With Jack Collison being loaned from West Ham to AFC Bournemouth last month, it looked like he wasn’t part of manager Sam Allardyce’s plans. But with his return to the first team as soon as he came back from Bournemouth, where does his future lie?
In February, Collison told the Daily Star that he wanted to emulate Jamie Carragher and be a one-club man.
He said: “I have been here since I was eight and I don’t want to go anywhere else. I have always wanted to be a West Ham player.
“It is like family to me and we’re all local here. Everything I know is round here and I just don’t see myself anywhere else.”
He featured in every match for AFC Bournemouth during his loan spell, and I think it’s done him the world of good.
I personally think that Jack can shine for the Hammers again, but needs a decent run in the team to get settled back in. He definitely looked promising against Aston Villa, so it looks like the matches he got under his belt for Bournemouth did him good.
With fans getting more and more angry at Kevin Nolan’s form of late, I think Collison is a natural replacement in attacking midfield. He had a decent effort at goal on Saturday, and with us playing without a striker for the majority of our match time, we need players that can capitalise on chances.
I’m a fan of Jack and hope that once he gets the games, he’ll prove why he should be part of Allardyce’s starting eleven. We gave him a lot of time around his knee injury and have rewarded him with long-term deals; hopefully he’ll repay that faith this season.
What do you think? Will Jack prove himself and play on for the Hammers, or should he go elsewhere? Leave a comment or tweet me at @alwaysintune.
A fit Jack Collison is probably our best midfield player with Ravel pushing him close. Both can score goals and I hope Sam puts him before Noble and Nolan if he maintains his fitness, as he is streets ahead of the these two.
Would love to see Jacky get over his injuries completely, then establish himself ib the starting XI. Just based on ability, he’s probably level with Rav. Just would like him to get stuck on more, feel like the injury scared him a bit? Needs to do a Ramsey! Great article by the way.
Noble is currently in a class of his own, but take out the hopeless passenger Nolan and stick Jack in IMMEDIATELY. It will pay dividends in terms of closing the ball down, keeping possession, provide quicker and better support for the man on the ball, and give us better attacking options in place of the current puzzled goal hanging captain who disappoints week in week out !!
He should no doubt replace Nolan. Don’t get me wrong, I love Nolan for all he’s done for us – his goals helped up achieve promotion then finish in the top 10 in the Premier League – but he’s old, slow and often ineffective. Collison had never really regained full fitness since that injury and when we were in the Championship I think he had to limit his playing time and even training because of it. But he played 4 full matches in a row for the Cherries and I don’t know for sure but it must have been years since he’s done that. Get him in the team as he’ll be raring to go after the confidence boosting loan-spell followed promptly by a goal against Burnley. But, who are we kidding? Allardyce will never drop a fit Nolan, and I seriously hope that Collison isn’t forced out because of it. I’d love to see him finish his career at West Ham.