Marlon Harewood’s departure from West Ham United in the summer of 2007 left the striker with a fair bit of regret, even if the chance to play under Martin O’Neil at Premier League rivals Aston Villa was one he could not ‘turn down’.
Something of a modern icon in East London, Harewood struck up a fine partnership with Teddy Sheringham as Alan Pardew led the Hammers to a top-half finish in their first season back in the big time in 2005/06.
The big number nine also finished as West Ham United’s top scorer in that outstanding campaign, netting 14 times.
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But once Pardew left and the fitness-obsessed Alan Curbishley arrived to take his place on the Upton Park bench, Harewood would soon be considering his options. While Curbishley masterminded Carlos Tevez’s stunning turnaround and the infamous ‘Great Escape’ of 2007, his relationship with a few members of the first-team squad was rather strained.
Left-back Paul Konchesky reflected on the divisions between he and the former Charlton Athletic manager a few months ago. Speaking on the All Out Football podcast, Harewood also admits that relations went sour behind the scenes in the lead up to his £3.5 million switch to Aston Villa.
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Marlon Harewood could not reject Aston Villa when Martin O’Neill called the West Ham United striker
Villa’s gain, meanwhile, was Wigan Athletic’s loss.
The one-time Nottingham Forest talisman would snub the Latics in favour of a move which saw him join City Ground legend Martin O’Neill at an upwardly-mobile Villa outfit. Something he felt a great deal of awkwardness about.
“Coming from Forest and hearing about the legend of Martin O’Neill, I knew what he meant to that club,” Harewood says. “He was doing really well at Villa with players like John Carew, Gabby Agbonlahor, Ashley Young, James Milner, Gareth Barry, Stiliyan Petrov, and Olaf Mellberg.
“When someone like that comes in for you, you don’t turn it down.
“I had given Wigan my word. It was one of those situations where I was literally about to head up there when Martin called me. My agent said it was his fault, and I did feel bad to be fair. I’d never been in that situation before, but I get it now.
“When players have clubs to choose from and suddenly Arsenal calls [for example], you make the switch. It’s business. So, that’s how I ended up at Villa.
“It was difficult [towards the end at West Ham],” adds Harewood. “Very difficult. Before [Curbishley] even came, there were a few lads that had him [as a manager] before who didn’t like him.”
Hammers players ‘didn’t like’ Alan Curbishley when he arrived
We don’t want to put words in Harewood’s mouth, but it does not take much of a stretch to suggest he is talking about Koncheskey, who also played under Curbishley at Charlton.
“Before he even stepped into the dressing room, lads had written him off already. Despite what he had done, there were a lot of lads ready to put their transfer requests in,” says the 2006 FA Cup runner-up.
“He came out of the ‘old school’ method – no disrespect to him – and he was just doing all sorts of old school stuff. You know, when lads are just running and running?”
“He came in mid-season and his thing was saying, ‘We’re not fit.’ That’s always the reason for any manager that comes to a new team; they always assume it’s fitness, which isn’t always the case. We’re talking 20 years ago now, so obviously the game has moved on, but he came in and after a couple of games – half-time, full-time – he was going in on people.”
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“I wrote him off straight away before I even knew him! You just want to jump on the bandwagon. You’re just waiting for it to happen. And he didn’t let us down; he came in and did exactly what the lads were talking about. He went in [on the players] and the lads didn’t like it.”
“As soon as you do that, you lose the lads. He was saying things and it was getting out to the press. It didn’t help the situation we were in. At the time, West Ham were doing bad and people like to get on your case.
“But being a senior player looking back now at what he achieved, I don’t know if that was his tactic [but] it worked. I’m looking back thinking the way he was, he got a reaction that was warranted. It’s hard to critique it now because it worked, but at the time it was horrible.”
Curbishley, of course, will retain a special place in the hearts of countless West Ham fans, even if his popularity in the dressing room and his popularity on the terraces sat at very different ends of the scale.
Harewood would go on to score only five league goals for an Aston Villa side who finished the 2007/08 season in sixth place. He found opportunities hard to come by due to competition from Carew and a young Agbonlahor, while Emile Heskey would arrive soon after.
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