In his recent television interview, former West Ham striker Jermain Defoe stated how leaving the Hammers after our relegation in 2003 “was a massive mistake” and that he regretted making the infamous decision to hand in a transfer request the day after our drop to the Championship (something he has admittedly apologised for before).
He went on to describe how he “still loves that club (West Ham)”. These sudden ‘admissions’ tell the cynic inside me that this is a come and get me plea to us for this January’s transfer window. No doubt he has realised he is going to get very little game time in the Premier League for Spurs this season, and would like to be playing to boost his World Cup chances at a familiar club in London who he thinks would automatically pick him every game. This may seem on the face of it a great deal for us, considering the prolific goal scoring record he has throughout his career. However, I do not want Defoe back at West Ham, and I want us to steer clear of him in the next window, despite our desperate need of a quality striker.
The first reason for this is that I simply do not see him fitting into our current style of play. He has never been the type of striker to thrive as a lone front man, let alone in a Sam Allardyce type of team, who often play it long for a big striker to get flick ons or hold the ball up, and whose main mode of attack is to get as many balls into the box as possible. Andre Villas-Boas is certainly reluctant to use him as a lone striker at Spurs. Defoe has always thrived on having a strike partner with him, most notably Peter Crouch, but Allardyce would be most unlikely to adapt his tactics in this way.
If Defoe did arrive, he certainly wouldn’t accept being on the bench at West Ham, and I think we would be put into a position where we would have to fit him in somewhere every game, such as on the wing where he wouldn’t be the ideal man for the job. Defoe is what he is which is an out and out goal scorer, who relies on others to set him up. I am doubtful he would get the service he requires at West Ham.
The second reason I do not want us to sign the England striker, is that I cannot forgive him for the way he has treated my club in the past. Having moved from Charlton Athletic to our academy at the age of 16, we nurtured his talent and he became a regular fixture in our team by 2001/2002 season in which he was our top goal scorer; likewise in our relegation season in 2002/2003.
As a 14-year-old kid, I remember being absolutely devastated by that relegation, and like everyone else associated with West Ham couldn’t have believed it possible with the talent that was in our squad at that time. In fact I still thought we would always get out of trouble, right until the final day of that season. It was even more gutting considering the fantastic run we had towards the end of the season when Trevor Brooking had taken over as caretaker manager that so nearly rescued us. The fact that we were relegated with a record 42 points added a further sting.
So for Defoe to hand in a transfer request the day after, when everyone was still reeling in shock, was a real lack of class. I know Defoe has apologised since for this, and that he blamed his agents advice, but I do not buy it. How could he not be aware of the insensitivity of the timing? He was 20 years old after all and had spent his last 4 years at the club, which had given him everything. What he did was unforgiveable. If his agent told him to do it then he should have told him where to go as far as I’m concerned. It is also noteworthy that none of our other young starlets at the time such as Joe Cole, Michael Carrick and Glen Johnson followed suit.
Unfortunately for Defoe, a move failed to materialise in that summer window, and he was forced to remain at West Ham until the January transfer window, when he moved to Tottenham Hotspur. During that half season he was with us in the Championship, he managed to get himself sent off on three occassions. The first two were for silly reckless challenges that cost us dearly. Indeed I remember being at one of those games against West Bromwich Albion in November 2003, where we were 3-1 up at the time of his sending off. We would go on to lose 4-3. The final red, in a match against Walsall in December of that year, came about when he kicked out at an opponent for literally no reason early on in the game. I am still convinced to this day that this was a deliberate act. Being his 3rd red of the campaign brought about a five-match suspension, meaning he would conveniently be unavailable for selection in January, thus not risking injury before finally securing his move. Bwin.com currently have Defoe at 250/1 to be top goalscorer for the upcoming campaign.
So I am not moved by his recent interview. I do not believe he would have acted in the manner he did if he truly loved the club as he says he does. No one would have begrudged him a transfer at that time, but he could have acted with much more sensitivity and professionalism such as the way in which Carrick and Cole did. And why has he always celebrated so passionately when he has scored against us since?
The likes of Johnson, Cole and even Rio Ferdinand have shown respect not to over celebrate when they have scored against us. It is for these reasons that I do not want to see Jermain Defoe back in the famous claret and blue of West Ham United, at a club who he has disrespected so badly.
He is too good for West Ham and has no intention of signing for them. He is older wiser and obviously wants the “fans” to understand that he regrets his actions.
If he has to leave Spurs for regular league action he will move to the next tear down a club say from 6-10th. Not a bottom feeder pond life club that plays route one football with idiot fans that will be fighting against relegation.
I accept you obviously bear a grudge and you are entitled to do so but get real you are in no position to sign players of his quality and he will be better off playing in europe and the cups than basically dropping down a level.
Your a prick aren’t you we don’t want that horrible little sh#t back anyway and concentrate on your own sh#t club and sh#t fans tosser
Prick.
tosser
twat what are you spurs fuck off
you are a fool..Defoe will help you escape championship football..hubris is expensive…you don’t have a striker..not scoring catches up wiv ya…
Westham nurtured him did they? U seem to be conveniently forgetting the controversial way you poached him from Charlton. And as for all those world class stars u mention, where are they now? Pathetic club with pathetic fans
I know you have the hump Darren but you’ll just have to get over it. We’re a little club and spanked you 0-3. Its not like you and your boyfriend even go to games. Off you go Tinkerbell
tosser
Sorry Dave ….. Darren is the tosser !!!
he will end up at loftus road with arry
As much as it wasn’t nice he moved on the advise of a greedy agent and asking to come back (which he has effectively done) would have been hard for him so takes some guts and we should accept that. Reality is he has a great record of scoring goals and staying fit which is more than anyone else I can remember us signing. Fat Sam has always said he plays with the skills available- with Defoe, Morrision, Cole- two decent wingers, battling midfield trio and Collinson who seems to adapt to any position – his excuse would be gone- we would have balance and flair giving options. I am pretty confident Defoe would score lots with Carrol (or more than Nolan anyway) and ultimately if things don’t change I can see us struggling so my vote- quality over history any day.
Interesting article but I would welcome him back with open arms. Football players are fickle. Fans are fickle and everyone is fickle. We are desparate and he is a greedy little striker who scores for fun. Forget bout Carroll his deal could financially deatroy our future. Wat a stupid deal that was! 11 years has gone by and we will never know wat really happened and frankly I don’t care. We are in a relegation battle so I say sign him. If he scores goals and keeps us up he will be loved again. It’s a very fickle world!!!!!
We’re not in a position to turn good players away, and the fact he swallowed his pride in an attempt to make this happen is admirable, anyone probably from Liverpool or Everton down would snap him up in a minute if he wants to come maybe we should swallow our pride to!
My favorite memory of defoe is the night spuds unveild him at shite fart lane as spuds latest signing,and then taking a 3 goal lead to 10 man mcfc in the fa cup-only to lose 4-3,priceless,took away the pain of him signing for that team.At least joe cole turned em down,he understood what its all about-dont rub yer fans nose in it.
The first paragraph in this article is mis-leading as Defoe said the same thing back in 2006, so it has not taken ALL THIS TIME for his statement
http://www.kumb.com/story.php?id=11653
Is the Spurs blog so boring that the tossers have to come on the Hammers site ? The future is far more important than the past . We need a goalscorer desperately . If he wants to come we should try to get him .
I heard that his Mum actually put in the transfer request, when we went down, because she thought it was the best for her son !!!
Let’s look at where we are, £15m Carroll whose injured, Carlton not that clever, Petric injured, Vaz Te injured, Maiga very poor.
Maybe Defoe is the answer, he still knows where the goal is
Would it really be so bad if he came back to West Ham ?
Carroll and Defoe up front. Sounds Good
Get him in asap. When Carrolls back play them both up top. Forgive and forget. Jesus he was a kid and it was over 10 years ago. Get over it
Correction Defoe made a similar point around 2006 stating that leaving WH was a mistake. This recent ITV interview was not the only time he had come out and said it again. For me he has apologised a few times time to forgive we need him ASAP.