West Ham stationed a security guard outside the Dimitri Payet mural at the London stadium to prevent vandalism when news broke of his attempts to leave the club earlier this month. Now, they’ve come up with a more permanent solution.
Payet has left the Hammers to re-join Marseille in a transfer worth £25million, leaving more than a few critics back in east London despite his assertion that he didn’t owe fans an apology for his behaviour.
The club has moved swiftly to replace the tribute to their former French playmaker, using a graphic of striker Andy Carroll’s wondergoal against Crystal Palace in its place, while surrounding it with accolades from fans.
The striker’s sensational strike, an acrobatic bicycle kick, helped the Hammers to a 2-0 lead against Palace before Manuel Lanzini rounded off a 3-0 victory.
And Carroll himself put his ability to get into position to score such a good goal down to his wife, former reality TV star Billi Mucklow, persuading him to take up yoga.
“It’s helped me a lot, especially when I’ve been injured,” Carroll said. “I’ve been doing a lot of work up here (Billi’s yoga studio), it’s been great.”
