Hammers boss eyes Wenger blueprint
West Ham manager Avram Grant believes he can achieve what Arsene Wenger has done at Arsenal.
It has been reported that the Israeli coach is already on borrowed time at Upton Park after a miserable start to his tenure, and things will not get any easier when they travel to North London.
Grant insists that he needs time to turn things around and says that the best managers, like Wenger, are in it for the long term.
"I speak with Arsene all the time, I've known him for more than 10 years and we have a good relationship," he said in The Sun.
"We more or less share the same idea. And most of his ideas we want to do.
"He has built a team through the academy into a top team, this would also be the vision at West Ham.
"When I came to English football, they gave me 10 days. They say I'm going because with me the team would go down but when you want to build something it takes time.
"I spoke with Arsene Wenger about this and I don't know a lot about his first year at Arsenal but it was not so easy.
"They won the double and then the league without defeat but when things didn't go well, like a year ago, he stuck to his way and this is the only way to get results."
Grant believes Wenger and Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson are examples of how long term programmes work best.
He added: "Arsenal always have a lot of money to buy. Maybe not like Chelsea and others but they always have £15million and £10m to buy players.
"Every club is a little bit different and I think we need a long-term programme.
"Wenger and Alex Ferguson are good examples of this. Imagine they didn't let them continue after the first year, the whole history of the clubs are different.
"It won't come in one day and you can't push a button and everything comes good."