There have been many hardships, injustices and general bizarre activity over the years at Upton Park, but if the heavily rumoured signing of El Hadji Diouf goes ahead then West Ham will have reached a new low.
Yesterday John Carew tweeted a picture of the top half a players head with the message, “now can you peeps guesss who showed up for training today ?”
It wasn’t very cryptic, anyone even vaguely familiar with football would be able to work out who it was from the peroxide Mohican, early 2000s-style lines shaved into his eyebrow and the starring eyes of a sociopath.
A recent spate of injuries, especially attacking players, sparked this speculation. David Bentley had to return to Tottenham, Matt Taylor and Henri Lansbury will be out for a few months with calf and knee problems respectively and Calton Cole is rumoured to be struggling for fitness to face Brighton on Monday.
Recently Diouf has been linked with Wigan, Doncaster, Blackpool and along with every footballer in existence, Anzhi Makhachkala.
But with Carew confirming the 30-year-old trained at Chadwell Heath yesterday a move to Upton Park looks more than likely.
Sam Allardyce told the official West Ham website: “I know what he is capable of and that he can deliver. Knowing someone like Dioufy I just have to let him get fit and see if he looks in good condition when he trains with us. There are other options we are looking at on loan from other clubs but they are few and far between now because they have been taken by other clubs.”
The Senegalese striker is currently a free agent after being released from Blackburn for failing to return from international duty.
But this is the least of his transgressions, his most repugnant, even for a professional footballer, include spitting on a 11-year-old Middlesbrough fan as well as on Celtic and West Ham supporters, threatening to stab Sunderland team-mate Anton Ferdinand and rape a one-year-old, punching Senegal team-mate Khalilou Fadiga’s wife and telling an Everton ball-boy to ‘****-off white boy’.
All managers have their favourite players that they take from one club to another, but Diouf would be the fifth ex-Bolton/Blackburn Allardyce signing, and would for many fans be a step too far.
A lot of supporters were unhappy when Allardyce took over due to the style of football he is renowned for playing.
Others were more realistic and recognised that as a Championship club tough decisions needed to be made and high minded ideals may have to be put to one side to make a swift return to the Premier League.
Signings such as Abdoulaye Faye, Papa Bouba Diop, Guy Demal and John Carew all pointed to a new team tactic based around set plays and dominating penalty areas.
An acceptable compromise if it led to promotion perhaps, but football fans hatred of Diouf is not about football.
As with all the other Bolton-esque signings, he may be a good acquisition for a Championship team, but it’s his personality many find objectionable.
The Hammers have had their fare share of fiery characters; Julian Dicks, Paolo Di Canio, John Hartson and Ian Wright, but none of the same calibre as Diouf, who is another level of obnoxiousness.
He is a poisonous influence that would bring an unwanted kind of attention, alienate fans of West Ham as well as other clubs, referees and eventually his own colleagues.
This kind of inevitable controversy and ill-feeling he would engender is something the club does not need, even if the casualty list were as long as after the Somme.
In 2008 Alan Curbishley used a pre-season friendly against Villarreal to sound out the Hammers fans thoughts on another free agent at the time, the almost equally detestable Ben Thatcher.
The resulting boos every time he touched the ball answered his question and the signing was never completed.
A similar backlash towards Diouf would almost certainly not have the same result; Unlike Curbishley, Allardyce is not a West Ham fan and therefore does not really care what they think.
Also he is way too bloody minded and stubborn to let what a few pesky punters think get in the way of putting himself in the England shop window, however deluded that may be.
The only people who can stop this happening are ‘West ham fans’, co-chairman David Gold and Sullivan; whether they have the inclination to so in unlikely though.
If Diouf does pull on a West Ham shirt it would leave a very bitter taste in the mouths of many supporters and whatever justifications the club may make for this, it would only confirm what many have known for a long time; that in modern football money is more important than fans.
The Roll Call of Shame: At Least 11 Reasons to hate Diouf
Dec 2002;
Spat into West Ham section at Anfield whilst warming up on the touchline as a substitute for Liverpool. He escaped sanction somehow.
March 2003:
Later that season Diouf was fined two weeks wages Liverpool , £5,000 by the Glasgow Sheriff Court and handed a two-match ban after spitting at Celtic supporters during a Uefa Cup tie at Celtic Park.
Nov 2004:
Not content with just targeting fans he turned his attentions to an 11-year-old Middlesbrough supporter and then, later that same month he spat in Portsmouth captain Arjan de Zeeuw’s face. Diouf admits he showed a “lack of moral responsibility”. Bolton fined him a fortnight’s wages and banned him for three games.
Dec 2005:
Found guilty of a drink-driving offence after celebrating a Premiership win. Bolton Magistrates’ Court banned him from driving for 12 months.
Jan 2006:
Released without charge after he was alleged to have punched the ex-wife of Senegal team-mate Khalilou Fadiga in a Dakar night club.
Oct 2007:
Diouf admits to deliberately getting sent off for Bolton so he would be suspended from domestic competition and therefore able to represent Senegal.
Jan 2009:
Allegedly threatens to stab Sunderland team-mate Anton Ferdinand following a dressing-room confrontation. Three days later he was sold to Blackburn.
Sept 2009:
Investigated by police for allegedly make racist comment to white ball boy during Blackburn’s 3-0 defeat to Everton.
2009:
He was the victim of a prank phone call in which he threatened to rape the caller’s family, including his one-year old daughter.
Sept 2010:
More motoring offences and a slanging match with Neil Warnock after supposedly mocking a QPR player’s broken leg.
March 2011:
Fined £500 by the Scottish FA for being one of three players sent off in an Auld Firm derby that as usual got out of hand and involved a touchline bust-up with Neil Lennon.
