The ExWHUemployee column

I was chatting in the pub with my mate the other day discussing  our favourite West Ham matches/experiences and it brought me back to one of mine.

It was on the 14^th April 1991 and it was the first “away” game I had ever been to.

This date forever sticks in my mind and I will never forget it. Having beaten Everton 2-1 in the Quarter finals in a Stuart Slater (my first ever favourite player) inspired performance we met Forest in the Semi Final of the Cup at Villa Park.

I travelled up to the game as an impressionable 10 year old with my dad and six of his mates in a mini bus. I remember them drinking many beers on board (thankfully the paid for a driver) and singing chants and ringing a giant cow bell (don’t ask!) regularly.

We had booked into a hotel and watched the Spurs v Arsenal, the other semi-final game before the match. This was the one where Gazza was brilliant and scored a wonderful goal to help Spurs on their way to the final. So the scene had been set for a West Ham v Spurs final, or so I thought.

After much more drinking at the hotel, by my dad and mates not me, we made our way to the ground. At the ground another drunken man (not from out party) gave me a flag to take to the match, which I still have to this day. I will never know who that kind soul was but I still remember the moment so clearly.

We then made our way to the ground and of course we all know that referee Keith Hackett ruined the match with a ridiculous decision when sending off Tony Gayle and we lost 4-0.

You would think this could have put me off being a West Ham supporter, but it didn’t – far from it. Even though we were 4-0 down we did not stop singing and chanting all game. The one chant that I can remember so clearly was “Billy Bond’s Claret and Blue Army” which rung out constantly and for around 10 minutes in a row at one point.

Here is a small snippet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVcr-NghMGY. Having initially thought we were signing Billy Bonds and Trevor Morley in tribute to the forward who had just returned from being stabbed by his wife (another random event associated to this match) I soon worked out that the chant was purely for the manager.

Obviously Billy Bonds is an absolute club legend and is up there with the greatest ever players of our club so this chant was as much for the player as the manager but he was still extremely popular. When he was replaced by Harry Redknapp that love for our manager (another ex player) seemed to continue. After this the same feelings for our manager have not been fully achieved since (apart from Trevor Brooking’s brief spell in charge).

We have a new manager who also has played for the club and one who has started his managerial spell in true style. The football we are playing and the passion we are showing has already meant that this season is starting to shape up to be one of the most exciting in many years.

I know we currently have the Super Slav chant for our man but I would love to us add “Slaven Bilic’s Claret and Blue Army” to our repertoire of chants and where better a place to start it at the home game to Chelsea.

So let’s get our voices ready and get this echoing out at the match and continue it into the away games with the visit to Tottenham in November on the horizon I would love to hear it loud and proud throughout the game and many others!