Opinion from the stands

West Ham fans react to Defoe’s exit regrets

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Some West Ham supporters took to social media in order to react to Jermain Defoe candidly speaking out about the regrets he had over the way he left the Hammers in 2004.

The now 35-year-old Bournemouth forward revealed that he regretted the way he left the Hammers in 2004 as he believes he was disrespectful over the way he handled getting his exit.

“The manner in which I left West Ham I would change. My agent, at the time, said I had to hand in a transfer request,” said Defoe on Sky Sports’ Transfer Talk, as quoted by the broadcaster’s website.

“When I was young, I didn’t really understand transfer requests, I had never come across one before and my agent told me it was the right thing to do.

“I trusted my agent and I thought this must be the process – hand in a transfer request and when you do that, you would be the first out the door, that’s what he said to me.

“I went to the stadium on my own and I handed the transfer request to Paul Aldridge – he even said to me ‘Who has got you to do this?’

“He was gutted because he knew it had to come out at some point. He was really upset and said that he couldn’t believe that my agent had got me to do that.

“He was saying ‘You don’t need to do this because if a football club wants you, they will come and get you’. At the time, I thought I was doing the right thing, but looking back I’d change that 100 per cent. I think it’s disrespectful.”

Hammers fans were divided on whether to forgive Defoe for the way he left the club with some happy to do so, while one claimed betrayals live forever.

Forever West Ham has rounded up a selection of tweets by Hammers supporters in reaction to Defoe’s comments about his exit:

OPINION

Defoe scored 29 goals in 94 appearances for the Hammers and really made his name at the London club. The forward following his departure from the Hammers went on to secure a reputation as one of the most clinical finishers in the Premier League which made his exit from the London club even harder to bare. However many years have passed and it’s understandable that the player now truly understands why fans were unhappy with how he left the club as he did it in a terrible manner. Defoe is no longer a young man in football and his experiences have clearly caused him to reflect on past decisions and realise he made a few mistakes during his career. While some fans on Twitter aren’t willing to forgive him it’s still nice to hear that Defoe acknowledges he should have done better by the Hammers.

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