As suggested by your friendly Blagger in this very column last week, West Ham's MD Scott Duxbury as resigned from his position with the usual 'Thanks for all your hard work but don't pop back to see how we are doing any time soon, will you?' quotes ringing in his ears. Duxbury's claim that he was 'free to persue other opportunites' (welcome to my world Scott - I've been free to persue other opportunities for about 10 months now!) sounded pretty hollow as it seems unlikely he would have 'resigned' had the Gold / Sullivan / Brady consortium not hit town.

Our very own Margeret Mountford replacement is surely lining up the bullets for Technical Director Nani who would do well to see if anyone has painted a bullseye on his back. It was Duxbury and Nani who talked continually of the 'Project'; a mythical beast like the Gryphon and Unicorn, that was due to drag West Ham kicking and screaming into the late 20th Century - we're not ready for the 21st yet! - with a promise to make the club self-sufficent and pack the squad with young players who all continued their craft with the Hammers rather than legging it down to Tottenham or Chelsea or waiting for Manchester to come calling.

The much-discussed 'Project' was an odd idea anyway being as West Ham should be entirely sufficent in view of the players they bring through their youth team, and the only reason the club struggle is because they usually sell these players to middlemen at Tottenham or Leeds rather than directly to genial Uncle Alex thereby losing out on the really big paydays that could provide huge dividends to the squad.

Aside from all this though is the grubby fingerprints of Tevezgate; it being Scott Duxbury who seemed to be at the heart of the scandal of the signing of the Argentinean that left the club in the dock and with several hefty wage bills that they are still struggling to pay. Discussions on the Tevez issue have been going on for so long that most West Ham fans just go crosseyed whenever the matter comes up, but it was generally thought by most that Duxbury should have gone as the truth emerged about the contracts that were drawn up against Premiership rules.

As it is though Duxbury will have to take his project elsewhere although I'll admit I'd have done anything to have been in that boardroom when our Karren said 'Scott, do you have a minute?'