Mido leads Hammers players rally around Zola

Egypt striker Mido has encouraged beleaguered West Ham boss Gianfranco Zola to stay in his job by insisting that the entire squad have faith in his ability to guide the club to Premier League survival.

Six consecutive league defeats have left the Hammers teetering on the edge of the relegation zone and Zola has taken a short break in his native Sardinia to ponder whether he should carry on in his first managerial job.

Only goal difference is keeping Zola’s squad out of the bottom three and the side below them, Hull, who appear to have been revitalised by the installation of Iain Dowie as manager, have a game in hand.

Mido believes the quality in West Ham’s squad will ensure they are okay.

“Everyone is working so hard for the manager,” said the striker. “We’re behind that man. He is a top manager, in my opinion, and we’re all behind him.

“I think we have a very good chance of staying up. If you look in the dressing room and you see the faces in there, you don’t see a team that is going to get relegated.

“By experience, by names and by people who want to work hard for this club, I don’t think this team is going down.”

Anyone who watched Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Stoke could dispute Mido’s optimistic outlook however, and West Ham’s prospects of survival are not helped by a testing sequence of matches between now and the end of the season.

A trip to Everton this weekend is followed by fixtures against Sunderland, Liverpool, Wigan, Fulham and Manchester City, who could be playing for a Champions League place on the final day of the campaign.

Mido added: “Everton are a very good team, but we’re definitely going to go there to get at least a point. We’re going to work hard. It didn’t work for us on Saturday, but I hope that it will work for us next week.”

Zola’s position has been undermined by public criticism from West Ham’s co-chairman David Sullivan, although the outpoken executive has insisted that the manager’s job is not on the line.

Some sceptics have suggested Sullivan has been trying to engineer a resignation from the manager that would ensure the club did not have to pay up the remainder of Zola’s contract in the event of him leaving.

Asked after Saturday’s game if he would consider resigning, Zola acknowledged that he was thinking about it.

“I have to find out what the problem is. If the problem is me then why not? The players are trying hard for us. The bottom line is to see whether I can help them or not.

“I have no agendas other than doing a good job for this club so I will consider whether I am doing a good job.

“We are not performing as well as we should and I take responsibility for that.”

West Ham’s problems on the pitch are being played out against a background of severe financial difficulties which would mean relegation would have calamitous consequences for the east London club.