It is a testament to Gianfranco Zola’s famously amenable demeanour that even Lee Bowyer, who was bombed out of West Ham United under the Italian, still had only good things to say about his old Upton Park boss.
The one-time England international had two spells as a player at West Ham United.
The first coming in 2002/03 – he endured a less-than joyous stint in East London when a team dubbed ‘too good to go down’ did exactly that – before returning three years later with a point to prove and wrongs to right.
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Lee Bowyer re-joined his boyhood club from Newcastle in 2006; ‘unfinished business’ firmly in his sights.
Gianfranco Zola would quickly put an end to Bowyer’s hopes of cementing a legacy for himself in the claret and blue jersey, though.
Lee Bowyer reflects on West Ham United exit and awkward Gianfranco Zola meeting
The Chelsea icon was appointed as Alan Curbishley’s replacement in September 2008. Four months later, Bowyer was gone.
Now, speaking opposite Mick McCarthy and Tony Pulis on the latest edition of The Managers’ podcast, Bowyer puts his exit down to a London derby flashpoint which obviously left quite the impression on Zola for all the wrong reasons.
Both figuratively and, scarred by a previous meeting with Bowyer when fierce rivals West Ham and Chelsea faced off, literally.
“The only negative [experience with a manager] was Zola. There’s quite a funny story behind this. Well, I think it’s funny!,” Bowyer says.
“So ‘Curbs’ [Curbishley] was in charge at West Ham and he was doing well. And then we had new people take over and they brought Zola in.
“I was sitting on the physio table, getting strapping to go out to training. He walks in says ‘hello’ to everyone, walks around, shakes hands, and then he gets to me. The first thing he said to me, he didn’t even say hello, he was like, ‘I’ve still got scars from when you kicked me’.
“So I was thinking, ‘OK, this isn’t the start that I was looking for!'”
Bowyer would push Zola to the bring at Upton Park with Birmingham City
Zola said at the time that Bowyer’s departure was because he could not ‘guarantee’ the tenacious midfielder regular football. Mark Noble was in his pomp back then. Upton Park was also home to Scott Parker, Hayden Mullins and Valon Behrami, plus rising star Jack Collison and the experienced Radoslav Kovac.
Ironically, Bowyer would have the last laugh. He scored the only goal of the game in a 1-0 victory for Alex McLeish’s Blues at St Andrews in December 2009. A result which left West Ham in the relegation zone and Zola hanging by a thread.
“It does not surprise me that he is playing such a key role at Birmingham. I’m pleased for him that he is being successful,” said a typically gracious Zola, ever the gentleman. “But when he left West Ham, it was at a time when he was coming back from injury, was not playing regularly and needed games.
“There were other reasons for letting him go. The possibility for him to play regularly, [as he] was not there with us.”
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Bowyer still reflects fondly on his experience with Zola the man, even if his experience with Zola the manager only lasted a few short weeks.
“To be honest, not long after [Zola arrived], I think I played one or two games and then he was like, ‘No, no, you can go’,” Bowyer adds. “And I was like, ‘OK, yeah, you you still hold that against me.
“But I’m sure I wasn’t the only person that kicked him, you know! Like, that was the only way you could stop him! He was a very nice man, I have to say that. A very nice man. But he just didn’t take to me and I’m putting it down to that.”
“But apart from that, all the rest of the managers that I worked under, they were excellent. Curbs give me my opportunity at 17 years old, you know?”
Bowyer still hopes to return to West Ham for a third spell at some point down the line. He followed Curbishley and Zola into management. But after guiding troubled Charlton Athletic to promotion out of League One in 2019, his brief status as one of the brightest young coaches in the EFL was hit hard by an unsuccessful stint in charge of Birmingham.
“I’d like to manage West Ham one day,” the 49-year-old, who was most recently spotted coaching the Monserrat national team, told the Daily Mail in December.
“I think I’d do it right. For one, it’s my club.”
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