Ex Liverpool and Celtic striker Craig Bellamy says West Ham fans were the best he ever played for in a passionate new interview.
Despite spending just two injury-hit seasons with the Hammers, former striker Bellamy quickly became a real fan favourite in east London.
Bellamy grew up a Liverpool fan and said he realised a dream by signing for the Reds while he was still playing.
As well as Liverpool and West Ham, Bellamy also played for some other top clubs with famous support, including Scottish giants Celtic.
When it comes to hype surrounding fans Liverpool and Celtic get plenty of it.
On big European nights under the lights Celtic Park and Liverpool’s Anfield can produce special atmospheres there is no denying it.
But West Ham fans turn up week in, week out home and away in massive numbers through thick and thin despite not having won a major trophy since 1980.
Hammers fans are often belittled by the media and rival fans for being so demanding and wanting the team to play ‘the West Ham way’.
Sneering pundits and journalists often belittle the club’s ideals and the ‘West Ham way’.
The inference from those dismissing the West Ham way as a fallacy is that it is Barcelona-esque tika taka football. And that while fans of clubs like Liverpool and Celtic are perfectly entitled to expect a certain type of football, West Ham’s are not.
But that only demonstrates a lack of knowledge about the club ethos which was cemented into West Ham’s history by the likes of Ron Greenwood and John Lyall.
One person who clearly gets it is our former firebrand forward Bellamy.
As a boyhood Liverpool fan or having played for a huge club like Celtic – and even his hometown club Cardiff – one would expect Bellamy to name those fans and clubs as the best he ever played for in his long career.
But ex Liverpool and Celtic striker Bellamy says West Ham fans were the best he ever played for in a passionate new interview.
Bellamy also said he never wanted to leave the club when West Ham’s financial problems forced him to move to Man City.
In an interview with The Central Club podcast, forget Liverpool and Celtic because Bellamy says West Ham fans were the best and most knowledgeable he ever played for.
“Every day going into that training ground I would leave in stitches,” Bellamy told The Central Club podcast.
“Even the old players who played for the club years ago would come in for their dinners, it was amazing honestly.
“And do you know they get a bad rep the (West Ham) fans. But they were brilliant.
“They’re the most knowledgeable fans of all of them I ever played for, you couldn’t kid ’em.
“Do you know you see people go around kicking people and I’ve seen fans cheer like ‘Yea but he has a go’. He has a go at what?! He gives the ball away every time.
“There (West Ham) they won’t accept that. Because you’ve got to be a good player as well. ‘We expect you to have a go, we pay money for you to have a go, but what are you like on the ball and also what are you like when we’re not happy, do you still have the balls to go and get the ball?’
“And if you do then they’ll have you, they’re with you then. And I loved that about them, they weren’t kidded on because they’ve watched too many great players down the years, they’ve been brought up on Bobby Moore and all that type of stuff.
“It’s just a special club. So many players, like James Collins and all that, you don’t leave once you go there. You stay around there. Because it grips you, it’s that club it’s like once you’ve played for them you’re like ‘Oh I get it now, I get what this club is’.
“Even the humour of the fans, honestly. You see me smile as soon as I mention them. I just had so many happy memories there and even when I left I didn’t want to leave, honest truth you ask anyone there, I didn’t want to leave.”
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