while Blackburn gained a much needed three points with a 2-0 win over 11th place Wigan to jump into a 14th place tie with Portsmouth at 37 points each. Portsmouth plays the other relegation-zone team, Newcastle on Monday night in a huge game for both clubs. Wolverhampton Wanderers have clinched the Championship Division and will be back in the Premier next season. League One side Peterborough United clinched second place and have now earned promotion in two successive seasons. It will be their first time in the second tier of English football since 1994.

Off the pitch, West Ham manager Gianfranco Zola has signed a new contract that will keep him at the club until 2013. In my eyes this is too long a contract and it’s no wonder clubs are going into debt all over the place. If Zola does a brutal job a couple of years from now, West Ham will need to buy him out. There’s no reason to give managers contracts of over two years. On a sad note, the half brother of England and Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe died after being attacked in daylight on an east London street. DJ Jade Defoe, 26, died on April 24th from serious head injuries he received on April 20th afternoon in the Leytonstone district.

In Spain, La Liga leaders Barcelona dropped two important points in the title race with a 2-2 at Valencia on April 25th. Thierry Henry saved a point for Barcelona with his 17th of the season in the 86th minute.

Barcelona moved seven ahead of second place Real Madrid, who play at Sevilla today (April 26th). Barcelona leads with 82 points, Madrid has 75, Sevilla 57 and Valencia 56.

Deportivo La Coruna drew 1-1 at Malaga in a match holding European qualifying implications as both teams stayed in the race to clinch a spot in next season’s Europa League, the renamed UEFA Cup. Malaga occupies the final European place with 51 points, while Deportivo has 50 and Atletico Madrid 49.

Over in France, Bordeaux won the French League Cup for the third time after beating second-division Vannes 4-0. Bordeaux also won the League Cup in 2002 and 2007.

In Italy, Fiorentina beat AS Roma 4-1 to improve its chances of securing a Champions League spot for next season. The loss just about ends Roma’s hopes of qualifying for Europe’s premier club competition next season. Fiorentina moved ahead of Genoa into fourth place. In the other match yesterday, Udinese beat Chievo Verona 2-1.

Reigning German champions Bayern Munich lost 1-0 at home to Schalke, leaving Bayern in third place, three points behind leaders Vfl Wolfsburg, with five games to play.

The big news out of the EPL over the last couple of days has been the firing of manager Luiz Felipe Scolari by Chelsea after just seven months on the job and to a lesser extent, Tony Adams from Portsmouth after only nine games in charge.

Scolari won’t be crying too much though as he could still collect as much as 15 million pounds in compensation. The Brazilian had a three-year contract with the London club, which was worth about 6 million pounds a year. And you wonder why clubs are in financial trouble by suffering losses and why ticket prices are often too high for the average Joe to buy?

Well if we look at Chelsea, they have gotten rid of their last three managers in Jose Mourinho, Avram Grant and now Scolari. It’s estimated they may have to spend 40 million pounds in total to pay these three off.

This leads to the question of why do football clubs continue to hand out long-term contracts to managers, considering the nature of the game? I wouldn’t sign any manager, I don’t care who he is, to anything longer than two years. Sven Goran Erikkson has made a living out of getting hired and fired from numerous clubs while padding his bank every time he’s been sacked for being a failure.

The owners are digging themselves into graves by continuously paying out tons of cash for unwanted managers. But it’s their own fault. It’s also the fault of the managers who get sacked too. I don’t feel sorry for any guy who gets the boot for running a football team who leaves star players such as Didier Drogba sitting on the bench for the majority of the season while the club is starving for goals.

These managers just don’t seem to understand that to win a game you actually have to score at least one goal. However, all they’re concerned about is playing the games “not to lose.” It’s such a negative approach to professional sports. If you or me didn’t produce at work after seven months, getting the sack wouldn’t come as such a shock to me. But hey, who cares when your employer is paying you millions to walk away?

Who’s going to take over at Chelsea? Well the rumour mill is turning as usual so you can expect to hear that everybody from Gianfranco Zola to Gus Hiddink to Frank Rijkaard will be the next manager of the blues. I just wonder how long of a contract the new boss will get.

While we’re on the topic of money, it comes as no surprise that Premier League clubs are against the introduction of a salary cap, but are considering a quota for a minimum number of ‘homegrown’ players.

This comes after European Clubs’ Association turned down a proposal that states clubs involved in UEFA competitions can only spending a maximum of 50 per cent of their turnover on wages.

Meanwhile over at FIFA headquarters, there is a plan to experiment with a penalty box system for yellow card offences. This basically means if a player is carded by the referee they would be sent off the pitch for five or 10 minutes as in rugby.

Another proposal is to increase the amount of substitutes from three to four if a game goes into extra-time. And some more common sense as FIFA may experiment by using assistant referees behind each goal line.