Nigel Reo-Coker can expect a hot reception when he returns to Upton Park on Sunday for the first time since leaving West Ham for Aston Villa.While Hammers fans give rousing receptions to some of their ex-players - Rio Ferdinand, Carlos Tevez and Joe Cole, for example - the claret and blue hordes do not take kindly to those who leave under a cloud.

Reo-Coker, who captained West Ham to the FA Cup final in 2006, was blamed by many fans for the breakdown in team spirit and the subsequent slump in form which almost saw the club relegated last season.

He submitted a transfer request and completed a £7.5million move to Villa Park, where he was quickly joined by another ex-Hammer in Marlon Harewood.

But Curbishley has tried to temper any hostile reaction reaction by praising Reo-Coker's role in the club's dramatic escape from the drop.

Tevez, Mark Noble and Robert Green are widely credited with inspiring West Ham's dramatic escape but Curbishley believes Reo-Coker should be seen in the same bracket.

"I walked into something when I joined. There was a lot of feeling around the club. We were third-from-bottom and there was a lot of flak flying around and he was getting singled out for some of it," said Curbishley.

"We had a chat about it and I told him the only way he could deal with it was to get on with it.

"Obviously he wasn't happy about it but I told him to get through to the end of the season because the club is more important than anything else.

"There were always going to be some changes in the summer."

Curbishley added: "I thought in the second half of the season, from the Manchester United game where he got the winner, his performances in the run-in were up there with the contributions the others made.

"Green had a fantastic run-in, Anton Ferdinand and James Collins did fantastically well, as did Mark Noble, Bobby Zamora and Tevez. He was part of that.

"I think in the run-in he got back to where he should have been. I was delighted with his performances."

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