Five Reasons Why Kevin Nolan Will Regret Joining West Ham

1. Premier League football- Kevin Nolan is a very solid Premier League footballer. He has ample experience of the league, and was highly successful at former club Bolton and current club Newcastle. However, he seems prepared to sacrifice the latter years of his career, to a team which is likely to be stuck in the Championship for a very long time. Sure, during the 09/10 season Kevin Nolan did play second division football with Newcastle, but he had only joined the club in January '09, and must have felt obliged to stay on and fight. That season in the Championship was fruitful one for Nolan, both he and his team were brilliant, securing promotion to the Premier League well before the end of the season. However, at West Ham, Nolan won't find things quite so easy, the Irons are likely to be stripped of most of their best player, and will struggle to regain Premier League status. Nolan may just have thrown his Premier League career into the rubbish bin.


2. Newcastle are on the up- After relegation in 2009, Newcastle have fought back bravely; first securing comfortable promotion and then enjoying a solid season in the Premiership. Twelfth place is a highly respectable finish for a newly promoted side, and the Geordies are likely to improve on it next season. Already, Pardew has brought in terrific Lille midfielder Yoann Cabaye, and he will also welcome back former Marsielle man Hatem Ben Arfa; a player who grabbed positive Premier League headlines immediately, before being severely injured. In Cheikh Tiote and Jose Enrique, Newcastle have two highly talented footballers who will likely stick with the club, making them even stronger next year. As West Ham struggle and Newcastle rise, Kevin Nolan will surely begin to regret his rather foolish decision.

3. If he wants to leave, there are better destinations- He's no Lionel Messi, but I'm one hundred percent certain that their would be a whole host of Premier League clubs competing for his signature, if Nolan made himself available to them. Up North, former club Bolton might be interested in bringing him back to the club he spent a decade at, and I can't see how an opportunity to work with Owen Coyle could not be appealing to the Englishman. But if what Nolan wants is London, then there are teams there who would also welcome his arrival, Fulham seem to have problems keeping their strikers fit, and if Tottenham continue to fail in their pursuit of every known forward on the planet, then Nolan might not be a bad secondary option.


4. England- I know it sounds a little far fetched, but a move to West Ham could damage Nolan's international career. Sure, Nolan will never be first choice for England, but with players like Crouch considering retirement, Defoe losing form and Darren Bent missing sitters, he might have had an outside chance at making a squad. West Ham would point to men like Jay Bothroyd and David Nugent as examples of Championship players who have managed to force themselves into England contention, but if a series of solid season in England haven't yet put Nolan in Capello's thoughts, then how could a move down a division benefit his cause? I firmly believe that if Nolan continued to play Premiership football next season, that elusive first call-up would come, however, he is about to blow his chances.

5. Carroll's sale- Newcastle have money to spend. The sale of Andy Carroll generated huge amount so transfer spending money, and while it would be naive to assume that the entire thirty five million will be invested in the squad, it is still a safe bet that Newcastle will do some major reinforcing this summer. Already, Yoann Cabaye has arrived from Lille, and a plethora of other players (from Dimitar Berbatov to Craig Gardner) have already been linked to the club. If Kevin Nolan were to stay at Newcastle, he would benefit from incoming quality, and manage to further himself even more. Instead though, he has taken the lazy route, and is ready to spend one of the last few years of his career languishing in the second division.