Michail Antonio eventually fell foul of the Graham Potter-led restructuring at West Ham United, but he did not stick around long enough to become their all-time record Premier League goalscorer for nothing.
Jarrod Bowen is only three goals away from equalling his former teammate’s tally of 68 in the top-flight. But, following West Ham United’s relegation a week-and-a-half ago, Michail Antonio’s record is safe for the time being.
Antonio blames Graham Potter for tearing apart a dressing room with so much top-flight experience last summer; the late-blooming frontman departing alongside Aaron Cresswell, Kurt Zouma, Vladimir Coufal, Danny Ings, Emerson Palmieri and [briefly] Lukasz Fabianski.
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Until then – and the fateful car crash which brought a premature end to his Premier League career – the former Reading, Southampton and Nottingham Forest ace had a habit of winning over the cynics.
Antonio would dispel countless doubts during the eras of Slaven Bilic, David Moyes [twice], Manuel Pellegrini and Julen Lopetegui.
Michail Antonio proved many wrong at West Ham United
Without naming names, he admits that Potter was not the first West Ham boss who thought about moving him on.
“For me, I never really focused that far ahead in my football career,” Antonio says on the LIFEJACKET podcast. “I was a person that always thought, ‘I’m not pro, I need to be pro.’ And then it went from being pro to, ‘I need to play a certain amount of games.’
“And then, ‘Alright, if I’m at this club, I need to get to that club.’
“I always tried to take the next small step instead of trying to go four or five steps ahead. I feel like that’s what’s kind of kept me going.
“Like even at West Ham, every year a different manager came in and tried to sell me, being like, ‘You’re not my type of player.’ And I was like, ‘OK, cool. So I’m not your type of player. Now, I don’t need to try and think about moving. I need to prove to you I can be your type of player.’
“And that was always my mindset. It’s just that ‘prove that I can do it’ mindset. That’s something I’ve always had.”
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Alan Pardew turned down the chance to sign Antonio
Antonio would spend the 2009/10 season on loan at Southampton, under former West Ham manager Alan Pardew.
Before the Hammers took a punt on the then-Nottingham Forest winger eleven years ago, Pardew seemingly turned down the chance to pursue a reunion, although Antonio does not specify if this snub came during Pardew’s time in charge of Newcastle or Crystal Palace.
“I find it quite crazy because even the years that I was at Sheffield Wednesday, looking at my stats, every year I was getting 20 goals or assists. So I was getting 11 goals and nine assists, or nine goals and 11 assists a year,” Antonio remembers.
“I was getting more assists and goals than other players that were getting moves to the Premier League, right? And I was just like, ‘Why am I not getting the moves?’
“Obviously, I played for Alan Pardew at Southampton. So my agent called him up and was like, ‘Why are you not coming for Michail?’ And he’s like, ‘Consistency. He’s not consistent enough.
“‘He needs to be like a flat 7/10, or if he drops down to a six it’d be fine. But you can’t have an 8/10 game then drop down to a 4/10. Just find that flat consistency and then you’ll be able to move to the Premier League.’ And I think I found that at Nottingham Forest.”
“I’m a person that always likes to learn. So even when I went to West Ham and I wasn’t playing for three months, I kept going to the manager [Slaven Bilic] going, ‘What do I need to do to play? What do I need to do for you to trust me to get my opportunity?’
“I don’t feel like you’re ever too old to learn. Different players and different managers always have different philosophies, so you kind of have to adapt to what that manager wants.”
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