Nigel Reo-Coker endured an up-and-down time at West Ham. After signing from Wimbledon, he soon became one of the club's star performers as he helped the Hammers return to the Premier League. Alan Pardew would make him club captain and he guided the Hammers to the FA Cup final, where they lost in a penalty shootout to Liverpool. However, a number of below-par performances at the start of the 2006-07 campaign saw Reo-Coker singled out by supporters and he soon found himself missing from the starting lineup under Alan Curbishley. The centre midfielder would end the season strongly though, playing his part in a remarkable recovery from the Hammers as they retained their Premier League status with seven wins from their last nine fixtures. Reo-Coker was back in the good books of the fans but months later, he handed in a transfer request and moved to Aston Villa. Despite commanding a fee of £8.5m, his career would go downhill in the West Midlands. He would score just three times in 121 appearances and he was released at the end of his contract in 2011. He would be picked up by Bolton Wanderers but he suffered relegation with the Trotters. A short spell with Ipswich Town in the Championship would follow before he upped sticks to try to forge a career in the MLS. He enjoyed limited success with Vancouver Whitecaps but he now finds himself without a club once again. It has been over eight years since he handed in a transfer request at West Ham, but he departed the club having made 142 appearances for an established Premier League by the age of 23, as well as leading England Under-21s to the semi-finals of the European Championships. Had he remained at West Ham, who knows how much he could have achieved for club and country.
A degree-educated, dart-throwing, non-smelling sports journalist based in a small Staffordshire town that has just become Floyd Mayweather's answer to the question: "What's the strangest place you have ever visited?"
