The alleged truth behind a behind-the-scenes bust-up between Jarrod Bowen and Graham Potter which set the tone for West Ham’s difficult season has been revealed.
Graham Potter’s record at West Ham was damning enough to speak for itself when he was sacked back in September.
Since then, though, a number of current and former Hammers stars have made it clear that Potter’s management was sorely lacking.
Central to that was the relationship, or lack of one, between Potter and his captain Jarrod Bowen.
Potter’s secret talks with Bowen’s teammates sparked fallout, claims source
Now a West Ham source has revealed why Bowen reportedly stopped speaking to Potter.
West Ham duo Mads Hermansen and Jean-Clair Todibo are the latest to shame Graham Potter as they praise the job being done by Nuno Espirito Santo in turning around a divided dressing room and under-performing team.
Why is Jarrod Bowen struggling when we need him most?
That came after Michail Antonio said Potter snubbed his plea for a West Ham farewell in a revelation which angered Hammers fans earlier this week.
Antonio’s comments followed fierce criticism from Vladimir Coufal on the way Potter handled his own Hammers exit, revealing he was told he was being released during a 30-second conversation.
But West Ham fans may have just heard the worst of the lot.
When Potter was sacked, Athletic reporter Roshane Thomas claimed sources close to the departing Hammers boss had revealed to him that the now interim Sweden coach had serious concerns over ‘Bowen’s inability to captain the team’.
The report stated that Potter acknowledged Bowen was the club’s best player but did not feel he naturally suited the captaincy role.
But it is a new revelation about how Potter handled that situation which explains a lot about West Ham’s struggles this season.
Bowen confronted Potter for questioning his West Ham captaincy
A West Ham ‘team source’, speaking to Fan Sided’s Green Street Hammers, has claimed Potter secretly went around other senior players canvassing opinion on whether Bowen should remain captain.
The source claims the likes of Tomas Soucek, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and James Ward-Prowse were among those asked – and each told Potter ‘there wasn’t another option and Bowen was their captain’.
Potter is alleged to have created a culture of one-on-one meetings with players where he would discuss matters like Bowen’s captaincy and even how West Ham’s Prague hero was getting on with new signings.
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Inevitably, word got back to Bowen and, the source claims, the skipper confronted Potter in ‘a conversation that was not positive’.
It is then claimed that Potter and Bowen never spoke privately again.
That tallies with the fact Bowen rather tellingly did not bid Potter farewell on social media when he was sacked, something he had done for David Moyes and Julen Lopetegui.
In addition, Bowen appeared to target Potter with his West Ham celebration after scoring against Everton in Nuno’s first match.
This week Hermansen made it clear West Ham’s dressing room was divided under Potter.
Is it any wonder given how the former Hammers boss was allegedly managing the squad?
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