Football FanCast columnist Rob Facey looks at the current situation at West Ham and wonders whether it is time for Alan Curbishley to start panicking, despite being just a few games into the new season.

Alan Curbishley was the bookie's favourite to be the first Premier League manager to be given the boot this season but it looks as though the West Ham manager is becoming more and more tempted to jump before he gets pushed.

West Ham have been a club in a state of flux ever since Eggert Magnusson's time at the club. They seem to be unsure whether they are happy as a Premier League team and are keen to consolidate this position, or whether they should be pushing on for Europe. Magnusson famously said that West Ham should be targeting Champions League football, despite the club staying in the top flight by the skin of their teeth just weeks before.

"The club is being run on sound football and business principles in order to develop a squad which can deliver success this season," said Scott Duxbury, West Ham's Chief Executive, as reported in the Guardian.

"No player would be bought or sold unless that helped to achieve that aim. We are not interested in selling players who are committed to the club and essential to our first-team squad. If a player refuses to sign a new contract or is not crucial to the manager's plans then we will look at offers on a case-by-case basis. It is the only sensible way to build for the future."

If that is the case, then why is Anton Ferdinand being sold today? Why was Bobby Zamora sold to Fulham when he was on the verge of signing a new deal at Upton Park? The club have issued this statement in response to rumours circulating about Craig Bellamy's future, but how many times have clubs issued statements like this only for the player to leave regardless.

West Ham are a popular Premier League club and one that most fans would like to remain in the top flight. However, selling first teamers and releasing players to balance the books is only making things harder for manager Alan Curbishley.

He is operating with an expensively assembled squad including the likes of Dyer, Neill, Parker and Bellamy, all of whom command high wages. With players of this calibre he is expected to move the club up the Premier League table, but the board don't seem to realise that he is working under intense pressure from both ends.

The want him to succeed but at the same time take care of the club's finances and in football the two rarely go hand in hand. Curbishley is under intense pressure a West Ham, how long will he put up with the boards constant nagging regarding the wage bill, the transfer deals, the clubs finances?

He should be in charge of the football side of things; otherwise he will surely walk before he is pushed.