One West Ham United owned player was booed by the fans during a game earlier this week.
The West Ham United fans have made a name for ourselves for booing opposing players throughout the years.
The likes of Paul Ince, Frank Lampard and Jermain Defoe all received really bad treatment from the Upton Park faithful.
It’s just all part and parcel of the game isn’t it really, and it happens up and down the country on a regular basis.
Some players can handle it better than other. There are those who are motivated more by boos from the opposition fans, whilst others seem to shrink under the intense pressure.
The player in question was perhaps a little sensitive earlier this week, but this time it wasn’t even the West Ham fans who were doing the booing…
West Ham owned player lashes out at fans who booed him
One of the Hammers owned players had a tough old night five days ago.
Flynn Downes endured a difficult time with Southampton up in Suffolk against Ipswich Town on Monday.
He began his youth career with Ipswich, before leaving Portman Road to join Swansea City in the summer of 2021.
However, the Ipswich fans weren’t keen on him apparently pushing for an exit (East Anglian Daily Times).
The 25-year-old then left Swansea to join West Ham in the summer of 2022, before being shipped out to Southampton on a season-long loan one year later.
He returned to Ipswich with the Saints on Monday night, and received a hostile welcome from the home fans.
Downes has now told BBC Sport that there is a lot more to the story that people don’t know about:
“The fans have absolutely no idea. The manager didn’t want me at the time I left, he put me with the under 23’s team, what did they want me to do? It does wind me up a little bit, the fans don’t know the full story of what happened at Ipswich. They got sell on fees after I left and money for my sale, it is what it is though, fans are fans.”
That’s entirely fair from Downes. However, home fans booing their former players when they return to the club is all part of the theatre of football.
There probably wasn’t a single person in that home end at Ipswich who genuinely has any ill-feeling toward Downes.
The West Ham fans booed Declan Rice when he returned to the London Stadium with Arsenal, as we have done with the vast majority of the former players who come back and play against us.
Booing former players always has been a part of football all over the world, and it always will be. I just feel like Downes took the boos too personally.
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