There are those of us of a certain age who will remember Ben Johnson as a drug cheating Canadian who not only held the world 100-metre record but also an Olympic gold medal until he tested positive for steroids and got stripped of both. Then there is the younger fan who will remember Ben Johnson who in February 2019 at just nineteen years old, made his league debut away at Manchester City.
From my vantage point at the Etihad, I thought our manager was mad at starting an untested young right back as a left back at the league champions. Little was I to know that he was going to put up a sterling performance which resulted in the narrowest of defeats, one nil. It felt like the second coming.
Little was I to know that it was the last time we would see him in the starting eleven for a considerable time. It was to be another 17 months before we were to see him back in the line up. Injuries and the form of a certain Jeremy Ngakia, remember him, had put paid to further appearances.
There seemed no stopping the Waltham Forest native and he made a further 13 appearances that season followed by another 20 the next year. His performances resulted in him winning Young Hammer of the Year two years running. It really looked like he was to be the next Academy graduate to be a star but now it seems he has reached a crossroads in his career. What now for the youngster?
At the young age of just 24, Johnson’s appearances have been limited. From a high of 34 in all competitions in 2020-21, to date Ben has all earned in just 22 so far this year, a further decline from our previous season. Quite often Ben is seen as a substitute and reserve right back. As a once marauding midfielder, which should see him flourish in a wing back position, he had only two goals to his name with his record tally being just one a season.
In 2022 Ben’s contract was extended by two years so the question has to be asked, will he get a new contract or will be yet another academy graduate to ply his trade elsewhere? Now I will put it on record that I like Ben Johnson. For some odd reason, he reminds me of another Johnson who played for the Hammers, that being Glen who went on to have a pretty good career albeit elsewhere due to the end of season fire sale after relegation in 2003.
But oddly Ben has not seemed to progress in our manager’s eyes. The aging Vladimir Coufal has now cemented his place as starting right back, which means that Ben normally steps in as a substitute or when the Czech player is injured. This lack of first team action has resulted in a stop-start career which has clearly affected his form and no doubt his confidence.
He has also ‘bulked up’. This may have something to do with his maturity but he seems, in my eyes, to have slowed down a little. He also seems a little hesitant. I guess this season, in particular, it doesn’t help that the West Ham defence is at times shaky and lacking in belief.
You wouldn’t want to be a goalkeeper with that lot in front of you. Our central defensive pairing is a troublesome one. The ‘cat kicker’ is aging, Ogbonna would be going grey if he didn’t shave his head, our Moroccan has not, similar to Ben, improved, and as for our Greek Colossus, well we just wait to see when next a mistake is made.
Our defensive fragility means that Ben very rarely can maraud forward and when he does, he can get caught out at the back. It also has to be said that if we are to progress, and let’s be honest we are more stagnating at the moment, Ben is a squad player at best and not a first team regular.
Would any 24-year-old be happy to settle for that? I think not. Maybe a new manager might make the difference, we will have to wait and see on that point. Ben Johnson has also fallen into that dangerous category of possibly being expendable.
He had recently seen fan favourite Pablo Fornals leave the club along with Said Benrahma. Both were in similar situations as Ben. Both were first squad starting members but both found themselves warming the bench and surplus to requirements.
Both left, saving the club money. I’m pretty sure that if Ben Johnson was to stay, he would want more money and we all know, at times, just how tight our owners can be. Ben had one saving grace, over those previously mentioned players, in that he is home produced so falls into that category when squad numbers are in question.
But is this enough? I believe the times are changing at West Ham. Gone are our beloved Academy graduates that make it to our starting eleven. And let’s be honest about this, our Academy has been good at producing professional football players but very few have made the highest grade at West Ham or indeed at any larger Premier League clubs.
They tend to make a career at the lower Premier League clubs, for example with respect to their fans Crystal Palace, rather than the bigger teams. For every Declan Rice, there is a Connor Coventry. For every Glen Johnson, there just may be a Ben Johnson.
I fear Ben will be another home talent moving on. It will be another sad day for us long term hammers, to see yet another academy boy move on, but I feel that for Ben, it is a necessity if he wishes to progress as a professional footballer player. Google the name Ben Johnson and a professional football player is down on the list well behind a certain Canadian sprinter and an American politician.
If Ben wants to move up in that search list he needs to move on in the summer and hope that a different manager and different location might just spur on the promise those of us who were in attendance in March 2019 saw on that evening under the lights on a cold Mancunian night.
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