Written by: @JHerbert2818
An erratic, yet mercurial, forward who could have been remembered as a cult hero – but instead left with no impact or legacy. Marko Arnautovic’s West Ham story will overall be one of how greed and arrogance can tarnish the reputation of a fan’s favourite. The story of a player who, despite his poor performances early in his West Ham career, was encouraged and supported through it by our faithful fans – only for these same people to be taken for fools later on when Marko decided that he’d changed his mind about playing in claret and blue.
Few would argue that there is anything inherently wrong with moving to China, or playing football for the money, but professional footballers have a responsibility to conduct themselves in an appropriate manner and honour the contract they have with their current club: something which Marko and his brother Danijel failed to do. In truth, the fact that large sects of the fanbase had forgiven him come the end of the season the first time he tried to angle for a big money move says a lot about how desperately West Ham fans wanted to see Marko play well for us and give his all. His actions had destabilised the club at probably the most important point of the season, had poisoned relationships with the fans and undermined the position of the manager: in hindsight, he should have left the club immediately in January.
Yet the example of Arnautovic is proof and testament to the power players and their agents have today: leaving the club with the option either to sell the ‘Marko’ or continue to with a player who is not committed to his job (which pays six times the average yearly income – in just a week.) The example of Arnautovic is particularly insulting to us fans as, whilst he had good moments at the club and scored goals, he was nowhere near the level of others at the club that have wanted to leave over the years – yet who have remained their professionalism and gone about in about in a way that doesn’t adversely impact the rest of the club. Marko was good: strong, relatively quick and a decent finisher, but he wasn’t irreplaceable or world class. He had his faults: he could quickly go missing in games, was often caught offside and was a selfish player on the pitch: a trait that obviously remains part of his nature after the final whistle has blown, shown no where more obviously then by how his actions have put his own interests ahead of West Ham United, in a way that, sadly, we are likely to see again in the future.
There’s a lot to learn from this Marko Arnautovic debacle. The power of agents in football has been shown once more and it will hopefully have inspired the club to be more careful in the future so as to avoid players that have a reputation for this sort of behaviour. When’s all said and done however, Marko Arnautovic has lost all respect from a fanbase that once adored him: has sacrificed competitive football in the best league in the world and ultimately, revealed himself as a greedy, selfish and arrogant individual with no respect for the club that payed his wage, or the fans that spent their hard-earned money to cheer his name.
Marko Arnautovic will ultimately be remembered as a nobody in football: is there a price you can put on that?
