When safety play is anything but safe

• Hammers reject £7m offer from local rivals
• David Sullivan vows to keep star midfielder

Scott Parker would like to consider Tottenham Hotspur's proposal to take him across London to White Hart Lane and has been left frustrated at West Ham United's refusal to countenance the deal.

Spurs have had a £7m offer rejected out of hand by the West Ham co-chairman David Sullivan, who has said the midfielder is not for sale and that Parker is to be offered a lucrative new five-year contract. The midfielder has three years to run on his current deal.

But Parker is tempted by what would be a hugely contentious switch – there is no love lost at Upton Park for Tottenham – and he is surprised at the stance that Sullivan has adopted. At the very least, Parker would welcome the chance to listen to what is on offer at White Hart Lane.

Spurs may provide Parker, who is 29, with his last shot at the Champions League – Harry Redknapp's team will enter the competition in the final qualifying round after their fourth-placed finish last season – and their offer is the same as West Ham paid Newcastle United for him in June 2007.

Parker heard Sullivan say last season that the entire West Ham squad was up for sale apart from him and his patience has been tested further by Sullivan's hard line with Spurs. There is the fear at Upton Park, though, that Tottenham will not be dissuaded in their pursuit.

West Ham confirmed on their website that Spurs had made the bid and they added that they had "informed Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy prior to him making the offer that we would not welcome any approach to unsettle the player".

Sullivan said: "I made a promise that I would not sell Scott and I will not, for any amount of money, break that promise to the West Ham supporters. Scott is not for sale at any price, to anyone. West Ham supporters, for far too long, have had owners that sell their best players and promise one thing and do another. This is a new era. We are building a bigger, better West Ham and when we make a promise, we honour it."

Sullivan's public statement, coupled with the promise of a new contract, appeared designed to back Parker into a corner but the player has experience of driving an acrimonious transfer. In 2004 he made it clear that he wanted to leave Charlton Athletic for Chelsea and he endured being banished from first-team training by the then manager, Alan Curbishley, before he got his wish.

There is no suggestion at present that he is prepared to do something similar. Parker turned down an offer from Tottenham that season, preferring the £10m move to Stamford Bridge.

Parker has been West Ham's player of the year for the past two seasons, he is the first name on the teamsheet and is revered by the club's supporters. It can be argued that West Ham have given him the platform to fight back to the fringes of the England squad after injuries marred his time at Newcastle.

West Ham's manager, Avram Grant, has appointed the former Yugoslavia international Zeljko Petrovic as his assistant. Petrovic, who played at the 1998 World Cup, completes Grant's backroom staff and will work alongside the senior coach, Paul Groves, the first-team coach, Kevin Keen, the goalkeeping coach, David Coles, and the fitness expert Eamon Swift.

Mark Hughes's time at Manchester City ended unhappily but his success at Blackburn makes him a good choice for Fulham

One of the first calls Mark Hughes took after being called into the chairman's office at Manchester City for the final time last December came from Sir Alex Ferguson. The two men had spent the previous two seasons playing the role of grumpy neighbours, arguing about who had the best lawn but, on this occasion, the Manchester United manager showed an appreciation that, beyond all the sniping and the headlines and rivalry, there was still some old-fashioned respect and a sense, too, of having to speak up for what was right.

"For some reason, Christmas seems to bring out the worst in directors," Ferguson would later say of City's clandestine approaches to replace Hughes with Roberto Mancini. "I do not know how you can do something like that. It doesn't matter whether you have lost 20 games or two, there is a way to treat people."

Hughes has been out of work for 221 days. He is rarely spoken of at Manchester City these days and those closest to him say he has spent most of that time fighting his own boredom, desperate to get back to work and avoid becoming just another forgotten statistic.

There were feelings of betrayal and a firm belief he had been the victim of others reneging on promises, and he has always known that lingering sense of grievance would go only when he was back in work. When Martin Jol decided to stay at Ajax, Fulham were already aware that Hughes was ready and waiting.

In many ways it is the ideal job for him: Fulham, the small but proud club that have been through so many ordeals they give the impression of being completely comfortable in their own skin these days, even if it does mean living in the shadow of Chelsea, the club that thought long and hard about appointing Hughes a few years ago.

He will be taking charge at a club with a ground capacity of 25,478, where the manager has to comply with tight budgetary constraints – nothing like as exciting as Manchester City's bid for worldwide domination, perhaps, but not something that will unduly concern Hughes given the different type of job satisfaction he enjoyed at Blackburn Rovers.

There are obvious similarities – size, ambition, spirit – between Fulham and Blackburn and it is easy to imagine it was Hughes's work at Ewood Park, rather than at the City of Manchester stadium, that persuaded Mohamed Al Fayed to give him the chance to resurrect his career on the banks of the Thames.

At City, Hughes's failure to convince the Abu Dhabi United group he could give the club Champions League football can be attributed to his inability to handle some of the more wildly egocentric players that come when the transfer fees soar.

In one corner, there were influential dressing-room figures such as Craig Bellamy and Roque Santa Cruz, who respected and admired their manager. In another, there were be others colluding against him. A clique of Brazilians – Robinho, Jô and Elano – would sneer openly about his methods. Another player went as far as complaining to the chief executive, Garry Cook.

Hughes was regarded as standoffish, cold even, and even when he tried to indulge Robinho, knowing how important he was to the club's plans, he was unable to bond with the former Real Madrid player.

At Fulham he will find a much tighter group of players, bonded already by a sense of togetherness. Fulham did not always play illuminating football on their way to the Europa League final last season, but they did show the kind of collective spirit that Hughes himself demands of his teams.

There is a strong desire at Craven Cottage not to be patronised or belittled and that, too, should appeal to Hughes's competitive nature. Added to that, it is almost certain he will try to make Bellamy one of his first signings, and possibly Santa Cruz as well.

Above all, one imagines he will already have 21 November circled in red in his diary – the date Mancini brings his team to Craven Cottage.

Celtic are on the brink of crashing out of this season's Champions League after gifting Braga a 3-0 win in Wednesday's third qualifying round first leg.

Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson has refused to comment on reports he has made a bid for Aston Villa's Luke Young.