West Ham plan vital talks with Roeder

West Ham hope to hold a meeting with Glenn Roeder before he has neurosurgery to discuss the immense implications of relegation or survival in the Premiership.

Roeder, who suffered a minor stroke on Easter Monday, is expected to have his operation in the next fortnight and return to work before pre-season training in late June. The Hammers' caretaker manager, Trevor Brooking, said yesterday that senior club officials – likely to include the managing director, Paul Aldridge, and the chairman, Terry Brown – plan to meet Roeder before he undergoes surgery.

Relegation would have serious financial implications for West Ham, who are two points from safety and have just two games to save themselves, and could well see David James, Joe Cole, Jermain Defoe, Frédéric Kanouté, Trevor Sinclair and Michael Carrick all leave the club.

Brooking said: "The diagnosis is Glenn will need surgery and that will probably be in a week or two. His recovery and recuperation should take another few weeks after that and there is a lot of belief he should make a full recovery. That's the best news anyone could get.

"But, at some stage before he has the surgery, the club have hopefully got to sit down with Glenn and his family and talk with him about the summer," Brooking added.

"Once he has surgery, the recovery period would make it difficult to have regular access to make decisions about contracts and players. It's a difficult situation but, hopefully, if Glenn improves between now and the time surgery is required, the club can sit down and try and plan out what should happen in the summer."

The West Ham midfielder Steve Lomas has delayed an ankle operation until the summer and will have painkilling injections to play in their last two games of the season against Chelsea and Birmingham City.