Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Snow Leopard onesie to a cardboard cutout... the wacky world of MICHAIL ANTONIO
WHEN Michail Antonio danced with a cardboard cutout after scoring against Leicester, Gary Megson was not in the least bit surprised.
As the West Ham star added ‘Dirty Dancing’ to his growing list of goal celebrations, former Sheffield Wednesday, Bolton and West Brom chief Megson was reminded of the day he signed the striker for the Owls in 2012.
Megson said: “We’d seen Michail when he was on loan at Colchester. To be honest, he didn’t do much against us and, at the time, I thought, ‘Thank heavens for that,’ because he’d got the pace to really hurt teams.
“If you’ve got that, no one can do much about it – and he was good in the air, too.
“We were struggling to get players in, and he just stuck in my mind as having something different. I couldn’t get the money to buy him, but we got him on loan from Reading.
“I wasn’t prepared for what happened next... on the day of his signing he walked into my office dressed in a onesie.
“No joke – a big black and white onesie. I think it was supposed to be a snow leopard but he looked more like a Friesian cow.
“What can you do? I just burst out laughing. To this day, I’ve got no idea why he turned up like that. But it was great because it certainly broke the ice.
“Normally, you expect players to come dressed either in a suit and tie, or a pair of jeans. That’s what usually happens.
“I was laughing at the time and I’m still laughing now, thinking about it.”
Antonio has become a cult figure at West Ham after a string of goal celebrations that have set tongues wagging. He has come up with the Hip Thrust, the Homer Simpson spin, the Worm, the Running Man and the Magic Carpet during his stint in the East End.
Megson, who has Norwich, Blackpool, Stockport, Stoke, Nottingham Forest and Leicester on his managerial CV, too, spent just a short time with Antonio at Wednesday, but still tagged the forward as one to watch when previewing the Championship in this paper seven years ago.
Now Megson reckons international honours could be on the cards for the uncapped Antonio, 31, who has been selected for England squads and also qualifies for Jamaica.
The Hammers ace scored again in yesterday’s 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace.
And Megson added: “I think he is now close to the finished article and he’s got to be close to the England squad. He gives something you don’t get with many other players.
“You can’t take liberties with him. You can’t squeeze up, because any ball over the top, he’s going to be quicker than anyone he’s facing.
“If you drop deep, he’s now much better with his back to goal and he’ll attack crosses. He’s very good in the air and he’s got a monstrous long throw.
“But any English centreforward is going to have to play a waiting game at the moment.
“When I managed Bolton, Kevin Davies got an England cap. And I remember saying the same thing about him.
“People judge certain players about what they can’t do, rather than what they can. He is not the same kind of player as Kevin but the reasoning still stacks up.
“Michail’s something different to what we have at the moment.”