Hammers News brings you the Cass Pennant column as the terrace legend gives his take on the West Ham situation, David Moyes, the players and some brilliant tales from his life story.
West Ham fans of a certain age might remember Cass Pennant’s contributions in the OLAS fanzine back in the day.
Well now the former West Ham ICF member turned author, producer, writer, actor and speaker is back to give his views on his beloved Hammers, tell some great stories and give a fascinating insight into his life.
In the first Cass Pennant column, he addresses the current state of the team, the situation with David Moyes and reveals who he wanted before the Scot returned to the club back in 2020. Cass also gives his take on whether we can stay in the Premier League.
He then discusses a surprise topic raised during a memorable recent trip to Belfast with fellow ex ICF member Carlton Leach, a pet peeve regarding our beloved former home Upton Park, recalls brilliant stories about legendary ex striker Frank McAvennie, Ray Winstone, 50 Cent and Jarrod Bowen’s father-in-law to be Danny Dyer plus much more.
15 years on from the story of my life and A Town Called Malice West Ham link
I’m writing this column 15 years since my life story – CASS – was released as a movie in the cinemas, back in 2008. For those who haven’t seen it or want to watch it again, it’s available on Amazon Prime.
Before I get on to the current situation at the club and by way of introduction for the first instalment of my new column with Hammers News, I’m going to take a trip down memory lane and talk all things West Ham that have a link to my biopic film.
‘A Town Called Malice’ is a recently released eight-part series available on Sky TV. It was directed by Nick Love (originally famed for bringing us the cult-classic film ‘Football Factory’) and stars the emerging new talent, Jack Rowan. I’ve watched it and really enjoyed it and if you liked the movie ‘The Business’ (also directed by Nick Love) then think of that but with new players.
I met Jack, who is a massive Hammers fan, at the launch party in Shoreditch and thought he reminded me a bit of the actor Leo Gregory in the manner he carried himself. Now Leo was brilliant in my film Cass. He did a great job playing a fictional character that was based on several old mates and I’ve got a lot of respect for him – even though he’s Tottenham!
However, I had to have a little wind-up whilst on set and so I hung a massive ICF flag inside his trailer which kick-started a chain-reaction of payback-banter moves between us. It was all taken in the right way. But trust me, he was not amused when I got Frank McAvennie involved whilst he was filming his cameo role. He was given a glass bottle and instructed to target Leo with it during a mass brawl scene. For those who have seen the film, it was in the scene where Leo and his crew turn up and attack a working mens’ club full of Geordies.
On the call of “action” everyone proper went for it, it was carnage! So the director’s whistle blew for an immediate ‘cut’. After the whistle blast everything calmed down and the whole place went silent until Leo jumped up on the stage and yelled: “Cass, did you tell Macca I was a Tottenham fan?”
The producer had told Frankie Mac to go for it as they were keen to get it right in one take. Macca replied: “No worries, Cass has already told me he’s a Spud.”
Leo was laughing when he called me out from the stage, but you could see he was miffed and half wondering if Macca was just a wee bit over enthusiastic. Whilst the bottles were not real glass (they were sugar glass; made up of corn syrup, water, and of course, sugar) they still had the potential to let you know that you’d been hit.
My chance meeting with Ray Winstone on Green Street and some invaluable advice
One of the most famous actors I can think of that’s a true Hammer is Ray Winstone. Like most of us, I’m a big fan of all his work and always thought he would have been a great fit for the Cass film. The director was on-side and I was optimistic that we had half a chance of landing him in a lead role. This was down to a chance encounter with Ray when I had the street stall in Green Street. Whilst packing away after a game, a motor with dark windows paused in the crawling traffic and a hand waved me over and there inside was Ray.
We had a quick chat and I confirmed that the film was happening and in return he offered me a piece of invaluable advice. “It’s all in the script son, don’t lose sight of the script, any advice I can give yer I’ll give yer, COYI!” These brief Green Street meetings got to become a regular thing at games but getting him involved in the film wasn’t meant to be as Ray was in high demand and had two years advanced filming already booked up.
He was only interested in helping a fellow Hammer who was now making headlines for all the right reasons. His advice was extremely helpful as I made the transition from the book to the film industry – thanks Raymondo!
An unlikely friendship with Millwall man Tamer ‘MillHamSki’ Hassan
As I said, we didn’t manage to land Ray but we did luck out with getting Tamer Hassan. I was chuffed with this for he’d previously gone on record to say he’d never do another football film after Nick Love’s Football Factory (career actors fear being typecast). He put me right though when he reminded me that Cass was not a football film but a story about life.
Anyway, you could argue he’s more of a MillHamSki fan than Millwall as his son was on Chelsea’s books at the time and Tamer played for West Ham in a Danny Dyer Celebrity charity match at Upton Park. He looks back on that event fondly and still laughs when he thinks of our fans constantly booing him whenever he got the ball – that was until he scored the winning goal for Danny’s team in the final.
Tamer and Ray Winstone are both good friends and have kept in touch with me over the years, both being a line of support as I made a few moves of my own in the film industry. Tamer’s a top bloke, has a laugh and got along well with Danny. They did a few charity fundraising events together, one such event was hosted over in bandit country (south London).
During the event, Tamer told Danny that if the funding target was to be reached then Danny would have to put on his Millwall shirt for the remainder. For those who don’t know Danny Dyer genuinely is as big a West Ham fan as they come. The pledges flew in and Danny was a good sport about it.
They did a few movies together over the years. One of the biggest was ‘Dead Man Running‘ which came out at a time when Premier League players were all looking to invest in the film market. This film had the involvement of West Ham academy graduate Rio Ferdinand and the US Rapper Curtis ‘50 Cent’ Jackson. So I was made up when Tamer told me that he’d managed to get me into the VIP after-party.
Both Rio and younger brother Anton were there, I’d also heard a rumour that 50 Cent (who had also starred in the film) was at the event and I was keen to impress my daughter by getting an autograph of the famous rapper. It was a complete dad hero ‘now or never’ moment as it is not really the done thing when you are a guest at that kind of event. The person I took to be 50 Cent looked at me, chuckled and politely said “you might want to try my sons” and pointed in the direction of Anton and Rio. FFS, cringe moment or what but those who know me know what I’m like.
From Carlton Leach to Moyes out: My thoughts on the West Ham situation, the manager’s future and the players
For the few who don’t know, Carlton Leach is infamous amongst the West Ham fans of my era and has a recent best-selling autobiography of his own out called CARLTON: The Final Say. I recently caught up with Carlton at an East Belfast Irons event where we were booked for a personal appearance.
We both enjoyed the event and the hospitality shown and were caught off-guard by the questions we received. Usually for Carlton it’s straight in with ‘who does he think did the Range Rover murders?’ and for myself it’s ‘what was the top firm that you’ve come across?’
So I was surprised when the first question we got asked was whether Moyes should go and what we thought about the situation at West Ham.
It was a hard one to answer when put on the spot and, at the time of writing this, we jumped from second bottom up to 14th in the table after beating Southampton. I still can’t 100% put my finger on where it all started to go a bit wrong. Like most of us, I really could see a future of big things for our club coinciding with during Moyes’ second stint at the helm.
Mark Noble and Declan Rice had the team playing with a confidence and belief that, win or lose, whoever we played knew they’d had a tough game home or away with us. Even the wider football audience started noticing the change in our performances and that we were everyone’s second team to watch on the box (I hate it when that happens with West Ham and other supporters).
I’ve always admired what Moyes did with Everton but was less than impressed with what he did in his short time at West Ham first time around. That said, I’m happy to give credit where it is due and count myself amongst the Hammers fans that he’s won over; despite championing Eddie Howe to take the job before Moyes’ return.
He got the team playing some nice football in the ‘West Ham way’ and then, all of a sudden, the wheels seem to come off our Premier League form. I can’t see an obvious single reason why the season has been going as poorly as it has, especially considering the money that has been spent. So I can only think Moyes has hit his ceiling.
Now I’m now dreading April because I’m seeing eight games in 24 days! Then in May we have both Manc clubs within days of each other and so I’m now in the camp that believes our Europa Conference League run is an unwelcome distraction from the serious battle of avoiding relegation.
I think we will survive… just.
There are nine clubs in the muck and I think Southampton, Forest and Leeds will cop it before us – but that’s at time of writing. I also think we need to keep Moyes, sink or swim, until the end of the season as I wouldn’t take any of the managers currently out of work over him unless it were Mauricio Pochettino (yeah, I know what I’ve said).
Whilst Moyes is ultimately responsible for the decisions, methods and tactics, you’ve also got to think, ‘come on, what has happened on the player’s side of things’?
A close pal said to me: “Now we’re seeing the hole Mark Noble left behind. It’s not on the pitch but in that dressing room.”
Having given it a bit of thought, I think he might be on to something. Winning starts with your mentality and in the spirit you take out with you on to the pitch. No matter what new role Noble has, it’s not the same as being in the squad and you now have to wonder how big an influence he really was. The team Moyes has built had some serious potential and I’d hate to see us go back to being a selling club once more. We lost some serious talent when we let the likes of Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand, Michael Carrick, Joe Cole and even Carlos Tevez leave Upton Park the last time we had a team and players that looked like they could make something happen.
It’s Upton Park, not the Boleyn Ground
I went to my first ever West Ham match in 1966, the year we won the World Cup and so I found it fitting as well as sad that we closed the doors to Upton Park in 2016. That, for me, was a round 50 years supporting us at the stadium. I was among the very last to leave it because two weeks later I was fortunate enough to be on-the-bill at a Bobby Moore Fund charity event.
The event was supported by the likes of the legendary Frank MacAvennie and Jonjo Heuerman B.E.M. I still call it Upton Park rather than the Boleyn Ground.
For me, the Boleyn Ground is more of a factual reference for the odd quiz. Back then the Boleyn meant the pub in Green Street, while today – as sadly illustrated by the Facebook group ‘Long Live The Boleyn’ – it is in reference to what was our football church. If you’re old school or part of the West Ham family, you’ll already know the significance of liking that group. COYI.
For signed copies of Cass’s latest book go visit Old School FC.
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