CHERRIES chairman Peter Phillips has described Carl Fletcher's sale to West Ham as "the best economical decision for the club".

And Phillips has also scotched suggestions Cherries were forced to offload their prize asset to help ease the club's current cash flow problems.

Fletcher joined the Hammers in a deal worth around £275,000 to Cherries after agreeing personal terms at Upton Park on Tuesday lunchtime (Aug 31).

As expected, Phillips and the Cherries board have come underfire from some quarters for allowing the club's inspirational skipper to leave on the cheap.

But Phillips defended the sale when he told the Daily Echo: "On the one hand, I think everyone would agree that Carl has been our outstanding player for the past couple of seasons, and, in some senses, we all think he's worth more.

"But the reality is that at the end of this season and if he had stayed, he would have been able to walk away for nothing and we operate in a very depressed market.

"We had interest in Carl from three or four different clubs and this was by some distance the best deal on the table. Nobody else was prepared to put the same amount of money down as West Ham.

"West Ham's initial bid was £100,000 plus some appearance money and one or two bits and pieces which gives you an idea of the way the market is at the moment.

"We played hard ball with them and one of our main concerns was that the money would be guaranteed.

"We weren't prepared to do a deal with sell-on clauses, appearance money and promotion bonuses, which was what West Ham would have preferred.

"We've got a deal that gives us around £275,000 as guaranteed money and, under the circumstances, is the best deal for the club."

When asked whether Sean O'Driscoll would be given some of the Fletcher funds to reinvest in the squad, Phillips said: "Yes, and the funds will be channelled through Playershare. We all recognise that the purpose of the football club is to build a successful football team. We are desperately short of resources at the moment and we are going to need to bring in reinforcements."

And asked if the club had been forced to sell Fletcher, Phillips added: "No, I don't think that's the case. We turned down offers of £100,000 and £150,000 because we didn't have to sell him.

"Clearly, in the current financial situation, a cash injection from the sale of Carl is, in itself, very welcome but we haven't sold him in order to get out of the current cash flow crisis.

"We've sold him because it's the best economical decision for the football club. We are very reluctant to let him go but he would have gone for nothing at the end of the season and so he's at his most valuable to us today."