Pearce will be our player of the season

Speaking of central defenders, there doesn't seem a day goes by without some club or another being linked with Spurs' Sol Campbell.

It's not surprising - he's a top-class performer, he's English and he's available on a free transfer.

He could take his pick of most of the top clubs in this country but I have a feeling he will stay at Spurs.

Sol's always said he wants to stay there and I think he probably will, if they come up with a contract that suits him, of course. He had a decent game against us, but I honestly thought the best player on the pitch was Stuart Pearce.

Believe me, there were no mind games being played about Stuart's fitness, as anyone who saw his ankle would confirm.

On Thursday morning last week, after the Chelsea game the night before, it was black, blue, red and green - every colour except the right one - and I didn't think he had a prayer of playing.

On Friday the chances still looked bleak but he wanted to give it another day, which I was glad to do.

The next day, Stuart suddenly appeared on the training ground to have a little jog. I still thought he had no chance, but suddenly I looked around and he's going into block tackles against some of the kids.

I just hope he carries on next season although the decision is his and his alone. I think he enjoys life at West Ham. He knows he is appreciated, unlike at Newcastle apparently, under Ruud Gullit.

For me, he's simply an inspiration to have around the place and if he's not our player of the year this season, I would be very surprised. I'm hoping he will be fit for the Ipswich game because we need him.

Having finally completed the signing of defender Hayden Foxe this week he's in my squad tomorrow. Hayden played for the reserves against Watford on Wednesday and although he was understandably a little rusty we need him because we are without Christian Dailly, who has broken a bone in his foot.

I haven't decided whether to start with Svetoslav Todorov up front tomorrow. He scored a goal when he came on as a substitute against Tottenham last weekend and has been flying in training this week.

As for Ipswich, George Burley has done brilliantly this season, confounding many of the experts who thought they would go straight back down. I happened to believe all three promoted teams would stay up and that could still happen, although Manchester City could let me down on that prediction

Marcus Stewart has been scoring regularly for Ipswich and he is a player I know well.

People say he has no real pace and he's not that strong, but that doesn't seem to have stopped him scoring loads of goals this season.

Midfielder Matt Holland has been another important player for Ipswich. He began his career at West Ham before moving to Bournemouth, but it's fair to say Matt has surprised everybody the way he's progressed.

He would probably admit he's not the most talented performer in the Premiership, but he's always been an honest lad with a fantastic attitude and it shows what can be achieved if you're prepared to give it a right go.

Sometimes though, events are out of your control, such as in the case of Wycombe's Steve Brown against Leicester. What kind of decision was that by the referee to give Brown a red card for taking his shirt off? Where was the feeling, the understanding, the common sense?

There's a player who has spent his career in the lower leagues, doing his best. Suddenly, his side are heading for the FA Cup semi-finals.

He's entitled to take his shorts off after all that, let alone his shirt.

The other nonsensical decision is to make the fans of Spurs and Arsenal travel almost the length of the country to watch the semi-final.

What are the roads going to be like on that day?

It doesn't bear thinking about. I spent hours stuck on the motorway with 9,000 West Ham fans coming back from Old Trafford earlier this season so how much worse is it going to be on semi-finals day?

I know there are not too many options down south, but, for me, Villa Park would be more sensible. At least it's a lot nearer.