Source: Daily_Mail
I've nothing to prove to Zola, insists Stoke's former Hammer Etherington
Stoke winger Matthew Etherington insists he has nothing to prove to former manager Gianfranco Zola when West Ham visit the Britannia Stadium.
The 28-year-old left the Hammers in a £2million January transfer for a combination of reasons, not all linked to football.
In fact, Etherington said Zola told him he liked him as a player but felt he was in need of a change of scenery after more than five years at Upton Park.
During that time, he developed a gambling addiction which saw him rack up debts of £800,000 and spend time in the Sporting Chance Clinic in 2006 and 2008.
West Ham are reported to have given Etherington an advance of £300,000 on his salary to help pay off the people he owed, and some would say it is no wonder the player still has an affinity with the club where he has spent longest as a professional.
However, he is not bitter about his move - and insists he departed on good terms with Zola.
'There were no hard feelings whatsoever. He was really good to me,' said Etherington, set to face his old club on Saturday.
'Gianfranco had his own ideas about how the team wanted to go; if you look at them now they don't play with out-and-out wingers - everything comes into the middle.
'He said he always rated me as a player, and it was just circumstances in my career - which were well documented and that I'm tired of talking about.
'My mind was not in a very good place, and I had a lot of things going on in my personal life which were affecting me. He could see that - he isn't stupid.
'It was time for me to move on. He didn't say it was anything to do with my football ability; it was just time for me to have a change. I agreed 100 per cent with him and I couldn't have come to a better club than Stoke City.
matthew etherington
That was then: Matthew Etherington a a West Ham player
'I personally don't feel I have a point to prove. I thought I did very well at West Ham; I helped them get promoted and played for them in an FA Cup final.
'I suppose I could fall into trying too hard against them. If I do then it won't come off - so I have to play it like any other game, do the best I can and see what happens.'
Etherington played in the 1-0 home defeat to West Ham in May, a result which helped the Hammers finish ninth in the Barclays Premier League.
This season, the tables are turned - with Stoke 11th and Zola's side next-bottom.
Etherington takes no pleasure in seeing his former club struggle, although he is obviously committed to securing three points for Stoke.
'It would be nice to get a win over West Ham, I'm not going to lie. It is all about Stoke on Saturday,' he added.
'I'm very surprised to see West Ham in the bottom three. They are a club I want to see do well, because I had five-and-half great years there. I'll always follow them. They are close to my heart, because they were always good to me - and so were the fans.
'They have a lot of good players and they play some nice, neat and tidy football. But there doesn't seem to be much of a cutting edge. If Carlton Cole is not fit you struggle to see where they will get the goals from.'
Having helped the Potters stay up in their maiden Premier League campaign and
contributed to a decent start to this season, Etherington feels he has justified his move to the Britannia.
'Everyone was surprised when I came here, because they thought it was a step down,' said the former England Under-21s international.
'But I knew as soon as I spoke to the manager which way this club was going, and he told me from day one that I was an important part of his plans - and it is nice to feel wanted.
'I genuinely believed him when he said this club was going to go forward - and when you look at the top-quality players he brought in over the summer, we have the basis of a good team now.'
