Stewart Downing Interview In The Times Today

Downing was fabulous for us in his first spell.
He definitely contributed to our promotion season. It is always going to be a problem when the manager didn't want to sign you and spend so much budget on you.
I wish him well and will always think positively about him.
 
Class footballer. Any other comment is wrong. Part of the squad that won us the carling cup and played a huge part in our European run. Also big part of the team that got back us promoted. Anyone doing anything but wishing him well in the future has a chip on their shoulder.
 
Sheriff_John_Bunnell_ret said:
Brentford away off the bench in the league cup, Ipswich away full debut. That's from memory though which has been known to go wrong.
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Away to Ipswich was first, his full debut in April 2002 (2001/02 season). Brentford away in League Cup was his first goal, later that year in October of 2002/03 season

He didn't play at home to Fulham in August 2002 and wasn't on the bench so IDK where the Fulham thing comes from...
 
I remember him having a cracking breakthrough loan at Sunderland which then seemed to kickstart his career here.
 
A legend but probably shouldn't have returned for that second spell, I imagine he regrets it in hindsight. He was 30 and had just had a brilliant season for West Ham, he was an established premier league player. Should have had a few more seasons in the PL then made the move.
 
Great in his first spell, but more limited in his second one. And it was not due to AK. SD had lost some speed and the crosses were getting less and less impactful.

I agree overall our best home produced player in the last 20 years.
 
Redwurzel said:
Great in his first spell, but more limited in his second one. And it was not due to AK. SD had lost some speed and the crosses were getting less and less impactful.

I agree overall our best home produced player in the last 20 years.
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not sure I buy that seeing as in the season before joining us he had one of his best seasons, scoring 6 goals in the premier league. Did his pace disappear and crossed get worse over the preseason?
 
I seem to remember Bilic being extremely reluctant to let Downing go, but accepted that was what he wanted. I know a couple of West Ham fans in the office were gutted to see him leave at the time.
 
ThatFragranceGuy said:
not sure I buy that seeing as in the season before joining us he had one of his best seasons, scoring 6 goals in the premier league. Did his pace disappear and crossed get worse over the preseason?
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Could be wrong, but think his good form with West Ham that season was him mostly playing at the top of a midfield diamond with two strikers ahead of him.

We tried him as the "10" behind a lone striker and it didn't really work, kept dropping too deep and leaving the striker isolated.

not sure mentally he ever really thrived on the responsibility of being the main man. Brilliant player, particularly when surrounded by quality. But in his second spell I really wanted him to grab the game by the neck, demand the ball, take risks and run the show. But instead he just had a tendency to play it too safe too often.

In the premier league it makes more sense to quickly lay it off or try and knock it around and spread the play, waiting for your moment. In the championship with lesser players, it's not necessarily the right approach if you're as talented as he was.

That snake Ramirez had the right approach. You need that mentality to think "I'm the best player on the pitch, let others keep possession, I'm here to make stuff happen" and I don't think Downing ever really had that in him. Possibly the only thing that held him back a bit.
 
He ended up getting stuck on the left, and he really wasn't that player anymore. I think he realised that and wanted to play the 10 role but fabbrini and Ramirez were more impactful there, as Tomlin was the season before.

Watching the highlights of the ak promotion season again though, he is involved with a fair amount of goals. Just people were expecting a Merson season, or the crossing machine he was in his first spell.

I think he could have been really useful in the woodgate season as a player who could just put his foot on the ball amidst all the madness. Howson stood out for just this reason.
 
Might not be an accurate picture but now when I recall his second spell all I can picture is him holding up play and passing backwards.

Karanka clearly didn't want to sign him and it was obvious the pair never got on, we'll never know the full details of the Charlton melt down but I bet some of the blame is Downing's.

I have good memories of him as a player in his first spell, can't deny his quality but he was never a player I warmed to and would regard as a favourite. The "Marton Mafia" tag probably didn't help his cause nor his dubious hangers on.
 
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