---
title: "Downing: Leaving West Ham was an easy decision"
canonical: "https://readwestham.com/2015/09/09/downing-leaving-west-ham-easy-decision/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Ste Hoare"
section: "West Ham News"
published: "2015-09-09T08:47:27Z"
modified: "2015-09-09T08:47:27Z"
---

# Downing: Leaving West Ham was an easy decision

Former West Ham United winger Stewart Downing [says](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/34188682) the decision to leave the Hammers and join Middlesbrough was an easy one for him to make.

Speaking to the BBC, the England international, capped 35 times by his country, said that moving to his hometown club to try and help them gain promotion was more appealing to him than staying at Upton Park.

> I really wanted something to play for. At West Ham where could we realistically finish? Ninth or 10th? Even last season we did well but finished 12th. \[Middlesbrough is\] a good challenge for me. It’s a big thing to play for promotion at the end of the season and it would be a massive achievement.

![Matthew Lewis/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readwestham.com/readwestham/2015/09/473595950.jpg)

When Downing was sold, new Hammers manager [Slaven Bilic admitted](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/33561837) that he wanted to keep the former Aston Villa and Liverpool man, but said the winger was desperate to return to Boro.

> I didn’t want him to go, he’s a quality English player and I know how hard it is to get the quality ones. I was counting on him big time, but he told me that he wanted to go home. He said ‘I like you and everything, but I want to go home. If it was any other club, I would stay here’.

However, Downing seems to disagree somewhat with what Bilic said, with the England winger believing that the Croatian didn’t do enough to persuade him to stay.

> It’s difficult for Slaven, in his first week of the job, but he didn’t convince me enough to stay.

Downing also suggested that the signing of Dimitri Payet also made the decision to leave West Ham easier, as he knew the Frenchman would be the first-choice in his preferred role.

> That was one thing – the other was I was playing 10 in a free role last season and I really enjoyed it, but he didn’t really give me a guarantee and he had players coming in like Dimitri Payet, who was his first-choice number 10. When I spoke to the chairman and Aitor \[Karanka\] here, who had good plans and wanted me to be big part of that, it was an easy decision to make.