When Winston Reid came to West Ham United from Danish club FC Midtjylland on an undisclosed fee in 2010 I wasn’t really too sure about what he would be able to offer us as he was relatively unknown at the time. However now he is arguably one of our best players after a year in the Championship
Are you on Facebook? Excellent, so are we http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/ForeverWestHamcom/200938616608282
In his opening season Winston was a bit like a rabbit in headlights, he never really looked very comfortable and in my opinion he looked very suspect at times. No disrespect to the Danish league but I think that he was finding the step up to Premiership football very hard to deal with and things such as the pace and power of the English game was something that was maybe a bit too much for him at the beginning of his time at West Ham.
Another thing that wouldn’t have helped him was the fact that he had James Tomkins and Matthew Upson ahead of him and with Tomkins being our big home grown talent and Upson being the captain there wasn’t much of a chance for the New Zealand international to get into the team.
However when West Ham got relegated and Upson left it was a blessing in disguise for Reid, as this was the season that he finally became one of the two first choice centre backs for West Ham United, and this was the season in which he went from the player in the back ground to one of the first names on the team sheet.
Looking for experience? Just want to be heard outside of the Boleyn? We are currently looking for writers, drop us an email at foreverwestham@snack-media.com for more details
The main thing in my opinion is the confidence that he gained in his time in the Championship, you could see straight away that the fact that he was the main defender again was helping with his confidence, and he showed his confidence on the pitch being the calm player at the back as well as being great defensively.
The other thing that I feel helped him was that original drop in league as the opposition wasn’t as hard it allowed him to settle in at West Ham and meant that when we got back into the Premier League he was more comfortable with the English game.
Overall I would say that relegation greatly helped Winston Reid greatly as without Upson moving and with him not gaining the confidence that the move down in league may have given him, we may not have the great presence at centre back that we now have.
Forever West Ham is now on Google+, so be sure to find us on there by quite simply (and rather unsurprisingly) searching ‘Forever West Ham’
One of my favourite West Ham players now! Very poor when he first arrived, but the Championship was without a doubt the best thing for him. Overall, that relagation was both a blessing in disguise for him and the club.