West Ham United have moved to cure their chronic injury problems by appointing former Arsenal and England physio Gary Lewin as the club’s new medical chief.
West Ham United’s record signing Andre Ayew is injured 30 minutes into his debut
It was so typical of West Ham’s luck – or lack of it – that cub record £20.5 million signing Andre Ayew was injured less than half an hour into his debut at the start of last season.
But for West Ham fans, it was nothing new, if anything there was an air of inevitability about the whole thing.
Then as the season progressed Slaven Bilic was dogged by injuries and many feel the situation was so acute he actually did brilliantly to steer the club to an 11th placed finish in the Premier League.
It proved, if there was ever any doubt, for even the least superstitious Hammers fan that the club’s injury curse is real.
Of course all clubs have their fair share of injuries over the course of a season but West Ham seem to suffer more than most.
Retired young: Dean Ashton celebrates scoring for West Ham
The list of players who have gone the same way is endless with Dean Ashton the most notable and other big names like Craig Bellamy, Andy Carroll spending more time in the treatment room. Who can forget Keiron Dyer and Freddie Ljungberg while even last year Bilic lost Dimitri Payet, Manuel Lanzini, Winston Reid, Diafra Sakho and Enner Valencia all at the same time, which ultimately cost the club a place in the Champions League, finishing just four points shy of qualification.
Ayew, Michail Antonio, Angelo Ogbonna, Mark Noble, Pedro Obiang, Arthur Masuaku, Aaron Cresswell, Sam Byram, Sakho, Carroll, Reid and Gokhan Tore were all injured for long spells this season.
So the Hammers have decided to shake things up with the appointment of ex England and Arsenal man Lewin as the club’s head of medical services replacing Stijn Vandenbroucke, as announced on the club’s official website.
West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic and the now departed Stijn Vandenbroucke
While the club were keen to highlight Lewin’s vast experience and ‘peerless CV’ after 22 years as first-team physio at Arsenal and 18 with England’s physio, Twitter was not so kind.
Instead the club were trolled – mostly in good humour – over the irony of the appointment given Lewin slipped on a water bottle and seriously injured his ankle celebrating Daniel Sturridge’s equaliser against Italy at the Brazil World Cup in 2014.
Lewin was treated on the side of the pitch, carried off on a stretcher and taken to hospital as he was ruled out for the rest of the tournament.
And supporters have called it a match made in heaven on Twitter.
Gary Lewin
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