Your view: Hammer exodus?
Less than 24hrs after West Ham United had been relegated from the Premiership the first of their young stars clambered for the Upton Park exit and Jermain Defoe handed in a written transfer request.
The highly-rated England Under-21, who joined the Hammers from Charlton in 1999, felt that life in Division One one would do nothing for his fledgling career and made his escape bid. 'As much as I love West Ham United I feel that now is the right time for me to move on in my career,' the striker said. 'This is very much a career decision.' The Hammers declined the youngsters request but a host of other names - such as Joe Cole, Michael Carrick, David James and Trevor Sinclair - may also feel the need to move to continue their domestic/international careers as West Ham look to cut costs. England goalkeeper James described Defoe's actions as 'not helpful' and the 32-year-old stopper is expected to make a decision on his West Ham future when he returns from international duty, along with Sinclair, in June. 'I can only hope that Jermain Defoe was acting on the advice of someone else when he submitted a written transfer request yesterday,' James said of his young teammate. 'We have not even been relegated for 48 hours, so I do not think it is helpful, even if he thinks it is best for his career.' Both James and Sinclair will surely make their decision based on the advice of England manager Sven Goran Eriksson, and how he sees life in Division One impacting upon their international careers. So should the players show more loyalty to their club? Or should the Hammers allow their players to further their careers?
Your Verdict:
I believe the players should show more loyalty. Most of the players were either brought through the ranks or cast-off from other teams and West Ham took them in. It is their fault West Ham are in the First division and it is their responsibility to get us back.
If the team can stay together, we should only be down for one year. The only player I will respect if he leaves is David James. I believe he had a good year considering the defense in front of him, and he is a consistent England player. The young players should definitely stay and should not be allowed to leave. Brian Bellerby
Unfortunately, given the size of its wages bill and the inevitable drop in revenue, West ham must let players go.
But it is unfortunate that players like Defoe are totally devoid of loyalty. If most of the mercenaries who masquerade as professional soccer players had shown more loyalty to the cause in the early part of the season, West Ham would not be in this position anyway. Lewis Chiat
The West Ham players ALL need to take responsibility for what has happened this season. The same group of players that finished 7th last season have to take a serious look at themselves in the mirror. In my opinion I believe that all the players currently with the squad should all take massive pay reductions on their current contracts.
There are nine players out of contract who will be released. If we lose five or six players from our first team squad it is very unlikely to return to the Premier League in the short term. I think the current group of players need to be made aware that it is their responsibility and they should put their personal careers on hold for one season to rectify the mistakes their have made this season. Jamie, Australia
I don't think you can blame the players for wanting to move on. Loyalty is a very honourable virtue, however when you are in the spring or summer of your career you would be mad not to pursue the greatest for your own career and not just a club.
I am Hammers supporter since 1965/66 and I am not going to stop my allegiance now but I would hope West Ham does some spring cleaning in all the cupboards and not just the players. David Short
West Ham are no different to any other club facing relegation. The same players who put the club in the position it finds itself in now queue up to leave.
Dave Barber, Leicestershire
If the game was about loyalty, there would be no overseas players in the Premiership, no London players in the north or vice versa. The game for better or worse is about MONEY and TROPHIES! A player such as Defoe is more likely to go when his team has been relegated rather than if they survived. I do not think that any team should keep a player against his wishes, even if it is within their power to do so.
Defoe will play for Manchester United or Arsenal or Liverpool and we - the fans - will see the best of him if he proves to be good enough to survive the pressures of stardom. Let him move on and let the club also move on. Next season is a whole different ball game. Brian
Defoe has got a cheek. How many match reports did we have of him fluffing opportunities or missing easy ones. While he has played OK, scoring eight goals, and there have been many other under-performing West Ham players this season, of all of them he probably has the most blame to shoulder. If he'd converted 10% of the fluffed opportunities, West Ham would not be going down.
He owes it to the club to put his personal aspirations to one side for at least a season, look to Trevor Brooking as an example of loyalty and do his darndest to get the Hammers back into the top flight next season. Geoff Horne, NZ
As a West Ham fan, I feel that any player with a future should get the hell out the the club as soon as they can. The club have shown such disgusting lack of ambition it's heartbreaking. The quality they've got for 'free' via the youth system let Rio Ferdinand and Frank Lampard walk but they brought in one Bosman signing last summer.
Having finished 7th the Board sat back and thought, hmmm, 7th is fine, we don't need to buy. Sad, tragic. The likes of Bolton and Birmingham (who by anyone's standards we should be at least mentioned in the same bracket) have led the way. Sinclair was right, as I thought at the time, and Di Canio is right now. Roeder does not help though. The Board didn't realise what a wheeler-dealer Harry was for them. And now the fans suffer. West Ham don't deserve good players. Tyrone Green
I know things have changed, but I do remember that Trevor Brooking played three seasons in the old Second Division after West Ham were relegated in 1978.
If Defoe wants to go, so quickly, and while his manager is so ill, let him. He will simply become the new Paul Ince in the eyes of the Green Street faithful. Peter Dewey
In a perfect world the players that got us into this mess should stay and get us out! With the current squad and the addition of a couple of players we should bounce straight back up. In 1978 when we went down our players stayed, notably Trevor Brooking and Billy Bonds but the times have changed so much.
The likes of Defoe, Carrick and Cole are so young one year would not make a lot of difference and if we did not go back up then they could leave. Players come and go and only the fans are the real supporters of the clubs, we do not change clubs if we go down. It is all a dream though and I am sure a lot would leave, I just hope that we can pull out of this mess...Sorry Glen Roeder but you are not the man for the job and never was. Brian Pocklington
I think it would be nice if some of the West Ham players stuck around at least until the transfer window in January, it would be clear by then if we were going to make a swift return to the Premiership, after all they are the ones that got us into this mess.
I do not think all the West Ham players can hold their heads up and say that they have given their all this season. Tim Vaughan
In an ideal world you would expect the players to show loyalty to the team. All for one and one for all! But playing life is short and unpredictable. At the end of the day a player is treated by most clubs as nothing more than a commodity. Perhaps football clubs should be renamed 'football businesses' because in reality that's what they are in the Premier League.
So yes, it would be good if clubs like West Ham could hold on to their prized young players like Jermain Defoe. But we are not living in an ideal world in football anymore. It's big business and those players have every right to think big and follow their dreams. Good luck Jermain and others. Thanks for the memories. Ray Connew, Perth, Australia.
