Snodgrass Redemption Complete

After nearly two years West Ham United's Scottish winger Robert Snodgrass has finally been accepted by players, owners and fans alike as a true Hammer. Funny old game is football, Manuel Pellegrini saw enough about 30 year old Snodgrass to want to keep him at the club as opposed to selling him to Aston Villa who were very keen to reain his services given how well he had done there on a season's long loan.

Snodgrass arrived at the London Stadium from Hull City as part of a 'poisoned chalice' transfer, indirectly he was supposed to replace the outgoing Dimitri Payet. The onus and weight of such an impossible task saw fans quickly crticise 'Snoddy's' performances, by his own admission he was not fit and was carrying a few too many pounds, the fact that Slaven Billic had no idea what position was best for Snodgrass to play only added to the negativity surrounding his transfer.

It seemed that bridges that had been burned between the player and majority shareholder of West Ham, David Sullivan, meant that an exit from the club was the only logical conclusion. Fast forward to the present day, and Snodgrass is seen as an essential element, so apart from him having his family with him and having dropped his deep fried Mars bar tendencies, what has happened? The unfair responsibility of replacing Payet weighed heavy on Snodgrass's shoulders, but the summer arrival of Felipe Anderson changed all that. Suddenly there was a 'target' for fans negativity, believe us, for example there is a chap who has a season ticket in the Bobby Mooore Upper who spends his entire time saying how effing useless Anderson is.

Being out of the cross hairs has enabled Robert Snodgrass to play with more freedom, he now resembles the player who was worth paying over £10 Million for, he is not the finished article, but his commitment to the cause and his never say die attitude is infectious. He is clearly liked by the squad, his popularity shows that he is clearly part of the team ethic that Manuel Pellegrini has been instilling in his squad, Snoddy's pass for Chicharito's first goal against Newcastle was sublime, it was how you say 'Payetesque'? - Ed