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Harry Redknapp has been linked with a return to West Ham - and the Sunday Supplement panel agreed it wouldn't be a bad idea.

Portsmouth boss Redknapp enjoyed a successful spell as manager at Upton Park from 1994 to 2001 and is still held in high regard among the notoriously demanding West Ham supporters.

Alan Curbishley is the bookmakers' favourite to be the first Premier League manager to be sacked this season and despite an opening-day win over Wigan, the Sunday Mirror claims West Ham chiefs are lining up Redknapp to replace him.

Assessing the situation on The Sunday Supplement, The Sun's Shaun Custis admitted it is a real possibility and suggested that Redknapp would be keen to return to Upton Park.

Custis said: "If I was Alan Curbishley I would be worried about that story because Paul Smith is just about the best-connected journalist there is in Portsmouth.

"It looks to me like there's definitely something in it so I'd say Alan Curtbishley hasn't got very long at the start of this season if they don't get off to a flyer.

"I'm not saying West Ham should get rid of Curbishley, but Harry's their favourite son, he's done a magnificent job with Portsmouth and he did a magnificent job with West Ham beforehand.

"Portsmouth, from Harry's point of view, don't seem to want to spend any more money - or don't have any money - and for Harry I think it would be a very attractive proposition to go back again.

"From Curbishley's point of view he hasn't quite won over the West Ham fans, there was a little bit of disgruntlement among the supporters last season - but then there often is at West Ham.

"I just think there's no smoke without fire in this one. Harry Redknapp seems to have been angling to get away from Portsmouth over the summer and there's clearly a bit of unrest in the way Harry feels at Portsmouth."

from skysports

West Ham boss Alan Curbishley has admitted he understands the criticism of his team and has vowed to learn from his mistakes.

The former Charlton manager steered The Hammers to mid-table safety last season after having kept them up the season before, but lacklustre performances have led to many bookies installing Curbishley as the favourite in the managerial sack race.

But, while he admits he is not used to that kind of pressure, he is confident he can turn things around.

“I guess you could say I’ve had an easy road until now,” he told the Waltham Forest Guardian.

“The vultures have never circled over me before, but I’ll deal with it.

“I understand the criticism – I don’t close my eyes to it – but I don’t have to accept all of it as well.

“Some of it is true and I take that on board and I try to change.”

Many of Curbishley’s high-profile signings – including the likes of Craig Bellamy, Kieron Dyer, Freddie Ljungberg and Julien Faubert – suffered major injury problems last season, and he says that left him unable to change things around when times were hard.

However, he also accepts the fans’ demands for quality football and believes the team can play with more style this time around.

“I accept that there is a responsibility. I know there are certain traditions at West Ham and I’ve been brought up on that.

“People have to understand that we were patched up a lot of times last season and quite often the team picked itself, given the injuries we had, but I accept the criticism.

“We didn’t shut ourselves off to that and we’re trying to do better. We want to win games and we want to play better.”

Setanta Sports