Rio shines, I'm under a cloud

Just before leaving the subject of Leeds I would say that, having watched the incident again in which David Batty was sent off for elbowing Joe Cole last Saturday, I can't see that there is any argument. In fact, you have to give the referee credit for seeing it because not many did at the time, including me. I wish them all the best in Europe, incidentally, and I firmly believe they will beat Valencia and go through to the Champions League Final. I don't think the Spaniards will relish going to Elland Road next week, that's for sure.

Meanwhile, back with West Ham, I have seen plenty of speculation this week about Freddie Kanoute's future but there is no way he's leaving.

I am sure he wants to play in the Champions League - what player doesn't - but he's vital to our team, as is shown when, like tomorrow at Maine Road, he's missing through injury.

No one had heard of Freddie when we bought him from Lyon and now he's supposed to be worth millions. I can say categorically that it would take an absolutely incredible offer for us even to think about letting him go.

I believe, rather, that he owes us some loyalty and we will be working hard this summer on finding a 20-goals-a-season man to partner him up front.

We've watched a million games this season and we have ideas about who we want to bring in. The days of unearthing a diamond for £1.5m are gone. If you want quality now, you have to pay for it.

It's been a difficult second half to the season, for sure, and I don't want to go through this again. I want us to play a certain way next season and to do that we will need shape.

That's where Ipswich have done so well. They have a good shape and all their players fit into the system. Players like Marcus Stewart have exceeded everyone's expectations, including mine, and done really well.

I have known Marcus since he was 13 and I even tried to sign him for West Ham six years ago. He played in Tony Gale's testimonial at Upton Park and we were all set to pay £200,000 for him before, suddenly, the fee jumped another £300,000. We said thanks, but no thanks.

In contrast to Ipswich, I have had to chop and change systems to accommodate players but that's going to change. You want your best players to play but they will have to fit into a system. There may be difficult decisions ahead.

A few weeks ago we were the best young team in the country and now I'm a mug. That's football I suppose, as Peter Taylor is also finding out at Leicester.

The difference is I've been a manager for 20 years now and Peter's been in it 10 minutes.

It can't all be smooth sailing. If we had finished in the top half of the table it would have been the fourth successive year we had done that and that has never happened at this club before.

Just for a few hours, though, football can take a back seat. It is my mum's funeral today and all the family will be together, offering each other plenty of support.