WHAT A TRIP THAT WAS! Let me say this right at the beginning: If you are not into all this clique business, name dropping or reading about personal adventures of a fellow Hammer from abroad, you might as well stop reading right now and wait for the next article. This one will feel a bit like the recent Mark Noble testimonial insofar as it will by its very nature focus very much on myself, people I met, things I saw and so forth. I have met West Ham friends I knew from before and also numerous new ones.
It was my final ever game at the Boleyn (I’m not allowed to call it “the old girl” ever again) and we didn’t win as you all know.
But I can tell you one thing right now: I won’t allow a buffoon referee like Mark Clattenburg to sour my memories of this weekend, sporting wise my final Boleyn memory will be that perfect Payet free kick that happened right in front of me, watching from the Sir Trevor Brooking Upper.
Eat that Mr.Clattenburg. You will never be in the limelight and being cherished like him, no matter how much of a show you put on, dishing out red cards while pulling faces some renowned Hollywood actors might fail to pull off.
But let’s try and keep this somewhat organised and start with my arrival.
Friday was spent with a quick unannounced visit to my former colleagues at Hapag in Barking. It was 20 years ago I started working there and for that reason also 20 years since I started supporting this wonderful football club. We caught up on old times and new developments and I ticked off the first food box of my trip: Fish&Chips.
Then it was off to the Club Shop, picking up my new Cresswell shirt, another retro shirt (the one with AVCO as sponsor), a jacket, a Farewell Boleyn scarf and a keychain to do my bit in reducing the club’s debt further.
Later in the evening our own Russ was kind enough to spend the evening with me checking out some pubs in the Docklands/Canary Wharf area. We had some drinks (next box ticked in having some nice English Ale) and talked all things West Ham and WHTID for hours. Russ was great company and good as gold (or should that be Gold ?) and I want to thank him again for coming all the way from Kent to entertain a fellow Hammer on his first evening back in East London.
On to matchday which was started at 11am with the legendary inaugural Guided Walk of Canning Town with the one and only Nigel Kahn and several other esteemed West Ham contributors like BSB (more of him later), Iron Liddy, Safehands, Voice of Reason and Sean Whetstone. I won’t go into too much detail as I’m hoping Nigel will do an article on this himself. Suffice to say I learned more about the history of West Ham and this particular part of town than I could either imagine or fully remember.
Nigel went to great lengths, both in preparation for this walk and in walking distance, so our collective feet were reasonably sore when we reached the Black Lion pub about 90 minutes from kickoff. I insisted on buying the first round as I knew I would find it increasingly hard to spend money on food and drink what with the general hospitality and kindness of the people from this neck of the woods.
Next up was my final game at the Boleyn and this particular contest against Palace has been discussed at length on various other threads. BSB was kind enough to reserve a seat for me next to him in the Sir Trevor Brooking Upper and I was amazed how close we actually were to proceedings. With us were Dave Murray and his son Danny (who had come down all the way from Manchester I believe). I shall be eternally grateful that Payet decided to score that wonderful peach of a freekick at our end of the pitch as this will be the abiding image I will take away as my final ever Boleyn memory. When the Overseas Hammers were parading their flags around the pitch at halftime I felt slightly embarrassed. Not because I wasn’t parading my Hamburg flag with them, but seeing fans from as far as Israel, Atlanta or Australia made me realize how much more of an effort other fans from abroad make in order to watch the Hammers. Hamburg is basically round the corner from London, just an 80 minute flight away, Sydney and Tel Aviv are not…
After the game I had planned to say a quick Hello to the lads from West Ham Fan TV at the Lyall Gates as I think they’re doing a wonderful job with their post match videos.
Lo and behold, before I knew what was happening I had a microphone stuffed in front of my boat and asked to “pontificate” (I think that is the term my fellow writer Zaman used) about the game that had just finished. Apparently this Youtube clip has elevated me to minor West Ham celebratory status and I have also been criticised about using the F-word too much (no, not freekick or fantastic). I don’t know about either, but I enjoyed the interview a lot, but nowhere near as much as the following meet up at the Black Lion. I met Mrs. and Mr.Lids again, Safehands of course, BSB, Voice of Reason, Heedsy, Nigel Kahn, Terry Causley, Ennate (Hammers hairstyle of the month for sure), Irons59, Russ again and my personal surprise guest and favourite, Johnsey.
The man has been through a lot recently and him and I had our various verbal spats on here, so to finally meet him face to face and have a chat was an honour and big gesture by him as he didn’t even see the game, but still decided to come to the Black Lion anyway.
The day was rounded off nicely with a lovely ruby at a Curry House in the Barking Road recommended by Nigel Kahn (another box ticked) with a select group of the above mentioned and as my birthday was approaching fast I wanted to spend 100 quid to treat this circle of friends with everyone else simply topping up the rest of the bill.
In true East London tradition though they were having none of it, threatening to not letting me come over ever again if I refused to share the bill fairly and squarely. I was very humbled, but too drunk at that stage to put up further resistance and increasingly hungry too, so we had a wonderful Indian feast to close out matchday.
To make one thing absolutely crystal: Just like the meet up before, the curry dinner was open for everybody, no clique thing going on there. Everybody had a great time and I want to thank each and every one of my fellow diners again for one thoroughly enjoyable evening. You all know who you are!
Sunday was spent very lazily having a nice Sunday Roast in a Romford/Dagenham pub (yet another box ticked) with BSB and his lovely wife Karen who provided the biggest laugh of the day when she was talking about “that football thing that lasted all summer”. I believe the rest of the planet know this as the World Cup…after which we watched some football and cricket at BSB’s place while discussing our plans for my final day in London which was to turn out to be the highlight of the trip.
On Monday BSB and I drove to Stratford, first station being the Reservation Centre where I finally got to see my render/view from my seat in Section 227 of the South Stand, front of the Upper Tier. I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw and BSB also got to see the renders from his seats again. We then walked over to the Orbit and then he took me up the Orbit (which I believe has certain connotations) but I was keen to get some nice views over the London Skyline and of course take a glimpse into our future home from way above.
We also managed to pick out the Boleyn in the distance, but it was surprisingly hard to find as it was dwarfed between the multitude of buildings surrounding both Upton Park and Stratford and it was also farther away than I had imagined. BSB and I were discussing the OS from our elevated position and while he was still moping and moaning about having to leave the Boleyn even he couldn’t deny that the OS looked impressive enough and we could both imagine it to be a fantastic stage for West Ham playing their football there.
It was way past lunchtime at this point in time and I had one final box to tick: Pie and Mash, which strangely enough I had never tried before in my life. BSB was phoning around as apparently a lot of Pie&Mash shops are closed on Mondays. He called his favourite local place in Dagenham and luckily they were open and without further ado I was sitting in front of a massive plate filled with double pie, double mash and loads of liquor.
As you can gather from my belly featuring prominently on all those pictures I do like my food and I didn’t have too many problems clearing my plate (neither did BSB) and so we were sufficiently replenished in order to hit the training ground at Chadwell Heath, probably catching a player or two who would sign my programme.
As you all know the curse of Chadwell Heath being responsible for our numerous injuries over the years is a pet topic of mine, so BSB and I decided to go and have a bit of a laugh with it, with me critically inspecting the grass of the training pitch and also posting a rather silly video (BSB’s idea) to take the mickey out of things.
Some of you have already compared us to the second coming of The Two Ronnies, but I doubt that the BBC would quite agree. We were just about to actually start filming that comedy genius of a video when the kind janitor at the training ground (I’m not sure BSB and I were even supposed to be there) alerted us that Slaven Bilic was just about to leave the training ground in his motor. BSB and I dashed as quickly as the double pies and mash servings would allow us to the exit and there he was, Harry Redknapp style, leaning out of his car window, signing autographs for three or four kids. Plus a slightly older and much heavier kid from Germany who felt like Christmas had come very early.
Being a bit star-struck I was talking a lot of bollocks really. (What’s new I hear you asking). I was asking him if he still spoke German, remembering that he used to play for three seasons at German club Karlsruhe before joining West Ham 20 years ago.
He answered back in fairly decent German and I asked him how many languages he actually spoke. I didn’t quite get his reply (that’s me being star struck again), but I’m sure it was modest and classy as usual – he was in good spirits and smiling the entire time. He signed my programme, gave me a thumbs up for a final photo and drove off with the words “Mach’s gut!” which is a very friendly and informal way to say Goodbye in German. What a classy and great man!
We were still not done with the highlights though as BSB drove us to his second favourite club next, the local League Two side Dagenham & Redbridge. The Daggers are virtually certain to get relegated to the Conference at this end of the season, so we had no idea if we would get beyond the parking lot. BSB spoke to a guy who was then making a phone call only for another man to appear shortly after inviting us in. The way him and BSB were chatting I assumed they had known each other for years. Which wasn’t quite true as BSB later told me he thought it was actually the groundsman we were talking to. We were given a nice little tour around the pitch and could take photos on the pitch and in the dugouts.
Only when we were back in the car BSB told me that we actually hadn’t spoken to the kitman or groundskeeper but the club secretary himself (who is also a Hammers fan!).
What a top bloke! I sincerely hope the Daggers manage a Great Escape and stay in the league. Either way they are my adopted second team in England now.
And still we were not finished yet. Come the evening we picked up some of BSB’s grandchildren and headed for Rush Green to take in the Development Squad’s game against Stoke. The game was underwhelming with little clear cut goalmouth action, but it was sure interesting to see the training complex which will soon be the everyday training base for our first team squad. No player as such shone on the night, but I was reasonably impressed with defender Neufville, young George Dobson linking defence and midfield and goalkeeper Raphael Spiegel. Not to mention Reece Oxford. We missed the only goal late in injury time (a penalty scored by substitute Kanu) as we had to rush back to the car out of fear we might get locked out (or in, whichever way you wanna look at it) in the car park.
On the way out we encountered who else but the first West Ham skipper I saw playing when I started to follow West Ham: The Terminator himself, Mr.Julian Dicks.
BSB delivered yet again and quickly explained things to Dicksy about this German Hammers fan and Julian was kind enough to pose for a quick photo despite the game still being in full flow. It was the perfect icing on a massive birthday cake of a weekend for me.
It really was the trip of a lifetime and a lot of you guys made sure it was exactly that. Extra kudos goes to Safehands (thanks for the lovely and highly unexpected cake!), Liddy who decided to spend the day with her fellow fans despite going through a rough time at the moment (Chin up Lids!) plus the one and only BSB.
Not only did he spend two full valuable days with me (thanks to his wife Karen as well who is the salt of the earth really) but he also ensured that certain things actually could happen in the first place.
As you all know I have a season ticket for the first season in the OS and that alone should make sure I will come over a bit more often in future. London to me these days no longer means Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square, Madame Tussauds or West End shows. It means spending time with friends supporting West Ham and having a good time.
And this trip has given me the idea of yet another box to tick: Joining my fellow Hammers for an away trip next season! COYI!
NOTE FROM IAIN: Can I just say, that this is one of the best posts ever on WHTID in our entire eight year history. There are times when I mull over whether to give up the site, but this post shows why I always decide to carry on. The site has brought about true friendships and this post demonstrates what our little community is all about. I had intended to come to the meet up after the match and I so wish I had. Next time!