Former West Ham United manager Alan Pardew has a lot of sympathy for the almost impossible situation Graham Potter ‘inherited’ when he took over at the Premier League outfit seven months ago.
By the time Potter replaced Julen Lopetegui in the London Stadium debut, Michail Antonio was only a month into his recovery; The veteran striker suffering a broken leg in a horror car crash back in December.
The nature of Antonio’s eventual departure from West Ham United has left a sour taste in the mouths of many supporters.
Particularly with another 30-something centre-forward arriving to replace him; Former Newcastle striker Callum Wilson joined on a free-transfer over the weekend.
Potter shut the door on Antonio’s potential return to the London Stadium just 24 hours later. ‘No’, was his straightforward response when asked if the club’s all-time Premier League goalscorer could yet don the claret and blue again.
And the aforementioned Alan Pardew knows how it feels for a manager to find himself in such a tricky situation. Potter is not the first Hammers boss, after all, to make an unpopular decision with a fan favourite footballer.
Photo by Laurens Lindhout/Soccrates/Getty ImagesAlan Pardew says West Ham United exit left Steve Lomas ‘very angry’
Pardew took over at Upton Park all the way back in 2003.
Steve Lomas was captain of West Ham at the time. But with Pardew unconvinced about the fitness and longevity of a 33-year-old midfielder who had suffered his fair share of injuries – including a nine-month absence with a serious knee issue – he made the difficult decision to push the long-serving Lomas to the periphery.
The 1999 UEFA Intertoto Cup-winning skipper would later join Queens Park Rangers on a free transfer, much to his disappointment.
“I wouldn’t call them legends but [men like Michail Antonio and Steve Lomas] are players who have been at a football club for a long time,” Pardew tells talkSPORT.
“And you are inheriting them [as a new manager], kind of saying their time is up at the football club.
“I can tell you one story about Steve Lomas, when I went to West Ham. An experienced player, he was very angry with the way he got treated by me.
“I didn’t think where he was physically was how I wanted to play the game. I left him out of the team and he was really angry about it, and angry about the way he had been moved on. And he made that very clear to me.
“We have since met and put that behind us. We shake hands and look each other in the eye, no problem. But it was a very, very difficult time. And when you have a senior player who has been a big player at a football club causing you problems on the training ground, it is very, very difficult.”
Photo by Phil Cole/Getty ImagesMichail Antonio helped Callum Wilson decide on West Ham transfer
Lomas, who also represented Manchester City and the Northern Ireland national team, returned for a brief spell as a reserve-team coach at West Ham in 2011.
Now 51, the former Millwall and St Johnstone manager has not worked in coaching for over a decade. Speaking to the official West Ham website back in 2023, however, Lomas admitted that he was enjoying life as a pundit and a matchday ambassador at his old stomping ground.
As for Michail Antonio, Callum Wilson spoke to the West Ham favourite, and close friend, before putting pen to paper on a one-year deal on Saturday.
“I’ve spoken with Michail, and he only mentioned positive things about the club, said it’s a great opportunity. Yeah, I think I’m looking forward to meeting the other players,” Wilson explains, having co-hosted the Footballer’s Football Podcast with Antonio.
“I’ve been in the England squad with James Ward-Prowse before and you play against these guys week in week out, so I’m guessing they’ll have a different opinion of me when they meet me in the dressing room as opposed to when you come up against an opposition player.
“On the pitch, you obviously have to put away the smile and be a little bit more serious, a little bit more aggressive. So yeah it’d be nice to actually be friends with the guys rather than in opposition!”