Written by Arun Janaka

History of ‘Snakes’

Being a West Ham supporter, ‘snakes’ can go back as early as 1988 with Paul Ince. The midfielder had been pictured in a Manchester United shirt before any deal got done. Then to top it all off, the club got relegated the same season. Even to this day his name is still mud in East London. Although he claimed the photo got taken before going on holiday.

I now move to Jermain Defoe. Less than 24 hours after the club got relegated, Defoe had submitted a transfer request. A refusal to sign a new contract along with disciplinary problems, including three sending offs. This led to West Ham accepting an offer from Tottenham for him in the January transfer window. Fans of West Ham still hiss and boo at him when he comes to play.

Now this player was different. Scott Parker a man who we thought bled claret and blue had handed in a transfer request after once again, a relegation. Parker got put on a pedestal by us West Ham fans and I guess it came and slapped us in the face. In August 2011, Tottenham and West Ham both announced the transfer of Parker, with the fee believed to have cost £5.5 million. However West Ham fans are still split on whether they hate Scott Parker or not. I don’t mind him. He did apologise to the fans before leaving but everybody is different and the fact he went to spurs was why fans were angry.

Do Contracts Matter?

The last story is definitely well-known by you readers. Despite signing a glamorous 5 year contract earning 125k per week, months later after a 5-0 loss to Manchester City in the FA Cup, speculation arose that Dimitri Payet had submitted a transfer request. This was evidently not a rumour as before the league match against Crystal Palace the club had tweeted about it. At first the club didn’t want to sell the player, so he decided to take strike. The club had gone on to win their next two games and he got sold to Marseille for 25 million pounds. Payet is probably considered the worst of the bunch at West Ham and he’ll probably never be forgiven. Especially with the amount of social media there is, to remind fans of his actions. Purely due to the fact that he essentially had the club believing his lies to earn money.

In recent news, winger Michail Antonio,who still has 4 years left in his contract, had stated to the media that he’s unsure on whether he’s going to sign a new contract but says, “his head hasn’t swayed”.He has been linked him with a move to Premier League leaders Chelsea.However we understand West Ham have no intention of selling the 26-year-old. The whole situation with Payet has made me realise that giving him a new contract won’t always mean he stays.

Does Loyalty Still Exist?

Leading on from my last point, a contract doesn’t always decide things. It’s the players’ mindset, and these days you find it hard to have players like Mark Noble such as or even like Sergio Aguero who’s been at City for 6 years now.

So here’s my question, does loyalty still exist? In my opinion its fading away especially in the premier league and it will be hard to find more players that do stay at a club for at least the length of their contract as more and more players, are getting bored with the same journey and would rather prefer constantly improving their cash sum then leaving. I’d like to see what you have to say about it so go ahead.

Thank you for reading today’s article