Blowing bubbles summer annual 2016

BLOWING-BUBBLES.CO.UK BY FANS, FOR FANS #60

132-PAGE MONSTER ISSUE!

SUMMER ANNUAL 2016

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SEASON’S BEATINGS

INSIDE

David Gold Jack Collison Tony Cottee Frank McAvennie John Moncur Rio Ferdinand David Sullivan & many more

Arsenal, Liverpool, Man United, Man City, Tottenham, Everton & Chelsea all conquered in Irons’ first season under Slaven Bilic

WELCOME EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: David Blackmore MANAGING EDITOR: Simon Osborn SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR: Lucy Woolford CONTRIBUTORS: David Bowden, Arjan Drissen, Geoff Hillyer, Stephen Hunt Jr, Maurise Hutty, Brian Jeeves, James Jones, David Meagher, Kiran Moodley, George Parris, Emily Pulham, Danny Rust, Julian Shea, Bianca Westwood, Brian Williams.

CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER: Nicky Hayes EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES: editor@blowing- bubbles.co.uk ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES: advertising@blowingbubbles.co.uk WHERE YOU CAN READ IT: Blowing Bubbles is available to buy and is available to read on PC, Mac, Tablet or Mobile.

Blowing Bubbles is published by Fanatic Media. Blowing Bubbles is a completely independent publication. The views expressed within Blowing Bubbles are not necessarily those of the publishers.

Opinions expressed by companies and individuals appearing within the magazine are not that of Blowing Bubbles or the publisher. The publisher accepts no liability from any action raised in response to any such opinions. Readers are strongly advised that although we take every care to ensure prices and content, etc, are up to date, it is the responsibility to check with the advertiser before purchasing or travelling to view products.

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It was an amazing season but the hard work must start now W hat an incredible season it was for West Ham on the pitch, and for Blowing Bubbles Monthly off it.

As Slaven Bilic’s men went from strength to strength, we also continued to gain more readers, more subscribers and more followers on our social media platforms.

The response to last month’s commemorative Farewell Boleyn issue was absolutely extraordinary. Our print run increased five-fold and we had to go back to the printers to ask for another print run such was the huge demand for our

May issue. The feedback we’ve also received all season has been particularly pleasing - people like what we do, and it’s given us the confidence to keep doing it.

Of course, none of this would have been possible without such a brilliant team of writers.

They truly are a wonderful bunch, and I’d like to thank each and every one of them for their excellent work this campaign.

I must also mention the impressive efforts of our chief photographer Nicky Hayes this season.

He really has gone the extra mile to cover the

Hammers for us over the years, but it was only looking at his ‘photos of the season’ piece for this summer annual that it truly hit me how many amazing pictures he’s taken over the past 12 months.

The season may well be over but the hard work is only just beginning for us at Blowing Bubbles.

We’ve got a busy summer ahead of planning for what promises to be a terrific campaign.

Enjoy the summer.

Here’s hoping England do well, and Dimitri Payet returns injury free!

David

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CONTENTS REGULARS

3 Editor’s Column 20 Your shout

Farewell Boleyn Page 8

23 George Parris 24 Pub Talk 28 Bianca Westwood 124 West Ham Ladies 128 Supporters’ Club of the Month 130 The Last Word

INTERVIEWS

89 Jack Collison

14 David Gold

96 Martin Samuelsen

18 Tony Cottee

112 Stevie Bacon

48 David Sullivan 54 John Moncur 58 Barry Fry 72 Frank McAvennie

FEATURES

8 Farewell Boleyn 13 Boleyn Memories

80 Jacqueline Gold

30 The A-Z of West Ham’s season

86 Darren Lewis

34 KUMB Awards

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Frank McAvennie Page 72

38 Blowing Bubbles Awards

47 Dimitri Payet v Paolo Di Canio

44 The Great Winter Break Debate

50 Championship Stars We May Sign

Jack Collison Page 89

David Sullivan Page 48

52 Mark Noble

100 Nigel Rio Coker

63 2015/16 in Pictures

103 Joey Barton

77 The Boys of ‘86 84 The Benefit of Hindsight 92 Rio Ferdinand 94 Carl Jenkinson

John Moncur Page 54

106 VVV-Venlo 108 Doing It For Dad 118 Matthew Etherington 120 The Honeymoon Period

Jacqueline Gold Page 80

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FAREWELL BOLEYN Julian Shea reflects on West Ham’s glorious final goodbye to Upton Park

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7

Heroes: Andy Carroll and Winston Reid celebrate at the final whistle

West Ham give Upton

Mr Moon left the stadium but the Hammers fans departed

L

adies and gentlemen, West Ham have left the building.

After 112 years of mud, sweat, and cheers, on Tuesday, May 10, the final final whistle sounded at the Boleyn Ground – and it could not have been any more dramatic.

West Ham’s thrilling 3-2 victory over Manchester United was a perfect encapsulation of the mythical West Ham way, which other teams are so bored of hearing

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about; play superbly, fail to take advantage, pay the price, find yourselves in a hole… but this time, dig yourselves out.

Of course it is impossible to talk about matters inside the ground without mentioning the pre-match nonsense outside – inexcusable, unjustifiable, shameful, but also hardly unpredictable.

In years gone by, the Boleyn was one of football’s most intimidating destinations, so it is no

surprise that for some West Ham ‘fans’, the ground’s final game was also seen as an opportunity for one last tear-up on Green Street. Still – inexcusable, unjustifiable, shameful.

Fortunately, the atmosphere in the ground stayed the right side of raucous for a remarkable 90 minutes. Diafra Sakho’s inch-perfect placement into the bottom corner of David de Gea’s goal was the ideal start. Game on.

West Ham were all over the visitors early on, but when Andy Carroll wasted a glorious oneon-one and Dimitri Payet shot horribly wide from a good position, home fans began thinking this was how the team were going to sign off – with one of those performances they have become all-too used to over the years.

Lo and behold, when the visitors woke up after the break, with crushing predictability Anthony

Taxi: The Hammers of the Year arrived in style

Fitting: Bobby Moore turned out the lights

Icon: Paolo Di Canio relived his famous goal against the Dons

Park a fitting send-off with one spectacular final memory of the wonderful Boleyn

Martial twice tore a hole in the defence for 2-1.

Time for one last push Irons, now or never – and don’t you just know it, they did it.

First, Michail Antonio headed them level and then with four minutes later, Winston Reid’s header ensured the perfect finale. There was only one team who were going to win this game, because the crowd would not let them lose.

United’s players are used to playing in front

of the biggest crowds, and handling the most pressure – but apart from their two goals, they barely bothered Darren Randolph, and had no answer against a team being relentlessly pushed forward by the clamour of their fans.

The last FA Cup match at the Boleyn – against United – was a huge anti-climax. The final regular Saturday kick-off against Swansea was an unmitigated disaster. But when it really mattered

more than at any time, the Irons rose to the occasion.

After the final whistle went, the fireworks began for the formal closing ceremony, but nothing could match the excitement of the 90 minutes.

The good – the match.

The bad – the pre-match.

And the brilliant – the atmosphere; this game had it all.

From game one, a 3-0 win over Millwall, to game 2,398, this epic,

the Boleyn has seen everything. Now it is history.

The old chapter for West Ham could not have ended in more thrilling fashion. Now a new one begins.

As for Slaven, can you remember what we were all warned at the start of the season? Careful what you wish for - well that turned out to be worthwhile advice, didn’t it?

Irons supporters may just have been happy to see one of their own

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in the hot seat after five uninspiring years under Avram Grant and Sam Allardyce, but given Slaven Bilic’s near 20-year absence from England, few were setting high pre-season targets.

Ok he’d done well in Russia and Turkey, and impressed with Croatia so long-term he might turn out to be a good choice, but let’s just see how things go, shall we?

The stats don’t lie. A record number of Premier League points and second highest finish, the most top-flight goals since 1986 and even a flirtation with the Champions League.

With European football now confirmed, it is certainly not bad for a beginner.

But most importantly for West Ham fans, what made the difference in this of all seasons was the home record. For too long, despite the atmosphere off the pitch, on the field, West Ham was an easy place for visitors, particularly with home fans being so quick to get on the manager’s

Superb: Mark Noble had one of his best ever games in a West Ham shirt

back. This season, with a boss they believed in, that never happened – and the team responded.

For those too young to have seen him play, Bilic was a class act as a cen-

Leap of faith: Michail Antonio scored the second

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tral defender, and West Ham fans’ only regret was that his time at the club was so brief – just a season and a half – before he was sold on to Everton at a profit.

This soon proved to be shrewd business, though, as injuries caught up with him, slowing him down, and it became clear West Ham had sold at the right time.

That meant there was a degree of unfinished business about Bilic’s return to the Boleyn – but no-one can realistically have expected him to complete it so quickly.

For years, the two plastic turrets of the West Stand seemed to stand as monuments to Rio Ferdinand and Frank Lampard, home-grown talents sold to flourish elsewhere around the time the stand was built.

This season they symbolised a fortress where opponents turned up – and more often than not, were turned away.

In hindsight, the first home game loss to Leicester was no disgrace, and although losing the second to Bournemouth was an eyebrow-raiser at the

Delight: The Hammers celebrate at full time

time, after that, things just clicked.

Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea, Manchester United – West Ham took points off them all. In 2014-15, West Ham lost six home matches. The year before that, nine. The year before that, four. This season – three, unbeaten from August to May.

And that final ever home win was the stuff of legend.

If asked what they wished for, most football fans would probably say someone who understood their club, cared about it, could make it work, and who would make them proud. In Slaven Bilic that is exactly what West Ham fans have. Careful now. BBM

Sir Geoff Hurst on why we had to make the Olympic Stadium West Ham United and England legend Sir Geoff Hurst was one of a number of former Hammers to reflect on their time at the Boleyn Ground ahead of the Irons’ last game at Upton Park.

The striker, who won the FA Cup and Uefa Cup Winners Cup with West Ham, opened his heart in a special column for the Mail on Sunday.

‘Many people’s first memories of Upton Park will be a famous game or perhaps a great moment of football. Mine? I just remember painting the stands in the summer as a teenager,’ he wrote.

‘I started to break into the first team in the 1962-63 season after I made my debut up at Nottingham Forest. But I was playing in midfield to start with and I struggled, to be honest.

‘But Ron took a chance on playing me up front. I scored 14 in 27 games and from then on my career just flew.

‘The following year in 1964 we won the FA Cup and I scored in every round, including that final. The next year we won the Cup Winners’ Cup and the following year, of course, was the World

Cup of 1966. The first game of the season was against Chelsea three weeks later and myself, Martin Peters and Bobby Moore paraded around the pitch with a replica of the trophy.

Everyone was in great spirits. And then we lost 2-1.

‘Each and every game from those years brings back very special memories from one of the most evocative grounds in English football. But my favourite would have to be scoring six goals against Sunderland in October 1968. I scored the first three before half-time, with Moore and Trevor Brooking getting the other goals in an 8-0 win. That wasn’t a bad team!

‘It will be hard to let go of Upton Park. I left with a bit of a tear but also full of hope for the future.

‘I’ve been talking about the move with fans ever since it was announced, it’s clear here are so many different emotions invested there over 112 years. But when you see the opportunity we have as a club to move into the Olympic Stadium, you know that it is the right move.

You always have to be ready to change and adapt in life.’

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This is Mark. Mark is great.

He captains West Ham United and reads Blowing Bubbles.

Subscribe today and you can be a little bit more like Mark.

Join today at www.blowing-bubbles.co.uk

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Boleyn memories

Four Hammers fans share their favourite ever moment at Upton Park

T

he Boleyn Ground holds a special place in the hearts of all West Ham United fans.

From our first games to the amazing nights under lights, we all have our favourite memories of trips to Upton Park.

Here five fans share their favourite moments at the stadium…

as we’d lost the last three matches 4-0 but then Dean Ashton equalised, and then with about fifteen minutes to go, youngster Freddie Sears came on for his debut.

Five minutes later, he scored the winner and the place erupted with joy, relief and new-found hope for the future.

Lucy Woolford I saw some very bad times and some great times. My favorite? I’d have to say the play-off semi-final against Ipswich in 2004.

I’m not a great one for remembering things, but I’ll never forget that night.

It was the first time I’d experienced a seriously elated crowd there. We’d turned around a 1-0 deficit from the first leg, which led to deafening choruses of ‘Bubbles’ and copious amounts of clapping, so much so that I ached for days!

David Meagher Over the years one game stands out. In February 2000 when we welcomed Bradford to Fortress Boleyn.

An early injury to Shaka Hislop triggered a defensive implosion and we found ourselves trying to outscore a rampant Bradford City.

Although everybody remembers the argument between Frank Lampard and Paolo Di Canio about taking a penalty, most forget that prior to that Di Canio had asked to be substituted after a series of unsuccessful penalty claims.

But we were treated to one of the greatest comebacks as we won in a 5-4 thriller. BBM

Emily Pulham Saturday, 17 March, 2001 was my first time watching West Ham and my most memorable Boleyn

Only at West Ham: Paolo Di Canio rows with Frank Lampard over who should take the penalty experience. I was born in America to an English father who supported West Ham and, owing to the lack of football options on TV, I had never watched a West Ham game before.

My Dad set out to rectify this and, shortly before my 14th birthday, he flew me to London to watch West Ham play Ipswich at the Boleyn Ground.

We lost the game 1-0

but I was hooked. The singing, the atmosphere, the energy – I’d never seen anything like it before.

Geoff Hillyer One of my abiding memories of the Boleyn is being there for an otherwise nondescript match against Blackburn Rovers on Saturday, 15 March, 2008.

We were 1-0 down with the crowd restless

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David Gold

‘The new stadium will let us compete with the very best’

David Blackmore found co-owner David Gold in a very confident mood ahead the most important year in West Ham’s long and proud history

D

avid Gold feels the club have been vindicated for replacing Sam Allardyce with Slaven Bilic following a great first season under the Croatian.

In a wide-ranging interview, the West Ham co-chairman said getting off to a good start was key for Bilic but his passion for the club and the West Ham way will help keep fans on side during any future winless periods.

He has also set out his vision for West Ham for the next five years with the main target being regular European football and also stated the club will be debt free once the first ball is kicked at their new home this August.

‘I think we all knew that Slaven was very capable – indeed as some of the other applicants were [for the vacant manager position],’ he said.

‘We knew their CVs but the issue was whether or not we were going to be able to work with this man, and whether there was chemistry between us.

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Ambitious: Slaven Bilic will lead West Ham into the Olympic Stadium this summer

‘At most clubs, there is usually one man who deals with the manager but in our case it’s two chairmen and vice-chairman Karren Brady. Now all three of us ticked the box to say we could work with him.

‘The other box to be ticked, of course, was

something nobody else could and that was him being an ex-player.

Ex-players are always warmly received by the fan base but key to any success of a new manager, particularly in the early stages, is to get off to a good start. He did this.

‘West Ham fans also know we don’t have a divine right to win every game, but what they do have a divine right to expect is that their football team is going to give 100 per cent, and they’re going to see passion from their manager, and that’s what they’ve got.’

Premier League survival for the final season at Upton Park and the first season in the Olympic Stadium was made clear to Bilic on starting his reign at the club but he wasn’t given a target position, Gold confirmed.

‘I’m sitting here right now and I’m optimistic about the future,’ he continued.

‘Our expectation levels have risen because of how things have gone but also because we’ve got some quality players.

‘They didn’t know what Lanzini was going to be like and how he would fit in. They also didn’t know how Payet was going to settle in and become the player that he has been for us.

As for where he sees West Ham five years from now, Gold replied: ‘I see us being well es-

Fighting talk: David Gold says West Ham have a bright future

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tablished in the Olympic Stadium, and I see West Ham United flourishing and challenging Spurs and Arsenal in London.

‘It’s always very difficult to talk about comparing us to the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City who have wealth that is indescribable.

‘It’s very difficult to compete with them financially on a regular basis but that’s not to say we can’t compete with them on the football pitch and that’s what I’d look to see in the next five years.’

Gold also claimed it would be impossible for the club to move forward until it becomes debt free.

‘We expect it to become debt free when we move to the Olympic Stadium. Within in five years, I’d like to see us stay debt free and competing season after season in the top six,’ he added.

‘There is a correlation between fan base and position in the league, and we’ve under-performed for 50 years because we are higher up Star: Dimitri Payet has allowed West Ham fans to dream

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Game changer: The Olympic Stadium will allow West Ham to compete with bigger clubs like Arsenal in the future

in the league of fan base than our position in the league over the last five decades has shown.

‘Therefore I’m optimistic now because our fan base has a new stadium to go to that will generate income and I believe the Olympic Stadium will enable us to raise more income to give us

a better position in the league and I do feel we will be in the top six on a regular basis and one day we will get into that top four.’

As for the constant speculation that West Ham’s two chairman are planning on selling their shares in West Ham once the club has moved to its new home, Gold reiterated once more that it has ‘never been part’ of their plan.

‘At no time have we ever talked about selling the football club,’ he explained. ‘We’ve talked about having maybe another investor come in to help share the burden with us so that we can compete with Roman Abramovich and Man

City but we have never ever talked about selling.

‘It’s our intention to pass on the shares in West Ham when we become too ancient to continue to our children who have the same passion as us.

‘The passion of my two daughters for our football club is not dissimilar to my own and sometimes I think their passion is greater so from that point of view if something happens to me, my daughters would step up to the plate.’

Looking back on the final few months of 2015 and matters off the pitch, the conversation turns to media frenzy around requests made by football supporters’ groups for an

inquiry into West Ham’s Olympic Stadium move, which was rejected by the government.

‘Is it not true that great stories go on and on?

This is a great story,’ he said as he described himself climbing onto the proverbial soapbox.

‘A lot of those articles were biased and there was the constant red herring of taxpayers’ money when in fact the opposite is true because if West Ham wasn’t involved in becoming the anchor tenants, the Olympic Stadium would become exactly the same as the vast majority of Olympic Stadiums around the world – a white elephant.

‘They go into decay, they rot and they cost taxpayers millions of pounds a year to keep them from becoming a hazard and that was exactly what was going to happen to the Olympic Stadium.

‘The last Labour government had planned to reduce the stadium from 80,000 seats to just 25,000 with no roof and only the ability to hold athletics there but we know this would not have been sustainable.

‘Yes we want our young people to participant in running and jumping and all forms of athletics. We want them fit and well but the bottom line is, apart from the Olympics, nobody is interested in watching athletics.

‘We’ve come along and

West Ham fan Louisa has the X-Factor

Fan: Jacqueline Gold shares her father’s passion for the club

become anchor tenant and arguably you can say we have saved this burden on the taxpayer.

‘The taxpayer would have had to pay £60m to reduce it from an 80,000 seater stadium to just 25,000. That was planned and budgeted for, and then it was going to cost £4m a year forever but along come West Ham and we’ve done a deal and that’s

no longer going to be the case.’

Asked about any ambition to expand the Olympic Stadium beyond 60,000 seats, Gold replied: ‘Our current plan is to get the 60,000 seater stadium full and vibrant but we’ll see in the future. The sight lines are world class and no seat is further away from the pitch than Wembley.’ BBM

West Ham have another celebrity fan after happy Hammer Louisa Johnson won the X-Factor.

The 17-year-old saw off thousands of rival singers, stealing the hearts of millions across the country with her incredible singing talents.

During the show Louisa got to meet and perform to the first team squad and even got to hug Mr West Ham himself, Mark Noble.

Inviting her down to meet the squad was another good PR move for West Ham and added to the feel good factor around the club before this year’s stadium move.

Her debut single, a cover of Bob Dylan’s Forever Young, may have only reached nine in the charts but, whatever happens, she has added to the list of famous West Ham fans.

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Tony Cottee

‘I’m sick and tired of seeing West Ham fail to win trophies’

Julian Shea finds Tony Cottee very excited about West Ham’s future

F

ew people know West Ham inside and out, on and off the pitch, quite as well as Boys of 86 hero Tony Cottee.

So there are few people in as good a position to make a realistic assessment of the team’s progress under Slaven Bilic – and the good news is that the striking legend thinks the end of the Boleyn Ground era could be the start of something even better for the Irons.

‘Part of being a West Ham fan is you get more miserable moments than good, but when they’re good, they’re very good, and I really think there are good times round the corner,’ said Cottee, who scored 146 goals in 336 appearances over two spells at the club.

‘When you look at the squad we’ve put together, this is probably the strongest we’ve been in 15 years, since the Harry Redknapp/Paolo di Canio era.

‘We’ve got a great keeper, some good defenders, an abundance of midfielders and crucially we’ve now got a few decent strikers.

‘I’ve always said you have to have [decent

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Young: Tony Cottee in his playing days

strikers] if you want to succeed in the Premier League, and in Diafra Sakho, Enner Valencia and Andy Carroll, finally we’ve got that.

‘Looking through the squad, this is the best we’ve had since the days of Joe Cole, Jermain Defoe and Glen Johnson.

This was a really impor-

tant season for the club, but we should all be a bit excited about what can happen in the future.

We’ve got some really good players.’

As one half, along with Frank McAvennie, of the most famous, adored and successful double act in West Ham history – 46 goals between the

pair of them in the 198586 season, which saw a club record highest third place finish in the old First Division – Cottee is in a better position than most to assess the Irons’ striking options.

‘Carroll is a great option to have,’ he added. ‘He gives you so much, but I’m not sure at his age and this stage in his career that he’s going to want to just be a sub to be called upon as an option.’

As both a lifelong fan Cottee is keen to see the team rise to the next level – a move he thinks will become a more realistic proposition following the much-anticipated move to the Olympic Stadium.

‘Nobody wants to leave the Boleyn as it’s where all our memories are, and we’ll all shed a tear when it’s time to move on, but as a fan, I’m sick and tired of 35 years of us not winning things.

‘Since we last won a trophy, the likes of Birmingham, Swansea and Wigan have won cups, and we haven’t – so clearly, something is wrong.

‘I’ve bought two season tickets for the Olympic

Stadium – my twin boys are West Ham fans, so after I’m gone, that can be my legacy to them.

‘Although I’m sad to leave, I’m very excited about where we’re going.

We’ve got to make sure we take the best of the Boleyn with us, and I think design elements of the Olympic Stadium like the roof with the floodlights underneath, and having retractable seating, will help us to take that atmosphere with us.

‘The owners have been brilliant, and with the new stadium, there’ll be more money washing around, which you’d hope will help bring in more, better players.

That, of course, means more chance of winning something. Everyone needs to get their head around this move, and embrace it. I think when the first game there happens, there’ll be a real wow factor, as people look around and think “this is our new home”.

We could stage the Champions League final there if we wanted to!

‘Leaving the Boleyn was sad but now it’s happened, we’re all looking forward. There’s so much for everyone at West Ham to be looking forward to at the moment.’ BBM *Tony was speaking to Claret and Hugh for Moore Than Just a Podcast. Listen to more from the team at www. moorethanjustapodcast. co.uk

Big fan: Tony Cottee reckons the likes of Diafra Sakho are part of a very strong West Ham squad

Cottee’s career timeline 1965 Born in Forest Gate, London 1983 Made his West Ham debut at the age of 17 against Tottenham Hotspur on January 1, scoring in the process.

1986 Voted PFA Young Player of the Year as West Ham finished third.

Made his debut for England against Sweden.

1987 Bagged 23 league goals – which would be the highest of his career.

1988 Joined Everton in a £2.2 million deal 1989 Played in the FA Cup final as Everton lost to arch-rivals Liverpool.

1994 Returned to West Ham United in September and scored 13 league goals as he helped West Ham fight off relegation under Harry Redknapp.

1996 Hit 10 goals as the Hammers finished 10th.

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Your shout

Email: editor@blowing-bubbles.co.uk

Next year’s Premier League is going to be tougher than ever A LETTER lthough West Ham lost their final game of the season at Stoke, I think most fans would still have been delighted with a seventh place finish.

I’ve seen a lot of talk about a more sustained push for Champions League qualification next year.

While I’d love to see the Hammers in the competition I still call the European Cup, I fear we must enter the new campaign with a sense of realism. Next year’s Premier League is going to be tougher than ever and a repeat of the current season – a top half finish and a stab at the two cup competitions – would still constitute a success.

You’d expect a number of teams who finished outside the top four this season to be better next year. Manchester United will almost certainly be better under Jose

OF THE MONTH

Point to prove: Jose Mourinho has taken over at Man United Mourinho while Liverpool, free of European football, will be more of a threat in Jurgen Klopp’s second season in charge at Anfield.

Then you have Chelsea, who surely will be back to their old selves under new coach Antonio Conte.

When you consider West Ham have the added burden of the Europa League next term, and are also going to be playing in an unfamiliar stadium, then it is clear that there are a number of challenges that will need to be dealt with.

Daniel Poole

Time to splash the cash a buy a striker West Ham would have won the Premier League this season if they’d had a striker like Jamie Vardy or Harry Kane.

A top forward was the difference between the Hammers and the likes of Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur.

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The new TV deal means West Ham can afford to spend heavily this summer and finding a top forward who knows where the net is should be the club’s number one priority.

It’s time to dream big.

Dev Singh

Target: Alexandre Lacazette of Lyon

West Ham can’t risk their future I’ve seen West Ham have reportedly had a £30million bid for Alexandre Lacazette turned down

by Lyon.

It’s very likely David Sullivan is going to invest heavily this summer and buy a Slaven Bilic a ‘20-goal-a-season’ striker.

While I’d love to see the likes of Lacazette turn out in the claret and blue I’m concerned the Hammers may overstretch themselves in the pursuit of Champions League football.

It wasn’t that long ago that West Ham were perilously close to administration and I’d hate to see them return to financial problems if results do not continue to come on the pitch.

The fate of Leeds United remains a warning to us all.

Ryan Chambers

A big thank you to Joey O’Brien

I just wanted to send a quick note to say thank you to Joey O’Brien.

The defender is out of contract this summer and looks certain to leave the club.

He has always been a good honest professional and never let anyone down during his time here. All the best Joey!

Claire Taylor

Final game was the perfect way to end What an amazing sendoff West Ham gave the Boleyn Ground!

I know some other clubs felt that the last game at Upton Park was getting too much hype but, quite frankly, it was none of their business.

Just because Arsenal hardly did anything to say goodbye to Highbury doesn’t mean we were wrong to mark it in our own way.

The post-match celebrations could easily have been cheesy but I thought the club got it spot on, with Bobby

Moore turning the lights out the perfect way to finish. It was great to see so many former players at the game and the match itself was fantastic.

To come from behind to win 3-2 is the stuff of Hollywood but it had to be the West Ham way.

I thought the roof was going to come off when Winston Reid headed home the winner past David de Gea. Hopefully the fans will be able to replicate the atmosphere next season.

Ray Fisher

Amazing: Winston Reid scored the last goal at the Boleyn Ground

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PARRIS

THE HAMMERS’ HERO PULLS NO PUNCHES IN HIS EXCLUSIVE COLUMN

England have a chance

Big test: Can West Ham follow in Sevilla’s foosteps next season?

Europe will be a challenge but West Ham can meet it

A

lot of people look down on it but Europa League qualification, along with the move to the Olympic Stadium, might entice better players to join West Ham this summer.

I would like to think we will take the Europa League more seriously in this upcoming season because our new home demands it.

What’s going to be interesting is to see who we get drawn against, how we get on in the first leg, and subsequently

what team we put out in the second leg with our flagship friendly against Juventus a few days later.

With the squad as it is, plus a couple of signings, there is an argument we’ve probably got enough strength in depth to field very strong teams for both.

Not everyone will play both games but like last season showed, both these games will be good pre-season for the squad.

Competitive games have that impact.

After our good season,

I don’t think we need a complete overhaul to ensure we are competitive again next season.

Certainly I think we’ll need a another defender, a midfielder and a proven goalscorer.

There’s been talk of the need of getting a right back but we did bring in Sam Byram with a view of him slotting in maybe he will get more game time.

Michail Antonio did well at right back but I agree he is stronger further forward.

I know most people are downplaying our chances but I reckon England have what it takes to do very well at this summer’s European Championships.

If you look at our squad, I think the only thing we’re lacking is a world-class defender.

I certainly think England will get out of their group and after that it just depends on who we get.

From West Ham’s point of view not having too many players on international duty will help us.

Let’s hope the likes of Dimitri Payet and James Collins come back fully fit.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to be involved with your country but if you do well, you’ll be there for three to four weeks and tournament football is high intensity.

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Pub talk

The Blowing Bubbles team settle down to put the world to rights...

Looking back at the last campaign as a whole, what was your highlight of the 2015-16 season?

Emily Pulham: This is like picking a favourite child – can’t do it.

Winning at Arsenal, at Anfield, Andy Carroll’s thundering comeback of a hat trick, every time we came back from a goal down instead of throwing an extra defender on and minimising damage – so many good moments.

Kiran Moodley: The seven-minute turnaround either side of half time against Arsenal at home. When we were 2-0 down, I thought it was going to be a drubbing. But I haven’t experienced such euphoria and optimism in such a short space of time for so long, nor felt a game turn on its head in such

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Iconic: Sir Trevor Brooking at Upton Park’s last game

an unbelievable fashion.

Lucy Woolford: The win at Anfield and beating Spurs at home both stand out in terms of games, but the ultimate highlight has to be that last home game against Man Utd. You couldn’t have written a script better than that, it was

just a perfect closing statement for the Boleyn Ground. Even though I wasn’t there, I’ll never forget it.

Brian Williams: The last game at the Boleyn Ground was an unforgettable night. I don’t generally cry in public, so the pollen count must

have been particularly high when the brass band played Abide With Me. I can think of no other explanation for the moisture dripping from my mince pies at that moment.

And the worst moment?

EP: This is tough, it’s between losing to Bournemouth or Swansea at home. Bournemouth was a shambles; we were dreadful but Swansea was worse. All we had to do was beat them and we’d have been in Europe and finished our season on a high – instead we fell to pieces.

It still hurts.

KM: The 4-1 defeats against Tottenham and Swansea. They will be forgotten by many, but I feel they may be crucial in showing the cracks that may be come out

next season if we don’t tighten things up.

LW: I think the away draw against Leicester was the game that annoyed me the most and I felt like it was season over in terms of fourth place and ultimate glory. I was so frustrated with Andy Carroll for even giving Schlupp the chance to fall to the ground for the penalty in the dying seconds.

We should’ve won that game.

BW: Realising our “equaliser” against the Mancs in the replay had been ruled out for offside in the dying minutes. It was only when I saw the lino’s flag being held aloft like the executioner’s axe did I finally accept our name was not on the Cup this year.

Dimitri Payet was named Hammer of the Year at the club’s end of season awards. Who else have you been impressed with?

EP: Michail Antonio has been outstanding but he’s not a right-back. He’s creative, dynamic, and a natural goal scorer. I prefer him and his work rate to Payet. There, I Going? Will Diafra Sakho be at the club next season?

Great signing: Manuel Lanzini enjoyed a super first season at the club

said it. James Collins has been solid at the back and we miss him, and his clean sheets, when he isn’t starting. Sort it out, Slaven.

KM: Michail Antonio.

It’s crazy to think he wasn’t a first-team player at the start and that he only got a look-in during an injury-plagued few

months in the winter. I genuinely feel he could take on anyone down the right and beat them.

LW: I love Lanzini. On the field, he’s comfortable and shows some immense skill, while off the field he’s settling in well to life in London, hopefully making him a long-term prospect. It’s easy to forget he’s only 23 and he’s made a great improvement to the team. Notable mentions also to Noble, Antonio and Kouyate for me.

What do West Ham need to do in the transfer market this summer?

EP: Sign a right back!

Maybe even sign two right backs, or three right backs, but for the

love of all things holy, at least one right back.

KM: Replacements for Sakho and Valencia.

We need a proven goalscorer who can get those decisive goals.

That Carroll one-onone against Manchester United, and Sakho’s miss against Stoke are perfect examples of our need for someone who you don’t have to worry about in situations like that. Also, fresh faces at the back, cover for Cresswell and I’d personally have a total defence rethink.

LW: If we’re to make a serious contest of the Europa League this year, which I think Bilic will, we just need to increase the squad size with healthy and reliable play-

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ers. We need a consistent striker as well, mainly for league purposes. The best teams have someone they can rely on and we just don’t, unfortunately.

BW: Find a 20-goala-season striker. Easier said than done, I know.

Don’t s’pose Harry Kane fancies turning out at the OS on a regular basis?

Which players, if any, would you like to see leave the club in the window?

EP: I don’t like seeing players leave, it always feels rather sad, but I think I’d like to see Alex Song and Joey O’Brien find happy forever homes. Whoever thought you’d include them in the same sentence though!

KM: Sakho’s time has gone, Valencia doesn’t seem bothered anymore, Emenike and Moses have rarely really impressed. Tomkins hasn’t ever really reached his potential either.

LW: I don’t like to wish anyone out of the club after a season like that, but there are a few we can manage without. Although on his day Sakho can be useful, I think we can do without the off-

Departed: Alex Song has probably played his last game for West Ham

field antics and unpredictability. It doesn’t look like the loans of Song, Moses and Emenike will turn into anything more, which to be honest isn’t too disappointing.

BW: I never like to see

Flop: Victor Moses failed to live up to the hype

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any player go. I always have the horrible feeling that once they start playing for another club they will suddenly become a world-beater. Just imagine if Joey O’Brien turns out to be the new Gareth Bale!

Are you confident the club can cope with Europa League football as well as their Premier League commitments?

EP: Nope. We have a good team, and we’re building towards great things, but those Thursday games are a killer.

Look how much better Spurs and Southampton

did after getting dumped out. Liverpool gave it their all but had to sacrifice the league as a result and so have finished with nothing. Not for me, thanks.

KM: I think it’ll be a good test of the side. If our season was fantastic, it was also a season of missed opportunities; especially in the last half dozen games there was an inability to shut a game down and take the three points. Europa League will hopefully vastly improve the squad to coping with pressure and expectation. I’m

more thankful we didn’t make the Champions League.

LW: Hopeful, yes. Confident? Never! It does rely so heavily on a good, fit squad. We’ve seen the Thursday/Sunday dilemma for so many clubs, but I think West Ham will go into it with a positive mindset and if they put their minds to it, they can have a decent Europa League run and a successful Premier League season.

BW: It will be a real problem if we pick some injuries. And I’m dreading the prospect of so many Sunday league games. But, secretly, we all love the idea of European football – so bring it on!

Finally, finish the sentence: Slaven Bilic’s

first season at the club was...

EP: The start of something big. I’m so excited about what we could do next season.

KM: Amazing but not 100 per cent convincing.

LW: Memorable. Not only was it a historic season for the Hammers, it turned out to be better than we could’ve imagined at the start. Who would’ve thought that we’d be a bit disappointed with a seventh place finish? That’s largely down to Bilic’s positivity and man-management.

He’s been a joy to listen to as well. Couldn’t be happier with him in the hot seat.

BW: The living proof that the phrase ‘careful what you wish for’ really is a load of billicks. BBM

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There are no call centres just Professional staff to accept your bookings and inquiries and to make sure your consignments are handled and monitored efficiently from point of

Gaffer: Slaven Bilic can be proud of his first season at West Ham

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I’ll never forget the last night at Upton Park as long as I live

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ell I’ve only just come back down to earth. What a rush!

What a buzz! We really couldn’t have scripted it any better.

West Ham’s 3-2 win over Manchester United really was a wonderful farewell to the Boleyn Ground and I feel really privileged to have played a role in the closing ceremony.

Putting that night into words and describing exactly how I felt isn’t easy.

I’d attended the rehearsal the previous night so I had an idea of what was coming but when I walked in and felt the energy in the air it took my breath away.

People say ‘the atmosphere was electric’ and it’s a well-worn cliché but it’s the only phrase that comes close. The whole place was literally buzzing.

Everything was alive!

Every cell and atom of every single being was

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Legend: Paolo Di Canio was interviewd on the pitch

jumping. You could hear it! I’ve never felt anything like it in my life.

I went straight up to the offices to meet Ben Shephard for the final run through with the events team. The entire place was in full song.

The chorus of Bubbles that surrounded us was deafening. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so exhilarated.

I was also petrified.

Not because it was a live event in front of 35,000 football fans (although that was a pretty daunting prospect) but because I wanted the night to be special for every single person in the place.

I loved, and will always love, the Boleyn. I virtually grew up there.

I’d had the best and

worst days of my life in those stands. I’d shared incredible moments with my family and friends.

I’d hugged total strangers in the sheer joy of a goal celebration.

I’d commiserated and laughed and cheered and cried. This was our last goodbye. I wanted it to be perfect. I wanted to do it justice.

I went to take my

seat with my boyfriend James, my brother Billy and my step dad. We were pumped. Teams out. Bubbles filled the air. Kick off!

The match was unbelievable. I don’t need to tell you that. We couldn’t have written a more perfect script. The universe conspired to give us the most fitting end to a superb season.

It was a fitting end to the Boleyn Ground. We were in raptures.

I tried to take it all in so I could remember and savour every single flawless moment. An easy win would have been better on the nerves, but it wouldn’t have been West Ham. Then I had to leave for the ceremony. My stomach churning. My jaw set. My eyes burning with excitement. I was focused. I watched full time flash by, the lap of honour, the stage was set and presenter mode switched on. It was time!

I went to my place and convinced Marlon Harewood, Carlton Cole and Anton Ferdinand to remain in their seats at full time to be interviewed.

Most of the former players had scarpered off to the bar before the event started so I was grateful they hung around.

It was a nerve-wracking few moments while Ben did the opening segment. Live on Sky is monumental enough, live in front of thousands West Ham fans was initially terrifying.

But once we started I

Popular: Carlton Cole spoke from the heart could relax and really enjoy it. It was a lovely little chat and I was stoked they got such a nice reception.

All three of those players feel so strongly connected to our club and I thought that came across really well.

The rest of the night whizzed by in a flash.

The heavens had opened but it certainly didn’t

dampen our spirits.

Seeing Paolo Di Canio and Sir Trevor Brooking under the spotlights and having the experience of speaking to them both on the pitch was an incredibly powerful feeling.

Introducing the Hammers of the Year, welcoming Slav, Nobes and the rest of the squad onto the stage, watching

the best Upton Park moments on the big screens and seeing Bobby Moore turn the lights off forever. Mr Moon has left the stadium.

It really hit home. We are never to return. It was truly one of the most incredible moments of my life. I feel extremely grateful to have been given that honour and I will never forget it. BBM

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A-Z of West Ham’s season

We’ll never forget 2015/16 as West Ham found their groove David Meagher looks back on an amazing campaign for the Irons

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is for Amazing Climax.

The final season at the Boleyn was everything we could have hoped for and more. With victories against all the big clubs, a treble over Liverpool, finally seeing off the Everton jinx and, of course, finishing off with a thrilling win over Man United in the final home game. Please don’t let me wake up and find out it’s been a dream!

Team: Slaven Bilic and Dimitri Payet have given West Ham fans a reason to hope

B

is for Brilliant Bilic.

This man just seems to get things right all the time. He’s cool, thoughtful and astute.

Approachable, but you wouldn’t dare cross him.

Perhaps most impressive is his capacity to shrug it off when decisions go against us - more than you can say for most of us!

C

is for Chairmen.

Hats off to the Davids –you are the best chairmen in the league.

When you arrived we were a shambles after, as Mark Noble put it, years of being run ‘like a circus’. Wind forward

Stunning: West Ham scored a number of free-kicks

five years and we are Europe’s fastest growing and trendiest club.

D

is for Discipline.

This is one area where we can certainly improve. With a whopping nine red cards last season it seems we differ from Big Sam’s side in every way – both in style of football as well as fair play!

E

is for Europa League.

Last year we used it to embellish our pre-season preparations. With a strong squad and heaps of young talent coming through, maybe this year

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we might take it more seriously?

F

is for Free kicks.

With Dimitri Payet, Aaron Cresswell and Enner Valencia ready to offer their services, we are a frightening proposition. We simply dare you to concede any within 35 yards...

G

is for Ginger Pele. It looked like his time was up when he slipped to fourth choice centre back at the start of the season but he was outstanding when he got his chance. How we missed him after he got injured

in March. Hopefully he can have a similar impact this seson.

H

is or Happyheads.

Yes, we are the happy Hammers again.

Apart from the fans, we also have a squad of upbeat extroverts. Both on and off pitch Adrian is a ray of inspiring positivity, with Michail Antonio a close second as the happiest head in the Premier League!

I

is for Internationals.

While the Euros will play host to Payet, Randolph and Collins, a recurring issue all season has been Hodgson’s determined exclusion of West Ham players.

Cresswell, Antonio, Carroll and (especially) Noble can feel aggrieved to be idle over the summer. However, from a selfish West Ham perspective, perhaps this isn’t a bad thing - ask Dean Ashton!

J

is for Julian Dicks.

Back and adding bite to our being! It was brilliant to see him back on the pitch for the Noble testimonial. You can feel his presence within the spirit of the side and what a fantastic rapport he has with the fans. Mr Dicks, please come back to Twitter.

K

is for Kouyate. A truly swashbuckling midfield dynamo. If ever there was a box to box player it’s Cheikhou. In most seasons he would be Hammer of the Year.

L

is for Lanzini. Our prized jewel. This kid has the ability to unlock the tightest defences.

Despite injuries, he notched a useful seven goals but, just as importantly, when he plays it creates more space for Payet with inevitable consequences!

M

is for Michail Antonio. The gift that just keeps on giving.

This lad is endlessly energetic and willing to do

anything for the team, even play at right back!

Next season will surely see him as a permanent fixture down the right wing?

N

is for Noble. Our Captain Claret.

Immense leadership on and off the pitch and revelling is his new more attacking role. Far too good for England. Enjoy your well-earned rest Nobes, next year will be big!

O

is for Ogbonna.

When Bilic brought him in many of us were a tad sceptical. Better than Tonks and Ginge?

Surely no way! His initial performances were patchy but Angelo has grown with the team and now shades it for the centre back berth alongside wonderful Winston Reid.

P

is for Payet. Already a legend after a single season! Nuff said.

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Q

is for Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park here we come! Can we bring the Boleyn atmosphere with us? We can certainly try!

Frustrating: Enner Valencia continues to show glimpses of his talent but lacks end product

R

is for Ribman.

Giving us top nosh on matchdays. The kick from his HF sauce is so good it makes you feel like you’ve just witnessed another Payet free kick!

S

is for Song. No, not Alexandre but that man Payet again and his song. It’s so catchy Adrian and Kouyate can’t stop singing it in public. No doubt Billy Ray Cyrus will be proud.

Meanwhile, Dimitri just keeps achy-breaking opponents hearts!

X

is for X-factor. We have got it in bucket fulls! Long-suffering but loyal fans are getting their just rewards as we face an extremely exciting future!

T

is for Testimonial.

Mark Noble’s big day at the Boleyn was a highlight of a stunning season and proved one of the happiest days ever at the Boleyn. While most attention focused upon the final game, for many this was the most fitting farewell to the Old Lady Boleyn.

Y

U

is for Upton Park.

It’s really true, we are out! Even as we speak the place is being dismantled so that fans can purchase a piece for all of eternity.

V

is for Valencia.

Enner is perhaps the player that frustrates Hammers fans most as he shines in fits and starts but then succumbs to injury. Is he finally

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Moving on: West Ham have now played their last game at Upton Park adjusting to the Premier League? Will he still be with us next year despite the recent speculation?

W

is for referees (work with us on

this).

The officials that ruined

our Champions League ambitions. Robert Madley (Chelsea), Craig Pawson (Arsenal), Mark Clattenburg (Palace) and Jonathon Moss (Leicester) we hereby gift you a free Specsavers consultation.

is for Yes. Yes, we can achieve Champions League qualification in 2017.

While it remains to be seen whether Leicester are one-season wonders, the Hammers on-field progress is underpinned by a remarkable and deep-seated transformation in the club. We are a big club now.

Z

is for Zlatan? At the end of the season, it felt like anything was possible at West Ham. We got Payet didn’t we so why not Ibrahimovic?

Imagine pairing those two. Close your eyes and imagine. BBM

Meet our latest signing...

Jack Collison’s new column starts August

KUMB awards 2016 On the mic: Anton Ferdinand with Blowing Bubbles’ Bianca Westwood talks to the fans

Ferdinand and Harewood star as we honour the class of 2016 Julian Shea enjoys a fabulous evening at this year’s KUMB awards

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s the club settles into its new home at the Olympic Stadium following its most successful season in a decade, being a West Ham fan may be all about looking forward at the moment.

But at the Knees Up Mother Brown end of season awards, former Irons favourites Marlon Harewood and Anton Ferdinand gave a reveal-

34

ing insight into life at the club 10 years ago – with particular praise for an unlikely hero.

In 2006, Harewood and Ferdinand were part of the team that came so close to winning the FA Cup for the fourth time in the club’s history, only to be denied in a penalty shoot-out loss to Liverpool after a thrilling 3-3 draw.

And according to both

players, the reason for the club’s success in that time was the combination of manager Alan Pardew – and captain Nigel Reo-Coker, who left the club under a cloud a year later after a contractual dispute, aged just 23 ‘I have nothing but admiration for Nigel,’ said defender Ferdinand, who now plays for Reading.

‘To do what he did at such a young age, and give his all week in and week out, he had real authority and maturity.

He might not have left the club in the best way but the things he did in terms of making sure the bridge between the squad and the manager was good’.

Striker Harewood, whose goal in the semi-final win over

Middlesbrough put West Ham in the 2006 final, echoed his team-mates comments about the captain.

‘I absolutely love Nigel, he was the best skipper I’ve ever had,’ he said.

‘For someone so young, he was an amazing man. He always looked after everybody else and would never worry about himself. He’d do anything for the lads, he looked after me very well.’

Whilst Reo-Coker’s career has not panned out quite as expected since West Ham - after spells with Aston Villa, Ipswich and Bolton, he has most recently been playing in Canada and is currently without a club – Pardew has remained a high-profile figure in English football.

His West Ham career ended seven months after the FA Cup final when the side were beaten by, of all teams, Sam Allardyce’s Bolton, but during his time in charge, both players agreed Pardew did an excellent job at the club.

‘He’s probably the best manager I had in my whole career,’ revealed Ferdinand. ‘I was young and doing some silly things but he treated me like an adult and trusted me to discipline myself.

‘I remember him taking me into his office and saying “I know what you’ve been doing – it’s not affecting you now, but the moment it affects your play, I’ll come down on you so hard”

KUMB Awards Winners Player of the Year Dimitri Payet Young Player of the Year Reece Oxford Goal of the Season Dimitri Payet (v Crystal Palace) Most Memorable Match Man United (home - won 3-2) Best Signing Dimitri Payet Most Improved Michail Antonio Greatest Disapointment Poor referees Hackett of the Year Roy Hodgson

Winner: Dimitri Payet was KUMB’s player of the year – and that was enough.

He could have taken me out of the team, but he trusted me to put things right, and luckily it never got to the point where it did affect my Saturdays.’

Harewood was also fulsome in his praise for Pardew, who has since gone on to manage Charlton, Southampton, Newcastle and currently Crystal Palace.

‘I couldn’t get enough of Pards - his time at the club was excellent for

me,’ said the former Nottingham Forest striker.

‘He treated us like adults, but he wanted us to enjoy life too. He dealt with players very well he knew the sort of who needed an arm round them, and those who needed telling off, which is why people like him.

‘As long as we got it right on a Saturday, he was happy, so the time he was at the club was excellent for me.’

Whilst fans may have

hoped that the 2006 FA Cup final was the start of great things to come for West Ham, instead it served as the opening chapter of a period of huge instability in the club’s history, which was only brought to an end in 2010 when current owners David Sullivan and David Gold bought the club.

The first of what proved to be a series of upheavals at the Boleyn came in autumn 2006

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when, in a move that caused serious ripples for the club on and off the pitch, Argentinian duo Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano turned up at the club although no-one seemed quite sure how or why.

‘The arrival of Tevez and Mascherano upset things a bit; we didn’t know who they were until we saw them in training, and it became clear they were unreal,’ said Harewood.

‘I think Pards got a bit of grief from upstairs that he had to play them, whereas he wanted to stick with the players who he knew, and who had got him where he was.’

‘That showed how loyal he was,’ added Ferdinand. ‘You’ve got players like that walking into the squad but Pards wanted to play Hayden Mullins instead of Mascherano – you can laugh, but for me in that team Hayden was the most important player, he did the work other people didn’t want to.

‘He could play a bit but the most important thing was he did all the graft. It was between him and Mascherano to play, Talent: Reece Oxford won the young player of the year award

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Packed out: Hundreds of West Ham fans filled the Cow pub in Westfield shopping centre

and Pards was all about loyalty and he trusted Hayden, which gave him confidence.’

Whilst Mascherano was only ever a bit-part player, Tevez’s short but sweet stay wrote his name into Irons folklore forever – and Ferdinand says it was clear to see

why. ‘We could tell straight away in training that he was something else,’ said Ferdinand. ‘He was the most relaxed trainer I’ve ever seen - I always tell youngsters you can’t just turn it on and off when you like, but Tevez was the only person I’ve ever seen be able to do that.

‘He never needed to get out of second gear, and was looking to nutmeg Matty Upson all the time. He was totally casual but the best on the pitch.’

It was not long, however, before Pardew was on his way, and former Irons player Alan

Curbishley was given the job of salvaging the season and saving the team from relegation – achieved, of course, in the most dramatic fashion possible on the last day of the season, with Tevez playing the key role.

But as Ferdinand and Harewood told the KUMB podcast live audience, it was something that happened earlier in the season that really turned things round.

‘As a player and fan, what was happening really got to me, and there was one game where we lost 4-0 at Charlton that was the turning point,’

said Ferdinand. ‘In the dressing room afterwards I went off on one.

I was wearing my fan head, not my player one, and for about five minutes no-one could stop me – I let rip. The funny thing is that after that, our season changed.’

Harewood agreed it was a significant moment in the Great Escape. ‘Sometimes in dressing rooms, things need to be said. After what Anton said, we went on a decent run, we pulled through so it was a good thing he lost his head, we needed that,’ he explained.

Whilst all the attention was on Tevez, around the same time a youngster was on the fringes of the first team squad, and much like the the Argentinian player, he too would go on to write his name in West Ham’s history.

‘I remember Mark Noble’s first time training with the first team,’ said Ferdinand. ‘He was still only about 15 and was playing alongside senior pros like Steve Lomas and Don Hutchison.

‘He was calling for the ball all the time but not getting it so he started screaming and swearing at Lomas to give him the ball.

‘Eventually he did, just so that he could hammer Nobes when he lost it, but of course he never did lose the ball.

‘After that session, I knew he was going to be a serious player.

‘That’s why he’s turned

Funny guy: Marlon Harewood had plenty to say for himself

into such a leader, because it means so much to him. He’s Mr West Ham, I’ve got nothing but praise for him. He’s younger than me, but as a footballer and as a West Ham fan, Mark Noble is someone I look up to.’

Ferdinand and Harewood both played in Noble’s testimonial and were also at the Farewell Boleyn match, and it is clear that they regard the step into the unknown that is the move to Stratford, and the next chapter in the

club’s history, with huge excitement. ‘The Olympic Stadium is a big step but it’s a big step we need to take,’ said Harewood.

‘50,000-plus season ticket holders shows you how big the club is - it’s going to be amazing pulling crowds like that and attracting players from all over’.

But it is one player who is already at the club who is particularly exciting Ferdinand – as a defender, as a West Ham academy graduate, and as a fan. ‘Reece Oxford – you can see he has

West Ham in him and has definitely got what it takes,’ he says.

‘He won’t kick it out unless he has to, he’s always composed and looking for the pass rather than long ball – it’ll be hard for him as there are some big hitters ahead of him in his position, but if he gets his chance, he’ll take it.

‘With the stadium we’ve got and the players we’re going to be able to go for, it means West Ham is only going in one direction. As a fan I couldn’t be happier.’ BBM

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Blowing Bubbles Monthly Awards 2016

Noble, Payet and Oxford win in our review of the season

The Blowing Bubbles team had some difficult decisions to make

T

he Blowing Bubbles team pick out their winners for our annual end of season awards

Dimitri Payet against Crystal Palace (Home), nominated by Lucy Woolford.

The goal I still watch back in astonishment is Payet’s free kick against Crystal Palace. The pure precision on that was a sight for sore eyes.

Dimitri Payet v Manchester United (Away), nominated by Kiran Moddley.

I still remember watching it at home with my housemate and saying, ‘He’s going to pass it, that’s too far out.’ The rest is history.

Our winner: Dimitri Payet v Manchester United (Away)

Star: Dimitri Payet was our player of the season

Player of the Season

Mark Noble, nominated

by Emily Pulham.

What can I say, I’m a big fan, and this was his season. He was inspired, passionate and a tremendous leader.

Dimitri Payet, nominated by James Jones.

The impact Payet had over the entire season was incredible, and some of his free-kicks were just ridiculous.

Michail Antonio, nominated by David Bowden.

Antonio was forced to wait around for his chance, but when it came the winger shone.

His his goals against Spurs and Manchester United will go down in West Ham folklaw.

Our winner: Dimitri Payet

Young Player of the Season Djair Parfitt-Williams, nominated by David Bowden.

Every time I have seen the youth team this season the Bermudan has

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Best Team Performance of the Season impressed. He’s a great finisher and has scored some crucial goals in the development squad’s cup win.

Reece Oxford, nominated by Geoff Hillyer.

To be honest, I’d pretty much made this decision at the end of matchday one v Arsenal. A 16-year old marshalling Mesuit Ozil out of the game?

Demonstrates a maturity

beyond his years and a bright future is ahead.

Our winner: Reece Oxford

Goal of the Season Aaron Cresswell v Leicester City (Away), nominated by Emily Pulham.

What an absolute screamer. It came out of nowhere and was so well-taken.

Arsenal (Won 2-0 Away), nominated by Emily Pulham.

What a statement of intent. We made it look so seamless and easy.

Angelo Ogbonna was immense and yet, to this day, he still has no idea what ground he actually played in.

Manchester United (Won 3-2 Home), nominated by James Jones.

There were so many

superb team performances but that final game at Upton Park pips the lot. To go 2-1 down in the second half but still come back to win 3-2 in a game fuelled by emotions and passion says a lot about the character the squad has.

Liverpool (Won 3-0 Away) nominated by Geoff Hillyer.

I thought I would never see such a complete West Ham performance against Liverpool in my lifetime. I was tempted to put the Manchester United home league game here, but a win at Anfield for the first time in over 50 years pips it.

Spurs (Won 1-0 Home), nominated by Kiran Moodley.

It wasn’t a memorable game - bar the result but I feel the Tottenham home game was a phenomenal performance.

They were on the up and could have gone top. Yet they hardly threatened, they were completely subdued but Slaven Bilic’s tactics. Glorious.

Our winner: Against Manchester United (3-2 Home)

Captain: Mark Noble put in a fine performance against Man United

Best Individual Performance of the Season Mark Noble v Manchester United (Home), nominated by Emily Pulham.

In our final home game of the season, he

Potential: Reece Oxford made his debut against Arsenal

was everything a captain and a West Ham legend should be and made absolutely sure we left that ground on a win.

Michail Antonio v Spurs (Home), nominated by James Jones.

Not just because he scored the winner but because he just didn’t stop running and caused Spurs so many problems throughout. Antonio could’ve beaten Payet to player of the season as he always managed to provide when we needed him most.

Andy Carroll v Arsenal (Home), nominated by David Bowden.

It was obvious how important the big number nine would be for the

Hammers against the Gunners feeble backline and Carroll performed out of his skin to strike his first hat-trick for the club. He won every header, pressurised the back four at every opportunity. It was just a magnificent performance from the big man.

Michail Antonio v Spurs (Home), nominated by Danny Rust.

He had to bide his time before Slaven Bilic gave him a chance but he proved his quality in the 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur. He scored the winning goal and was excellent at right back.

Our winner: Mark Noble v Manchester United (Home) BBM

39

Dear leader: David Sullivan has no plans to give end his reign as West Ham boss

40

David Sullivan

‘There aren’t any billionaires left who don’t own a top club’ West Ham co-owner David Sullivan tells David Blackmore about his plans to stay put and how he nailed the last summer transfer window

D

avid Sullivan says he has no plans to sell West Ham United when the club moves to the Olympic Stadium.

The Hammers’ majority shareholder insists he is in for the long haul and is desperate to establish the club as one of the best teams in the country before eventually handing over to his sons.

In an exclusive and wide-ranging interview with Blowing Bubbles Monthly, the 66-year-old claimed he would only ever consider selling up if the deal would allow a huge injection of cash into the club’s playing squad.

‘If the King of Saudi Arabia or a multi, multi-billionaire – like the owners of Manchester City – wanted to take over and I felt it was for the good of the club, I would step aside but I really don’t think that will ever happen.

‘There aren’t many multi, multi-billionaires left out there that are interested in football and haven’t already got a club. In fact I don’t think there is one that exists!

Don’t grow on trees: Not every club can find a Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan like City The move to Stratford, combined with the Premier League’s latest TV deal, has seen West Ham’s value rocket since he bought the club with lifelong friend and business partner David Gold in January 2010.

But Sullivan says there was never a masterplan to move the club away from the Boleyn Ground before making a huge profit by offloading the

Irons to an overseas investor.

‘This is something that comes up all the time but we are not looking for anybody to take over.

I don’t think we will sell in our lifetime. I’m certainly not here to make a quick buck – I don’t need the money.

‘We’ve been very honest and open with the supporters about how we’ve gone about

everything since we came and we will continue to do so for a long time to come.

‘People forget we were at Birmingham for 17 years. We did, at one stage, have a 28 per cent stake in West Ham. We really wanted to buy West Ham, it was our preferred option, but we eventually sold those shares and went to Birmingham.

‘The only club we have ever wanted to own was West Ham and now we’ve got it, we’ve got absolutely no desire to sell.’

However, even without a huge takeover similar to the ones experienced

by Manchester City and Chelsea, Sullivan believes a glorious future is already on the horizon.

‘I always believe the best times are ahead,’ he added. ‘It’s great to have heritage and history but for me, the best times are always in front of you.

‘It’s never been a tougher time to be in the Premier League and every season the gap between the top four and the rest of the league gets bigger because

41

of the wealth of those clubs. But if we get some luck with injuries and transfers, our long-term aim is to break into that top four and to be challenging for the title.

‘Why can’t we have these aims? It’s surely got to be the aim of all Premier League clubs?

You can’t start the season, and plan for future seasons, with the aim of finishing 17th and being happy with that. We want to go into every season and every match thinking we can beat anyone put in front of us.

‘It’s a very exciting time for us. We are a club in transition and we are changing our style, and it will take time to adapt to a new system, but I think over time we will see us getting better and better results.’

Our conversation turns to his sons, Jack and Dave, and what they might do when they are older – will they follow in their dad’s footsteps?

‘I hope they do what they want to do and have a really good life,’ Sullivan replied. ‘I just want them to be happy.

‘What I will say is that

Star: West Ham splashed the cash to sign Dimitri Payet this summer

they absolutely love their football – you can hear their passion whenever they appear on a podcast.

‘They’ve got a great passion for the club and hopefully they will learn a few things from me and keep learning

Close: West Ham tried to do a deal with Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy over Emmanual Adebayor

42

as they get older. We all make mistakes and I hope they always learn from them.’

The summer transfer window is now in full swing but our discussion continued as he spoke of his highs and lows in the days leading up to September 1 last year when West Ham were very active in the transfer market.

‘If you’d asked me how I felt a week or two before the transfer window shut, I would’ve said I felt p***ed off, depressed, worn out, and worn out from the criticism of the supporters because we had been

really working hard,’ he explained. ‘We got some business done very early and I was pleased with this but I wish we had done more early deals.

Having said that, it all came together at the end and I was elated with the business we did.’

West Ham signed four players on transfer deadline day – Alex Song, Victor Moses, Nikica Jelavic and Michail Antonio – which came on top of big money deals for Dimitri Payet and Angelo Ogbonna earlier in the summer.

‘We already knew what Alex Song could do,’ he added. ‘We knew when

we signed him that he wouldn’t be able to play until November but we still went for him and he was the number one choice for the manager.

‘Victor Moses was a Premier League player and a hardened pro, and Nikica Jelavic was also a proven Premier League performer.’

However, Sullivan revealed at the time that he was most excited about the arrival of Antonio, who came in a £7million deal from Nottingham Forest.

‘He got 15 goals and 15 assists last season when we were tracking him,’ Sullivan explained. ‘He came up the hard way from Tooting and Mitcham and up the leagues.

‘The manager thought he is still a raw talent but felt he could turn him into a really top player.

His raw talent, however, was still be more than enough to score goals in the Premier League.’

West Ham were also reportedly close to

New home: The Olympic Stadium has the potential to be a game-changer for West Ham when the club moves signing Tottenham Hotspur striker Emmanuel Adebayor on transfer deadline day but, while Sullivan admits a deal

was close, nothing came of it.

‘It was a choice between Adebayor and Jelavic and the manager

chose Jelavic,’ he explained. ‘We had agreed a deal with Spurs but for reasons I can’t go into, it didn’t happen.’ BBM

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www.blowing-bubbles.co.uk 43

The winter break debate

Is it time the Premier League considered a winter break?

Two Blowing Bubbles writers weigh up the pros and cons of a rest

Yes!

SAYS JAMES JONES

I

n the not too distant past I’ve been heavily against England introducing a winter break.

There’s something about the festive period and Premier League football that makes that time of the year even better than it normally is.

And it always gives me the chance to get out of the missus dragging me around Westfield Stratford on Boxing Day as she spends her January pay slip on cut price goods she’s probably already got!

And then there’s New Year’s Day, when you’re still drunk from the night before and travelling to Reading to watch the mighty Hammers get spanked 6-0. Does it ever get any better than that?

However, I’m beginning to change my mind.

And it’s all because of West Ham. Selfish, I know.

The old adage that West Ham ‘come down

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Cold: People have been talking about having a winter break for years with the Christmas decorations’ is something we can all agree with.

The 2014/15 season in particular, when we followed a top four spot on Christmas Day, with sliding down the table to eventually finish 12th.

Many will have put that down to Sam Allardyce and his tactics, but I would also put it down to the fact a club like West Ham

doesn’t have the quality and strength in depth to maintain an early season run of form into the second half of the campaign.

The reasons why the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City are able to compete consistently throughout the season isn’t just because they’ve got the best players in the league.

It’s also because they’ve

got the squad-depth to rotate during the winter months, and therefore reducing their chances of crashing and burning like the rest of us.

What a winter break would do, I believe, is create a more even playing field in the Premier League. We would certainly have a huge chance of replicating our early season form after the New Year.

Holiday: Would Andy Carroll benefit from having a break?

No!

SAYS DANNY RUST

The players would be fitter and fresher, and they won’t have had to deal with having to be mentally and physically fit to play five games in 15 days.

I would wage a fair few quid that we’d give ourselves a huge chance of finishing in the top four if there was a

winter break. I’d much rather spend the January transfer window without any football if it meant witnessing West Ham continue some kind of good form into the second half of the season and finishing the season strongly, perhaps with something to celebrate in May. BBM

Although four of the ‘big five’ leagues have a winter break, England has not followed suit yet.

It has been argued for some time that the Premier League should put a winter break in place, but I think the English top flight season should continue to be organised in the same way as it currently is.

Not having a winter break has regularly been blamed for England’s poor performances at World Cups and European Championships, but the fact is other national sides go into tournaments better equipped and, often, with a good team rather than good individuals.

For years, England continued with Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard in the heart of the Three Lions’ midfield when it was clear that the two struggled to work together.

So, in all honesty, although it may play a small part in England failing in international competitions, not having a winter break is not the biggest reason for England’s poor form at tournaments.

Former Man United

boss Louis van Gaal may have blamed England’s lack of success on not having a winter break – the Dutchman said it was ‘the most evil thing’ – but this is because he has managed in Germany, the Netherlands and Spain, which all have winter breaks over parts of December and January.

He has also managed his home country, where there are no fixtures over Christmas so he is simply not used to the English way of playing a full season, rather than having a few weeks off.

Also, it is traditional to play English football over the Christmas period.

Everyone looks forward to the Boxing Day fixtures, as well as the first game in the New Year, and so it would not go down too well if the festive fixtures were ditched.

For decades, matches have been played on Boxing Day and over the rest of the Christmas period and that shouldn’t change.

Other sports, such as American Football, play on Christmas Day. Taking part in the televised NFL game on December 25 is seen to be an honour, and the match always attracts sell out crowds.

It would be a shame if the current season schedule changed.

45

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the best read hammers news site by far with exclusive news and interviews day by day top names and regular contributors including david gold, frank mcavennie, johh moncur and more at least 10 stories each day, regular ticket competitions, videos from hammerschat, vines from west ham social

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www.hammerschat.com

46

The Payet v Di Canio debate

Two West Ham icons battle across the generation game

Di Canio and Payet have both brightened up the Hammers universe Skill: Dimitri Payet lights up Upton Park with the ball at his feet

BRIAN WILLIAMS

Y

@BrainWill26

ou know that something out of the ordinary is happening when the normally reserved ladies and gentlemen of the East Stand Upper begin to sing.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that we don’t care. Our reticence to follow the enthusiastic lead of the Bobby Moore Lower in claiming to be a big boy who comes from near Moscow, or suggesting that Wayne Rooney is (a) stout and (b) has a preference for older women, has more to do with age than apathy.

But we do know when we are witnessing a genius at work and are more than happy to lend our collective voice to the hymn of praise that echoes around the ground with increasing regularity these days.

We realise that Dimitri Payet is Super Slav’s

man, and we agree that he is better than Zidane.

However, what has yet to be determined is whether or not he is on a par with the last true superstar who put a song in the heart of all of us in claret and blue.

That man, of course, was Paolo Di Canio. So, in the immortal words of my old music teacher, let us compare and contrast.

If Payet is Bilic’s

protégé, PDC was very much Harry Redknapp’s man.

Say what you like about H, he was prepared to take a punt on players who were somewhat out of the ordinary.

On the minus side of the equation we had Marco Boogers, Joey Beauchamp and Florin ‘Two Bob’ Raducioiu.

On the positive side

there were the likes of Marc-Vivien Foe, Trevor Sinclair and Eyal Berkovic. And there was certainly no bigger plus than Di Canio.

Quite simply, he is one of the best players we’ve ever had. Anyone who has ever seen his astonishing goal against Wimbledon when he defied gravity to volley home Sinclair’s cross will know instantly what I’m talking about. Goal of the season? That was the goal of a lifetime.

There are so many Di Canio memories: the fantastic moment of sportsmanship that won him the Fifa fair play award when, rather than head home into an empty net, he caught the cross and demanded that play be stopped until the prostrate Everton keeper was restored to full health; the time he wrestled Frank Lampard Jnr for the ball when we were awarded a penalty in the amazing comeback game against Bradford City in which we turned a 2–4 deficit into a 5–4 victory; the way he had pleaded with Redknapp to substitute him only minutes before

47

in the same game. Had there ever been any doubt the man is a West Ham legend it would have been dispelled by the reception he received when he turned out (for both sides!) in Mark Noble’s testimonial last month.

The only twinge of regret that anyone can have about that fabulous day was that Payet couldn’t be there as well, having gone and got himself picked for France after years in the international wilderness.

Seeing those two on the same pitch really would have been something to tell the grandchildren about.

It is no secret that Di Canio came with some pretty heavy baggage.

But while the Italian maestro specialised in falling out with referees – not least Paul Alcock, who did fall over after that infamous push – Payet has had public disagreements with team-mates.

While playing for Saint-Étienne in 2010 he was berated on the pitch by his captain for not getting stuck in. So Dimi lamped him.

Rather than being

Talisman: Paolo Di Canio was the shining light in Harry Redknapp’s West Ham team

thanked for showing the extra aggression required, his manager promptly substituted him and the club president imposed a heavy fine. Ain’t no pleasing some people!

It’s hard to believe now, but football hasn’t always come easy to Payet.

When he returned home to the Indian Ocean island of Reunion

Emotional: Paolo was never slow to show how he felt

48

as a 16-year-old after failing to make the grade at Le Havre in the French second division it seemed his career was over before it had begun.

Two years later, after starring in his local league, he was given the opportunity to return to France with Nantes – and nearly turned it down.

‘I didn’t even want to hear talk about me ever going back to France,’ he told the Daily Mail.

‘I was traumatised by the experience and the decision by Le Havre not to keep me. I felt I hadn’t been seen in my best light. So when a second chance came along I argued about it with my dad and my uncle. They

convinced me I should try my luck again, and they were right. But I didn’t want to go.’

Hardened both physically and mentally by his experience of playing as a boy against men on Reunion, he went from strength to strength – first earning himself a transfer to Saint-Étienne and then on to Lille, where he played with Joe Cole, before ending up in Marseille.

By the time he joined West Ham at the beginning of this season it looked like his time as an international player had come and gone, but his performances in claret and blue clearly did not go unnoticed and French manager Didier

Deschamps recalled him for friendlies against the Netherlands – hailing him as man of the match – and then Russia, in which he scored a trademark free kick from so far out he and the keeper were actually in a different arrondissements.

It was that surprise call-up which kept him out of Nobes’ testimonial.

One man who did play, albeit briefly, was the mighty Julian Dicks – someone who knows both Payet and PDC well.

And has no doubt who is the better player.

He told the Daily Star: ‘There are similarities.

But Dimitri’s work rate is fantastic. He’s running back to defend in the 90th minute. It rubs off – you take your teammates with you.’

The statistics, such as they are, suggest that Payet is more influential than Di Canio.

With the mercurial Italian in the side we won almost 40% of our games; without him that win rate dropped to 22%.

Payet, of course, has yet to complete a full season, while PDC was at the club for four years.

But when Dimi has played we’ve won more than 50% of our games.

Without him, it’s a very different story.

In the seven games he missed as a result of an ankle injury we drew five, lost one and won one. That works at a win rate of just over 14% –

Wonderful: Dimitri Payet, who was the cover star on our August issue, has been a revelation for West Ham this season far lower than when Di Canio was missing.

However, numbers don’t tell the full story.

Payet has brought a sense of joy back to Upton Park.

His touch is exquisite; his passing is sublime and some of his goals have been breathtaking.

Yet my everlasting memory will be of one of the rare free kicks that didn’t end up in the back of the net.

It was only prevented from doing so by Joe

Hart’s astonishing save.

Payet’s reaction? At half-time he waited by the tunnel with a broad smile for the Man City keeper and congratulated him as if he were a team-mate. That’s class.

One of the joys of sport is comparing the great players of different generations, knowing full well opposite opinions can never be proved right or wrong.

PDC or Payet? You pays yer money and you takes yer choice, as my

old Mum used to say.

Di Canio was brilliant in his day, but too often he appeared to play for us, the supporters, and himself.

Payet, on the other hand, plays for us and the team as a whole.

That’s why I sing just a little bit louder when Dimitri is on the ball.

I’m sure you understand.

BBM * Brian Williams is the author of Nearly Reach The Sky – A Farewell to Upton Park

49

Summer transfer window

Five Championship stars who could just be the new Antonio

Danny Rust says West Ham could be set to raid the lower leagues again

M

ost clubs in recent years have been looking abroad to bring in new stars, but West Ham have also been giving Championship players a chance.

We’ve signed Aaron Cresswell, Sam Byram, Darren Randolph and Michail Antonio from Championship sides in the last 24 months and they’ve all proved to be great signings.

Here are five players who shone in the Championship this season that could interest Slaven Bilic this summer:

Moses Odubajo Hull City

Odubajo is local lad having grown up in Greenwich and come through the ranks at neighbours Leyton Orient.

It was with the O’s in the 2013/14 season that the 22-year-old really caught the eye. He shone for Russell Slade’s side and contributed goals and many assists.

Odubajo also scored in the play-off final defeat to Rotherham United and his impressive season earned him a move to Brentford. A

50

last season, the young defender could be persuaded to move to the Olympic Stadium in the summer.

Alex Mowatt Leeds United

Talent: Moses Odubajo has done well with Hull good season at Griffin Park earned him a move to Hull City, where he has mainly turned out at right back. Odubajo would be good cover for Sam Byram and as he can play at right back or right midfield, he could prove invaluable if the Hammers have a pile-up of injuries.

Jake Cooper Reading

The central defender has been a mainstay

in the side since Brian McDermott returned to the Madejski Stadium, and he has earned rave reviews.

A number of Premier League sides were tracking Cooper’s progress up until the January transfer window but the 21-yearold remained at the Berkshire club. Cooper, 21, signed a new contract with the Royals in October, which will keep him at the club until 2018. But, with Reading failing to win promotion

Mowatt, like January signing Sam Byram, came through the ranks at Leeds United and has gone on to become a regular in the first team.

The midfielder has shone for the Yorkshire side and has been one of the Whites’ star performers. Born in Doncaster, Mowatt joined Leeds at the age of nine.

The ex-England U19 and U20 international then spent nine years progressing through the ranks before being handed his first team debut in 2013.

Since then, Mowatt has made close to 100 appearances and scored 12 goals. He is known to be a danger from outside the box, with Mowatt having scored most of his goals from long-range.

With Leeds still struggling to mount a promotion push since they were relegated from

the Premier League in 2004, West Ham may be able to persuade Mowatt to follow in the footsteps of Byram.

On the move? Jordan Rhodes could be set to leave Middlesbrough

Ademola Lookman Charlton Athletic

The Wandsworth-born attacker has impressed since making his Charlton Athletic debut in November. Lookman joined the Addicks’ academy in 2014 from Waterloo FC, a youth football club.

Lookman, who can operate as a winger or a striker, scored goals for fun in Charlton’s U18 and U21 sides and that resulted in him turning out for the first team in the 3-2 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion.

Since then, Lookman has regularly been involved with the first team and has notched four goals in his first 10 Championship appearances.

The likes of Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur were linked with making a move for the 18-year-old in the January transfer window due to his impressive displays.

Value: Alex Mowatt could be available on the cheap

But instead the South London club managed to tie the sought-after Lookman to a new improved contract. However, with the Addicks struggling dropping into the third tier of English football, Charlton could

be forced into selling their prized asset.

Expect a host of Premier League sides to come in for the highly-rated star following Charlton’s relegation.

Jordan Rhodes Middlesbrough

Rhodes has been linked with a move to the Premier League for years, but the striker is yet to get his chance in the top flight. Blackburn Rovers, his former club, blocked moves to several Premier League clubs in the last three years.

The Hammers even made a move for the Scotland international in

the January 2012 transfer window as then manager Sam Allardyce looked to improve his attacking options going into the final half of the season.

But Rovers rejected moves for the frontman and he remained at Ewood Park while the Hammers won promotion to the top flight in a Championship play-off final win over Blackpool.

Rhodes, 26, is now at Middlesbrough with former Hammer Stewart Downing. With Boro thought to be open to offers, West Ham and other Premier League clubs could finally give Rhodes a chance. BBM

51

Mark Noble testimonial

Dean Ashton rolled back the years with this spectacular overhead kick

Stars come out for Noble as the Blowing Bubbles Monthly’s top photographer Nicky Hayes captured Taylor Tombides scored in his brother’s memory

Chris Powell ended up in the stands

52

Mark Noble and Trevor Sinclair are all smiles

Jimmy Walker rides Ludek Miklosko The first team squad all turned out

Ian Bishop ran the midfield

West Ham family enjoys a party all the action from a wonderful celebration of our captain’s career X Factor winner Louisa Johnson sang

Paolo Di Canio played for both sides during the game

Keeper Adrian ran the length of the pitch to score a wondergoal

53

John Moncur

‘Allardyce hung our kids out to dry at Nottingham Forest’ David Blackmore finds John Moncur confident about West Ham’s future but angry about the way Big Sam treated his son’s career

L

ike Whitney Houston, Hammers cult hero John Moncur believes the children are the future.

But unlike the superstar singer, he feels the future success of West Ham’s famed Academy won’t be on the teachings of Terry Westley, but about waiting for the right youngsters to come along.

Westley was given a five-year contract in September despite the development squad not winning a single game up to that point of the season and having been relegated from the Barclays U21 Premier League Division One last season.

The 56-year-old joined the Hammers in July 2014 to oversee a massive overhaul of the Academy and immediately set to work releasing many of the existing squad including Sebastian Lletget, who has been taking the MLS by storm, and John’s son George.

Moncur Snr believes Westley is the right man to turn things around and get more Academy

54

In his prime: John Moncur had a great career at West Ham

players into West Ham’s first team.

‘I don’t know him, but he has a lot of experience at this level,’ Moncur said. ‘You’ve got to ask yourself are the players good enough?

‘The crop of players coming through when I was playing, was it a freak because they had

so many good players at the time? They had Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, Michael Carrick, Glen Johnson.

Sometimes you have to have the material.

You can’t blame Terry Westley if the lads aren’t good enough.

‘I don’t know if it’s luck or what. Just look

at Manchester United.

The amount of players they produced that were world beaters but since then, they haven’t had it and I don’t think they’ve changed their system or personnel too much so sometimes you just have to be patient and wait for the right lads to come through.’

A couple of years ago the Hammers had a very successful Academy side, but disappointingly failed to bring any of the players through to the first team.

However, Moncur says it does not matter how many good young players you have at the club, it is how many great ones you have that counts.

‘With the previous regime you had George [Moncur], Dan Potts, Sebastian Lletget, Blair Turgott, etc and they were top of the league because they had a bunch of lads who knew each other, played well together and had a strong team.

‘At the moment, it’s not really about winning leagues or being at the bottom or being relegat-

ed, it’s about producing one or two players who can go and play in the first team.

‘That’ll be Terry Westley’s job so hopefully with Slaven managing the first team, I think the young lads will get a chance. Certainly more of a chance than they would’ve had under Sam Allardyce so it will be nice to see one or two of them break through.’

As for his son George, who has scored 12 goals in 43 appearances for Colchester United since he made his permanent move last year, Moncur Snr still holds a grudge against Allardyce and his treatment of his son.

‘It was disappointing when he left because it’s my club but I think it was an even bigger disappointment for George,’ the ex-Hammers midfielder continued. ‘It was just unfortunate that the arrival of Sam Allardyce didn’t help him.

‘He never looked to the young players and what he did to them on that day when he threw them all in at Nottingham Forest was an absolute joke being honest with you.’

Looking forward,

Favourites: Sam Allardyce was not known for trusting young players

Gone: George Moncur left West Ham for Colchester United in 2014

Moncur, who joined West Ham from Swindon in June 1994 for £1m, believes Slaven Bilic is the right man to take West Ham forward to an exciting future in the Olympic Stadium.

‘He certainly was the one [candidate] that

stood out for me because I know him, I played with him. He’s a great lad,’ the 49-year-old explained. ‘He had all the experience to come in and do the job that he is doing. He was a good international manager, and he likes to play the West Ham way.

‘I think he has proven that he has got good recruitment skills, that he has the right people round him and that he knows the European market as well as English players. I think he has done a great job and it doesn’t surprise me that he has done so well up to now.

‘I think he is going to be the one to take us onto the new chapter when we move into the new stadium. I think the project over five years if we stick with him, the club will be in healthy hands.’

Heading into the 201617 season, Moncur, who scored six goals in 176 appearances for West Ham, believes anything is achievable for Bilic’s men.

‘I think the way we are set up as a team, we look really good away from home with pace on the counter,’ he explained.

‘At the end of the day, I think we have a deep

55

enough squad to finish in the top half and I think that would be superb if Slaven, in his first year, could get into the top half.’

The conversation turns to Moncur’s career in the claret and blue, he is quite quick to bat away the suggestion he is a cult hero before adding: ‘When I look back at my time at West Ham, you are judged by a crowd that is very knowledgeable but can also be quite hostile at times. I think it’s a credit to the nine years that I had there that they held me in quite high regard so that’s quite pleasing.’

Moncur started his career at Tottenham Hotspur, coming up through the ranks, and spent eight years there, playing 21 times and scoring once. During his spell at White Hart Lane he was loaned to five clubs before joining up with Glenn Hoddle at Swindon Town for £80,000 in 1992.

Asked why things didn’t work out for him at Spurs, he replied: “At the time they had good midfield players who could keep the ball like Paul Gascoigne and he was arguably one of the best midfield players in the world.

‘I don’t think Terry Venables, who was their manager at the time, was keen on playing both of us for some reason.

I think we were both as mad as each other and I think that our games were quite similar to a

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Legend: Paul Gascoigne kept Moncur out of the Tottenham team

point, although he was obviously the better player.

‘Looking back, I think I probably stayed there one or two seasons too long but in the end an ex-Tottenham player took me to Swindon in Glenn Hoddle.’

After being with a club for such a long time, does he look out for Spurs’ results as much as he does West Ham’s? ‘I do but only because I’m hoping they’ll lose,’ he replied quickly.

‘I felt I didn’t get a fair crack of the whip

there. As time went on, I always felt I did reasonably well when I played against them because I felt I had a point to prove.

‘Having signed for West Ham, it made it extra special when we got a result against Spurs.

I’m not bitter towards them, it’s just one of those things. It’s the way football is.’

As for his regular appearances in the referee’s notebook, Moncur points out most of his yellow cards came later on in his career.

‘You know when you are just that little bit slower but still have got that desire to win the ball,’ he continued.

‘I wasn’t a dirty player – I was just committed.

That’s how I see it. Yes, I picked up a few yellow cards but as the game went on, what you could get away with 20 years before at the start of my career, you couldn’t get away with at the end of my career.

‘They were giving yellow cards away for next to nothing so the game did change a lot during

‘I picked West Ham for my Granddad’

Gaffer: Harry Redknapp managed John Moncur for many seasons my career and that added to the amount of yellow cards I received.

‘I look back at some of the games against Chelsea and Leeds with Norman Hunter and Chopper Harris, some of their tackles were like GBH – they wouldn’t last five minutes in today’s game. It’s just the way it is. I think football is better for it in a way but then you do lose the art of tackling. It’s gone out the game a bit.’

Another difference in today’s footballing world is the culture of drink-

ing, something Moncur admits was prevalent for the majority of his footballing career. ‘The foreign players [coming to the Premier League] perhaps changed that culture. I don’t think they do it now as much but in the old days we’d probably go out once or twice a week and we built up our team spirit by going out.

‘With sports science and everything we know today, it probably doesn’t do you any good. What we didn’t realise that to go out, even on a

Saturday night after the game, it took you two or three days to recover so I think the sports science element has changed a lot of it and that’s why you don’t see it so much in football.

‘I remember Frank Lampard [Snr] telling me Bobby Moore used to come in on Sunday with a plastic bag and sweat it all out.’ *John was speaking to Claret and Hugh for Moore Than Just a Podcast. Listen to more at www.moorethanjustapodcast.co.uk BBM

John Moncur’s career could have taken a different turn had he signed for Chelsea before Billy Bonds paid £1million to bring him to Upton Park from Swindon.

‘Most people thought I was going to sign for Chelsea but you know, my granddad was a lifelong West Ham fan out of the East End,’ he explained.

‘My granddad had died a few years previous and my heart ruled my head a little bit. I wanted to play for West Ham and I’m glad that I signed because in the end, I had nine really good years there.’

Billy Bonds was in charge when Moncur signed but he didn’t get a chance to play under the Hammers hero – who made way for Harry Redknapp shortly after.

‘Bill was a really good guy to me. Obviously I didn’t have time to see what he was like as a manager but he seemed a really good bloke and he managed the way he played, fully committed.

‘It was a shame that he left when he did.’

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Barry Fry

‘Samuelsen is a genius and is starting to do it on the pitch’ David Bowden hears Peterborough United’s director of football talk Gold and Sullivan, the West Ham way and a very special young talent

B

arry Fry believes West Ham are in for a very bright future on and off the pitch as the Hammers prepare for their big summer move to Stratford.

Fry, who spent two-and-a-half years with West Ham’s joint chairmen David Gold and David Sullivan at Birmingham, feels the club is in safe hands with the pair at the helm.

In a wide-ranging interview for Blowing Bubbles Monthly, Peterborough United’s Director of Football also feels the claret and blue faithful should be delighted with where the owners have taken the Irons.

‘All the West Ham supporters must be absolutely delighted Gold and Sullivan saved their club and have taken it a stage further than anyone could ever dream.

Their business expertise, their passion and commitment for football, and the recruitment they achieved last summer is second-to-none.’ Fry said.

A West Ham player Fry is particularly

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Talented: Martin Samuelsen looked good in pre-season for the Hammers before going on loan impressed with is Martin Samuelsen. The Norwegian scored against the Posh in pre-season and caught the eye of the former Birmingham boss immediately.

The youngster then joined the London Road club on loan after Fry called in a favour from Sullivan and Gold, and Fry believed the former Manchester City academy graduate played a big role in their season. ‘He

came in and made a real impact, on the training ground he excites everybody, all our players look up to him.

‘He is a genius on the training ground and we are delighted to have helped Martin progress,’ Fry continued.

Fry hopes that the Irons will allow the tricky midfielder to continue his development with Posh next season.

‘He is only 18, and he is

such a lovely young man, we have a very young team, [and an] exciting team who play football, we are the country’s leading goal-scorers and we’ll get more and more with him in the side.

‘I am hoping I can say to David Gold and Sullivan, “let’s have him for another year in League One and he’ll be worth £20 million when he gets back to the Premier League.” Fry joked.

Fan: Barry Fry says he has been impressed with the way West Ham have improved this season

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‘He has got to develop and we will help that development because he is playing week in and week out.

‘No disrespect to West Ham under 21s but nobody ever tackles.

‘He won’t learn anything playing for the under 21s, people will kick him at our level, they’ll push him about and that will help him become a man. Playing at this level, and League One is a good level, will help him both as a man and as a player no end.’

Off the pitch, Fry feels the Hammers are set for an equally enjoyable time, with the club set to move to the Olympic Stadium and with ‘brilliant’ businessmen in Gold and Sullivan, the former Birmingham manager believes the sky’s the limit for the Hammers.

Having spent two-anda-half successful seasons with the Blues under the two Davids, Fry claims that they are the best in business.

‘They are absolutely brilliant, and they back their managers; I don’t think any manager who has ever worked under Gold, Sullivan and [Karren] Brady couldn’t say they didn’t have their total support,’ he explained.

The Hammers are set for a busy summer as they prepare to move to Stratford and spending big in the summer with marquee signings rumoured to be arriving.

‘They’re very passion-

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Progress: Barry Fry says David Gold and David Sullivan have turned West Ham’s fortunes around

ate people but above all they’re very knowledgeable about the game. They can also back their opinion up with statistics, so they really are brilliant; they are football lovers but primarily West Ham lovers.’

The arrival of Hammers star man Dimitri Payet backs this up and to get the Frenchman for £10 million sums up their business nous.

The signing of the West Ham number 27 has also brought a change in style at the club, and was something that Fry was left impressed by on a recent visit to the Boleyn.

The Hammers now play a brand of football likened to ‘the West Ham way’ and Bilic’s fine free-flowing football left the former Peterborough chairman on the edge

of his seat. ‘I know a lot of West Ham fans, and they want to see their team play the right [style of] football and be entertained and they’ve done that.

‘I have been fortunate enough to go to two or three games this season and it’s totally different to last year, it’s very exciting and it gets you on the edge of your seat,’ Fry explained. Ahead of

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Star: Barry Fry says West Ham’s Dimitri Payet has been one of the signings of the season the move to the Olympic Stadium in August this year, Fry has assured the Hammers faithful that they will soon be able to watch their heroes on the cheap claiming Gold, Sullivan and Brady are football people and will want to bring football to the masses in east London.

‘They’ve got a new stadium, which everyone is excited about, nobody

likes change, but West Ham fans will be able to go to football on a Saturday and believe me they’ll make it affordable.’ He concluded. BBM * Barry Fry was speaking to Claret and Hugh on Moore than just a podcast. Listen to more from the team on www. moorethanjustapodcast. co.uk.

Our team is expanding and we are on the lookout for talented writers, designers, photographers, advertising sales representatives, sellers, social media experts and cartoonists.

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Joy: Andy Carroll and Mark Noble celebrate the latter’s penalty against Watford

2015/16

IN PICTURES

The story of West Ham’s season through the eyes of our star photographer Nicky Hayes 63

Goal: James Tomkins scored against Birkirkara in the Europa League at Upton Park

Vital: Adrian makes a save against West Brom

64

Brains: Boss Slaven Bilic issues some instructions from the touchline

Upset: Enner Valencia scored in West Ham’s win over Manchester City

65

Leap: Dimitri Payet flies through the air in West Ham’s win over Sunderland at Upton Park

66

67

Fatherly: Slaven Bilic praises fellow Croatian Nikica Jelavic

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Bit of fun: Adrian goes for goal in Mark Noble’s testimonial

Tribute: West Ham remember midfielder Dylan Tombides

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Penalty? Mark Noble goes down against Stoke City

On the ball: Winston Reid puts in another commanding defensive display in the win over Watford

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Hero: Djair Parfitt-Williams hit the net against Hull in the Premier League u21 Cup final

Hero: Michail Antonio scored a cracker against Sunderland

71

Frank McAvennie

‘I turned down Arsenal as my heart was set on West Ham’ Frank McAvennie on his life in London, why he turned down a goal bonus and the day he dumped a nasty bully into the Chicken Run

JULIAN SHEA @juliansheasport

M

ost players would sacrifice anything and everything for the opportunity to play professional football, let alone in the top flight in two different countries, let alone to establish themselves as club legends still assured of hero status 30 years after their finest hour.

But then again, Frank McAvennie always was a bit different.

It is three decades since the Scotland international striker arrived at the Boleyn from St Mirren and formed the legendary goalscoring partnership with Tony Cottee that saw the duo bang in 46 goals – 20 for Cottee, 26 for McAvennie – as the club achieved their highest ever league placing of third in the old First Division. But as he

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Today: Frank McAvennie is proud of his time at West Ham revealed recently, McAvennie’s entire career as a professional footballer happened by chance.

‘I didn’t start playing until I was 19 – I used to go and watch Celtic every week and all the junior leagues played their matches on a Saturday, so I never played,’ he admitted. ‘One week their game was can-

celled, so some friends asked me to go and play in their game – there were some scouts there supposedly watching one of the other team’s players, but I got spotted instead!’

This was the unconventional start to a career that never saw McAvennie do things by the book – ‘I don’t

think I’d have made it via the traditional route, if I’d been an apprentice having to sweep the terraces,’ he admitted – and after three years playing for St Mirren, mostly in midfield, it was another happy accident of fate that directed him towards the club where he enjoyed his greatest success and where he remains most adored.

‘I was supposed to be going to Luton, when David Pleat was the manager,’ he said. ‘I’d built my hopes up about going there, but then the chairman walked in and slapped me on the back of the head, saying “Welcome to the club Frank”, and straight away I said to the people I was with “let’s get out of here before I do something I shouldn’t”, I was out the door. I could see Pleat was panicking as Luton had paid for the flight for me to come down, and St Mirren weren’t too pleased that the move was off either, but there was no way I was going to play for someone like that.’

Luton’s loss was West Ham’s gain, however

In his peak: Frank McAvennie was half of West Ham’s best ever strike partnership

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and following an early hours meeting with manager John Lyall at Toddington Service Station, McAvennie was a West Ham player, for a fee of £340,000. ’I didn’t know anything about West Ham’s interest when I went to speak to Luton, but once they came in for me, that was it – it didn’t matter who else came in for me, I was going there,’ he revealed. History was just about to begin.

McAvennie’s wages on joining were £300 a week, and amazingly for one of the best strikers the club has had in living memory, he turned down a goal bonus. ‘I was offered one but I wasn’t interested,’ he revealed. ‘I was more of a team player – I would pass to anyone, as long as we did well, so my thinking was never mind a scoring bonus, negotiate a better contract.’

Having spent three years at St Mirren playing in midfield, McAvennie was earmarked for a role behind West Ham’s front two of Paul Goddard and homegrown hero Cottee. But

Up for fun: Frank McAvennie always enjoyed a party

an injury to Goddard in the opening game of the season changed things, and once again, a twist of fate played a major role in changing the course of McAvennie’s career and life.

‘I don’t know if it would have worked, with me behind them

Pals: Frank McAvennie with Tony Cottee

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as a front two, I don’t know if they were used to having someone so close behind them. But in my first home game, I was pushed up front to play alongside TC. The guy who was marking him bullied him a bit, so I smashed him into the Chicken Run, and after that, we got on brilliantly.’

Despite always being spoken of in the same breath, as if they are one unit, Cottee and McAvennie were wildly different characters, on and off the pitch, but that contrast may have been the secret of their success. And jealousy was never an issue for the striking duo.

‘It was never a compe-

tition between us,’ McAvennie explained. ‘Tony’s more of an out-and-outstriker, I was more of a team player. I knew that if I got through on goal and drew the keeper out, I could pass to him and he’d be in place to score. I also knew that if he got through on goal, he’d shoot! But it really didn’t bother me at all who scored, just as long as we won.’

In October 1987, after two full seasons at West Ham, McAvennie joined his boyhood heroes, Celtic – not that he was actually that keen on the move. ‘I wanted to stay and I told John Lyall that,’ he said. ‘I’d already signed a couple of contracts, so I thought I was

due a bit of a signing-on fee, but the club couldn’t offer it, and when they were offered £750,000 for me, John let me go – only because it was my boyhood team, I think.

Mind you, Celtic never gave me a signing on fee either!’

McAvennie’s time at Parkhead was successful but controversial, and after a fall-out with manager Billy McNeill over his return from a broken arm, McAvennie was on his way from his first love in the east end of Glasgow, back to his second in the east end of London.

‘I had the chance to go to Arsenal, and I went to speak to George Graham just to find out what they were saying, but they weren’t offering a life-changing amount more money, so I’d already made up my mind I was going back to West Ham,’ he admitted.

‘It would have bothered me if I’d not bothered to go and have a chat, though. I knew Arsenal were good enough to win the league, and I knew West Ham looked like they might go down, but I still came back. To be honest, I think John Lyall signed me as the player to try and get them back up, not to keep them up.’

But for a man whose career has turned on so many twists of fate, this time, luck was not on his side. As predicted, relegation followed and in the first game of the following season,

First love: Frank is a Celtic fan and had two spells with them

McAvennie suffered a particularly bad broken leg that ruled him out for most of the season.

Although he recovered to play two more seasons for West Ham, the long-term effects of the injury affected him both on and off the pitch, and McAvennie was never the same player.

The 1991-92 season was a particularly grim one, with relegation and a 22nd place finish in the final season of the old First Division meaning West Ham missed

out on a place in the first outing of the new Premier League, and it also marked the end of McAvennie’s West Ham career – but only after, with relegation already assured, he marked his final appearance by coming on as a substitute and scoring a hat-trick.

Now living back in Scotland, McAvennie is a regular sight at Celtic Park. But despite his long-standing love for the Bhoys, it is clear where his heart lies.

‘I go to Celtic because

that’s where I’m based now, but if I was living in London I’d be at West Ham instead,’ says one of the most colourful and flamboyant players ever to wear claret and blue.

‘It’s always the first result I look for, every week.’

It is safe to say that that love affair is a two-way thing. *Frank was speaking to Claret and Hugh for Moore Than Just a Podcast. Listen to more from the team at www. moorethanjustapodcast. co.uk. BBM

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The Boys of ‘86

The Boys of ’86 made fans feel special as we dared to dream There has never been another season like it for West Ham supporters Hero: Alan Devonshire

BRIAN WILLIAMS @BrainWill26

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unny old game, football. You just don’t know what the coming year will be bring.

At the start of the 1985/86 season, the so-called beautiful game was at an all-time low in England following two appalling tragedies.

On 11 May, 1985, 56 people were killed and more than 250 injured as fire swept through Valley Parade in Bradford.

Then, 18 days later, 39 people died at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels, which was staging the European Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus.

The TV cameras were on hand to record the sickening scenes from both disasters. In fact, the BBC was heavily criticised for then showing the Heysel game while other countries opted not to as a mark of respect to the dead.

There was, however, to be no television coverage of the first half of the new domestic season when it got underway in August as the Football League chairmen, ignoring the falling attendances that concerned everyone else, demanded more money from the TV companies to show games that fewer and fewer people could

be bothered to watch.

They finally had to climb down in December, by which time West Ham had snuck up on the usual suspects and joined the likes of Man Utd and Liverpool in the title race.

November had been a particularly good month. We had won all five games, including a victory over defending

champions Everton.

Frank McAvennie’s goal in a 1-0 win at Coventry took his tally for the season to 17 – the highest in the entire Football League.

December and January brought mixed fortunes, then in February, just before the weather turned nasty and put a temporary halt to proceedings, a 2-1 win over Man Utd at the Boleyn Ground made the more optimistic among the West Ham congregation start to wonder if this really, finally, could be our year.

After the snow cleared, we played Man Utd again in early March – this time in the fifth round of the FA Cup. The first game, at Upton Park, was a 1-1 draw then, the following week, we went to Old Trafford and won the replay 2-0.

Forget the league title – now we wanted the double.

That little dream evaporated three days later when we crashed out of the Cup at Sheffield Wednesday.

Hopes of becoming champions seemed to be fading fast too, as

77

we lost at Arsenal and Villa. However, revenge against Wednesday at home, followed by a thumping 4-0 win at Chelsea and a 2-1 victory against Spurs in E13 meant the bandwagon was well and truly rolling once more.

Phil Parkes was brilliant in goal. Ray Stewart, at right back, never put a foot wrong. Alvin Martin and Tony Gale, in the centre of defence, were imperious.

The tireless Alan Devonshire and an assured Alan Dickens were running midfield. Mark Ward was causing havoc on the flank.

And, up front, McAvennie and Tony Cottee were simply too hot to handle.

But the team was bigger than any one individual. What’s more, this was a group of players that appeared to actually like one another.

You got the impression that they were mates off the field as well as comrades-in-arms on it.

The spirit of unity was infectious and, increasingly, supporters walked away from Upton Park after yet another victory feeling as if we were part of something special. At the start of April we were fifth. What a month that turned out to be.

It began badly, with defeat at Nottingham Forest. Then came a run of eight games in 22 days that were to prove almost as exhausting for the supporters as they must have been for the

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Iconic: The 1985/86 team has gone down in West Ham history

players. I was living in west London back then.

But if I’d spent any more time in the People’s Republic of Newham they would have made me pay the poll tax there.

After the Forest game there were two home wins, against Southampton and Oxford. Next up was Chelsea, and 29,360 of us packed Upton Park - only to watch us lose 2-1.

There has never been much love lost between the supporters of West Ham and Chelsea, and after the game the police

had their work cut out keeping the rival thugs from kicking the crap out of one another in Green Street. My god, the atmosphere was ugly. Nights such as that can make you question why you go to football matches.

On the Saturday we won at Watford then, two days later, came a game that will never be forgotten by those of us who were lucky enough to be there.

West Ham 8 Newcastle 1: the scoreline says it all.

Not only was it a

remarkable goal-fest, this game also produced one of the best pub quiz questions of all-time. Q: Who scored a hat-trick against three different goalkeepers? A: Alvin Martin. The comings and goings of the Newcastle keepers that night reads like a plot from Casualty, so I’ll spare you the gory details.

But I will just mention Glenn Roeder who, of course, was to go on to manage West Ham and somehow contrived to get one of the most talented set of players

we’ve ever had on the books at the same time relegated.

That night he scored an own goal and, having watched several of his team-mates get the chance to use their hands in the box, he tried it as well and conceded the penalty that Stretch converted to take his improbable place in the record books.

To be honest Glenn, you and West Ham were clearly never meant to be an item.

Next up were Coventry, then Manchester City. Both were nervy affairs, and both ended with 1-0 victories that really did put us in with a serious chance of winning the League.

Then came Ipswich, our final home game of the season. A capacity crowd in excess of 31,000 was there to see it.

As ever that season, my wife and I were seated in the West Stand. At least, we were at the start of the match.

By the end of it we were standing on the seats, celebrating a 2-1 victory that put us up into second and left the title within touching distance. In the end, it all turned out to be a bit of a damp squib.

In the penultimate game of the season we did what we had to do at West Brom, but Liverpool beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge to squeeze us out of contention for the greatest prize in domestic foot-

Grafter: Mark Ward was popular while, inset, West Ham thrashed Chelsea at the Bridge

ball. Defeat at Everton in the final game meant we finished third behind the two Merseyside clubs – our highest ever topflight league position.

To rub salt into the wound, English clubs had been banned from European competitions because of what had happened at the Heysel, so we didn’t even have

the Uefa Cup to look forward to by way of consolation.

What we did have, however, was an indelible set of memories of a breathtaking season which so very nearly saw us win the title.

Best of all, as a supporter you felt that every one of the Boys of 86 wanted to do it for you.

Thanks lads. Those of us who were fortunate enough to witness it will never forget you.

Honestly, we really don’t need the missing TV footage to remind ourselves of just how good you were. * Brian Williams is the author of Nearly Reach The Sky – A Farewell to Upton Park BBM

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The Gold Sisters Successful: Jacqueline Gold was awarded a CBE in the January honours list

‘Dad gets so nervous on match days he is hardly able to eat’ Jacqueline and Vanessa Gold talk West Ham with David Blackmore

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est Ham heiress Jacqueline Gold says she can’t wait to see the Hammers step out for the first time in the Olympic Stadium.

Co-owner David Gold’s daughter, who was made a CBE in the January honours list, has inherited he father’s love of the club and is

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confident the Irons will be in safe hands for years to come.

In an exclusive joint interview with her sister Vanessa, the 55-yearold, who turned the Ann Summers family business into a major high-street brand, also heaped praise on captain Mark Noble.

Kicking off our chat I ask the pair about when they were told their father was going to be the co-owner of West Ham. Jacqueline said: ‘The three of us have dinner together every single week, and have done for the past 25 years, and it was over dinner one evening that Dad told us

that he had completed the deal that day and was now the proud owner of West Ham United, along with David Sullivan.’

Her sister, who is the managing director of Ann Summers, added: ‘I remember feeling extremely happy but I can’t say that either Jacqueline or I were too surprised.

Happy family: David Gold is flanked by his daughters Vanessa (left) and Jacqueline at an awards ceremony

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‘We always knew it was his dream to own West Ham one day and knowing how passionate he is, I think we both knew he would achieve it one day.’

Jacqueline, who was honoured for her services to entrepreneurship, women in business and social enterprise, recalled her first memories of growing up in a Hammers supporting household.

‘Our earliest memories of West Ham were going to our Grandma Rosie’s house, which was almost directly opposite Upton Park at 442 Green Street.

‘I remember Dad dropping us off to go and watch the game and we would help Rosie sell West Ham souvenirs to all the supporters from the front steps of her house.’

And her favourite player? ‘Sir Trevor Brooking – a wonderful player and now a regular in the Boardroom,’ she replied.

‘He is a great ambassador for the club.’

The conversation turns to today’s squad and when asked for their current favourite players both Jacqueline and Vanessa were quick to point to Mr West Ham himself.

‘We have some fantastic players in today’s squad but Mark Noble really stands out,’ Vanessa said. ‘He has such a fantastic work ethic, is right at the heart of the team and we love his loyalty to the club.’

Nodding, Jacqueline added: ‘We also really

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Loving: Jacqueline with her father David like Adrian. I follow him on Twitter and he is so passionate about the game and the club.’

As for their feelings towards leaving Upton Park, Jacqueline continued: ‘Of course we’ll be sad, because we grew up around the ground, it’s our second home.

‘But if we want to progress as a club then where better to go than the iconic Olympic Stadium? I think it might feel a bit strange at first but the opportunity to watch our team play there, will be phenomenal.’

The vice-president of the Children’s Trust and supporter of both the

National Association for People Abused in Childhood (NAPAC) and the Retail Trust said West Ham have had a huge impact on her life.

‘I go to every home game, my six-year old daughter has been a mascot, it’s my second home,’ she explained. ‘It has been a very positive influence for me and my family.

‘I like nothing more than sharing my passion for the game with friends – particularly if I get to tease them after a victory against their team.’

Vanessa added: ‘I have always loved football since I was very little, but being a West Ham

fan feels like being part of a football family.

‘I like the fact that when we win, we all win together and well, when we lose, best not to talk to us for a few hours.’

Turning to their father, both Jacqueline and Vanessa describe West Ham’s co-owner as their best friend. ‘He is caring, charming and he always has time for everyone.

We love his company, he really does light up a room with his stories, pearls of wisdom and his wit, which if you follow him on Twitter you will have seen for yourself,’ Jacqueline said.

‘As a businessman he has incredibly energy

Fan: Jacqueline admired Trevor Brooking

‘My Dad’s heart has always been with West Ham United’ Blowing Bubbles also caught up with Dave Sullivan, son of co-chairman David, to ask his views on leaving the Boleyn, his favourite West Ham players and Slaven Bilic...

and a real zest for new ideas and opportunities.

‘He always asks the question no one else thinks to ask and he instinctively knows the good ideas from the bad.

‘We admire him immensely; he has been a great mentor to us both, as well as inspiring many more.’

But what about Mr Gold, the West Ham fan?

Vanessa replied: ‘As a fan, well, he barely eats on match day.

‘We sit next to him in the boardroom and he is so busy and involved but still has time to chat with fans on the way into the ground. I would say he is optimistically nervous at

most games and whilst he gets excited every time we score, he doesn’t usually relax until we have two in the bag.’

Last month heralded the six-year anniversary since Gold and David Sullivan took over the club and both explain how ‘extremely proud’ they are for what the duo have achieved for the club.

‘They have great track records as businessmen and as football club owners and really have the club’s best interests at heart. To have secured the Olympic Stadium is an incredible achievement.’ BBM

What were your earliest memories of West Ham? Can you remember your first game?

My first game was the Burnley game in 2009 when we won 5-3. It was prior to my Dad and David Gold taking over and we were invited to West Ham to view the club and all that stuff.

We were in a box and I don’t remember much other than worrying towards the end of the game when Burnley started scoring.

Who are your favourite West Ham players and why?

I really like loads of our squad so this isn’t easy.

I like players with flair or strength or speed so naturally I would have to say Payet for his flair but I also like Kouyate and Sakho because of their physical attributes.

Also they both score goals and are great to watch.

Will you be sad to see

West Ham leave the Boleyn?

Yeah I will be as will any West Ham fan.

There are so many memories of happiness and sorrow tied to the ground so it will be tough to leave. But it is what we need to progress as a club.

What’s your Dad like as a father, businessman, and a West Ham fan?

As a businessman, he is a hard worker and very tough in deals.

[Before the summer transfer window shut], he was working probably 12 hours plus per day.

As a Dad he is very funny and has a lot of valuable wisdom, and as a West Ham fan he is avid and passionate.

He has always wanted to be at West Ham that is where his heart has always truly been.

Where is the strangest place you’ve met a West Ham fan?

I am not too sure but I think the European adventure, despite the fact it ended way too soon, was enlightening as we saw how many West Ham fans are scattered all over the place. We saw this in Malta with the Maltese Hammers. * Follow Dave Sullivan on Twitter at @DaveSulley

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The benefit of hindsight

I was wrong about Bilic - but I was totally right to be worried Fans berated me after I claimed we should have kept Sam Allardyce

KIRAN MOODLEY

@kirancmoodley

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indsight, that’s what this season is about.

With hindsight, Claudio Ranieri needn’t have worried about keeping Leicester City in the Premier League.

With hindsight, pundits and bookies shouldn’t have been so confident in Chelsea’s supremacy. And with hindsight, Gary Lineker might just regret sending a Tweet saying he will wear only his underwear in the first episode of next year’s Match Of The Day if his beloved Foxes win the league.

Some West Ham fans think, with hindsight, I must regret writing a piece for The Independent last year.

People on Twitter bring it up every time we win a game. I am unsure whether any of those individuals are real, but those commentators have opened my mind to

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Safe hands: West Ham knew they would not be relegated with Sam Allardyce as boss my misconceptions and opened my eyes to the wrath of fans.

The jist of that article: West Ham fans are deluded and the chairmen are clueless.

It was an ode to Big Sam, written in the aftermath of his departure and before the arrival of Bilic.

It argued that dreams of Europe and the big

time were being wished for too soon. Ahead of the move to E20, the priority was to remain in the Premier League.

Now, I am among those whose tweets and articles have come back to haunt them.

When you start to get abuse from some fans, you realise they spend their whole time retweeting people who

predicted West Ham would get relegated.

This is, of course, from people who also put good money on Leicester City qualifying for the Champions League.

My point is: predicting what is going to happen is often impossible and with this season in particular I, and many others, got it wrong. But I highly doubt others got it right either.

I regret causing offence to those fans who genuinely felt upset at being called ‘deluded’ and admit the heat of the moment perhaps got to me.

For the first time in many years I feel excited and I was wrong to have had so much faith in Allardyce.

Having said that, the fact that Bilic has been able to take the club to new heights is an acknowledgement of how far Allardyce took the team from the Championship. Bilic himself has admitted that.

I do not regret speaking my mind and the unpleasantness from a certain section has solidified that feeling.

For some, to speak ill

of the club is to not be a proper fan and they accuse me of not being a true supporter.

To me, those fans are deluded. Even the editor of one of the West Ham blogs told me that he was glad that I was so hated by many.

For this club means so much to me and it’s a family club to its core. Those ‘haters’ have shocked me and yet they shouldn’t.

This world of blogs and tweets and podcasts is great for the ability of all fans to have their say.

Yet it creates an arrogance and entitlement among those who think they know best.

West Ham is a club that gave me an identity at such an early age and a strong connection to my mother’s family from Plaistow.

They, and I, know just how much of a fan I am and how that family aspect is what makes so many of us dearly love West Ham. Perhaps what makes me a Hammer fan like most is my pessimism, something inherited from my mother. There are still question marks around what lies ahead.

To banish the demons of Anfield and Goodison, and to take maximum points from the Emirates and Etihad is something to be applauded.

But other results still leave me with doubt. I never dreamed of being where we are now, so to criticise where we finish

Brave: David Sullivan took a gamble by changing managers ahead of the last season at Upton Park this season is unfair. But part of me wonders why we were never in front against Norwich in two games this season, why we drew against Villa away, why we could never hang on in numerous games - regardless of refereeing mistakes.

I also wonder why we never showed up against Manchester United that night in the FA Cup under the fading lights of the Boleyn.

It is telling that even David Sullivan said Bilic’s contract extension

would be delayed until next season, hoping that Slaven was not a ‘one season wonder’.

I think Bilic’s managerial statistics show he is not, but that’s West Ham pessimism for you.

And with regards to my ‘attack’ on the owners, there is no doubt that our triumvirate bear no similarities to someone like Randy Lerner.

Yet I am not one to assume the owners are not going to sell the club.

They are three accomplished business people

who bought the club at the right time, when they had a good idea that the Olympic Stadium was a possibility.

To buy the club then and see the fortune they could make from selling it, that is a no brainer.

This past year has made me saddened to know there are some fans who have venom and arrogance that belittle this great club.

Yet this season has also reaffirmed my faith in West Ham and football itself. BBM

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Darren Lewis

‘It is clear that West Ham are now no longer a selling club’

Julian Shea finds Darren Lewis expecting big things from West Ham

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est Ham’s fixture list for the new season may contain Thursday night Europa League ties rather than the Tuesday and Wednesday glamour fixtures of the Champions League, but one of the country’s top football writers says it will not be long before they are challenging for a place at European football’s top table.

In a wide-ranging interview for Blowing Bubbles, Daily Mirror journalist Darren Lewis, who has covered the club for some time, said a sea change was taking place in English football – and it was a major opportunity for West Ham to make a significant step up in terms of the club’s stature.

‘Some people like to say West Ham fans are deluded in their expectations, but having observed the club so closely over the last few years, and seen what has happened, that’s not the case at all,’ said Lewis.

‘I’ve seen the evolution that has taken place, from the club that went down a few years back, came back under Sam

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Upbeat: Darren Lewis says West Ham are not that far away from the Champions League teams Allardyce and most importantly stayed up – for which Sam has to be given his due - and then put down the foundations for what Slaven Bilic has managed to do so far,’ he explained.

‘From the moment he arrived at the club, Bilic has fitted hand in glove with what the owners wanted to do – it’s worked beautifully, everyone very clearly working together to-

wards one common end, and going about things the right way.

‘It’s really changed things. West Ham are no longer a selling club.

If anyone goes, it’ll only because the club has decided that should happen, and they’ll go for huge money too, so if they don’t want to lose people, they don’t have to.

‘They’re not the only team whose stature is

changing – Leicester and Tottenham will be in the Champions League next season, with all the rewards that brings with it - but I think West Ham are definitely moving into that sort of area as well.’

When Bilic was appointed manager in summer 2015, the return of one of the club’s own after five years of Allardyce and Avram Grant, and not just any old former player, but such a popular one, was widely welcomed by fans.

However, Lewis said that the success Bilic enjoyed in his debut campaign was far beyond anything anyone could realistically have expected to happen.

‘The club hierarchy were very open about the fact that they went for Jurgen Klopp, but at the time he said he wanted to take a break – which I think basically meant waiting for a better offer, which is fair enough, as after being in a job like Borussia Dortmund, you want to make sure you take the right next step.

‘When that didn’t work out, they’d agreed a deal with Rafael Benitez, but

then at the last minute Real Madrid took him – but that shows how high West Ham were aiming, going for someone whose stature in the game is so high.

‘Bilic would definitely have come behind the likes of them on the club’s wishlist, but it’s worked amazingly well.

He’s become completely synonymous with everything that the club are about.

‘He gets the club, and everyone gets him – and what happens on the pitch just proves that.

Right from the outset, everyone has been working towards one goal – make the squad stronger – and that’s what they’ve done.

‘There’s great strength in depth in midfield, exciting wide players and at the back, they coped better with injury than they would ever have done in the past.

‘Spurs may have finished higher and got the Champions League spot, but if you look at the two squads, are Tottenham really that far ahead?

‘OK so they may have more strength in depth in terms of young players, but if West Ham

Ideal: Darren Lewis says Slaven Bilic has been perfect for West Ham hadn’t had so many serious injuries last season, I think the finish would have been a lot closer.’

One of the keys to Bilic’s success, Lewis thinks, is – in the best possible way – the lack of a real star player.

‘Dimitri Payet is obviously the poster boy for what’s happening at the club, and the beacon who is likely to attract other big name players,’ he said.

Close: West Ham almost got Rafa Benitez before Real Madrid came in

‘They’ll look at Payet and think “if he can go there and do the business, if his style can make them into a better team, then that’s the sort of place I’d like to be part of ”, but West Ham are by no means a one-man team.

‘Considering how many injury problems they had, they did superbly last season, and it showed how much the squad is developing.

‘Darren Randolph was signed on a free from Birmingham and turned out to be a great keeper, and James Collins came close to leaving to join QPR but had a magnificent season.

‘Look at someone like Angelo Ogbonna – what a catch he turned out to be – and Cheikhou

Kouyate could walk into any team in the Premier League, that’s how good he is.

‘No wonder Tottenham tried to get him – but West Ham said no.

Those days are over now.

‘The mentality is excellent – and it’s different.

Now you look at a team like West Ham, and know that if a key player is injured, there’s someone just as good waiting to take his place.

‘That’s why I say – things are changing in English football, and things are changing at West Ham as well, for the better.’ BBM *Darren was speaking to Claret and Hugh for Moore Than Just a Podcast. Listen to more from the team at moorethanjustapodcast.co.uk

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Hero: Jack Collison was very popular with the West Ham fans

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Jack Collison

‘West Ham are entering an exciting new era under Bilic’ Former fan favourite Jack Collison tells David Blackmore that Mark Noble deserves an England call and Martin Samuelson will be a star

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est Ham fan favourite Jack Collison has tipped Michail Antonio and Martin Samuelsen to become leading players for West Ham in years to come.

The midfielder, who announced his retirement last year at the age of 27, also called for Roy Hodgson to call up Mark Noble to the England squad, and believes the Hammers skipper would ‘easily’ slot in the England midfield.

In a wide-ranging interview, the former Wales international admits he was delighted to return to the Boleyn Ground to play in captain Mark Noble’s testimonial.

‘It was a really nice touch from Noble [to ask me to play] and I was really excited when I got the text,’ Collison, who scored 14 goals in 121 appearances for West Ham, said. ‘It’ was an amazing event and I just felt lucky that I was able to get out there to play again.

‘What better way to honour one of the best servants West Ham have

Friends: Jack Collison says Mark Noble helped him at the start of his West Ham career

had in the modern era.

Nobes has been fantastic for the club.

‘He has probably played under seven or eight managers now and he has always been a regular - even more so this season. He’s been in good form.’

Collison explained the role Noble played in his own development, and added that he could not believe the Hammers

star was still waiting on an England call up.

‘Nobes was good to me as a youngster coming through,’ he explained. ‘He has been there and done it and he looked after me and I’ll be forever grateful for that.’

‘I think [his England chances] is a no-brainer especially with the type of football West Ham are playing, I think he could

slot in there really easily.

The England midfield is a very competitive place to get into at the moment with the emergence of the likes of Dele Alli and Ross Barkley but I think Nobes has shown he can hold his own at any level.

‘With the amount of games he has played and the way he is driving West Ham forward at the moment, if he doesn’t get a call-up there’s definitely something going on there.’

Collison’s last club was Peterborough United, where he has also been their Under-21s coach since last summer, and he has been very impressed with what he has seen of Posh’s West Ham loanee Martin Samuelson.

‘I can remember Peterborough played West Ham in a pre-season friendly and Martin was tremendous that day,’ the former Bournemouth and Wigan Athletic loanee said.

‘Ever since then there have been a few people looking out for him, and then we heard that he was coming on loan

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to Posh. I can remember that he came into training and we saw just what a good player he was. His balance, his footwork, the way he goes past people, it’s just unbelievable.

‘Over the years there have been lots of players who can do that in training but he has gone out on the pitch and put in some great performances.

‘Then against West Brom in the FA Cup he showed the rest of the world that he has arrived. What a performance it was and more importantly he delivered on the big stage against Premier League opposition.

‘I think he is very fortunate that he was at a club like Peterborough who try to play the right way, he is getting well looked after and protected by the coaching staff and hopefully now he will get the opportunity to push for a place in the West Ham first team next season.’

But can he make it to the top of the English game? ‘I don’t see any reason why not,’ replied Collison, who played for Wales 17 times.

Bright future: Jack collison played in Mark Noble’s testimonial at Upton Park

‘He is 18 years of age.

For a player of any age to go out and play like he did against West Brom, I think he has got a big future ahead of him.

‘Not only is he a good player but he has also got a great attitude. He works hard and wants to be out there playing football every day.

In his pomp: Jack Collison in his playing days

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‘He settled in really well here at Peterborough. It’s always tough for a young fella to go out anywhere on loan, but he is a nice lad, people like him and everyone wants him to do well because he is such a nice fella.’

As for the current crop of youngsters seeing regular action at the Boleyn Ground, Collison picked out Michail Antonio as being a ‘fantastic signing’.

‘From the moment he put on that shirt, he has worked hard, put his body on the line, made tackles, got forward at every opportunity and what’s been very pleasing

has been the goals he has scored.

‘I think if he keeps applying himself the way he has been then there is no doubt that he is going to get better and better and go on to become a big part of West Ham’s team.’

The conversation turns to his first game for West Ham against Arsenal on New Year’s Day 2008, he continued: ‘What better place to make my debut than at the Emirates.

‘I knew Freddie Ljungberg was struggling before the game, but before I knew it he was coming off and I was preparing to go on.

‘I’ve said it a couple

of times in interviews before, the last words I was told before going onto the pitch was to try and get close to Cesc Fabergas which was one hell of a challenge but it was a great experience.

‘I can remember feeling that although I was pleased to have made the breakthrough and got my debut for the first team, I came off the pitch thinking I had an awful long way to go before I’m ready for that.’

Although Alan Curbishley gave Collison his debut, Alan Pardew had been the man in charge when he was invited to train with the senior side.

‘He gave me a taste of the first team with me training with them regularly and he took me to the FA Cup final for the experience.

‘That was great for me and James Tomkins at the time to have a little taste of it and see what it was like and I think that helped inspire us to go back and work even harder so I was very grateful to Alan for that.

As for his favourite goal and moment during his West Ham career, Collison’s first goal was something he will always regard as being ‘special’.

‘Unfortunately we lost the game but that was a great feeling scoring at the Boleyn in front of the home fans.’

Another moment that will remain with Collison for the rest of his life was the League Cup tie against Millwall

In-form: Michail Antonio has been a revelation for West Ham this season

in 2009, just two days after his father died in a motorcycle accident.

‘It really was a special and strange night. To lose my Dad at such a young age was difficult to deal with,’ he said.

‘I made the decision to play and the support I received was amazing to be honest. I know the game will be remembered for various other reasons like the pitch invasion and the trouble before but for me that was a night where the West Ham community really came together.

‘They united to help me get through probably

the hardest 90 minutes of my life. You could see the emotion had got to me at the end as I walked around the pitch.’

And Collison admits he feels he has always had a strong relationship with the West Ham faithful, and that was why he wanted to write an open letter to the fans when he left the club.

‘The West Ham results are always the first I look for because of the connection and journey I had there.

‘I’ve still got a few of my good friends there like Noble, Tomkins and James Collins. Obviously

I want my friends to do well and I want West Ham to do well.

‘It really is an exciting time now, they’re going into a new stadium, they have a great squad, and they’ve got one hell of a manager.

‘I imagine I’ll be able to get down a bit more now I’m retired and watch West Ham take their first steps into an exciting new era.’ BBM * Collison was speaking to Claret and Hugh for Moore Than Just a Podcast. Listen to more from the team at www. moorethanjustapodcast. co.uk

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Rio Ferdinand

West Ham still hold a special place in Rio Ferdinand’s heart The defender made his Hammers’ debut 20 years ago this month

LUCY WOOLFORD @lucy_whufc

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t seems like only yesterday that a teenage Rio Ferdinand was lighting up the youth setup and making his first team debut, but can you believe that was 20 years ago? Yes, twenty!

Academy graduate Rio made his first team debut for West Ham on May 5, 1996, coming on as a substitute in Harry Redknapp’s side starring Tony Cottee, Alvin Martin, a young Frank Lampard Jnr and current management team Julian Dicks and Slaven Bilic.

His first full season was 96/97 and he immediately impressed. As a spritely 18-19 year old, he was a wise head on young shoulders.

Always the composed defender, he was talked about in terms of the England setup from a young age.

Rio had spent his formative years in east

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Big potential: Rio Ferdinand made his name at West Ham London joining the Academy at 13, and made strides into the international setup at 16.

In the eight years he spent with the Hammers, he won Hammer of the Year in 97/98 following an eighth place finish and a League Cup quarter final.

This was a season that saw much speculation about the Peckham-raised defender - Sir Alex Ferguson saw his potential and hoped to lure him to

Manchester. But with the Hammers enjoying a good season with some great prospects, Rio wasn’t tempted away at this point.

He would, however, leave Upton Park a few years later in what was a record-breaking transfer.

I think we all remember that day. As a fan, it was a peculiar mixed-bag of emotions. It was gutting to lose such an influential defender, but on the flip side, it was quite impressive to know that

West Ham had nurtured someone who had become the most expensive defender in the world.

The same can be said for his eventual move to Manchester United. Fergie finally got his man in 2002, making Rio the world’s most expensive defender once again and also Britain’s most expensive footballer.

For a second time, we watched Ferdinand move to a club that we don’t have good feelings for, but as West Ham fans, there was a certain amount of pride to know that he’d made it this far because of his great start.

Then, of course, it almost fell apart for him.

He famously missed a scheduled drugs test in 2003, which would eventually see him banned from football for eight months. All signs pointed to this being a completely innocent mistake.

It was a chance for the FA to make an example of a high-profile player and they took it. It was a tough lesson for Rio and a stark warning for his fellow professionals.

To his credit, he returned in late 2004 and looked sharp, even

making it into the PFA Team of the Season in 06/07, proving there was plenty left in the tank for him at 27 years old.

Rio departed Old Trafford in 2014 after 12 years – a time that saw him take home six Premier League medals, three League Cup medals and an all-important Champions League medal.

Despite record-breaking transfer fees and mountains of silverware since leaving West Ham, Ferdinand has always remained grounded and grateful to all those at West Ham. It’s clear to see that his heart never left east London, something that he has vocalised. Ahead of Mark Noble’s Testimonial, he told West Ham TV: ‘It was great to be back on the pitch again.

This stadium holds great memories for me and this club will always be in my heart.’

We tend to know when such words are empty, but with Rio I think we realise they’re heartfelt.

He also boasts a prolific, if medal lacking, England career. Ferdinand has 81 England caps to his name and, surprisingly, three goals.

After impressing in the U17 squad, Rio became the youngest defender to play for the full England team in 1997 at the age of 19. It wasn’t all plain sailing for him on the international stage after being omitted from the squad for Euro 2000. Of course, he also missed

Ferdinand’s career timeline

Smart: Rio Ferdinand works in the media these days Euro 2004 due to his missed drugs test ban.

Despite the setbacks, he will always be remembered as a fairly consistent performer, with his calm nature and physical presence something that spanned across his domestic and international careers.

Rio Ferdinand retired from international football in 2013 and professional football in 2015, nineteen years after his West Ham debut.

Now, of course, he’s

part of the BT Sport team and still a regular visitor to the Boleyn Ground with that job.

He’s a vocal but fair pundit and we can still see the twinkle in his eye when he talks all things West Ham. Harry Redknapp had previously backed Rio to become a West Ham manager in the future – if that’s on the cards at the right time in his life, we’d surely welcome him back with open arms.

BBM

1978: Born in Camberwell London 1992: Signs for West Ham as a schoolboy 1996: Makes his Hammers debut, replacing Tony Cottee in West Ham’s final league game of the season – a 1-1 draw with Sheffield Wednesday.

1997: Makes England debut against Cameroon 1998: Wins Hammer of the Year 2000: Joins Leeds United in an £18million deal – a record transfer fee for a defender.

2002: Signs for Manchester United in a deal worth £34million – again a record transfer fee for a defender.

2003: Misses a drugs test. Although he passed the test the following day he is given an eight-month ban.

2008: Captains Manchester United as they beat Chelsea to win the Champions League.

2014: Signs for QPR, his final club, on a free transfer..

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Carl Jenkinson The end: Carl Jenkinson’s season ended when he was injured against Manchester City

Where did it all go wrong for Carl Jenkinson this season?

The on-loan right-back was unable to repeat his first year heroics

EMILY PULHAM

@makingthemarrow

N

ow that the curtain has come down on

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an incredible season, it’s a time for some joyous reflection.

But for some, the season wasn’t an overly happy memory. For Carl Jenkinson, our on-loan defender from Arsenal, it was a season he’d rather forget.

Jenkinson did a wonderful job in his first season with the Hammers,

and fans were delighted when he returned on loan for a second season – but a series of subpar performances and a plethora of penalties left fans wondering where their adored right back had gone.

I don’t think Jenkinson is at fault for the difficulties he faced this season.

Some of them, yes – but

certainly not all of them.

Instead, it was down to a change in structure which caused most of his misery.

Under Sam Allardyce, full backs Cresswell and Jenkinson were encouraged to advance up the pitch supported by the cover of the left and right wingers.

Under Bilic, it’s a

rarity to play with two true wingers who stick to wide, covering, designated left and right positions.

Instead, we started the season mainly playing Victor Moses on the left and an open, rotating, space on the right - leaving Cresswell protected, and Jenkinson woefully exposed.

This change in structure has had a negative effect on the young Arsenal loanee.

In the first half of the season, Jenkinson gave away three penalties.

The previous full season he played saw him give away only one.

He collected four cards in six months this season whereas he received only two in 35 games in the previous season.

In 2014/15 he kept nine clean sheets; in 2015/16 he kept none.

It couldn’t have been easy for Jenkinson and his frustration was often evident on the pitch – and it soon went from bad to worse.

Whilst giving away a penalty to Manchester City, Jenkinson suffered a season-ending injury which put an end to his loan spell at West Ham. In defence of Jenkinson, we’ve struggled to adequately fill the right back position since his departure.

No one - not Michail Antonio, not James Tomkins, not Sam Byram - has done a completely satisfactory job in that role.

I include Byram in this

Difficult: Jenkinson never looked at home in Slaven Bilic’s system

list as yes, he had a stunning debut game, but when fit has struggled to get in his own professional position over midfielder Antonio.

This unfulfilled role is largely down to the aforementioned players being in the right back position without a true winger covering them.

The exception to this is when Antonio is allowed to play on the right wing - otherwise, we’ve put every right back in

a continuously perilous situation, and it’s one that got the better of Jenkinson.

I feel for Jenkinson that he had the experience he did this season and I don’t want this bad loan spell to derail a promising career for Jenkinson.

He’s a good defender, and I admit I missed him during the second half of the season every time Antonio was forced back in defence instead

of driving up the pitch and scoring goals.

Once Carl recovers, I fully hope he finds a team with the structure that allows him to come to life and play to the best of his ability.

We won’t see him pull on a claret and blue top again, but whenever he pops up at our Olympic Stadium, I’ll be applauding him and I hope our other supporters do the same.

Good luck, Carl. BBM

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Flashback - Martin Samuelsen in October

‘We won’t become the new City but that’s a good thing’

West Ham youngster Martin Samuelsen on why money can’t buy you love, how Kevin Nolan helped him and his big plans for the first team

JULIAN SHEA @juliansheasport

I

t is safe to say that former captain Kevin Nolan’s departure from West Ham at the start of the season was not one that was greeted with tears and sadness by most fans – but his parting gift may turn out to be one that leaves Irons fans owing him a major debt of thanks, because he may just have played a significant role in helping develop one of the next big names in claret and blue - Martin Samuelsen.

The 18-year-old Norwegian youth international joined the Irons this summer after leaving Manchester City at the end of last season, and in an exclusive interview with Blowing Bubbles at the photocall organised by the club’s official outfitters Apsley Tailors, he revealed that

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Hero: Manchester United legend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was Samuelsen’s idol growing up the former Bolton and Newcastle midfielder had taken time out to help him on his arrival at his new club.

‘I always try to get as much input on my game as I can, and obviously the senior players with their experience can teach me a lot,’ he said.

‘The one who taught me the most before he left

was Kevin Nolan – since he’s gone, I’ve spoken a lot with Dmitri Payet.

I’m not trying to copy what he does but I’m trying to put some of it into my game.’

A quick trip to YouTube to look at Samuelsen’s recent stunning goal for the West Ham U21s at Blackburn would suggest that a bit of Payet’s

stardust has indeed fallen onto the youngster’s boots, but those who have been following his career for a while would not be surprised at this development.

Born in April 1997, he grew up as Manchester United fan – ‘because of [fellow Norwegian] Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’ – the versatile attacking midfielder caught the eye of Chelsea and Real Madrid before opting to join Manchester City in 2012, the year City won their first Premier League title under Roberto Mancini.

The future may have looked bright for the Sky Blues, but unfortunately for Samuelsen, his days at the Etihad were slightly less sunny, and now he is looking for a fresh start at the Boleyn. ‘After three and a half years of ups and downs – mainly downs – at City, I really needed a big change,’ he revealed. ‘I didn’t really know that much about West Ham – I knew it was a big club in East London, with a lot of tradition, and hardcore fans – is that the right word? - but that was

Bright: Martin Samuelsen enjoyed a positive pre-season with West Ham

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about it. ‘I was lucky to meet [Academy chief] Terry Westley at West Ham – he was the one I dealt with most when I was on trial, and then again in the later stage of discussions, and after that, joining was an easy decision to make.

‘He told me about how West Ham work individually with different players to focus on their individual needs, and once I realised that there was a new manager, there would be other new players and there was a new stadium to go to, I couldn’t really say no.’

Samuelsen is one of a raft of new players to have arrived under Slaven Bilic, and he says that – as well as the welcome he received from senior players such as Kevin Nolan – has made the bedding-in process a more comfortable one.

‘Dmitri [Payet]’s one of the other new arrivals too, so maybe that’s helped a bit – there’s quite a few of us in the same boat, so I’m not on my own,’ he revealed.

With Bilic also now more at home at the club, the team are definitely starting to bear the manager’s personal stamp, but that new look has only come about after he shuffled his cards in the Europa League campaign, not deciding on his preferred line-up until everyone had been given a chance to prove their worth. That meant that despite still awaiting his blooding in the Pre-

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On the ball: Samuelsen likes to go at defenders mier League Samuelsen has already had a taste of first-team action, with two appearances in European competition.

‘I’m surprised to get a first team chance so quickly – I didn’t expect it when I first arrived but it’s certainly been a very nice surprise, and obviously I hope I get another chance in the first team soon,’ he said.

However, if his opportunity for regular first team football should be in the colours of another team, then that suits Samuelsen just fine as well.

‘I didn’t say I wasn’t interested in going out on loan, what I said was that all the signals I’ve been given are that the club want me to stay here, but if they want to me to go out somewhere else, I’d be happy to go – I’ll do whatever the club wants,’ he said.

The move from City to West Ham is an interesting one to make, considering how City’s status as the nearly men of northwest football has been utterly transformed since their move from Maine Road to the

Etihad, and the resultant transformation of both the club’s fortune and its fortunes.

But having been caught up in that scenario at City, and not reaped any personal benefits from it, Samuelsen says he does not see too many comparisons between the two clubs. ‘I think there will be big positive changes at West Ham [following the Olympic Stadium move], and the team will climb the table, which is great, but I don’t think there’s going to be as much money

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being pumped in here as there was at City – and I think that’s a good thing,’ he added.

Bearing in mind his previous experience, he could be forgiven for having enjoyed West Ham’s recent famous victory over his former side just that little bit more than many other players at the club.

‘I didn’t really think about it that way, I was just glad that we won against City – maybe I was a little bit extra happy as it was my old side, but I suppose that’s

the same for any player against their old team,’ said Samuelsen.

After some crushing defeats at the hands of City in recent years, that 2-1 win was particularly enjoyable for all West Ham fans – but if Samuelsen goes on to fulfil the potential and promise he has shown thus far in his short career, the result could be West Ham 1 Manchester City 0 for many years to come. So remember the player who supplied the vital assist. None other than Kevin Nolan. BBM

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Nigel Reo-Coker

Where did it all go wrong for former Hammer Reo-Coker?

Ten years ago the England under-21 star had the world at his feet...

Captian: Nigel Reo-Coker enjoyed a fine start to his career

GEOFF HILLYER

I

@geoffhillyer

t’s been ten long years since that great season under Alan Pardew – not only performing well in the Premier League, but also reaching the FA Cup Final, before that goal from Steven Gerrard snatched a famous win away from us.

One of the reasons that season was so successful was Nigel Reo-Coker, who had been made the club captain in 2004.

Known as the engine room in midfield before his acrimonious departure to Aston Villa, he made 120 league appearances, scoring 11 goals. It seemed inconceivable that he wouldn’t be turning out for the England full team one day, having played for the under-21s.

Fast forward ten years, and he’s just been released by Montreal Impact in the MLS. In between, rather than

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playing at table-topping clubs, he’s taken to the field for Aston Villa, Bolton Wanderers and Ipswich Town – hardly teams that set the world alight – before heading over to America. Where did it all go wrong?

Perhaps, with hindsight, the seeds were sewn in 2007. West Ham had endured a terrible season under Pardew and increasingly looked odds-on for relegation.

Pardew was sacked

after a particularly traumatic 4-0 defeat to Bolton, replaced by Alan Curbishley.

He not only steered us to safety with an improbable run of wins at the end of the season, but also identified problems within the camp – the so-called ‘Baby Bentley Brigade’, of which Reo-Coker was a part.

Despite rediscovering some form towards the end of that season, in the

summer the board ‘failed to reassure him concerning his future at West Ham’ and he requested a transfer.

It was at this point that some supporters felt that he was getting too big for his boots, particularly as his performances for much of the previous season had left a lot to be desired.

Almost inevitably, an £8.5m move to Aston Villa followed, but even as the transfer was going through, Reo-Coker had slightly more direct words for the West Ham hierarchy.

‘It was an experience which has hardened me but I don’t think it was an experience anyone should be forced to go through, like I was, at the age of 22,’ he was quoted as saying.

‘But it has made me a stronger character and I will now channel that in the right way. If people want to see me as obnoxious or bitter about what went on then that’s their prerogative but my honest opinion was that I was hung out to dry.’

Sadly, his attempts to ‘channel the experience in the right way’ didn’t

Washed up: Reo-Coker has pleyed for several teams in the MLS

Reo-Coker’s career timeline 1996: Signs for Wimbledon after being spotted playing for Croydon.

2004: Moves to West Ham and is quickly made club captain.

2005: Leads the Hammers back to the Premier League, via the play-offs.

2006: Plays for West Ham in the FA Cup final defeat to Liverpool.

2007: Joins Aston Villa in an £8.5m deal after asking to leave West Ham.

always work. A bust-up with then-Villa manager Martin O’Neill saw him dropped from the first team in 2009, and after being released from the club two years later, he once again had harsh words for his former employer.

He reportedly found out his services were no longer required whilst on holiday.

The next stop on the journey for Reo-Coker was Bolton in July 2011.

During his time there, he made 42 appearances

and scored three times, but once again, the team struggled during the season before eventually getting relegated.

Handily for Reo-Coker, he was able to activate a release clause in his contract, but rather than heading for a table-topping team, he was off to Ipswich Town for a few months before heading across the Atlantic to play.

There’s no doubt that Nigel Reo-Coker was a good player. The problem with him,

you felt, was that the other important part of the game, his attitude, went missing when it mattered and that rubs against the grain of supporters’ goodwill.

It’s a real pity, really.

I’m sure he would say he’s had a successful career, but I wonder how he feels when he looks in the mirror.

You feel with him that it’ll always be a case of what might have been – a bit like the FA Cup Final he captained, really. BBM

2011: Joins Bolton Wanderers on a free transfer but is relegated in his first season at the club.

Activates a release clause in his contract and leaves on a free transfer.

2012: Eventually signs for Ipswich Town in the Championship after failing to find a Premier League club.

2013: Signs for the Vancouver Whitecaps in the MLS. 2016: Released by Montreal Impact.

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Rebel without a club: Joey Barton almost signed for West Ham

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Joey Barton

Barton’s case proves Di Canio must never be Hammers boss

West Ham don’t want saints but the Claret and Blue needs integrity

BRIAN WILLIAMS @BrainWill26

T

here’s no denying that, on his day, Joey Barton, is a top class player.

On the other hand, someone who has achieved everlasting notoriety by stubbing out a cigar in a young kid’s eye is clearly not a nice person.

Let me put my cards on the table. I’m relieved that he didn’t join West Ham. I didn’t go so far as to sign online petitions and tweet my disapproval when a prospective move was being mooted, but I was pleased that the deal fell through.

The question remains, however, should a man’s behavior off the field make a crucial difference to the way supporters feel about what he does on it?

I understand the ‘who are we to judge’ argument all too well, having

Iconic: Some West Ham fans would love to see Paolo Di Canio back as manager one day done a number of things in my life that I’m none too proud of.

I also believe that everyone is entitled to a second chance if and when they face up to their mistakes.

However, there is more to supporting a football club than the number of games you win (unless you’re Chelsea) and the integrity of those players who are lucky enough to wear claret and blue at some time in their ca-

reers matters to me. No one says footballers have to be saints. But they are held up as role models – and they represent the club they play for in the eyes of supporters and detractors alike.

It’s one thing when a player who is already on a club’s books steps out of line.

No doubt James Tomkins seriously regrets the incident in December 2013 that resulted him being fined more than

£7,500 after admitting being drunk and disorderly and assaulting a policeman.

He paid his penalty, just as any other member of society would be expected to do, and it would have been wrong for him to be punished twice for the same offence by being sanctioned by his employer.

But it’s a different matter when it comes to signing a player who has been dogged by controversy all his career – that sends out a totally different message.

Even if inviting someone to play for you doesn’t actually condone previous bad behavior (which in Barton’s case includes two convictions for violence resulting in 77 days behind bars) it certainly says a club is prepared to turn a blind eye in its direction.

By the same token we never should have signed Lee Bowyer, not once but twice. An on-field punch-up with a teammate is bad enough – a racially motivated attack on McDonald’s staff is far worse.

Paolo Di Canio is possibly the most intriguing character ever to be on

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West Ham’s books.

Many supporters would like to see him back at the club in the manager’s office. He himself believes it is his destiny.

He was a wonderful player for our club – one of the best we’ve ever had.

Anyone who has ever seen his astonishing goal against Wimbledon as he morphed into Neo from the Matrix to volley home Trevor Sinclair’s cross will know instantly what I’m talking about.

Goal of the season?

That was the goal of a lifetime.

There are so many Di Canio memories: the fantastic moment of sportsmanship that won him the Fifa fair play award when, rather than head home into an empty net, he caught the cross and demanded that play be stopped until the prostrate Everton keeper was restored to full health; the time he wrestled junior Frank Lampard for the ball when we were awarded a penalty in the amazing comeback game against Bradford City in which we turned a 2-4 deficit into a 5-4 victory.

And there’s no doubting his love of West Ham; he’s even got the tattoo to prove it.

The trouble is, he’s got other tattoos as well, and they are a good deal less savoury. His back alone is a tribute to fascism, featuring a symbolic imperial eagle and a portrait of Italian wartime

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Too important: There is no place for fascism at West Ham United

Talent: Joey Barton is a very good player - but is that enough? leader Benito Mussolini, complete with military helmet.

Mussolini, Adolph Hitler’s closest ally and architect of one of the most repulsive ideologies mankind has dreamt up, liked to be known as Il Duce – ‘The Leader’. If the picture on Di Canio’s

back wasn’t enough, his arm carries a tattoo that says Dux, the Latin translation of Duce.

In his time at West Ham, from 1999 to 2003, Di Canio wisely kept his political thoughts to himself.

Neither did he celebrate any of the 48 goals

he scored in 118 appearances by hailing the crowd with a straightarmed fascist salute.

But he did just that when he returned to Lazio – the club he supported as a boy and notorious for its links to extreme right-wing politics. And he did it more than once.

Di Canio is adamant that he’s not a racist, which rather suggests he doesn’t fully understand what fascism is all about.

A political movement that is based on the idea that the people of one nation are inherently superior to those of other countries and continents is inherently racist – and it doesn’t become any more palatable when the believers of this idiocy try to implement their way of thinking with extreme violence.

Politics has no place in football, say Di Canio’s supporters. I disagree – politics and money go hand in hand, and there’s a lot of money in Premier League football.

But even if they were right, there are some things that are just wrong. To appoint a man who has aligned himself so closely to fascism as club manager would do untold damage to the credibility of West Ham. The East End has a proud tradition of resisting fascists. The Battle of Cable Street sent Oswald Mosely and his blackshirts packing as they tried to spread their message of fear.

And the people of the area withstood the worst Hitler and his airforce

could throw at them as the bombs rained down during the blitz.

They even coined a phrase to encapsulate their defiance – ‘We can take it.’

I think there is something in the DNA of every West Ham supporter that yearns for one of our great players to return as manager and create a side in his own image.

But I’m sorry Paolo, it can never be you.

You see, if you were to get the job it would send out the message to those who want to intimidate anyone they dislike because of their colour, their religion or their sexuality that it is somehow all right to do so. And that we couldn’t take. BBM

Smart: Hammers boss Slaven Bilic turned down the chance to sign Joey Barton

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Join today at www.blowing-bubbles.co.uk 105

VVV-Venlo

Why going Dutch may just pay huge dividends for West Ham A West Ham fan from Holland gives his take on our deal with VVV

ARJAN DRISSEN

U

ntil recently, the name VVV-Venlo will have meant little to West Ham United fans.

Earlier this season, the Hammers announced they had struck a deal with the Dutch club that would allow the best youngsters in our academy to get first team experience on loan in the second tier of Netherlands football.

The news was pretty unexpected, and left many supporters scratching their heads and wondering what the benefits would be.

After all, what good can come of sending our next Reece Oxford or Reece Burke to a country that has failed to qualify for next summer’s European Championships in France?

However, what I would argue is there are plenty of benefits from the arrangement, one being that it will also give West

106

Thinking big: Terry Westley says the deal will help West Ham’s young players develop Ham first option on buying any talents the club known as The Good Old are looking to cash in on.

The Jupiler League, which is named after the Belgian beer company, is probably about the standard of League Two. The football is more physical than in the Ere-

divisie but there is still an emphasis on playing the ‘Nederlandse School’ (the Dutch way) of 4-3-3 with the full-backs pushing on and a number 10 behind the striker.

VVV are no exception to this rule and this means that any West Ham youth players who will be plying their

trade there will have to adapt to the Dutch way of playing and must be comfortable on the ball.

The division also has a reputation of helping young players to make their names and reach their potential. The likes of Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Sami Hyppia, Jaap Stam, Dirk Kuyt, Nacer Chadli, Jan Vertonghen, Thomas Vermaelen, Keisuke Honda and Michel Vorm all spent time in the Jupiler league, which helped to launch their football careers.

As such West Ham’s youngsters can expect to be schooled in a different type of football and this can only add more strings to their bow and become more rounded footballers.

Since the clubs are a lot smaller and don’t have as many resources as Eredivisie clubs the players will have to look after themselves. That means any youngsters we send over will have to mature a lot faster.

They will have to live on their own, do their own cooking and have to get to grips with the basics of the Dutch language.

Talent: Would Reece Oxford benefit from a spell in Holland?

Westley hails Venlo deal

VVV is also a good choice of club from West Ham’s point of view as there will hardly be any off-field distractions for the players.

Venlo has a nice city centre and isn’t too small

by Dutch standards (about 40,000 residents call the place home) but it is hardly Amsterdam,

Rotterdam or Eindhoven with its flashy clubs, bars and model shows.

West Ham, of course, are not the first English club to collaborate with a Dutch team. In 2010, Merab Jordania, a business associate of Roman Abramovich, bought Vitesse and the club have since borrowed many of

Chelsea’s youngsters including Josh McEachran and Sam Hutchinson.

Now West Ham have followed suit. The players who get to go out on loan to VVV will live the life, play first team football and experience a different culture. It is now up to them to make the most of it. BBM

Academy boss Terry Westley says West Ham’s deal with VVV-Venlo will lead to more home grown players making it into the first team.

‘It’s something we have looked at for 12 months,’ he said.

‘We have been to Slovakia, France and Holland.

‘We have met with different clubs and we chose Venlo in the end after doing our homework and looking at the environment and what the staff are like.

‘Our thought process was could we be futuristic? If you look at defenders, Reece Burke is a great example as going to Bradford is really helping him and being tough against a senior centre forward.

‘But if you are looking for a midfielder or an attacking player, you might be looking for a different type of game and Venlo ticks those boxes.’

107

Doing it for Dad

Dad would be proud I’m finally on the road with the Hammers

Yellow Advertiser Irons’ reporter Brian Jeeves on his father’s first love

Y

ellow Advertiser football correspondent Brian Jeeves is a regular in the Upton Park press box. But it was never meant to be like this for the Southend United-supporting son of a Hammers fan.

West Ham United v Leicester City. Saturday December 20, 2014.

1:30pm I always take my seat this early because I like to sit with a cuppa and watch the ground gradually fill up. I take a slurp of the steaming brew, browse through the match programme and have a nose around.

Two elderly chaps have just taken their seats. They are here most weeks, and I’ve no doubt they’ve seen it all.

A young lad stands with his dad at the top of the stairs, gazing wide-eyed across the stadium.

It’s his first time here; a fledgling dream has come true.

Meanwhile down by the players tunnel, a clutch of kids wait patiently for any sign of a player who might be willing to scribble an autograph in their books.

I continue to breathe

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At work: Brian Jeeves in the West Ham United press box in the atmosphere and the anticipation of the fans as they arrive for the rollercoaster ride ahead.

I then glance up at the clouds hanging above the Chicken Run and smile to myself.

You see, it was never meant to be this way.

I am the son of Anthony Jeeves, a railwayman from nearby Forest Gate.

Dad drove the huge steam engines between

Southend Victoria and Liverpool Street.

He was a huge Hammers fan and quite clearly wanted me to follow suit.

Dad and my mother moved to Rochford in 1958, but he still watched the Hammers whenever he could.

Following my arrival ten-years later, his grand plan was for son to follow in his footsteps

leading all the way to Green Street. But his momentous blunder was taking me to Roots Hall for my football inauguration. He believed he could ‘blood’ me at Southend United, then ease me in at Upton Park along the way.

But much to the old man’s frustration I’d fallen head-over-heels for my local team.

Try as he may, there was no way back, I was a die-hard Shrimper.

Of course, in time this led to many ensuing quarrels, usually starting with dad saying: ‘The trouble with Sarfend is…’

And my dedication to Southend made life tough for me at school too.

South east Essex is a West Ham hotbed.

Hopelessly outnumbered

by Hammers fans, any crumb of success for the Shrimpers was belittled by the claret clan on the King Edmunds playground.

Amongst Dad’s earliest childhood memories were of being lifted over the Upton Park turnstile and passed above the crowds’ cloth caps and placed behind the North

Bank goal. He remembered looking up and seeing a man in a bottle green sweater hanging on the rigging of the goal and smiling back at him.

It was Hammers goalkeeper Ernie Gregory, and he instantly became the old man’s first hero.

Dad told me how he would go to Gregory’s house with his school friends to ask for autographs.

A woman, perhaps his wife or landlady, would come to the door and hand out squares of paper with the treasured squiggle adorned across it.

In 2003, about a month before he passed away, I was out with the old man on Southend seafront when he seethed: ‘I never saw Ernie Gregory, I bet that woman signed those autographs’.

I wondered just how long that had been eating away at him and set about getting Ernie’s signature. Sadly, by the time I obtained one, it was too late.

But Dad had plenty of other Upton Park recollections, and he wasn’t slow to let me know about them.

Hero: Billy Bonds was one of Anthony’s favourites

What a catch: Anthony Jeeves loved his fishing and, inset, worked on the railways

Great players he’d seen play for and against the Hammers such as Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst, George Best and Bert Trautmann to name a few.

He’d also tell tales about players with

curious actualities. Syd Puddefoot and Jim Standen were particular favourites, and he’d often recite both football and cricketing facts about the pair.

Puddefoot had represented Essex, while Standen was a leg-spinner for Worcestershire, taking 313 first class wickets between 1959 and 1970 at an average of 25.34.

My personal favourite memories are of watching the 1980/81 team lift the Second Division championship.

Dad and I would visit Upton Park when

Southend were away or had played on a Friday night. They had some super players. Parkes, Bonds, Brooking and Devonshire.

Looking back, it’s criminal to think that they were plying their trade in English football’s second tier.

But soon teenage tantrums had kicked in.

By the time Cottee and McAvennie were tearing up the First Division, those jovial childhood disputes between Dad and I had become quite bitter.

These family feuds were not helped by Sou

109

thend’s fruitless toil in Division Four, ironically under the management of Bobby Moore. I’d actually started to despise West Ham. In Dad’s later years, footballing days out circled around Southend.

He didn’t like wandering too far from home on a match day, although we’d both mellowed enough to hold a conversation about the Shrimpers and Hammers without cursing at each other.

After Dad’s passing I began to write down his old football tales, just so my own children had something to remember him by.

One thing led to another and here I am 12-years later, a three-times published author and a football correspondent with the Yellow Advertiser newspaper, covering both Southend and West Ham, something I enjoy immensely.

Indeed, not getting off to the best of starts with the Hammers, I must admit I was a nervous wreck the day I covered my first game at Upton

Legend: Brian with Julian Dicks

110

Memories: Upton Park has changed over the years

Park against Manchester City in the semi-final of the League Cup. In truth, the game was the deadest of dead-rubbers. West Ham were trailing 6-0 from the first leg and stood even

less than no chance of progressing to the final.

Nevertheless, this was my first taste of the big-time, and for Dad’s sake I had to get it right.

A Hammers-supporting mate accompanied me that night for moral support.

He was understandably less than enthusiastic about the match and asked me to ‘go easy on us’, as the home side faced the possibility of another tough evening.

City won 3-0 to complete a 9-0 aggregate, but I tried to be as courteous as I possibly could to the Hammers.

But back to today, and for the record a goal in each half from Andy Carroll and Stewart Downing is enough to see off the hapless Foxes, sending the Boleyn faithful home full of Christmas cheer.

The game was far from a classic, nevertheless today is a special day.

It is the first anniversary of me becoming an accredited football reporter, and 11 years to the day since I last watched a match with the old man.

Southend lost 1-0 to Bristol Rovers that afternoon. Five days later on

Christmas Day 2003 his heart gave up and our lives changed forever.

It seems somewhat poignant that I was spending this anniversary at Upton Park covering his beloved Hammers.

I brought him a retro Hammers shirt that Christmas, sadly it never came out of the wrapping paper, until today that is.

The press box quickly empties. I sit here alone, frantically typing up my final word on proceedings. I say alone, but he’s here, I know he is.

I can feel his presence everywhere.

I think back to all those arguments we had over the Shrimpers and

Hammers, but it doesn’t seem to matter anymore.

I want that final by-line above all others. It’s not just an opportunity to scribe a piece of unique footballing history, but to be here for the old man sporting that shirt for him of course.

He’s probably looking down on me chuckling now. After all, I’m a regular at the Boleyn Ground now, he got his way in the end.

But one thing will never change. How I’d love to watch just one more match with him, whether it be Shrimpers or Hammers.

Goodnight Upton Park and sleep tight Dad – Thanks for the memories. BBM

First love: Brian at Southend United

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Flashback: Stevie Bacon in February

‘My career following the club has been an amazing journey’ West Ham’s legendary snapper Stevie Bacon tells David Blackmore he is optimistic for the future despite his long battle with diabetes

F

or more than 30 years, he enjoyed a unique view on goings on at the Boleyn Ground and undoubtedly remains West Ham’s most loved photographer.

There is, of course, only one Stevie Bacon, but the Newham Recorder’s legendary snapper is facing an uncertain future after having had his lower left limb amputated as a result of complications with his diabetes.

Confined to a bed in a room in his ‘wheelchair unfriendly’ house, Stevie knows life will never be the same again.

Even now, a few months on from his operation, the 63-year-old admits he does not know where he will live and how much care he will need moving forward.

‘My big problem is I’m living in a rented house but it’s not wheelchair accessible so I’m stuck in a room and confined to bed,’ he explained. ‘I’m currently waiting for the council to find a property for me which will enable me to get around and, most importantly, help me to get out and

112

Winners: Stevie Bacon gets his hands on the play-off trophy

about. It might sound like a silly thing to say but you don’t realise how difficult things can be.

It’s so very difficult for me to do anything at the moment but I’m trying to make the best out of this situation.’

While Stevie still harbours dreams of returning to the touchline at some point he admits it is highly likely he’ll never work again.

‘I’ve only got a year left before I retire and, as things stand, I don’t think I will be back working,’ he continued.

Bacon, who turns 64 in the same month as West Ham will begin life in the Olympic Stadium, hasn’t been able to get to the Boleyn Ground for a couple of seasons and admits he would love to see the old ground one more time before

the move. ‘I love Upton Park,’ he explained. ‘I’ve spent half my life there from starting to do my first games there in my late teens, right through to a couple of years ago.

‘I’ve got really fond memories of the place and the players I have met and the fans. I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to get over there before we finish there this season but it just depends on my situation.

‘West Ham have said I can go when I want which is really nice of them and I really want to get there sometime soon.’

However, while he admits it will be a sad day when the John Lyall Gates are closed for the final time, Bacon says the move to the Olympic Stadium will allow the club to move forward.

‘Given the choice I would have stayed at Upton Park but then you realise they have probably done as much as they can there, he added. ‘They could have redeveloped the East side but at the end of the day it makes more sense to move to the Olympic

In his pomp: A young Stevie Bacon poses with a camera

113

Stadium. Getting in and out of Upton Park is a nightmare so we have to think of the fans because it’s much easier and better to get out of Stratford. I just hope the atmosphere will be just as good there.’

Bacon admits he is always pessimistic about West Ham, but even he now admits the Hammers will be able to avoid relegation and that things are looking good – ‘for once’.

‘We’ve been unbelievable this season,’ he said.

‘My biggest fear coming into this season was getting relegated and moving to the new stadium as a Championship club - it would have been a huge dent in our plans.

‘We started the season brilliantly though with all the away wins and, despite our bad run of injuries we held our own and managed to keep going and now we can start to push for a European slot.’

Bacon says he is especially delighted about how the season has panned out for Slaven Bilic, a man he got to know well while the Croatian was a player at the club back in the

Happy days: Stevie on West Ham’s tour of Australia

1990s. ‘I got on very well with Slav when he was here. He was great – a very friendly guy and very knowledgeable,’ he added. ‘He always preferred to sit and chat rather than play cards on the coach. I’ve always said he didn’t do bad for us but that he didn’t stay too long. He was a

Chats: Stevie got to know Slaven Bilic on the coach

114

decent man.’

Bacon was able to get to know Bilic, and many of the players, when he travelled on the team’s coach as his role as club photographer.

‘I always tried to make new players feel at home,’ he added. ‘I can remember when Ray Stewart joined us and I got a call from the manager John Lyall asking me to come to the ground to get a few pictures. John had been the first person Ray saw at West Ham and I was the second. Ray and I got on really well and we went on to form a great friendship. He still keeps in touch today.’

As for the players

he connected with the most, Bacon his closest friends in football are from ‘Boys of 86’ – the team that came within a whisker of winning the old first division.

‘They were more my generation when I was working closely with the club,’ he added.

‘I didn’t have much access to the current crop of players. Mark Noble I always got along well with as I did with Scott Parker when he was at the club. Football has changed completely. I was talking to a journalist the other week and he said that in the old days, press officers were there to help you make contact

with players but now they are stopping you making contact with the players and that sums it all up.

‘This isn’t just at West Ham - it’s the same wherever you go. Players are kept away from the fans as much as they are the media. Some training grounds are more like fortresses now and you can’t get anywhere near where you used to be able to go.’

The conversation turns to his highlights from working as West Ham’s official club photographer for three decades, and Bacon says he still feels privileged to have done a job he enjoyed for so long.

‘Being involved with the club was great for me being a local boy and a West Ham fan,’ he explained. ‘To get to travel with the team was incredible. The biggest highlight for me was when I was able to go to Australia with them on tour. It was three weeks with them and it was superb.’

However, it was the big European nights that really stick in his mind.

‘I’ll never forget when Dinamo Tbilisi came to Upton Park and were applauded off the pitch,’ he explained.

‘Then there was the game behind closed doors [in October 1980 after rioting by fans in the first leg against Castilla in Spain in the European Cup Winners’ Cup]. That was eerie.

Everyone was desperate

Friend: Stevie says he has always got on well with West Ham’s Mark Noble

to see the game but it was only played in front of such a small number of people.

‘Travelling abroad with West Ham for European games was also something I really enjoyed. I covered the Cup Winners’ Cup final when we got beat by Anderlecht and also the Intertoto Cup in 1999.’

While Bacon is happy reminiscing over the past, the future hangs like an elephant in the room. However, he

remains determined to be positive and reveals he still has high hopes for the future.

‘Hopefully the council can come up with a property that I can move to and I’m looking at getting a prosthetic leg which would give me at least a bit more mobility.

‘I do like to travel and I love driving. It would be nice [once I retire] to be in a situation where I can get a car under the Government’s Motability Scheme that will allow

me to do a bit more driving and take some photographs.

‘I’d also like to shoot some football again somewhere but at the moment I’m taking everything one step at a time – if you excuse the pun what with me having just the one leg!’

Whatever tomorrow holds though there will only be one Stevie Bacon, and he’ll always have a special place in the hearts of West Ham fans. BBM

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A fan cries as he pays tribute to Bobby Moore

The good, the bad and the ugly

Legendary snapper Stevie Bacon picks some of his favourite photos Trevor Brooking wins us the FA Cup

Julian Dicks scores against Manchester United

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Carlos Tevez finally found the net

Paolo Di Canio shows his emotion A fan takes it on the chin

A battered Billy Bonds

of West Ham’s glorious history

from his glittering career professionally covering the club he loves Paolo Di Canio stuns Manchester United

Harry Redknapp and Billy Bonds celebrate promotion

West Ham had to play Castilla behind closed doors in 1980

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Matthew Etherington

Etherington’s story proves we can all battle with our demons The former winger has been honest about his gambling problems Happier times: West Ham fans had a real bond with Matthew Etherington

LUCY WOOLFORD @lucy_whufc

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ll too often, we hear talk about how easy life is for footballers.

Fans find it hard to believe that although a hefty pay packet comes at the end of the month, footballers don’t always find financial security or a path to happiness.

Take former West Ham fans’ favourite Matthew Etherington as an example.

By all accounts, he’s a really nice guy and was a pivotal part of the Hammers squad, but for him, gambling was an unhealthy pastime that got him into trouble off the field during his playing days.

His refreshing honesty following his troubles is something rare, and it gave a great insight into the mind of a footballer who doesn’t find the excitement of playing once a week enough to fulfill his life.

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‘It’s not just football, it’s rife in this country,’ said Etherington in an interview with The Times, ‘but the way the game has gone, fitness-wise, you can’t really get away with drinking. Not like in the old days. You can’t do drugs, obviously. The next vice after that is gambling.

‘Players have a lot of time on their hands, you’re finely-tuned and

sometimes you want to recreate that buzz of playing. That’s how you get hooked.’

That’s the other side of the beautiful game.

It’s the spare time and perhaps even the thoughts of what happens when it’s all over that can send even the most financially sound brain into overdrive, something that Etherington knows all

too well. What did his gambling addiction do for his private life and relationships, as well as his career?

It’s something we rarely think about; as fans the personal lives, away from the cameras.

He continued: ‘I lost loads of friendships over it. Some of them I’ve rekindled now, thankfully, but most people who knew me will testify that I wasn’t the nicest person in the world. I wasn’t horrible in the sense that I’d do horrible things, but . . . how can I put it? I was very selfish.

All gamblers are selfish. I used to hide everything.’

The competitive streak in modern players can leave a sour taste in daily life if not handled properly, and can lead to a spectacular fall from grace.

Perhaps going from the high of winning on a Saturday to the low of losing money to gambling on a Sunday is all too much to face for some.

‘I’m the worst loser in the world; I play a board game after Sunday dinner and it drives my wife mad how competitive I

am. With gambling, it was about getting that win. I couldn’t admit defeat. I thought I could beat it, even when I got into debt. It was never going to happen.’

The results of such an addiction can be devastating for players and their families, and although fans may never think of players running into debt, it’s all too easy a pattern to slip into for even top earners.

Unfortunately for Matty, the horrors of debt became a reality after he refused to give up his habit.

‘I was devoid of any responsibility,’ he said.

‘When a bill came through the letterbox, I’d put it in the bin.

Nobody knocked at my door, but people used to turn up at West Ham’s training ground, bookies from Romford dogs.

“Oh hi, yeah I’ll see you tonight!”

‘I had the gift of the gab. But I wouldn’t turn up. I’d go to a different track. They’d come back the next day, but as a gambler you become a great liar. Ultimately, that’s what I was.’

And it wasn’t just blowing large amounts of money with friends that was the West Ham star’s downfall.

He added: ‘My family would ask questions, but I’d bat them away. It got to the point where I’d blown all my wages, down to betting 5ps, 10ps and 50ps, trying to win thousands back.

That was the moment I

A dog’s life: Etherington lost a fotune at London’s dogs tracks

Gamblers Anonymous Gamblers anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to do the same.

GA members offer the hand of friendship to anyone who is looking to try and stop gambling.

Why not pop along to a meeting near you and get the help you have been looking for.

There is no membership or registration required, just turn up at the meetings advertised time and date.

For more information visit http://www. gamblersanonymous. org.uk

finally wised up. Ridiculous. What was I doing?’

Fortunately for Etherington, he sought help eventually.

That’s not to say it was easy for him to come to terms with his addiction, but it had affected his on and off-field life badly enough to force him to come to a stop.

He isn’t the first foot-

baller to fall into a less than ideal situation such as this and he won’t be the last.

He’s brave enough to talk about it and raise awareness for other sportspeople who could easily fall into the same habits as he did.

It’s also important for fans to understand that footballers are only hu-

man and their financial situations don’t make them invincible to such addictions and lifestyle struggles.

The thrills of Premier League football can be huge, but it’s the downtime and competitive natures that can lead players, past and present, down the wrong paths in life. BBM

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The honeymoon period Love of our lives: What else would you rather do on honeymoon than hang out with these guys?

‘I left my wife on honeymoon and fell in love with 11 men’

John Quinn left London a changed man after chance trip to Upton Park

JULIAN SHEA @juliansheasport

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s anyone who has been married will know, the honeymoon is the time when after

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months of hard work and stress, the newlyweds can finally look forward to a bit of time together; just the two of us, with no-one and nothing else to think about.

So an extra person muscling into the picture makes things decidedly awkward – let alone 11 strangers. But that is what happened when Canadian newlywed –

and now, new West Ham fan – John Quinn came to London with his new bride Sarah.

‘I made the mistake of researching our stay in London when I’d had a few beers, and being a big sports fan, of course that was one of the things that I was interested in,’ the 29-year-old from New Brunswick said. ‘Before I knew what I was doing, I’d bought

myself a ticket for West Ham v Norwich – just the one, I could only find single seats – and I was ready for my first English football game.

Without really knowing much about the game.

Or West Ham. And without my wife.’

As you do when in a position of complete ignorance, John turned to the internet – more specifically, Reddit, with

a post entitled ‘I’m on honeymoon and ditching my wife to go to my first football match. I’m from Canada and know nothing. Please help’.

Fortunately the West Ham cyberfamily were welcoming, with some advice on how to get the best out of his day out in the East End. ‘Before this, my football background was quite limited,’ John explained. ‘Ice hockey will always be number one in Canada – I’m a big Montreal Canadiens fan, and in fact I proposed to Sarah during a match.

‘I’m also a Toronto Bluejays baseball fan, so Sarah’s used to my obsession with sport.

When I saw West Ham were playing when I was in London, it was a no-brainer.’

After a wedding described as a ’48-hour party in a rustic cabin rather than anything more formal’, the new Mr and Mrs Quinn spent their honeymoon touring Scotland, Ireland and England together before going their separate ways – just for the one afternoon.

‘As it was such short notice, I could only get the one ticket, but I figured after six days she’d be sick of me anyway by then, and fortunately she was very understanding about it’, said John. ‘We’d been planning our trip for a year in advance, and she knew I wanted to see a football match, but I had zero idea about how to go arrange

Happy: John Quinn with his beautiful wife Sarah on their wedding day it – fortunately, five days before we were heading off, I found West Ham were playing and so that made my mind up.’

Armed with his Reddit advice, such as learn Bubbles, when he arrived at the ground, the first-timer had at least a clue what to expect. ‘The atmosphere outside got me straight away,’ he said. ‘The Boleyn reminded me of some of the old-school hockey arenas, and when I found out this is the last season, that made it feel extra special. When I told them my situation,

the guys sitting near me were extremely welcoming and they were very impressed that I knew Bubbles.’

John’s outsider status made him notice things which would totally bypass Upton Park regulars. ‘When Norwich scored, their fans made a lot of noise but West Ham were straight back at them, and some of the chants were hilarious,’ he said. ‘There are nowhere near as many away fans in Canadian sport, so that made for a really different atmosphere, and fantastic noise. They

say the Canadiens are hockey’s loudest, most passionate fans – West Ham are certainly up there with them!’

Having arrived as an intrigued outsider, soon John was fully sucked in.

‘I found myself shouting my head off at players whose names I’d only just learned!’, he said.

‘Towards the end there were lots of near misses, then when West Ham equalised I was leaping around and shouting just like everyone else. That was when I realised: I’m a West Ham fan for life now!’ BBM

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Karren Brady

It is time Hammers supporters learned to love this Irons lady Karren Brady has transformed West Ham since her arrival in 2010

EMILY PULHAM

@makingthemarrow

W

est Ham looked on the up as they sailed through their last season at Upton Park before moving to the Olympic Stadium.

The Hammers have signed the majestic Dimitri Payet and managed to attract the impressive Manuel Lanzini aand Michail Antonio leading to strong team selection options.

The club is also enjoying a period of relative economic stability and smart business decisions – most of which are being done at the urging of vice-chairman Karren Brady.

Brady has been dedicated to improving life in claret and blue since her arrival at the club in 2010, however, she has not been without her critics.

They claim she enjoys the media spotlight a

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little too much and does not seem to value the club’s history. She was blasted over her suggestion the club could be renamed West Ham Olympic.

Of course, the fact she takes home more than £600,000 per year. doesn’t help.

She also apparently received a bonus of more than £1million when the club won the race to be anchor tenants at the Olympic Stadium.

The question is though are we taking Brady and her hard work for granted?

Lady Brady is an extremely intelligent business woman who has done incredibly well to stabilise West Ham United to a point where they can attract a high calibre of player and then actually afford to pay them for their services.

She was undeniably crucial in West Ham securing the Olympic Stadium and it can and should be argued that fans should be grateful for the opportunities she has created.

Karren has done well to work towards a

stronger financial future at the club, and she’s dealt well with all the twists and turns along the way.

The deal with shirt sponsor Betway came from an occasion in which she made gourmet lemonade from really rather unwanted lemons.

Previous shirt sponsors Alpari had to abruptly pull out of their deal after filing for insolvency, and instead of ironing some fetching white patches over the old sponsor, Brady managed to broker a record-breaking deal with Betway that doubled what Alpari had paid for the shirts.

Her keen business sense has led to good financial news in other areas of the business too.

As of the end of the 2014-15 season, West Ham reported a turnover of £120.7m, a record for us, and finished the year with a £8.5m operating profit.

Brady’s website states that, since her arrival, West Ham have become one of the five fastest-growing brands in world football, and

top-quality players are willing to come to East London as a result of this strong brand-building.

It’s not bad for five years work.

It should all be smooth sailing for Lady Brady, but even though she’s worked hard to endear herself to fans, it doesn’t feel like fans are united behind the hard work she’s doing.

After she commented on a failed task performed on the Apprentice by tweeting ‘£9 for a salad!’ she was relentlessly trolled on Twitter by her own fans reminding her of her own mistake.

Brady hasn’t always got everything right, but she is working tirelessly to keep West Ham in both good league and good financial standings.

We owe Karren a thank you, or at least a peace offering of sorts, for what she’s brought to the club.

She’s a valuable asset, a strong champion for West Ham’s finances and brand awareness, and as long as she keeps delivering, we should all be grateful she’s on our team. BBM

Effective: Karren Brady has overseen huge changes at West Ham

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West Ham Ladies

‘We will not rest until we have taken the Ladies to the top’ West Ham Ladies’ co-chairman reflects on his first year in the job

STEPHEN HUNT JR

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@ChairmanHuntJnr

hen I recently visited the National Football Museum in Manchester I enjoyed looking at the grainy pictures of early footballers at the start of the 20th Century.

Alongside these grinning men with slicked back hair and enormous shorts were glass cases with century-old brown boots worn by some of these legends of yesteryear. The museum puts these alongside the images of today’s millionaire footballers with their peacock boots to make an excellent point.

I got the point, and I looked at the West Ham Ladies playing now and wondered how history would record their endeavours in a hundred years.

The pictures we take now of our players, training three nights a week and playing at weekends for little or

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Progress: The team has made huge progress since the start of the season no pay reminded me so much of those early days.

I wasted no time when I got back and immediately bought our captain Katie Bottom a new pair of boots. I wanted to preserve the boots that scored that first and only goal by a woman in a competitive fixture at the Boleyn. In the future that right boot will be important to those look-

ing back at the history of women’s football.

That match was undoubtedly the highlight of a crazy season.

Wins, big losses, great results against stronger opposition, and that win against Spurs at the Boleyn in front of a record crowd that beat many League Two attendances on that same night.

We have had

everything. Some players left, some more willingly than others. We signed an international goalkeeper who became a media sensation who won awards and won us many friends.

We promoted development and U18 players to the senior team whilst mixing them with signings from Super League clubs.

We have been guests

on a TV show and at the Bend It Like Beckham musical as well as attending a number of West Ham United matchdays and events.

We finished the year with a table at the Players’ Awards Dinner in Park Lane necking beers with the millionaires the National Museum now celebrates.

This past season was about the club forming an idea about what we might achieve. We have spent the year reviewing the quality of coaching from U12 upwards.

As a result, we now have a clear plan for the next three years to improve every aspect of the playing side of the club.

We are now taking steps to create our first U10 side to feed to our U12s which will help us produce the West Ham and England stars of the future.

The junior set up, from U12 to U18, have all be phenomenally successful this season winning almost every competition that they entered.

Our junior structure is producing some exciting players and it is always a pleasure to see them break through to

Support: Marc Nurse will be given the backroom team he needs the senior sides. This coming season we will make changes by moving our U18 into our senior system so that they can train alongside the senior side and increase their opportunities to fight for places.

It is inevitable that with the excitement and promise of a new signing

Unforgettable: The night at Upton Park was an amazing experience

or promoting a young player comes the releasing of an older player or one that has not quite made the cut.

I can’t imagine what it must be like for a player who has come through from U12 to the senior team only to be let go.

For me that’s the least enjoyable part of the football business. I hope that those players who leave this summer will keep in touch and remember their time at West Ham Ladies with fondness. I hope they stay in football and find new clubs.

We began this season with the aim of making every player a star and

every game an event.

That aim continues. It has been a wonderful experience for me to meet so many great characters who have proven themselves to be worth investing my time in.

We have doubled the backroom staff this year and we will try and double it again this season.

A great team needs great support and that starts with the coaches, physios, administrative staff and media team. It needs great fans as well.

Everyone at the Ladies will be working hard to make the women’s club something for all West Ham fans to be proud of. BBM

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Big moment: Katie Bottom scored against Spurs at Upton Park

The players, performances and goals we’ll never forget

West Ham’s Ladies look back on the highlights from a tough season

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fter a difficult season, Blowing Bubbles caught up with captain Katie Bottom, Rosie Missen and Chelsea Hinz to reflect on their campaign.

Goal of The Season Katie Bottom: I will have to pick a goal by a player no longer here and would have to pick Shirvae Edwards against Brighton in our 2-2 draw. It was a great left peg into the top corner,

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which was made even better as it was captured on camera. For a player who is still at the club I will have to pick Whitney Locke’s goal against Crystal Palace in the FA Cup. It was a great team goal, and the winner to send us through to the next round. It was also one to break Whit’s drought in front of goal so meant a lot for all of us.

Chelsea Hinz: Shirvae’s goal against Brighton at

home. Maybe 30 yards out the ball was played to Shev where no-one expected the shot but what a shot it turned out to be. First time, no touch, top corner, right over the keeper’s head.

Rosie Missen: Goal of the season has to go to Katie Bottom for her penalty against Spurs at Upton Park where we won 1-0. I would like to think she will thank me for my words of wisdom before she took that pen!

Our winner: Shirvae Edwards’ screamer against Brighton.

Best Team Performance KB: There are many performances I could pick from either of our performances against Brighton, or our draw away at Cardiff where we grinded out results against very strong opposition, but I think overall I’ll have to say our game against Spurs at Upton Park. We were

in an awful run of form in the build up to the game, shipping goals left, right and centre and hardly getting on the score sheet ourselves, but it’s safe to say we turned on the performance at the right time in our biggest game of the year.

CH: It has to be our game at Upton Park. As expected it was a great night for us, the season itself hadn’t been so great but as soon as we arrived at the Boleyn, it felt like we were already winning. We all worked as a team and worked our socks off for each other making sure we was covering each other!

RM: Best team performance without a doubt was against Spurs at Upton Park. It was an amazing night in front of all our friends, family and supporters.

Our winner: West Ham Ladies v Spurs at Upton Park Best Individual Performance KB: This performance may go under the radar with most players, but hands down the best performance this season was Erica Turner away to Cardiff. Making her first start for us against the league leaders (at the time). Erica pulled off some worldie saves, keeping us in the game from the start to the finish, and was very unlucky to come away with conceding two goals and with us not winning the game.

CH: Katie Bottom

Impressive: The Ladies put in a fine performance against Palace against Spurs at Upton Park. Right from the kick off Katie took in the atmosphere and it showed in her performance and the goal.

She won every tackle, every header and played simple which is all we needed to do!

RM: Best individual performance for me was Erica Turner against Cardiff. She had an absolute blinder and kept us in the game to take a draw.

Our winner: Erica Turner against Cardiff.

Best Goal Celebration KB: We haven’t had any

celebrations that have been well thought out or used this season. So my winner would have to be after my penalty at Upton Park. It was our first goal in a few games, and at the time we knew that it was a one goal game with it being so close, so we were confident in it being the winner with it being so late on. The whole atmosphere and the delight in all the girls faces in the photos after show how much it meant to all of us.

CH: Upton Park v Spurs. This moment will live with me forever. We had had our chances

and missed but when we were given the penalty, I think we all knew when Katie stepped up it was going in. When it did hit the back of the net, the players on the pitch, off the pitch, management and spectators all celebrated together which was really overwhelming and magical!

RM: Best goal celebration was at Upton Park after Katie’s penalty.

Celebrating in front of a near 2000 crowd was amazing.

Our winner: Katie Bottom’s penalty against Spurs at Upton Park BBM

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Supporters’ club of the month

#15: Atlanta Ironworks

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his month Blowing Bubbles caught up with Nick Lemmond to talk about the Atlanta Ironworks.

When, how and why was group founded?

Our group, The Atlanta Ironworks, was formed early in the 15-16 season. It started as an email chain between some of us Hammers that knew each other from running into one another watching matches at the pub. We quickly added other Hammers we knew, and they added others that they knew. Within a few days we had created a Facebook group and made arrangements to meet for that weekend’s match. For the most part we had all been significantly outnumbered, as far as supporters go, in our respective pubs,

Flag: The gang pose in a bar while watching the Hammers

and were all looking for fellow Hammers to enjoy match days with.

How many members in your group today?

We have about 100 members on our Face-

Great mix: The group attracts fans of all ages and backgrounds

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book group, but there are about 20 of us who show up on a regular basis to watch the matches together. Membership grew very quickly once the Facebook page was created and each member was able to add their friends from the area or elsewhere. We watch all the matches at The Brewhouse Pub, in Atlanta GA. Every now and then we will do a home/ away with another local supporters’ group of a different club and travel to their pub to watch a match with them.

How many times do members travel to games?

We had members travel to several matches last season, including four home matches and one away match. We have been at Chelsea, Stoke, Liverpool, and Palace at home. And one of our members travelled to Manchester United away.

Some of our most memorable days so far have been the FA Cup replay against Liverpool, the comeback win against Everton, and even the FA Cup match against

Wolves, the match was not televised but we set up laptops and screens on top of the bar and all watched the stats and sang anyways!

What are the benefits of being part of your group?

The Atlanta Ironworks is a great group, and we have fun win, lose, or draw. That’s the advantage of being a member.

Members no longer have to celebrate or sulk alone, there are more of us in Atlanta than we ever imagined. We have loads of great discussion on our Facebook page, and we have loads of laughs when we are together. We can be found on Facebook at “Atlanta Ironworks”.

Loud: The Atlanta Ironworks are always in good voice

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The last word

This powerful battleship led to West Ham United’s birth

Maurise Hutty on how Thames Ironworks countered the French threat

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.M.S. Warrior 1860 and West Ham United Football Club have a common tie; they both owe their existence to the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company Ltd, founded in 1837.

Iron production provided a much-needed alternative to Britain’s dwindling supplies of hard woods such as oak and ash, traditionally used for shipbuilding.

It also solved the problem of having to use expensive copper sheeting to protect wood from teredo worm. The ability to mass-produce iron gave a cheaper and lighter option.

The Thames Ironworks soon established a reputation for their fine quality wrought iron.

A few iron ships were built by other firms, but the iron was often brittle and shattered when subjected to attack by cannon balls – not a good characteristic for a warship!

The landmark moment for the Ironworks came when Napoleon III was crowned Emperor of France in 1852, prompting rumours that France was going to invade

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Impressive: H.M.S Warrior was built by Thames Ironworks

England. When reports were received that France was building four super warships, Britain had to act fast.

A design for the mightiest warship ever built went out to tender, and the project was won by the Thames Ironworks due to their superior wrought iron.

After the success of HMS Warrior 1860 orders were placed by

navies all over the world and vessels were built for Denmark, Greece, Portugal, Russia, Spain and the Ottoman Empire.

The Thames Ironworks other celebrated legacy came about in 1895, when managing director Arnold Hill, helped set up a football club for the Works’ employees.

Within two years Thames Ironworks F.C. had entered the FA Cup

and London League, and by 1900 became West Ham United F.C. References to the Ironworks can be seen today in the emblem of the crossed hammers, representing the riveting hammers used in the shipbuilding trade, giving the club the nickname ‘The Hammers’.

The chant ‘Come on you Irons’ is a further reference to the Thames Ironworks.

The shape of the new Club badge will honour this connection, the shape being a representation of the cross-section of the bow of HMS Warrior.

Now 156 years later HMS Warrior 1860 is still floating in the sea on display in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, a testament to the superior wrought iron produced by the Thames Ironworks.

West Ham United Football Club, established for 120 years, has also stood the test of time.

For more information on HMS Warrior located at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard please visit http://www. hmswarrior.org/ BBM

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