West Ham assistant boss Mervyn Day has defended the club's decision to sell Anton Ferdinand.

The 23-year-old defender moved to Sunderland in an £8million deal this week, but that was swiftly followed by reports the board had undermined boss Alan Curbishley who reportedly wanted to keep the player.

However, Day insists it was best for all parties for the former England under-21 star to move on.

"We had a situation where we were going into the last couple of years of his contract," Day told The Mirror.

"He is a young lad and if you let his contract run out his value goes down.

"Or if he lets it run out totally, he is past 24 and that means he goes out on a free transfer.

"Also the club felt it was a decent offer for someone in that kind of contractual situation.

"Obviously from the football side you want to keep all your best players. But sometimes they have got to make proper business decisions."

Day has also thrown his support behind Curbishley amid a presumed crisis growing at the east London club.

Alongside reports he is being underminded by the board following Ferdinand's exit and murmurs of player unrest in the dressing room, the Irons chief has also had to contend with fury from supporters following what they perceive as a lacklustre start to the season.

That culminated in chants of "you're getting sacked in the morning" directed at the 50-year-old during Wednesday night's Carling Cup clash with Macclesfield at Upton Park, when the Hammers took extra time to see off the lowly League Two outfit.

And defeat at home to Paul Ince's Blackburn Rovers on Saturday would turn the heat up on Curbishley even further.

However Day, while conceding the team does need to improve, has called on fans to get things into perspective.

"I think it's a little bit early for the fans to be against us," he added.

"All this nonsense about Alan being under pressure, it's a bit like a soap opera from Eastenders.

"People are saying we haven't had a great start but we've got three points from two games which the majority of the Premier League has got.

"I've read somewhere that Saturday is a must-win game and all that sort of nonsense.

"I think at this stage of the season people are absolutely making a meal out of something that is not even a snack.

"We know we need to improve, we need to improve in all facets of the game but that's what we are striving to do anyway."

[Guardian-Series]

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