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What Happened To Winnie? Reid Absent Again!

nevillenixon's picture
Submitted by nevillenixon on Tue, 22/10/2019 - 12:11


Following Saturday's debacle against Everton one player who was just looking to get out on the pitch was the club's forgotten man, Winston Reid.

'Winny' was scheduled a run out with the U23's last night as he hadn't played competitive football for nearly two years. Alas it was not to be, and on the face of it is highly unlikely he will ever return to the first team, let alone become the fearsome warrior defender that he was.

Officially there was no word as to why Reid wasn't even in the squad, however one of our Org members was at the match and was told Reid had succumbed to a heavy flu virus and that his presence could have been bad for the health of the rest of the squad. You can take that information with however big a grain of salt you wish, however it doesn't really 'cover' the situation.

The initial injury Reid sustained was a 'freak accident' whereby he was knocked unconscious while in mid air, consequently landing in a completely unnatural way on his knee, which basically shattered! On reflection it would probably have been better for the player to just retire due to the severity of the injury, but that is with the benefit of hindsight, no one, including the player himself, had any idea that the injury would take so long to heal.

If Reid had been able to return, and don't forget he has been given full wages during his 'freak' injury spell, he might have been able to increase Manuel Pellegrini's defensive options without any additional financial outlay. The future does look bleak for the New Zealander, and while it must have been incredibly frustrating for the 'Warrior' not to be playing, life has had it's compensations, in 2017 Reid signed a 6 year / £21,840,000 contract with West Ham United F.C with an annual average salary of £3,640,000, in 2019 Reid will earn a base salary of £3,640,000 or about £70,000 per week, so at least he can cry all the way to the bank! .

The Reid situation is a salient reminder of how the policy of handing out long contracts to prevent other teams from 'poaching' players can come back to bite clubs, very hard! It would be wonderful if Winston Reid can come back, but at 31 years of age it is a bit of a long shot, perhaps he just spent too much time in Andy Carroll's company?- Ed

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