There were some bizarre scenes in the second half of last night's West Ham and West Brom game at the London Stadium. After being taken off, West Brom's Jake Livermore was taking his seat on the bench when he reacted to something that was said in the crowd behind him, and took a step into the stand to confront the fan who had made the remark.
Stewards reacted and escorted Livermore down the tunnel.
While there is an FA investigation into the incident, a statement released by Livermore's club today revealed the disgusting depths the West Ham fan in question sunk to, and it's only too understandable why Livermore reacted the way he did.
West Brom Statement:
In the light of intense media speculation, West Bromwich Albion would like to clarify an incident involving our player Jake Livermore in last night's Premier League game at West Ham.
Following his substitution in the second half, Jake was subjected to general abuse from home supporters which he shrugged off. However, he acknowledges that he moved to confront one spectator who chose to make a comment about the death of his infant son.
The Club would like to think that all right-minded football supporters could understand this reaction which did not result in any physical exchanges before Jake was led away to our dressing room.
Jake is an outstanding young individual who has the total support of everyone at the Club and he has made it clear he considers this statement to be an end to an unhappy incident.
Albion were very appreciative of the swift response by the officials of West Ham in dealing with this matter and are more than happy to leave any further action they deem appropriate in their hands.
The Club has responded to an FA request to offer our observations of the incident and will not be making any further comment.
In 2014, the day after he'd played in the FA Cup final for Hull, Livermore's partner Danielle gave birth to their son Jake, who tragically died during birth. A year later, the midfielder tested positive for cocaine, which allowed him to open up about the suffering he had gone through with the loss of Jake.
Speaking to the Mail in 2016, Livermore explained what he went through.
So for me, it was a relief. The drugs were irrelevant. It could have been drugs, a gun, a car crash or whatever, the self-destruct button was the problem.
The way in which (his death) happened made it difficult to fight my own demons.
If you lose a child in God’s hands it is completely different. To find out why he had died, that was too much for my head and my heart to take.
That pain and hurt, it makes you do desperate things. I wasn’t thinking of the consequences.
I love my family more than life itself. You take that out of my life and you’re basically taking away me as a person. And that is what happened, I lost myself.
I was broken. Most people out there will have a son, a nephew, a little brother.
I could not deal with the loss and the circumstances of it, as well as the pressures of everyday life and trying to keep my team in the Premier League. If I was thinking with a cool head I would have asked for time off. But I didn’t want to let anyone down, I just looked at it as another injury I could play through.
That is a mind which isn’t clear. It was as if football was secondary. I needed help.
Bar the embarrassment for my parents, myself and the club, it was something that had to happen.
I had to know that there were people out there I could talk to.
West Ham have reportedly identified the fan involved.
