Slaven Bilic has again been at pains to reveal that he didn’t want to see James Tomkins leave the club.
The big central defender is set to come up against the Irons for the first time since his £10 million departure on Saturday and the manager made it clear the departure was not his doing.
Speaking ahead of the game he declared: ““I tried to explain the situation with James. I didn’t want him to leave or go but last year he played many, many games for us in different positions and he was very good for our squad.
“But I couldn’t guarantee he would play week in week out and that is the reason he left. He didn’t want to leave because he is West Ham born and bred.
“He wanted guarantees basically and I couldn’t give him that.”
So he couldnt be bothered to fight for a first team place then basically.Dear oh dear,what a shame.I had read his a few times before this season,i always hoped he had a bit more to him than that if the club ment so much too him.
But in a way at his age i can kind of understand it.It makes many of the ‘we were stupid selling Tomkins’ arguements invalid though,good player but should never have been told he would be a cert starter,not imho anyway.No player deserves guarantees,you earn a place in the team on form.
Tompkins never let us down . Mistakes a few times yes , but in a professional footballers career the odd mistake is part and parcel . If he wanted to leave because of Bilic then it ain’t good . His place should have been guaranteed and now we miss him .
No his place should have never been guaranteed.How can you ‘Guarantee’ any player a start.What a load of crap! It aint as if he was even good enough to guarantee a place!
Where has it ever been said he didnt like Bilic? You should get a job in Fleet St Kevin,you can find a story from scraps 😛
Isn’t he a Mark Curtis client!?
Should have kept him though at least until Oxford/ Burke come good. Could have shipped out Collins who can only play c/b. Odd he didn’t fancy the move to LS