Ben Foster: This is why I quit West Brom

Watford goalkeeper Ben Foster has admitted that he knew he was going to recieve a wave of backlash from West Brom fans after quitting The Hawthorns earlier this summer, despite previously saying that he wants to help the Black Country club achieve an instant return to the Premier League.

Foster, 35, was arguably Albion’s best player last season as they were relegated to the Championship and at times he has been heralded as one of the best shot-stoppers to ever play for the club.

He was quoted by the Express & Star as promising that he would stay with the Baggies as they tried to bounce back to the top-flight.

However the former England international admits that with his football career coming to an end, he could not refuse the chance to return to Watford and the Premier League.

“Originally I had no intention of leaving,” Foster told the Telegraph. “I had been there seven years, it was home and that was as simple as that. I’d never pushed for a move and then I got a call from my agent saying Watford were really, really interested and what did I think?

“Stuff I don’t really want to touch on, to be honest, an awful lot of stuff going on [such as job losses] that was not in the grain of what West Brom were.

“I knew I’d get a lot of hate and a backlash from the West Brom fans and rightly so as well. To be fair when you say at the end of the season you will stay and then you go, you probably deserve it.

“But Watford made it clear they were very interested and would I like to come and play Premier League football again? And that’s what it came down to.”

OPINION

Foster made 223 appearances across all competitions for West Brom. In that time, the fans had seen it all from him. From his penalty save against Steven Gerrard at Anfield, to his horror show against rivals Aston Villa in 2015. Last season he was probably the only player to come away with any credit. The ex-Manchester United man put in a series of impressive performances and his promise to the fans that he was going to stay was a major boost for them going into the Championship season. However those fans had their hearts broken by Foster when he decided to leave and return to Watford. It’s a bitter pill to swallow and even seeing his reasoning behind his move will probably upset some supporters even more. You can understand it. Footballer’s careers are short. But for such a club icon to leave in the manner that he did just wasn’t acceptable.