Mike Rowbottom: Brooking to enrich Hammers' tradition of decency and dignity

There was a suggestion this week that Glenn Roeder had "appeared confused'' during his post-match press conference on Easter Monday, which took place an hour or so before his distressing collapse and removal to hospital.

I can only think that that description was applied retrospectively once news of his physical problems emerged, because at the time he came across as quite normal. That is – articulate, amenable and, as far as he could be, frank.

To be sure, Roeder has been hammered in the media over the course of the last two seasons, with doubts being cast upon his suitability as West Ham's manager, and upon his man-management skills. But nobody within the press, surely, was gratified to witness the animosity shown to Roeder by some sections of the Upton Park crowd during the match against Middlesbrough as his advances towards the touchline provoked pointed booing from the direction of the Bobby Moore Stand.

Although the position of his team is as perilous as it has been since he took over in the wake of Harry Redknapp's resignation, Roeder's relationship with the media appears, paradoxically, to be in decent shape given the difficult circumstances.

Years ago I covered a game at Gillingham soon after Roeder had taken over there as manager. He kept the press waiting for well over an hour before word was relayed that he would not be speaking. The consensus of opinion as the press room emptied was that he was suffering some kind of hangover from his previous job as unofficial minder for the wayward Paul Gascoigne.

Last season, as West Ham's fortunes appeared to be in freefall following heavy defeats at Blackburn and Everton, Roeder became tetchy with the media, appearing almost to blame them for some of his team's misfortune.

But, at some point since then, he has clearly rethought his relationship with the Fourth Estate and taken the bold step of becoming more forthright and willing to be questioned. The philosophy received further backing recently when West Ham's youth squad were packed off to the London College of Printing to experience mock television interviews in front of the lights, fielding "tricky questions'' from assembled trainee journalists. "Some took the bait,'' it was reported. "Others brushed them off with good, well thought-out answers.''

The intention, clearly, is to create a new generation of players at Upton Park whose interactions with the press will be characterised by the dignity habitually displayed by Roeder. That is a virtue sure to be displayed too by the man who stands ready to see out West Ham's remaining three Premiership fixtures in Roeder's absence – Trevor Brooking.

The temporary appointment of a man who represented the club in exemplary fashion on 636 occasions coincides with distressing news concerning Brooking's most recent team, Sport England. When he stepped down last year as chairman of the body that used to be known as the Sports Council, Brooking voiced polite but heartfelt concern over the suitability of his successor, the government's financial trouble-shooter Patrick Carter.

The former West Ham player felt that Sport England would be better served by someone with a demonstrable background in sport rather than business, and spoke with foreboding about the cost-cutting that might follow.

This week the final figures were confirmed – having shed 170 jobs before Christmas, Sport England is to lose a further 150.

Starting with tomorrow's away match at Manchester City, Brooking will be hoping fervently for better results in his new post. But if, as seems likely, West Ham fail to avoid dropping out of the top flight for the first time since 1992, there is at least a comforting precedent in that their short-term leader has been there and back with them in his time as a player.

The England midfielder stuck with the club who had given him his League debut in 1967, when they were relegated from the old First Division in 1978, and three seasons later played a crucial part in their return as Second Division champions with a record number of points.

This week, however, he has provided the club's fans with reassuring soundbites concerning the team's determination to avoid relegation, having gained 15 points from their last eight games. "It would be a huge anti-climax to go out with a whimper,'' he said.

According to the club's managing director, Paul Aldridge, the players' response during their first meeting with the new caretaker was "magnificent''.

Brooking's elegant contributions to the team's fortunes – the superlative display against Eintracht Frankfurt which saw West Ham into the 1976 European Cup-Winners' Cup final, the headed winner against Arsenal in the FA Cup final four years later – are legend in E13 and beyond. In making their choice, the club's directors have underlined the qualities to which West Ham, as a club, has always aspired: decency and artistry. Long may it continue.