West Ham United co-owner David Sullivan is convinced he had a say in their victory over Birmingham City.

Sullivan triggered a storm in the dressing room and was even blasted by boss Gianfranco Zola for revealing plans for a 25 per cent wage cut this summer at cash-strapped Upton Park.

West Ham's players responded by beating in-form Birmingham 2-0 for their first win of 2010.

Sullivan told The Sun: "It was the last resort. I had to say something to galvanise people into action because our results and displays just hadn't been good enough. There's still a lot of hard work to do but I'm really pleased with the way the team has responded.

"If it was so the players could stick two fingers up at me on behalf of the manager then great. At least it means we'll keep winning. It's dangerous but then the situation at West Ham is dangerous too.

"I've been accused of bad timing but I believe it was the best possible timing because look at the response it got. Whether that's totally down to what I said we'll never know - and the manager and players deserve lots of credit for the way they played.

"But laying things on the line is a tactic I've used before. I did it in the last game of last season at Birmingham when they needed to beat Reading to get automatic promotion.

"It worked then and it seems to have worked again."