Huckerby: It wasn't the money

05 March 2004

Striker Darren Huckerby has responded angrily to statements made by Gary Megson about the reasons for him joining Norwich rather than Albion, according to the Norwich Evening News. In the runup to the game at Carrow Road on Tuesday, Megson stated that his move to the Hawthorns collapsed because of Huckerby's wage demands.

However, Huckerby denied that, saying

"Just after I signed for Norwich, Gary Megson rang me up out of courtesy really because his club had made an offer for me. And at no stage did we ever talk about money. I was very honest with him and I said to him that I didn't like the way he coached, I didn't like the way he shouted at his players all the time and I didn't like the way he treated seasoned professionals like 15-year-olds. But at no point did I ever discuss money with him."

"I'd said to the players here and to the media that if I didn't sign for Norwich then I probably wasn't going to sign for anyone else and I'd have stayed at Manchester City. I haven't got anything against him but he can't make out something that I've said when I haven't."

Huckerby went on to criticise Albion's style of play, saying

"When second plays first in the league, they play four at the back, man-mark me and have Kinsella playing just in front of the back four, it is disappointing. But if that's the way he wants to play, that's the way West Brom play, that's up to him. But all they do is live on 0-0s and 1-0s."

Responding on the official web site, Gary Megson actually agreed with Huckerby, a bit:

"I spoke about money to his agent who had previously been quoted in the papers as saying Darren wouldn?t sign for Norwich, hence our interest in his services. Again, Darren?s quite correct in saying the move didn?t fall through because of money. Actually, it was a complete non-starter as far as our football club is run. I could not and would not have one player earning way in excess of all the others whilst trying to achieve the same collective goal."

Which sounds to us rather like it was about money...

Previous Stories:

  11 February 2004:  Crisis meeting!

  10 February 2004:  Dichio priced out of move?

  23 January 2004:  Marshall move off, no, wait, it's on again

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