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Transfer deadline day for West Ham United was suppose to be about the transfers. Instead, it turned out to be about the club possibly having the dubious label of being the most racist sports organization in the world.
In an explosive, unbelievable email retrieved by The Daily Mail, West Ham director of transfers Tony Henry admitted that the club wanted to limit its purchase of African players because ‘they have a bad attitude’ and ‘cause mayhem’ when they don’t play.
In one of the most idiotic, shambolic, and purely racist displays ever seen publicly in global sports history, Henry provided the PR nightmares of PR nightmares for the club when his shocking, unhinged words were revealed.
“We don’t want any more Africans and he’s not good enough,” Henry wrote. “I sent Thomas to watch him and the other lad last week and he said no. If Palace take them good luck.”
Making this even worse is that Henry’s words come right in the midst of West Ham selling Diafra Sakho and Andre Ayew before the transfer window closed as well. This nutty display of drivel from Henry also succeeded another brave display for the club from midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate, who was bandaged up completely on Tuesday in the valiant 1-1 draw for the Hammers against Crystal Palace.
When asked if he indeed believed this, Henry doubled down and confirmed that it was a sentiment felt upstairs by the owners, David Gold and David Sullivan.
“We had problems with Sakho, with Diafra Sakho,” Henry said. “We find that when they are not in the team they cause mayhem. It’s nothing against the African race at all. I mean, look, there are top African players. There’s not a problem with them. It’s just sometimes they cause a lot of problems when they are not playing, as we had with Diafra. He’s left, so great. It’s nothing personal at all.”
When The Mail’s Matt Lawton mentioned Kouyate and his value to the club, Henry went on to praise the Hammers #8, but continued to slam the departed Sakho as representing all African players.
“But the likes of Sakho have caused mayhem,” Henry scoffed. “When he’s not playing, he always wants a new deal. That’s all it was. It was nothing discriminatory at all.”
It’s been a very disappointing season for the Hammers, resulting in a manager sacked and questions on if the club will be embroiled in another relegation fight at season’s conclusion.
All of that, however, is now relegated (no pun intended) back behind the justified thoughts of many believing West Ham United is a racist cesspool of a club.
And it’s going to be quite the scene the rest of the week and beyond, with how they try and convince everyone that Henry’s insane thoughts somehow aren’t a sad characteristic of the club in general.