Footballer Of The Week 1
Sebastien Schemmel - Ex-West Ham & Portsmouth
Schemmel is my footballer of the week for one season and one season only, during the 2001-02 season, the easily forgettable Schemmel hit the peak of his playing career whilst at West Ham and managed to win the covated "Hammer Of The Year" award from right back.
Schemmel started his career in his native France, playing for both his hometown club; Nancy, and Metz, who at the time reached both the French League Cup final and less impressively the UEFA Intertoto Cup final. Harry Redknapp was the man to bring Schemmel to England, under the advice of then scout, Glenn Roeder. Schemmel joined on an initial 6 month loan in 2001 and was finally purchased by Roeder (who was then manager) at the end of the impressive spell. The eventual fee was closer to 500k, than Metz original asking price of 1.5m, mainly due to the "bad boy's" falling out with Metz management. His first full season as a West Ham player turned out to be by far his best in English football, with West Ham finishing 7th and Schemmel playing, passionate, effective football in West Ham's defence. Schemmel's form brought him the nickname "The Premiership's Best Kept Secret".
Schemmel was a big supported of Roeder when he arrived at West Ham and publicly supported him in his public fued with Paulo Di Canio, and also claimed Freddi Kanoute had told Schemmel that he was to stay at West Ham because of his great respect for Roeder. After his brilliant first season, Schemmel became unhappy and lived up to his bad boy antics once again by falling out with Roeder, and after one more season at Upton Park, Harry Redknapp swooped to save Sebastian's career and he joined Portsmouth FC. Schemmel's time at Portsmouth was marred by troubles with his mother's health and after only 12 league games and one season, Schemmel returned to finish his career in France with Le Harve.
