Blyth. McAvennie claims in his autobiography that Celtic were refusing to pay him a signing-on fee. Just before his return to Boleyn Ground, Celtic had accepted an offer from title chasing Arsenal, whose manager George Graham was looking for a proven goalscorer to partner Alan Smith. However, McAvennie turned down the chance to join Arsenal and accepted John Lyall's offer shortly afterwards. While Arsenal went on to dramatically win the First Division title on the last day of the season, West Ham were relegated to the Second Division and McAvennie failed to score a single goal in the remaining nine games of the season. He has since admitted that his decision to join West Ham and not Arsenal was based on his love of the club and not on the likelihood of footballing success. His second spell in London was not as successful as his previous one. Now playing in the Second Division, things got worse for both McAvennie and West Ham when the striker suffered a broken leg on the opening game of the season on 19 August 1989, following a challenge by Stoke City's Chris Kamara, which put him out until March 1990. He made his return on 31 March 1990 against Port Vale. By this time West Ham were 10th in the league and ultimately finished in seventh place missing out on the playoffs. This unsettling period at Upton Park also saw manager Lou Macari resign and being succeeded by Billy Bonds. In the aftermath of his injury, it was alleged in the tabloid press that McAvennie had threatened legal action against Kamara. This did not materialise and McAvennie has stated he had no intention of litigation. Kamara's view was that his challenge was innocuous and perfectly good and that McAvennie has created "many lies and false recollections" concerning the tackle. McAvennie recalls in his autobiography, Scoring, An Expert's Guide, that Kamara had "come straight through him, crumpling him to the ground" and had then stood over him saying "Get up you Scottish bastard, this is a man's game". The tackle resulted in a broken leg, shattered ankle and torn ligaments for McAvennie who had two plates and a bolt inserted in his ankle and another plate in his leg. Incensed by the tackle some supporters of West Ham sent death threats to Kamara. Out injured, on pain-killers and with spare-time on his hands McAvennie visited London's