Express & Star

Jamie O'Hara's call came out of the blue

Published
Last updated

It was 1.15pm and I was in the middle of a question to Wolves boss Kenny Jackett.

more

"Blasted phone!" I could hear myself cursing as I fished it out of my pocket and apologised to the Wolves head coach, who must have wondered why I hadn't turned it to silent.

The name flashed up, 'Jamie O'Hara.' You might think that to have the Wolves midfielder's number stored in my phone, we must be regular callers.

Wrong. This was the first time he had called me. In the weeks of fall-out following Wolves' acrimonious relegation from the Championship, I'd been told O'Hara wanted to speak to me.

I'm guessing because he was unhappy at the villainous role in which he had been cast during the blood-letting.

In this age of sanitised relationships between players and the media, the days when you could pick up the phone for a chinwag with a high-profile footballer have long since passed.

Most of the time, you're lucky if their agent answers a call. So I was again curious as to why O'Hara wanted me.

After the regular 'locals' chat with Jackett, I returned to the office and received a text message.

"Nash it's O'Hara. Call me. I wanna say a few words about the QPR thing."

He wanted to put the record straight. Like me, O'Hara had only been too aware of the online furore that developed over the weekend.

Speculation raged that the former Tottenham midfielder was to appear for Queens Park Rangers in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Leyton Orient.

He said: "This rumour about me playing for QPR came out of the blue. I'm flattered to see my name linked there and I've worked with Harry Redknapp before.

"If an opportunity came about to play for them, that would be great. But they have got a good midfield and they have just signed Karl Henry, so it's not something that's going to happen straight-away."

His motives were unclear. If it were to smooth things with QPR ahead of a possible move, the reaction of near astonishment from Jackett – a former Rangers assistant manager who knows the Loftus Road staff well – seemed to kill the initial story as quickly as it had emerged anyway.

Apart from Twitter wildfire and a Leyton Orient fans' website, there is nothing to suggest why O'Hara should go on trial to a team managed by his former Tottenham boss.

And his actions would surely not have been to appease Wolves supporters.

Any trace of goodwill between O'Hara and the Molineux masses disappeared on that sorry day at Brighton's AMEX Stadium in May.

Although O'Hara has, on numerous occasions, shown the actions of a man who lives in his own expensive bubble, I believe he is aware that his relationship with the Wolves public has soured beyond repair.

I asked him about events at Brighton but his reluctance to talk about what happened showed he feels that ship has sailed and there is no benefit in discussion or apology now.

Humility may not be O'Hara's watchword, the closest he got to it was to later acknowledge: "Can you add that, even though I'm not involved, I wish all the lads all the best for the start of the season."

I can understand he simply wants the chance to earn his lucrative living, yet he has played no small part in his exile.

Following his ill-advised "I've played in the Premier League for five years so I think I've got the ability to play there" quote, O'Hara feels whatever he says now will be taken wrongly.

"I never said I wanted to leave Wolves, what I said was I'd love to play in the Premier League again one day," he said.

Yes, Jamie, but I'm afraid you will be forever associated with Wolves' ignominious fall from grace.

It will take more than a phone call to me to go any way towards redemption in the eyes of those who have contributed to your considerable salary.

By Tim Nash

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.