‘Play me or I’m off’ says KEVIN NOLAN
KEVIN NOLAN has told Slaven Bilic he wants firstteam action – or he will consider quitting West Ham.
The 33-year-old signed a fiveyear contract when he joined the Hammers in June 2011 from Newcastle under previous manager Sam Allardyce.
However, the midfielder says he is not prepared to spend any time on the subs’ bench as Bilic (left) rotates his squad with Premier League and Europa League commitments.
Nolan said: “I have made my feelings known, that I don’t want to be sitting on the bench.
“I want to be playing and give my all in training.
“If that’s good enough, then great. If not, we’ll have to sit down and see where we go from there.
“I have really enjoyed the last three or four weeks playing in Europe.
“I’m coming to the tail end of my career and I’ve got to do what’s best for me and my family.
“To be fair, we haven’t got that far yet, but we’ll see.”
Nolan was captain on Thursday night as West Ham avoided an embarrassing European exit by eventually beating Maltese parttimers Birkirkara in a penalty shoot-out.
They now face Romanians Astra Giurgiu next Thursday at Upton Park in the first leg of the third qualifying round.
For the second successive away match, the Hammers had a player sent off for retaliation – James Tomkins was given his marching orders just two weeks after Diafra Sakho was dismissed in Andorra.
Nolan reckons it is important his team-mates ignore the provocation.
The former Bolton star said: “These boys haven’t played much European football. I only played a couple of years myself. You have to learn you can’t get involved and that you have to take it.
“These boys get in your face and they want to upset you and they do because they want every possible angle. But the experience is great for our lads, especially someone like Tomkins because it will make him a better player.”