John Hartson believes he played the best football of his career at West Ham but still feels guilty about his training ground spat with Eyal Berkovic that led to his departure from the Hammers.
In an honest interview with West Ham magazine Blowing Bubbles Monthly, the striker said he was "absolutely unplayable" in the 1997-98 season, in which he scored 24 goals."I’ve got friends from back home who’ve been at every single match of my career, from my debut for Luton to playing for Celtic at Barcelona – these guys have known me since I was a kid, so I can trust them more than anyone else, and they say that without a doubt, the 1997-98 season at West Ham was the best football I’ve ever played," said Hartson.
But it was the following season that saw Hartson’s footwork gain international attention after he kicked his Israeli teammate and the Welsh strikers’ descent from such giddy heights to rock bottom and the exit door was as shocking as it was unpredictable.
John and Eyal's celebrate a goal during their productive spell together at the Boleyn Ground
"What I did [to Berkovic] was terrible – it’s undoubtedly the biggest regret of my career, and it soured everything that I’d been building up at West Ham. Why I reacted as I did, I really don’t know – it wasn’t anything personal, we got on perfectly well, he set up loads of my goals and he certainly didn’t deserve anything like that."
Elsewhere in the April issue of the magazine, Julian Dicks hits out at the West Ham players who, he believes, are playing as if they are already on the beach enjoying their summer holidays but urges fans to remember that overall the season has been a success.
Sky Sports' Bianca Westwood writes in her column that the intense speculation surrounding Sam Allardyce's future is not helping the club at the moment and has urged the owners to either back or sack Sam now so the players and fans know what the future holds.
There is also an update on the magazine's Blowing Bubbles for Bobby campaign, which has attracted the support of internationally acclaimed writer Irvine Welsh, new Hollyoaks actress Danniella Westbrook and TV presenter Matthew Wright.
Meanwhile Blowing Bubbles also asks whether time has run out of Jarvis' West Ham career and whether Song is worth £15m. Other features include one on Robert Green ahead of QPR's game against West Ham and another on how West Ham can have a big say in who stays in the Premier League this season.
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