Jermain Defoe was vilified for requesting a transfer within 24 hours of West Ham United’s relegation in 2003, but considering what has become of the club this season, who could blame several senior players for following suit this time?

Dean Ashton is likely to be the most notable of those players who feel that their chance of being included in the England squad for the European Championship in 2008 would be stifled by playing outside the Barclays Premiership.

The forward is unlikely to ignore the expected advances from Newcastle United in the summer in the event of relegation, but will probably have to play a few matches this season to prove his fitness after sustaining a broken ankle on international duty last summer.

“I can’t stress just how much I want to get back to help West Ham, because I am desperate to play in the Premier League next season,” Ashton said. He scored six goals for the club after arriving in January last year, seven months after experiencing relegation from the top flight with Norwich City.

Robert Green, Nigel Reo-Coker and Matthew Upson are among the other players who may need to play in the top flight to gain recognition from Steve McClaren, the England head coach. Lucas Neill, who signed from Blackburn Rovers in January, will probably leave, to the dismay of Phil Parkes, the club’s former goalkeeper.

“It is crazy to sign players who will be able to leave if the team is relegated,” Parkes said. “I would not have bought Neill or Upson on the contracts they were offered. Their job should be to get West Ham out of the mire and if they can’t do it this season then they should be doing it next season in the Championship.

“One or two players would not have made the reserve team when I was at the club. I sympathise with the fans who start chanting against the team. Reo-Coker is not the right man to captain a side that is struggling. The new signings have not made the impression that the manager would have liked but signing more strikers would have been a better bet.”

Anton Ferdinand, the West Ham defender, will stand trial after being charged with assault and violent disorder after an incident in a nightclub in Ilford, Essex, in October. He denies the charge.