Birmingham City midfielder Lee Bowyer says he could easily still be with former club West Ham United.

Bowyer joined Brum last January to help them earn promotion back to the Premiership.

He told bcfc.com: "I wouldn't say I took a gamble coming here.

"They were unlucky to go down the season before last. All I wanted to do was to get playing football again.

"For one reason or another, they didn't want to extend my contract at West Ham and I came here.

"It's turned out to be a good thing for all parties.

"A few players might have been happy to pick up their money. But that's not me. It would have been easy to do it because London is my home. But I didn't want to be sitting watching football. I'll be doing that when I finish playing.

"But you have to grab it and play as much as you possibly can while you can."