West Brom manager Steve Clarke has hit out at TV presenter Adrian Chiles, the club’s best-known fan, over a joke at an awards dinner.
Clarke said the joke, targeted at troubled striker Osaze Odemwingie, was “stupid” and “ridiculous”.
Chiles, hosting the club’s end-of-season awards dinner, announced a prize for the ‘Tweet of the year’, only to interrupt himself, saying, “Oh, no, sorry – it’s ‘Tw*t of the year’, and the winner is Peter (Osaze) Odemwingie’.
The joke was a reference to the extraordinary sequence of events which saw the Nigerian striker first pan the club in a series of tweets, then drive to QPR on January transfer deadline day in the hope of forcing trough a move.
Osaze, 31, is still at the club, and though he had been allowed by Clarke to miss the awards evening, he is believed to be unhappy about the joke at his expense.
Clarke, speaking about the incident at his weekly press conference, said that a presenter of Chiles’ experience should have known better.
“It was out of order,” the Baggies boss said. “It was a ridiculous comment to make. I didn’t like it. I didn’t say anything about it at the time but I’m saying it now – it was a stupid comment.
“It was out of place – it was a West Brom awards night. There was no place for that kind of comment. It was a throwaway line from somebody who should know better.
“Peter’s one of my players. I’ve said it all season, I protect my players fiercely; that’s why I didn’t like it. There wasn’t time to saying anything [about the incident] on the night.”
Clarke added that it was up to the club to decide whether they would want to invite Chiles back to host the event in future.