Matthew Etherington Bio Send To Friend  

Etherington left West Ham bound for Stoke City in January 2009 for an undisclosed fee after failing to feature regularly under Gianfranco Zola at West Ham.

The left-sided midfielder, who had his fair share of personal problems during his time at Upton Park, left the Hammers after five-and-a-half years.

West Ham had given him the chance to establish himself as a Premiership player after enduring a frustrating time across London with Tottenham Hotspur.

When he is on form his skill, pace and tricks are all there in abundance, and he can weigh in with a fair few goals.

He was nurtured at Peterborough United and made his professional debut as a 15-year-old on the final day of the 1996/97 season, handed a start in a 1-0 victory at Brentford.

Etherington had to wait until the 1998/99 season to break into the side on a regular basis. And his impressive performances brought interest from bigger clubs.

Tottenham moved in to sign the promising midfielder in December 1999, paying £500,000. He played 58 games for Posh, scoring six goals.

He made his debut for Spurs in a 2-0 defeat at Liverpool the following April.

Unable to break into the team on a regular basis, Etherington was loaned out to First Division Bradford City in October 2001. He played 13 games, scoring one goal.

On his return, he told boss Glenn Hoddle that was desperate for first team action. He then featured regularly in the run-in, netting in the 4-0 FA Cup thrashing of Bolton Wanderers.

But as Spurs continued to see him as no more than a squad player, Etherington began to look for a way out of White Hart Lane in search of first team football. That led to the West Ham move just before the start of the 2003/04 season as a makeweight in the deal which saw Frederic Kanoute move in the opposite direction.

Etherington played just 51 games for Spurs in three-and-a-half years - only 24 of those appearances from the start.

He made his Hammers bow in a 2-1 victory at Preston North End. Although the Hammers lost on in the play-offs in his debut season, victory over Preston in the 2004/05 play-off final booked a Premiership return for both club and player.

He signed a new four-year contract in July 2005 and went on to play an important part in their successful 2005/06 season, as the Hammers reached the FA Cup final.

Etherington found himself on the sidelines for the latter part of the 2006/07 season however, as the new regime began to spend money on players, including Luis Boa Morte.

He penned a new deal through to 2012 in January 2008... just weeks before injury ended his season. He made just 21 appearances in all competitions in 2007/08.

Still, a useful player, Etherington has the pedigree and the time to make himself a Premiership regular, but he has to remove the inconsistency from his game that has at times frustrated the West Ham fans.

And he will have to do that with Stoke after he fell out of favour in the Zola regime. He moved to Stoke after playing 195 games for West Ham, scoring 18 goals.