Perhaps the most unfortunate aspect of Bobby Zamora’s West Ham United departure – the former Premier League stalwart was sold to Fulham in the summer of 2008 – was the timing of it.
Looking back on that unexpected switch from Upton Park to Craven Cottage 17 years ago, and opening up on his desire to stay and fight for a place in claret and blue, it is difficult to overlook the irony.
Bobby Zamora was sold largely against his will in July of that summer. Only two months later, Alan Curbishley himself walked out the door, reportedly due to a lack of control over the club’s transfer policy.
One decision Curbishley did make, though, was to move Zamora on. Had the manager turned his back on the Hammers at the end of the previous season rather than the beginning of the next one, Zamora might have stuck around at the Boleyn for a little while longer.
Now, Zamora was a lifelong West Ham supporter. Even after hanging up his boots nearly a decade ago, he could still be spotted wearing the claret and blue on the local seven-a-side pitches.
So it’s no surprise he was left blindsided after being told he was not part of Curbishley’s plans at his beloved West Ham United, especially as talks over a contract extension were happening at the time too.
Bobby Zamora reflects on West Ham United exit under Alan Curbishley
In West Ham and Curbishley’s defence, though, Zamora was coming off the back of an injury-hit 2007/08 season when the decision was made to cash in.
The former Tottenham Hotspur striker, who crossed the city in January 2004 with Jermain Defoe moving in the other direction, had been restricted to one goal and 14 appearances during his final season at Upton Park.
Per BBC Sport, he joined Fulham alongside former Hammers defender John Paintsil for a combined £6.3 million.
“I remember getting in early and getting [the message that] the manager wants to talk,” Zamora recalls, speaking opposite Adebayo Akinfenwa on the Beast Mode On podcast. “Alright, fine, cool.
“I roll into the office and [Curbishley tells me] ‘We’ve accepted an offer from Fulham, so if you want to go and have a chat with them today…’
“”I remember thinking, ‘What?’. I can’t be having a negotiation about getting a new contract and yet you guys are [willing to sell me]! I remember that shook me. That can’t be right.
“So I phone my agent and he’s like, ‘Yeah, you’re not going to be part of Curbs plans going forward’. I was like, ‘Wow, OK, fine’. I had no idea, no idea whatsoever.
“I got the go-ahead to go and see Roy [Hodgson, manager of Fulham] that afternoon. [I thought] ‘alright, if I’m not wanted there, fine. I will prove myself somewhere else’.
“I didn’t kick up a fuss [but] I didn’t want to leave really.”
Zamora shone at Fulham and is now a coach at Brighton and Hove Albion
Zamora would have the last laugh, in a sense, though he was not the type of chuckle at his old club’s expense.
Shortly after scoring a career-best 19 goals in 2009/10, helping fire Hodgson’s giant-killing Cottagers to the Europa League final, West Ham would suffer relegation under Avram Grant.
Zamora’s two England caps came when the Hammers were playing second-tier football.
Flash forward to 2025 and, now aged 44, he is now back at the club where he started his professional career. He works as a striker coach at Brighton and Hove Albion.
Zamora played a role in Evan Ferguson’s emergence as one of the Premier League’s brightest forward talents before his injury issues began and before that ill-fated loan spell with West Ham.
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