This is another piece I was commissioned to write which again appears this morning on www.goal.com and contains most of my emotions on this very special day!
I’ve had many loves in my life, a lot of which have involved very painful farewells, but never one like this.
My personal love affair with the Irons and the Boleyn began way back in 1962 at a match involving the Hammers and Blackpool. I was there on the orders of the editor of the newspaper I was to work for. During my interview for my first job in London he told me: “You will need to come to Upton Park tonight. I think you may fall in love.”
I’d not been much of a supporter of anyone until then because playing the game had taken up all of my time, but I’m grateful to that man whose name – amazingly – was Tony Cottee. His namesake, the future West Ham great, was to be born three years later.
This Cottee was right. From the moment I disembarked from the tube at Plaistow, took in the sights and sounds of Queen’s Market and Green Street, my soul was lost to the west enclosure of Upton Park – a ground where all my best footballing experiences have been played out, with the exception of Wembley on that glorious summer’s day in 1966.
That west enclosure – a place written deep in my heart – was also the viewing point as I watched the likes of Hurst, Peters, John ‘Budgie’ Byrne, actually the best centre forward I’ve ever seen, John Bond – who became one of the game’s greatest extrovert managers – Ken Brown, goalkeepers Jim Standen and Phil Parkes – now a friend – and all the rest. I feel like a teenager again as I recall them all.
Later came the amazing legend that was the buccaneering Bill Bonds, now somebody I regularly interview, as well as Trevor Brooking, Alan Devonshire – perhaps the best I’ve ever seen as he waltzed his way across some mudbath pitches – Julian Dicks, Cottee, Paolo Di Canio and Frank MacAvennie. The Boleyn was the cradle of all my dreams and holds my most beautiful memories.
The season of 1985-86 saw Upton Park erupt in near glory, although a dismal start saw the Hammers win just once from our first five games and gave promise only of a regular flirtation with those around us at the bottom.
But Frank MacAvennie or ‘SuperMac’, grabbed a couple in the defeat of QPR and, as September arrived, everything changed and we were off on what was to become the team’s best ever season.
They lost only eight games from that point and finished third behind the two Liverpool clubs. Of course, there’s an irony to the expression ‘The Boys of ’86’ – heard so regularly around the club – because it’s an implicit recognition of how little we have won down the years. It doesn’t matter. West Ham is a lifestyle, not a winning routine.
But for me the star of the show – the heart of the experience that is supporting West Ham – was the ‘old lady’ herself. It is, though, very unlikely that Lady Boleyn ever set foot anywhere near the castle that adorned our badge for so many years.
Once through those antiquated turnstiles another reality took over in a stadium that was at the heart of this East End community. It was the epicentre for those living in the area and part of the growing-up process for those of us who came from further afield.
When you returned it mattered not if you were a millionaire or on the dole – you were simply a Boleyn boy. We all grew up this dear ‘old lady’ we love so much and that she will be gone forever after Tuesday is just desperate.
I once wrote that you change your wife before you change your football club but saying farewell to Upton Park feels worse than a divorce. It resembles more sitting at the deathbed of a family member knowing there’s no way back.
Yes, we will move on, yes we will create a new Olympic Park history because that’s what we do at West Ham. Just not before a tear or 10,000 have been shed.
Nice one Hugh,great read.Remember keep drinking the water,I don’t want our main man dehydrated by the end of tonight.Maybe bubs can write the articles tomorrow,haha.Too many articles on here to read today,its all too much for this ignorant,illiterate moron from C&H.Enjoy your evening. Hugh,I will.I am going to make the most of this last ever match at The Boleyn.I am going to make it my best day ever going to football,I don’t do wakes,not my style.I just want to make the most of my last ever couple of hours in the ground.Everyone who’s going,have a great day,let’s make the place rock for one final time 😉 COYI
I’m here, sitting in a armchair, a blanket around my legs, smoking my pipe and reading this article wearing my hipster glasses like an intellectual rabid dog… lol Great read Hugh, together with all the other memories I read during these days.
Farewell magical Boleyn, very happy to have met you… and welcome to the OS, the little brother who’s trying to make his bones… 😉
Very good article Hugh,I enjoyed that.Btw what’s happened to Wetones site today.Have all the tears blown their temples fusebox up 😀
Thanks Hugh,top stuff.I have many,many good memories of the ground,a few bad ones as wel, lol but all in all it has brought me nothing but happiness over the years.Goodbye Boleyn,I will miss you 🙁
Don’t know what’s happened to Wetpants Billy,maybe they had to lock up for a few hours while they went out to buy more tissues 😉
We move on ! For me its a sad day , in a few hours my whole life involved at west ham ends ! As with you Hugh 61 /62 was my baptism at the old girl , for me it will be totally different at the OS , and obviously so , this is for the new school of supporter , the younger ones , I’ve got my season ticket for the new gaff but as I’ve said it will not compare with a lifetime at Upton park ,which cannot be put in words !
Although the memory will not fade of the old girl , the memorys from now on after tonight stop, just like that .let’s hope its a good one !
Not a happy hammer !!! History at the old girl stops tonight !!! Gutted .
Very nice article Hugh many thanks 🙂
Thanks Hugh,lovely article about your memories.Going to be a tough’un today.Been going since the 50s,tonight my match day routine will change forever after almost 60 years.But this old bugger isn’t feeling down,I will have me memories intact in this old head of mine & I will move on to the Olympic Stadium.Even in your 70s you can embrace change if your willing to.I am looking forward to giving the Olympic Stadium a try out.Why not.Way I see it my friends,we ain’t lost our house in a fire like Canada,we ain’t living in a slum of a refugee camp,we are moving football grounds.We have been very lucky to have been able to go to such a fantastic ground all these years,now let’s give it a fitting send off.Raise the roof tonight one & all.Enjoy it fellow Hammers.
Captain Jack Sparrow, really nice comment. Maybe you’re a man long in years, but with a young mind… 😉
Captain Old Bugger more like Matte my friend.Thanks anyway.I am as gutted as the next man but I still know that progression happens in life & if this move brings success to our club in the future for the youngsters going now & in decades to come then I will go with that.I can’t fight it so I will deal with it.This move is all about the next generations who support our great club,not a grumpy old bugger like meself 🙂
Good article, but you have mentioned many great West Ham legends without a word about the greatest of them all – Bobby Moore.
I was lucky to have seen him many times and no article on the history of our club would be complete without a few words on the great man.
I think you will find Hugh has written more words on Bobby than you would ever have time to read me friend.I really don’t think that young Hugh has forgotten about Bobby in any way just because these memories didn’t mention him.
Good read. I console myself with the fact that West Ham history is West Ham history and we take it with us to the new stadium. I will still have memories of the great West Ham players and legends of the past when I’m in the new stadium. None of this stuff is going to be lost just because we are in a new ground. It’s my hope that the club will invite West Hams past players to the opening game of the new season in the new stadium too. Call it a house warming.