I am starting to believe that West Ham are suffering from some sort of curse. On so many occasions in recent years, when the club have actually shown some real ambition and spent relatively big money on new players, the signings in question invariably seem to become victims of long-term injuries and therefore find it difficult, or even impossible, to repay the capital that the Hammers have invested in them.
Whilst my curse comment was of course a bit tongue in cheek, whatever the reasons are for these injuries, it is and has been a massive problem for West Ham in terms of the clubs progression.
I imagine there were fitness issues with new signings in previous times, too, but the first big example in recent years I can think of is the case of Dean Ashton.
Bought from Norwich City by then manager Alan Pardew for a club record transfer fee at the time of around £7million, it looked for a while as though the Hammers had signed a top quality goalscorer for years to come.
It was not to be, with a broken ankle suffered in an England training session in August 2006, from a tackle from Shaun Wright Phillips of all people, effectively starting the beginning of the end of Ashton’s career. Although he had spells back after that, often resulting in a good goalscoring record, ‘Deano’ never fully recovered from that injury, and was forced to retire from football in 2009.
In the January transfer window of 2007, the Hammers boss at that time Alan Curbishley signed defender Matthew Upson from Birmingham City for a fee in the region of £6million, with West Ham desperate to strengthen their squad for an ultimately successful relegation battle. Upson would end up playing for West Ham for the next four-and-a-half seasons, but was injured in his first game for the club, causing him to miss the rest of that campaign.
Next, during the summer of 2007, the Hammers, under Icelandic chairman Eggert Magnesson and manager Alan Curbishley, embarked on a spending spree that not only would push the club to the edge of financial oblivion, but brought in several big money signings whose injury records in their time at West Ham were, to put it mildly, horrendous. Firstly there was Craig Bellamy, who became the clubs record transfer after switching from Liverpool for a fee of £7.5million. Despite several good moments for the club, Bellamy’s career at Upton Park was blighted by injuries, and was only able to manage 26 matches in the year and half he was at the club before being sold to Manchester City.
That same summer also saw the arrival of Freddie Ljungberg from Arsenal, in a £3million move. In his one and only season at the club, Ljungberg was injured for a large period towards the end of the campaign, and indeed only played in 26. Ultimately the club decided to pay off his contract the following summer, for an unbelievable £6million.
Then there were Scott Parker and Julian Faubert, and despite the fact both would go on to have long careers at West Ham (Perhaps Parker’s a little more distinguished), each were out for a large portion of their first season at the club, and following on from the theme, both were signed for a big price; Parker in a £7million deal from Newcastle United, and Faubert a £6million transfer from Bordeaux.
Last, but not least from that transfer window anyway, is a name that probably sends shivers down the spine of most West Ham supporters for years to come; Kieron Dyer. This was another of Curbishley’s buys, in a £6million move from Newcastle United. Having suffered a broken leg at the start of his time at the club, and constant injury problems subsequent to that after his eventual comeback, Dyer only managed 22 appearances in four years at West Ham, and not one of those was for a full 90 minutes. You start to think to yourself that only at West Ham this sort of thing could happen!
Now of course we have Andre Ayew . Having impressed at Swansea City when he joined from French side Olympique Marseille last season the injury curse again struck the club after Ayew was brought on a permanent transfer, in a £20.5 million deal.
He picked a thigh injury on his debut at Chelsea on Monday. The injury is liley to rule him out for 4months. Why is it then, when West Ham splash the cash, we always seem to end up with players who obtain long term injuries, and who therefore cannot fulfil their potential on the field for us? Is it just bad luck, or do our managers take unacceptable risks with players who are known to be injury prone?