Joey O’Brien The Newest West Ham Hero

I don’t really know how this has happened. We’ve all had our favourites that aren’t the stars of the show. Those that have never been the most gifted but for some reason strike a chord. In the days of Di Canio when G***n R****r was manager, I was surprised to see so many shirts with ‘Hutchison’ on the back. I never really understood or appreciated the abilities of Fredi Kanoute, yet many Boleyn Ground inhabitants have done. Hell, Christian Dailly became a cult hero and got his own ‘special’ song.

 

 

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And this leads me to the inexplicable. Much like in a badly-written soap opera when the lovelorn character stands up to the protagonist and realises he is in love, I found myself defending our very own Mr. Versatile, Joey O’Brien.

 

 

It was a moment of reflection, started on Twitter with a tongue-in-cheek comment about how Joey, if he was English, would have kept Neymar in his back pocket all evening on Wednesday night as England faced Brazil. Greeted with the usual banter associated with such a comment, something suddenly happened. Not ‘getting’ the joke, fans from other clubs bombarded me with abuse. I was ‘living in a dream world’ and being ‘stupidly biased.’ These comments I didn’t mind, this showed fans who didn’t get the joke. Probably armchair fans who didn’t get football banter. But then came the dagger to my heart.

‘Who’s Joey O’Brien?’

And that’s when I saw the red mist.

 

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I could have pointed these heathens towards his wikipedia page, I could have posted links to his profile page on the official club website, I could have found his New Years’ Day goal against Norwich City on YouTube and put the address up for all to see.  

I did none of these. Instead, I ranted. I proclaimed that whilst not a household name he is reliable. He’s strong. He’s an honest, hard-working player, an attacking, tireless and versatile full-back. He’s given 100% every time he’s played for West Ham.

 

O’Brien may not have the big-name attraction that Alou Diarra brought, but he does bring the positivity and dedication to want to improve. He is reliable. His first goal for us (away at Watford) was a thing of beauty, emphasising his desire and passion to win. He is what you want from a footballer. He doesn’t have the prettiest of styles but he’s more than effective. I took a deep breath, I looked at my responses and I was happy at my attempted defence of him, much as I’m happy of his protection of our goal.

 

 

And that was that. In the space of a few minutes, a heartfelt rant, aimed with pinpoint accuracy at detractors who had no idea, the penny dropped and I realised that I had a previously unearthed affinity for Joey O’Brien. Like the title character in Jane Austen’s ‘Emma’ when she became conscious of her feelings for Mr Knightley, I had realised our competent Irishman had worked his way into my footballing heart. For those outsiders supporting other sides preferring expensive, marquee names, good luck. Because I know I’d rather have eleven players like Joey O’Brien playing for the shirt, as opposed to someone going through the motions and playing for a fat wage packet.

Peace out

Smudgy

 

@TheRobTaylor32

 

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