Jamal Baptiste

[billtho]

Why tarnish a young lad with that comment..Good luck son and hope your future is still kicking a ball around.

[mushy]

You’d think they’d just give him a one year deal on just say for example £2k per week to help him out and as recognition that he’d been Ill.

The fact they didn’t could mean a number of things.

How do you know they didn't?

[stu1]

Or maybe Moyes was getting the wrong message from the medical team and his coaches, who perhaps could have done more to get to the bottom of the perceived change in attitude?

Even if this was the case, he didn’t need to effectively start a rumour that lead to most fans thinking the kid failed to step up because he was Reece Oxford 2.0.

[neathiron]

Posted something previously, may have been circa 2019 when I watched him and Nathan Holland steal the show against Swansea U21's. I was purring about them both thinking the future looked bright for them both in our colours. Gutted that they both never went on to fulfill their potential.

[westlondonhammer]

A ****ing awful disease...a friends husband has it; nearly died from it and now intense to manage.

I doubt he'll have much of a career...such a shame for him

Good luck Jamal

[Mungo Park]

You’d think they’d just give him a one year deal on just say for example £2k per week to help him out and as recognition that he’d been Ill.

The fact they didn’t could mean a number of things.

Shame it didn’t work out for the lad and hope he gets a new club.

I thought he had been offered a year at reduced wages. Perhaps he thinks he needs a new start somewhere else. I hope it works out for him.

[Shabu]

Poor b*stard.

Best of luck to him with life.

[hammerman11]

shame as he looked to have promise. a new start is probably needed as its sounds like there were other problems aside from his illness. he probably feels he needs to get away as his name is a bit tarnished at WHU. will watch with interest his career as he was one I thought had a chance at making it.

good luck lad.

[RichieRiv]

For all we know Baptiste did have an attitude problem though. Moyes could well have spoken the truth, even with the medical issues clearly having a significant effect.

Agreed.

No one knows what has gone on.

[moore_bobby]

I thought he had been offered a year at reduced wages. Perhaps he thinks he needs a new start somewhere else. I hope it works out for him.

Here is article saying we offered reduced contract:
https://www.westhamzone.com/news/west-h ... -baptiste/

[PF.]

Could be wrong, but I’ve only read one side of the story and I doubt Moyes and Co. will come out and give an interview on it.

No doubting the lad has an illness. No idea on what scale the severity is and no idea if he has a poor attitude or not.

Calling out Moyes and the Academy without all of the information is maybe a bit premature.

[Benaloon]

I think the 'poor attitude' 'bad timekeeping' stuff seems to be directly related to the fact he has a life altering illness.

Obviously I'm speculating, but it sounds like he was suffering with depression as a side effect to be honest (not wanting to go to training because your body can't do want you want it to), which I think given the pressure these kids are under trying to be professional footballers is understandable.

Would agree it's been handled badly (not blaming Moyes specifically, he may not have known the full extent of the situation and was just being fed reports by coaches), but overall it's just a sad story.

Hopefully a team picks him up at a lower level and he can try and re-build.

[Eggchaser]

Even if this was the case, he didn’t need to effectively start a rumour that lead to most fans thinking the kid failed to step up because he was Reece Oxford 2.0.

Moyes didn't start any rumours, those of you that interpreted his words into something they most probably didn't mean did that.

"He’s someone we really like as a boy, like as a player." so they like him as a lad, and as a player....

"He’s had difficult times and he’s not helped himself, I've got to say, partly".

So Moyes thinks the lad has had a hard time, has sympathy but thinks he could have done something differently.
This suggests to me that whatever the perceived issue was it was very minor and certainly nothing to suggest that he's a wrong 'un or that he has an overinflated opinion of himself.

After reading the article as UTJ posted above, I'd say he was referring to the way Jamal communicated with the U21 coaches and the medical team (Ironic perhaps!) and maybe that he allowed his own frustration affect his actions. Both reasonable human reactions to his situation at his age.

Yes, Moyes could have chosen his words better, but Jamal himself has said he should have done things differently to improve his situation, so they're actually agreeing at least to a point.

If there is any real fault here it lies with the coaches and medical staff that were/are dealing with him on a daily basis.

It's horrific management of a teenager. If he didn't care enough to get involved and know better, he shouldn't think he has a need to talk about it.

He was clearly responding to a question, had he refused to answer he would have caused all kinds of speculation and accusations.

Sadly I don't think Moyes is great at interviews and press conferences, particularly when an unexpected question is posed.

Hardly "horrific" but, IMO obviously, his response should have actually been something more like

He’s had real problems. Problems I won’t discuss here — but real problems. He’s someone we really like as a boy, and like as a player, but he’s had difficult times.

Edit to say:

Hopefully the lad makes a full recovery and goes onto enjoy a fulfilling career.

[Wilko1304]

Disagree.

Being bad at interviews is no excuse, really. Been a long time, he’s got to be better and he’s at least got to be aware of where he falls down. If you’ve got a past where words aren’t always taken in the context you mean, watch your step on sensitive issues.

The comment about not helping himself wasn’t necessary. It’s only worth saying if you think it needs to be said.

It’s not the worst mistake in the world, but it also could have made things much, much worse. Speaks to the commodities these young players become.

[Happyhammer52]

Comments might not have been anything to do with his timekeeping etc. Could have been other factors that Moyes was discussing.

[Eggs'n'nuts]

Any long term disease must be awful, more so if you're young.

Good luck Jamal. Hope everything turns out okay for you.

[mushy]

Comments might not have been anything to do with his timekeeping etc. Could have been other factors that Moyes was discussing.

The comments made by Moyes were well warranted in my opinion, in fact he could have said a lot more.
The illness thing is a bit of a smokescreen and while it's an awful thing to happen it's not even half the story.
Baptiste had been stinking the place out for quite sometime, he wasn't just late for training he was missing training altogether and when he did turn up his attitude was really poor.
Seems to all stem from moving out of the family home (his parents are fantastic), he went a bit Ravel and started hanging around with and supporting mates financially and seemingly not giving a toss about anything.
He also had a good decent agent at the time (they do exist) who had his best interests at heart and suggested he knuckle down and move back home. He then promptly sacked the agent and appointed a new one with the usual unfulfilled promises of a better contract elsewhere.
He has now moved back home and appears to be knuckling down again and of course the illness has also been a real blow.
I'm not sure what else West Ham could have done but I believe (but am not certain) that he has been offered a new contract at reduced rates. In any other walk of life you would have been dismissed for continually not turning up for work or late. I think West Ham have treated him fairly.
Baptiste deep down is a decent guy backed by a decent family who appears to have gone off the rails, I for one wish him nothing but the best and hope he finds a club outside of London and has a really good career.
It's a real shame.

[Hugh Jargon]

No need for me to spout out hearsay

[Geoff Hurts]

The comments made by Moyes were well warranted in my opinion, in fact he could have said a lot more.
The illness thing is a bit of a smokescreen and while it's an awful thing to happen it's not even half the story.
.....
It's a real shame.

I have to say that if he had Guillain-Barré disease then that could very well have had a huge impact on him. I have a very good friend, who very nearly died from this condition. Had the local 'cottage' hospital not had 8 bags of the fluid in the hospital pharmacy that he needed for treatment, he would not have survived the time taken to charter a flight to the mainland to get to a major hospital. His GP missed the diagnosis completely over 3 visits to the surgery. He was lucky that after 6 days of numbness progressing from his ankles to his abdomen that the duty doctor at A&E had experience of diagnosing GB disease before and so knew what was required.

As it was, it took my friend 2 years to walk any distance. Even now, almost 5 years on he suffers from weakness in his limbs and from pain. He was unable to return to work for 3 years.

I have no idea how bad Baptiste's illness was, but for someone attempting to reach the pinnacle of elite sport it may have been devastating for his mental health as well as limiting his performance levels.

I hope the lad goes on to have a good career and wish him well if he is still on a journey of recovery.

[Kialos]

Moyes has been a manager long enough to know that there are times when you just STFU. Making comments that just touch on a subject and dangle in the wind is not good enough.

I'm no fan of Sullivan but he's done a great job there trying to help the player.