Movie star Ray Winstone bought the painting of a bespectacled West Ham fan hitting a rival supporter at the Chelsea game.
West Ham and Chelsea fans will remember the moment well as it became the main talking point after their clash at the London Stadium back in February.
A fan – who at the time was thought to be a Chelsea follower – goaded a group of West Ham supporters on his way into the ground and was knocked out cold with one punch by an unassuming looking Hammer.
It turned out the fan who was knocked out before West Ham and Chelsea’s Premier League game was actually an apprentice electrician at a Surrey firm who supports AFC Wimbledon.
Bill Tarbuck went viral after footage of him being floored with one punch for taunting the West Ham fans was posted on social media.
A second video posted a few minutes later then showed a dazed Tarbuck being taken away in a wheelchair with a cut to his mouth.
It says a lot about West Ham’s season that the brilliant artist and West Ham fan Canning Town Len was compelled to capture the moment on canvas.
Len and his work are very well known in West Ham circles and beyond.
He produced a wonderful acrylics painting of the moment and a bidding war ensued for the piece online.
Movie star Ray Winstone bought painting of bespectacled West Ham fan hitting rival at Chelsea game
In the end the painting sold for £7,100 with speculation it was purchased by a group of Tarbuck’s work colleagues and other such rumours.
But now the man who immortalised the moment through his art has revealed who actually purchased the work.
Movie star Ray Winstone bought the painting of the bespectacled West Ham fan hitting the rival supporter at the Chelsea game.
Canning Town Len has taken to his website to tell all about ‘that painting’.
And the story is set alongside a picture of the Hammers fan and actor Winstone with the painting in his possession.
“I think the dust has settled now, to tell the story of my painting Chelsea Fan Gets Knocked Out, how it came to be, and the media noise that surrounded it…” Canning Town Len says on his website.
“I realise that Twitter just wanted to know what it went for and who the hell bid that much for it! Well, the answer was a gentleman in Italy, and it now belongs to actor Ray Winstone.
“I didn’t tell the media that last part at the time. People had already made their own minds up, and I had ran out of paintings to sell anyway.
“Suffice to say, that kid’s colleagues didn’t try very hard to buy the painting if they were really looking for it. On the plus side, they may have some fun knowing the painting is owned by a film star.”
If that is not the best story you’ve read all week, I don’t know what is.
You can view and buy Canning Town Len’s work – much of which involves West Ham – on his website.
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