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Johannesburg - Benni McCarthy has been branded a "big fat mistake" by West Ham United vice-chairperson Karren Brady.
The 33-year-old striker departed 14 months after signing with the Hammers from Blackburn Rovers, but he struggled to find the back of the net in his 13 matches for the club.
The former Bafana Bafana forward left Upton Park by mutual consent this week, and Brady, it seems, couldn't wait to get stuck into their former frontman.
"Benni McCarthy was a big fat mistake," she wrote in her Sun column.
"West Ham were in desperate haste for a striker to help avoid relegation (again) and we bought him for more than £2million only to have to repent at leisure.
"Rather than the super scorer we hoped for, we acquired a super size, a player devoted to filling his belly more than filling the net.
"As time went by he grew bigger and bigger and although in time he made a great effort to slim down, he'd passed the waistline of no return.
"A total of 14 games [sic], 11 of them as a sub, and no goals, isn't a statistic on which to base confidence in the future.
"So we cut our losses and let him go.
"When he comes to see me to sign the paperwork, he apologises for things not working out and gives me a hug.
"The overall cost to us is more than £5 million but in such circumstances you just have to say 'no hard feelings, not everything in life goes the way you want'.
"It could be worse as across the river Fernando Torres, at £50 million, remains as thin as two yards of pumpwater and has not scored either."
The 33-year-old striker departed 14 months after signing with the Hammers from Blackburn Rovers, but he struggled to find the back of the net in his 13 matches for the club.
The former Bafana Bafana forward left Upton Park by mutual consent this week, and Brady, it seems, couldn't wait to get stuck into their former frontman.
"Benni McCarthy was a big fat mistake," she wrote in her Sun column.
"West Ham were in desperate haste for a striker to help avoid relegation (again) and we bought him for more than £2million only to have to repent at leisure.
"Rather than the super scorer we hoped for, we acquired a super size, a player devoted to filling his belly more than filling the net.
"As time went by he grew bigger and bigger and although in time he made a great effort to slim down, he'd passed the waistline of no return.
"A total of 14 games [sic], 11 of them as a sub, and no goals, isn't a statistic on which to base confidence in the future.
"So we cut our losses and let him go.
"When he comes to see me to sign the paperwork, he apologises for things not working out and gives me a hug.
"The overall cost to us is more than £5 million but in such circumstances you just have to say 'no hard feelings, not everything in life goes the way you want'.
"It could be worse as across the river Fernando Torres, at £50 million, remains as thin as two yards of pumpwater and has not scored either."
