West Ham United 2 Birmingham City 1

AVRAM Grant laughed off the latest rumours about his West Ham future after a Carling Cup victory over Birmingham gave the club’s board every reason to give him another stay of execution.

Speculation is rife Grant is on the brink of being axed, but the Israeli insisted he would ‘‘be fine’’ whether his bosses backed him or not.

The 2-1 semi-final first leg win will do his cause no harm at all, with the home side surviving a moment of madness from Victor Obinna to hold the edge ahead of the return at St Andrews in two weeks’ time.

‘‘Don’t worry about me – I will be fine in any case,’’ Grant said.

‘‘I really, really appreciate that you are worried about me and you like me and you want me to be near you!

‘‘I like you also, by the way.

‘‘Why do you need to ask me about something that is not in my control?

‘‘You can ask me why I picked this player and not the other one because this is my responsibility.

‘‘You can ask me if I want to stay or not... no, no. Don’t ask me this!’’ He added: ‘‘If I don’t want to be here, I will go to the owner and say I don’t want to be here.

‘‘The other decision is not mine.’’ ■ Edin Dzeko checked in at Manchester City with a seal of approval from former England boss Steve McClaren - and immediately started winding up the men from Old Trafford.

The 24-year-old professed not to know too much about the rivalry between City and United.

If that is true, the fur will really start flying when he does.

Because within two minutes of the start of a press conference to confirm his £27million arrival from Wolfsburg, City’s newest recruit hit the rawest of United nerves.

‘‘I decided to come here because I saw something else in Manchester City,’’ he outlined.

‘‘It is a big club with big ambition and I am an ambitious player.

‘‘I know this is a big project.

Manchester City are a very good team. They have a very good coach. And I have heard a lot about the fans.

‘‘I have also heard that most of the people from Manchester are Manchester City fans.’’ City fans will certainly revel in Dzeko’s words, which will ensure the Bosnian gets a pretty warm reception on Saturday, when he is expected to be on the bench at worst for the Premier League encounter with Wolves at Eastlands.