West Ham United hero Jack Collison is set to leave the club for a second time.
West Ham announced the departure of their Under 18s coach on their official website.
Collison is taking up a mystery post overseas.
The former midfielder played 105 games for West Ham, scoring 11 goals. That included crucial strikes in the Championship Play-Off semi-final victory over Cardiff City in 2012.
Jack Collison: The making of a Hammers hero
After graduating to the West Ham first team from the club’s famous academy under Alan Curbishley, Collison was one of the hottest prospects around.
But a series of devastating injuries restricted his playing time and he was forced to retire this year aged just 27.
He will forever be remembered for playing for the club in a famous cup win over bitter rivals Millwall just days after his dad had died in a motorbike crash on the way to watching his emerging son against Tottenham Hotspur.
West Ham fans will forever wonder just what might have been for Collison at West Ham had he not suffered the injuries which ultimately cut short such a promising career.
Return as coach delighted fans
So when he returned to the club as a coach, those supporters were over the moon.
And that is quite the opposite to what they are feeling now after the fans’ favourite left the club for a second time.
Collison admitted it was one of the hardest decisions of his life.
West Ham fans were emotional too as they reacted on Twitter.
Here a selection of the responses to the announcement, including messages from Collison’s former West Ham teammates Matt Jarvis and Bertie Brayley and ex Hammers photographer Steve Bacon.
Messages pour in for departing Collison
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