When Slaven Bilic decided to splash out £10million on Robert Snodgrass he failed to do one vital piece of homework on his latest recruit – discover what position he played.
With that kind of lack of preparation it’s little wonder the West Ham manager is fighting to save his job with his side propping up the English Premier League table without a single point.
It appears to be only a matter of time before the Croat departs the Hammers’ London Stadium but whenever his exit comes it will be too late for Snodgrass to return this season.
The 29-year-old old this week ended a hellish seven-month spell at the Irons when he was reunited with his former boss Steve Bruce after joining Aston Villa on a season-long loan.
Alarm bells started ringing from his very first West Ham game as Bilic prepared to introduce Snodgrass from the bench against Manchester City just days after his big-money move from Hull.
“I was coming on against City and he said ‘Where do you want to play, on the left or right?’, explained Snodgrass who joined up with the Scotland squad this week.
“I thought ‘You have just signed me and I have played on the right or behind the striker at Hull City all season’.
“That was my debut and alarm bells were ringing right away. I found it very strange and I realised from the off that it wasn’t going to happen.
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“Every time I played I was on the left. I don’t know why he did it.
“I joined as Dimitri Payet left and maybe it was a case of ‘you can play there’.
“But I’d only filled in on the left on a couple of occasions. I hate that position but when you are Scottish you are brought up to play anywhere.
“It’s fine to play for one or two games but you need to play in your right position, especially on the back of scoring nine goals for Hull.
“At that stage nobody had scored more goals for Hull or West Ham. The manager was under a lot of pressure and I later said that out of respect I didn’t want to go in and see him during that period.
“But when I eventually did speak to him I said I thought he would have known I wasn’t a left-midfielder and that he must have watched me after signing me for that type of money.
“His answer was basically that when people are confident they can play anywhere.”
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Snodgrass has been labelled a West Ham flop by his critics but insists his conscience is clear due to extenuating circumstances. He said: “There are certain things that I can’t really say here.
“But once you look at it I ended up getting a lot of stick for something after joining at probably the wrong time.
“There were a lot of broken promises and a lot of dishonesty and I realised it wasn’t what I am about.
“I want to wear my heart on my sleeve and be loyal. What you see is what you get. Sometimes if that is not a two-way street then I don’t want to be part of it.
“He wanted me to play cup games to try to impress but I said I had done it at international and Premier League level and there was no way on earth I was staying to play cup games.
“I have nothing to prove to anyone. I’ve scored nearly 100 goals in my career and done it with a smile on my face.
“I know myself that when there is a manager that knows how to get the best out of you then it’s different and that’s why I chose Villa. I wanted to work with Steve Bruce again.
“But when you’re doing something for someone they should come out publicly and explain the reasons why but that was never done.
“I’ve sat and let everyone else do the talking. They can go about their business and I will go about mine which is playing football, enjoying myself and being a good person every day.
“I have been at teams like Hull and Norwich and when you have been signed for big money they need to play you to get value.
“But West Ham are signing lads on double and treble what I signed for and when you’ve got too many and lads aren’t playing it’s not a good environment.
“They had to shift seven or eight out at the start of the season. People can judge my time at West Ham whatever way they want.”