Neill Forced Out

Brilliant captain Lucas Neill has reportedly been forced to accept that his West Ham career is over. After nearly three years of fantastic performances, Neill has regrettably accepted that the club do not understand his true value.

A source close to Neill said: "Lucas is shattered and cannot understand why West Ham are refusing to meet his contract demands. The offer of £40,000 per week is frankly insulting. That means he would have to work more than a month to earn what the Prime Minister earns in a year and it is only about 33% more per week than the average West Ham fan earns in a year."

The source continued: "Lucas had hoped to end his career at West Ham. He joined because of the traditions, status and potential of the club. He could have joined Liverpool but turned them down because, to his mind, West Ham were obviously the bigger club. The decision had absolutely nothing to do with the money!"

Now Lucas may be obliged to take up the offer of playing abroad. The source continued: "West Ham need to understand the sacrifice that Lucas is prepared to make. He has the option to upgrade to Greek football and we know how the Greek league is regarded as the biggest league in the world. But even with this offer on the table he wanted to stay at West Ham."

It seems likely that West Ham fans will be outraged at the penny pinching of the club. Supporter Lee Vitout raged, "First Greenie, now Lucas Neill. Who is next? The Board don't know what they're doing. £40,000 a week? What's that? £500,000 a year or something like that. How can Lucas live on that. I'm disgusted. Pay him what he wants. He's worth it. BG owns a bank for pity's sake. He can print the bleedin' money."