A report of West Ham United’s players gambling emerged yesterday but the fact is that the card school has been almost nonexistent this season, while last year it was well known that the West Ham pots were the biggest in the Barclays Premiership.
So it’s fair to conclude that betting big is not the reason West Ham are on the verge of relegation. They have lost at home to Watford and been thrashed by Charlton Athletic but in the days before those fixtures, not a card was dealt.
If players are stupid enough to wager huge sums, that’s up to them. Sometimes the only way to get them to realise their mistake is for them to lose large amounts. And it’s a compulsion that can