{"id":117593,"date":"2026-03-02T22:20:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T22:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=117593"},"modified":"2026-03-02T22:20:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T22:20:00","slug":"clubs-refused-to-look-at-me-after-my-crash-antonio-on-qatar-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=117593","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Clubs refused to look at me after my crash\u2019 \u2013 Antonio on Qatar move"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>5 Minute, 6 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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Michail Antonio says he had to \u201cswallow his ego\u201d after his near\u2011fatal car crash as he prepares to make his first club appearance in 15 months.<\/p>\n

The 35-year-old striker, who has joined Qatari side Al\u2011Sailiya, says owners of English clubs were wary of signing him following\u00a0his accident in December 2024,\u00a0which left him with multiple leg fractures.<\/p>\n

He returned to competitive action with the Jamaica national team with three substitute appearances in June \u2013 his only football since the crash.<\/p>\n

But Antonio told BBC Sport he \u201cfeels like a schoolboy again\u201d as he looks to prove his fitness during his spell in the Qatar Stars League.<\/p>\n

Antonio says he still has \u201cso much love\u201d for West Ham, for whom he played 323 games and became their all\u2011time Premier League top scorer with 68 goals, but was disappointed he did not get the chance of even a final substitute appearance in a home friendly.<\/p>\n

He says he ultimately was not wanted by the manager Graham Potter and describes his exit in August as \u201ca hard pill to take\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve still got the qualities I had in the Premier League for the past 10 years,\u201d said Antonio. \u201cIt shows, because every single manager was putting a contract in front of me once I trained with them.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut there were managers and clubs who refused to look at me because of what happened \u2013 the accident, the injury. Some owners went against it. In football, the manager can want you, but it\u2019s the owner\u2019s money.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy agent kept calling clubs, and the same thing happened \u2013 clubs wanted me to train first. With the ego I had, I said \u2018I\u2019m not coming to train. You\u2019ve seen me play with Jamaica, you\u2019ve seen my past 10 years. I shouldn\u2019t have to train to get a contract.\u2019 Clubs said, \u2018If you don\u2019t train, we won\u2019t sign you.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter staying at West Ham, training with the under-21s and going away with Jamaica again, my agent said \u2018you\u2019re going to have to train, prove your fitness.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to swallow my ego \u2013 that\u2019s how I ended up at Brentford. I trained with them for two weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

The comeback trail<\/h2>\n

Antonio shattered his femur in four different places after his Ferrari spun off the road and crashed into a tree in Epping Forest during Storm Darragh.<\/p>\n

Antonio, who was supported by West Ham throughout his rehabilitation, reiterates that he does not remember the crash and says his \u201cfamily lived it more\u201d.<\/p>\n

He details how he had to learn to walk, then run and jump again, adding: \u201cThe hardest part wasn\u2019t the recovery. It was the knockbacks for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The forward held talks with Brentford and Leicester City over proposed transfers but those deals did not materialise.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cWhen I found out I\u2019d torn my calf the day before signing for Brentford, I laid in bed for two days.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst day, I was just crying. The second day, I just didn\u2019t want to get out of bed. I thought, \u2018I\u2019m back where I want to be, I\u2019m back in the Premier League\u2019. And then it happened again with Leicester.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was meant to return to Leicester, but they didn\u2019t want me back in because they didn\u2019t want a relapse on their books. So I trained alone for a week and then went into Charlton.\u201d<\/p>\n

Antonio held exploratory talks with the Championship club over a pay-as-you-play deal before choosing to move to Qatar instead.<\/p>\n

Mental resilience has always been a theme of Antonio\u2019s career, having been rejected by the likes of Brentford and Queens Park Rangers as a teenager, needing to go from non-league Tooting and Mitcham in south London, aged 12 to 18, to the Premier League by climbing the English football pyramid.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t until I was going through a divorce that I started therapy,\u201d he said. \u201cTherapy made me realise there are a lot of things you experience in life, but you never really live the moments. Like with Leicester \u2013 I was numb to it, but numbing isn\u2019t dealing with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot until you speak to someone \u2013 not someone who gives their opinion, but someone who helps you understand what\u2019s going on \u2013 that\u2019s when you realise these moments are key.\u201d<\/p>\n

Qatar move not about money<\/h2>\n

Antonio says his move to Qatar only came about last Monday following a call from Jamaica team-mate Mason Holgate, who plays for Al-Sailiya.<\/p>\n

Holgate was asked by manager Mirghani Al Zain if he knew anyone who might be available on a free after an injury to their first-choice striker \u2013 and Antonio came to mind.<\/p>\n

Despite a deal with Charlton being \u201cbasically done\u201d, according to the ex-Hammers forward, he was soon persuaded to make the switch.<\/p>\n

Antonio\u2019s two\u2011month contract gives him the chance to reassess his future in the summer, with Jamaica still capable of qualifying for the World Cup through March\u2019s play-offs. For now, though, he says he is not thinking ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever happens in the summer, happens,\u201d he added. \u201cI need to focus on the first goal, playing games and being fit. If I stay fit, I\u2019ll perform and score goals. I feel like the best possibility of staying fit is out here rather than playing Tuesdays and Saturdays.\u201d<\/p>\n

Antonio was also asked by BBC Sport about Qatar\u2019s human rights record and whether he had thought about it when agreeing to the move.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest, I don\u2019t really know what type of criticism people are talking about, but since I\u2019ve been here \u2013 and I\u2019ve been here during Ramadan \u2013 it\u2019s been all right for me,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom my experience, and from the people I\u2019ve spoken to, they\u2019ve really enjoyed it here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The smell of the grass, the anticipation of matchday and the fight for three points: it has been a long time since Antonio has had those experiences in club football.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Michail Antonio says he had to “swallow his ego” after his near\u2011fatal car crash as he prepares to make his first club appearance in 15 months.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[137,5581,10,9,8321],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-football","category-michail-antonio","category-politics","category-popular","category-qatar"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=117593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117593\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=117593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=117593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=117593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}